It’s that time of year again where all of the “experts” share their predictions for the upcoming year. It
is with great pleasure that Advantexe shares our 5 business acumen predictions for 2017. Our practical predictions are based on research, interviews with subject matter experts including executives from leading organizations, and our own observations from working with the world’s most successful companies and leaders.
1. Price pressures will increase in all markets
From a macroeconomic perspective low growth rates, low interest rates, and decreased capital investments means there will be increased price pressures in all markets in 2017. From Industrial Manufacturers to Pharmaceutical companies, your customer organizations will enter negotiations with a built-in expectation of reduced prices, increased discounts over last year, and a significantly less interest in your “value equation” of quality and differentiation. The implications of these price pressures will force organizations to become more operationally efficient to protect margins and long-term growth.
Quick Tips: Increase your business acumen skills, negotiations skills, and relationships with higher-level decision makers that can override the purchasing organizations that are going to beat you up over price.
2. “Innovation” will be marginally incremental
Given our 2017 prediction of increased price pressures – and customer resistance to paying for differentiated quality and innovation – many organizations will be reluctant to make significant investments in R&D. As a result, innovation in many markets will be marginally incremental which of course fulfills the self-fulfilling prophesy of competing solely on price. There of course will always be opportunities for disruptive technology and organizations pursuing an innovation strategy should never take their foot off of the gas pedal, but our recommendation is to be careful and set realistic expectations for the impact of your innovation.
Quick Tips: Increase your R&D/Innovation investments only when you have increased certainty of success through deep market research and cooperative development with customers. In this sort of environment hoping that your investments will pay off is not a strategy. If you don’t think your organization has these skills and tools, don’t wait; get them as soon as you can as a wrong decision here could spell significant trouble.
3. More executives will realize the sales process has been disrupted
As many sales leaders and sales professionals know there has been a significant disruption to the sales process over the last 10 years. Customers have more information, have already made a preliminary decision on which vendor they want to work with, and they rely much less on sales people to push product and more on them to explain the business implications to the customers of their solutions. Selling has gone from building relationships to building connections and only the evolved organizations will survive in 2017 and beyond.
Unfortunately, it’s only now that executives are finally figuring all of this out and wondering what to do next to get back to competitiveness from the sales perspective.
Quick Tips: Address this issue quickly as it is only going to get worse. Successful organizations will move on from “strategic selling” and “challenging selling” to “business selling” where sales people are true consultants and not just product pushers. Look to provide sales professionals with the skills and tools their customers expect them to have.
4. Change leadership best practices across 4 employee generations is even more difficult to execute
Every organization on the planet has gone through and will continue to go through significant change. Billions of dollars have been spent on leadership training that is focused on things like creating alignment, managing expectations, having hard conversations, etc. And most of it isn’t working because too much of the content is traditional, old, tired, and not built to support the needs of four generations simultaneously. As change continues to occur, new approaches to change leadership skills and tools that address the training needs of all audiences ranging from books, to videos, to other kinds of digital media.
Quick Tips: Assess your current change leadership approach and training offerings. Change leadership is going to be a critical skill in 2017 and beyond and your organization must be ready. One of the most effective ways of developing this skill across 4 generations is interactive learning such as business simulations that enable participants to learn-by-doing.
5. Learning and development will achieve full disruption
It’s been evolving for the past few years and it will finally reach full fruition in 2017; the disrupted learning and development model. The “flipped classroom,” purchasing of online libraries, virtual self-study programs, and the elimination of many live training programs are a few of the characteristics of the disruption. In other words, learning and development has evolved from a push strategy to a pull strategy that requires individuals and leaders to take control of their own developmental plans.
This evolution and new system will have significant impacts on the way employees learn and therefore the skills they have to execute their organization’s strategy and ability to achieve results.
Quick Tips: Don’t just throw virtual training out there and expect that it’s going to work. Leverage subject matter experts to create “curated playlists” of content programs that align to the competencies you are trying to develop. Many times, these experts will be advanced instructional designers that live outside of your organization. In addition, look for ways to bring the content to life and application. Experiential learning such as case studies and simulations enable participants to practice and apply news skills so they are ready to use them back on the job.
This is our last blog for 2016! We wish you all a very happy holiday and a healthy and prosperous New Year! As always, please feel free to comments or contact as if you have comments or questions!
