Anti-Crisis behaviour and process?

I would like to exchange ideas about "THE CRISIS" and its consequences.

• Do you really think anti-crisis behaviours can exist?
• Or do you think that better than to fight again crisis, crisis could be turned into an opportunities tank, provided that you fit the right behaviours and process with the market new parameters? 
• What will be the main business consequences of the crisis related to sales and marketing?
  1. Less investment or less risky investment?
  2. Bigger focus on Cost reduction? (is that not the case already?)
  3. ROI expected to be sooner?
  4. More focus on margin/profit than on market coverage and market penetration?

Is all that really new and born with THE crisis?

In my opinion, the drastic consequence will be that the gap between "good" and "not so good" sales organizations will dramatically widen.
The "not so good" are those who moan about the inefficiency of the anti-crisis weapons.
The "good" won't try to fight for an already lost battle but will shape their organization(behaviour and process) in order to face the new opportunities carried by the crisis. 

Comments

[Christian Bernard]

Hi Gerald,

Very interesting point of view.

I believe that the so-called "crisis" will force companies to sharpen their Go-To-Market strategies and streamline their sales & marketing execution:

1- Identify markets and companies which will continue to spend money in what you sell despite the crisis
2- Understand how the crisis changed their buying behaviour
3- Assess relevance of your GTM Strategy (Target Markets, Whole Solution, Image, Customer Experience, GTM Model) in regard
4- Assess effectiveness of your sales & marketing execution in regard
5- Adjust accordingly and motivate all individuals involved in marketing & selling your products or services

Nothing extraordinary there. Yet many companies lack the instruments or expertise and struggle with such a holistic approach.

It is likely thet 2 behaviours will oppose: managers and organizations who "panic" and call for more of the same stuff without ascertaining its relevance, and those who will seize the opportunity to innovate in their marketing & sales execution. As you say, the gap between them may widen to the point where rules of competition are redefined in the journey without the former even noticing.

At least the crisis creates a compelling reason for companies to act.

Keep watching, it's such an interesting laboratory!

Kind regards, Christian