January 19, 2023

Key Priorities for Business Leaders in Challenging Times

How leaders can adapt and thrive in a tough climate

Developing resilience through speed

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged companies to move faster. A recent report from McKinsey notes that the pandemic motivated companies to operate with speed across several business dimensions including finance, operations, technology, organization, business model, and reputation.

Suppliers can achieve the speed and resiliency that they need to thrive in tough times by:

• Sharpening data acquisition and management strategies
• Cleansing and enriching customer data records
• Optimizing CRM and ERP systems to work together more seamlessly

Courage to chart a new course

Many businesses faced the unknown when the pandemic changed the way the world went about everyday processes. Now that the landscape looks vastly different, McKinsey says that it's tempting, but wrong, to pull back on initiatives and growth plans during uncertain times. Be wise about managing the downside, but pursue the upside with boldness and courage.

For dental suppliers, incorporating boldness and courage into day-to-day operations might include leveraging big data sources to enhance a new marketing campaign. Or putting new data sources and analytics capabilities into the hands of their sales teams for greater in-the-field agility. Considering a new product launch but have some hesitation about the uncertain nature of the market? With the right data at your fingertips, suppliers can be empowered to make bold decisions and be in a position to succeed — not just now, but to lead the market as conditions steadily improve.

Hatch new businesses

One article suggests that 50% of all revenue during the next 5 years is expected to come from new businesses, products and services.¹ Moreover, 34% of companies that put a priority on business building during the pandemic kept their revenues from shrinking, compared to 26% of companies that pursued other growth strategies.¹ Economic downturns create unique opportunities for companies to take advantage of a less crowded field, and market their products and services in new and dynamic ways.

Dental suppliers who have been considering entering a new market should feel encouraged by this. Seeking out high-quality, third-party sources of buyer intent data can help your sales and marketing team create a specific profile of a potential client and refine approaches to targeting them accordingly. With the right data insights, new business, product and service ventures can get started on the right path no matter the market conditions.

Building trust during uncertain times

When revenue is on the line during challenging times, trust building may not seem like an obvious top priority, but as Forbes describes, preparing and maintaining the foundation for rewarding relationships with business partners is essential to success. The two critical aspects of trust that Forbes mentions are trust in yourself and building a sense of mutual trust with business partners. Having the right data and the appropriate depth of data address both needs.

As a dental supplier, you need to be able to trust that your internal data sources and data management capabilities are up to the task of supporting go-to-market strategies. At the same time, the dentists your sales and marketing teams are reaching out to need to be able to trust that you can be a partner to their business. When you have in-depth targeting and market segmentation data insights in hand you’ll already know which providers will benefit most from your products and services before contacting them. And armed with data, sales reps will be seen as credible and knowledgeable when contacting a dental office.

Fluent is a growth resource for dental suppliers

Navigating the future can be a challenging task – but with the right expertise, resources and data in your corner, you will have the confidence and tools to reach your growth destination. Fluent is the #1 dental data and CRM optimization partner, with the domain expertise, deep data sources and proven data management practices to help your organization succeed. Contact us today to learn more about our suite of solutions.