How Business Leaders Maximize ROI By Adjusting To Disruptors

By Kelly Lawrence, Founder & CEO, Lawrence Innovation

Business leaders maximize ROI when their solutions help customers navigate disruptors. Disruptors can come in many forms. Four common areas to look for potential disruptors are:

·       Environmental disruptors

·       Economic disruptors

·       Technology disruptors

·       Demographic and other disruptors

Disruptive Trends Map

 How to use the Disruptive Trends Map

1.       Select a disruptive trend to examine and then ask, if “this disruptor” happens, how might it affect my business?

2.       List potential scenarios.

3.       Considerations for each scenario:

1. What is the likelihood each scenario will happen?

2. How severe is the impact if it does happen?

3. What is the potential impact on business revenue and profitability if it happens?

4. What actions will your organization take to maximize your revenue and mitigate risk?

 An Example

Let’s work through an example looking at the disruptor category, “Demographic and Other factors” in the bottom right.

1. Select the disruptor “Increase in e-commerce”.

2. Potential scenarios:

   • E-commerce increases.

   • E-commerce decreases.

   • E-commerce stays the same.

3. Considerations for each scenario:

   1. The likelihood an increase in e-commerce will happen is high.

   2. The severity of impact on my business from an increase in e-commerce is high.

   3. Potential impacts on my business include:

      • Packaging costs increase.

      • Lost opportunities to cross-sell in-store.

      • Lost opportunities for an impulse buy in-store.

      • New opportunities to engage customers and cross-sell in very targeted ways.

      • New opportunities to create an experience for my customer and maximize word of mouth marketing and referral business. 

   4. Actions my organization will take:

      • Optimize packaging for e-commerce or in-store purchase to save on cost of packaging.

      • Leverage packaging to build customer engagement to delight customers and create a positive experience while reducing the overall cost of customer retention and referrals.

      • Increase # of product skus available for e-commerce delivery to maximize customer satisfaction and top line sales.

In this example, leadership examined a disruptor, identified potential scenarios and took action to mitigate risk while maximizing profitability for a scenario that was likely to occur and would highly impact the business.

What disruptors are affecting your business?

How will you navigate these disruptors to maximize profitability and ROI while mitigating risk? Unsure? Let’s discuss. Contact us .