Imagine starting your small business with a standout product or service that becomes a top seller. For years, everything seems perfect—until it’s not. While some products endure for decades, like Coca-Cola or Stormy Kromer Hats, many businesses face the reality that their once-popular offerings may no longer resonate with customers. As a small business owner, […]
Imagine starting your small business with a standout product or service that becomes a top seller. For years, everything seems perfect—until it’s not. While some products endure for decades, like Coca-Cola or Stormy Kromer Hats, many businesses face the reality that their once-popular offerings may no longer resonate with customers. As a small business owner, knowing when to pivot, enhance, or discontinue a product can make an enormous difference. Timing and attitude are important. So how do you decide when it’s time to stop making something or providing a service? When is it time to enhance a product or provide new features? When is it time to adapt?
Here are a few things to consider.
One of the toughest lessons for small business owners is realizing that a beloved product or service is losing its appeal. Every product goes through a life cycle: development, growth, maturity, and decline. Unless you are in a niche market with timeless demand, your product may not last forever.
Analyzing sales and profit margins is crucial. If your numbers are declining, it could be due to rising production costs or shifts in consumer preferences. Many business owners wait too long to make changes, which can lead to significant financial strain. Recognizing these trends early allows you to adapt before it is too late.
The pace of change today is staggering. Just when you feel settled, new technologies and consumer trends can disrupt your routine. A study found that the rate of change affecting businesses has risen dramatically in recent years.
Change is often uncomfortable, but it is essential for survival. Some businesses are afraid to try something new and prefer to do what is comfortable. Perhaps they have not kept up with the times so the amount of change necessary to get back up to speed can be daunting. But even those of us that have consistently changed find that circumstances require even more. During the recent pandemic, my staff wanted to do what we had aways done- get on planes and go to customer sites to shoot video. Many of our customers did not want us onsite but still needed to produce communications. We invested in new equipment and technologies that allowed us to send out a “virtual studio” kit to customers and then remotely capture and control the video recording. There was a fear on the part of my staff that people would not want us to go onsite when things returned to normal. Some customers were afraid of the technology. In the end it has been a great tool, and the change allowed us to offer a new way of creating content in specific situations.
For product creators, introducing new features can rejuvenate an offering. Making updates backward compatible can ease the transition for customers who may be hesitant about change.
Obsolescence is often driven by technological advancements. From floppy disks to streaming services, many once-essential products have vanished. Small business owners must stay vigilant; thinking your product is immune to technological shifts is a common pitfall.
Staying informed about technology can be challenging, but numerous blogs and online communities provide valuable insights. Engaging with these resources can help you stay ahead of the curve.
In my recent book Small Business. Big Success. How to Beat the Odds and Grow a Great Business I explore how technology and be a friend or foe. it. I believe that one of the biggest issues with smaller organizations is that they add technology in pieces rather than taking a wholistic approach.
Here is where a small business needs an outside firm to assist. IT firms can make recommendations and help you build a technology plan and budget. That is another small business issue. Often owners do not budget for technology and the tools that are needed. It is an afterthought. Making it part of the plan provides stability. An outside firm can assist with network infrastructure and cloud services. This is becoming more important as people become more mobile and need to work anywhere and everywhere.
As I discuss in my book, Small Business for Big Thinkers, innovation is vital. However, there is a fine line between being an early adopter and being too ahead of your time. Creating a market for an entirely new product can be costly, especially for small businesses. You want to be ahead… but not too far ahead. It is tricky.
Monitor your market closely. If you notice shifts in customer buying habits or declining interest, it might be time to consider discontinuing a product or enhancing its features. Being proactive rather than reactive can position your business for success.
Do not wait until a product reaches the end of its life cycle or your service fails to meet revenue expectations. Staying competitive requires foresight and agility. Whether it is adapting current offerings or developing new ones, the key is to remain flexible and responsive to the changing landscape. Your ability to pivot will determine your business’s longevity and success.
This article is based on Cynthia Kay’s Entrepreneur Article: Is It Time to Let Go of Your Business? How to Adapt When Your Product Stagnates.