Adapting to Change: How to Pivot Your Business Model for Success

In today’s fast-paced, ultra-competitive marketplace, you, as a business owner, have to be willing to change or adapt to what’s going on around you to thrive. Virtually no one loves the idea of changing course or pivoting towards a different business model, but it is often necessary to remain relevant, effective, and engaging as a brand. This doesn’t mean you change every aspect of your business model, but instead, improve certain elements to make your business more competitive with others in your arena. Read on to learn more about how to adapt to change and pivot your business model for sustained success:

Why Pivoting is Necessary to Business Survival and Growth

The adage “the only things certain are death and taxes,” might have missed an important additional factor, that being change. While there aren’t a lot of things in life and in business that you can count on as certainties, change is something that will happen. It’s a guarantee. Therefore, your ability to adapt as a business to changes taking place around you will go a long way in determining your sustainability and your overall success.

Some of the many changes you might experience include economic downturns that impact buying behaviors, competitive pressures, technological issues, and evolving customer preferences. Your business must be innovative, adaptable, and agile, pivoting when necessary to remain relevant in today’s market and thrive despite what is happening in the marketplace.

Benefits of Pivoting: Keeping Your Business Competitive

Before looking at how to adapt to change and pivot your business model, let’s consider practical ways these actions can benefit your brand: 

• Improve Customer Satisfaction: Pivoting your business based in part on customers’ preferences related to feedback, customer data, and overall marketing conditions means putting customer satisfaction first. A good example of this was when Netflix pivoted away from offering physical DVDs as a rental service and instead became a streaming platform. They made these changes to cater to the changing preferences of their customers and meet the market demand.

• Increase Profitability and Revenue: Obviously, your overarching goal as a business is to make a profit. After all, unless your goal is mission work or not-for-profit endeavors, that’s the point of your business overall. Thankfully, by pivoting your business model effectively, you can reduce costs, explore additional sources of income, and optimize your business’s resources to increase your overall profit margin.

• Enhance Your Unique Reputation: By changing your business model to meet market demand and trends, you can discover new ways to solve problems, deliver value, and create an impact. Overall, this will help establish your business as one with a unique reputation and a leader among followers, as it were. A good example of this is Apple. They effectively pivoted from a consumer electronics company only to one that promoted a lifestyle brand, making them unique in their industry.

How to Pivot Your Business Model For Sustained Success

Pivoting or changing a business model is not a one-and-done event. It is a continuous process that involves adapting and learning as you grow as a brand. The following are some practical examples of types of changes you can make and how you can pivot your business model to create sustained success for your business: 

Customer Segment Pivot

This type of change is when you alter your business model based on your customer segment or target market and their preferences. Again, think of Netflix and how it changed from offering mail subscriptions to streaming services based on customer preferences and market trends.

Value Proposition Pivot

This pivot is based on pricing strategies or revenue models. With this change, your target market stays the same, but you shift your value proposition to meet a changing market. An example of this is Slack, which started out as a free service but then adapted and shifted to a subscription-based service. Your value proposition is what makes your product desirable or what inspires buyers to purchase your product or service. 

Cost Structure Pivot

A change in cost structure allows you to allocate your resources differently by altering various aspects of the way you charge customers. It keeps your value proposition the same as well as the target audience but changes price models. A good example of this type of change is Airbnb, which began as a platform that rented out air mattresses and then rooms and now rents out entire homes.

Channel Pivot

When you change your distribution strategy, you effectively change the channel portion of your business model. This keeps the other aspects the same while changing the way your product is being moved. A good example of this is the company Dell. They were once a direct-to-consumer online retailer only. However, they pivoted to providing a hybrid model of their brand and allowing their computers to be sold in stores as well. This changed the way customers could access their brand and products.

Technology Pivot

Perhaps one of the most important pivots or adaptations you can make to remain relevant and successful in today’s digital age is altering the way you utilize technology. Today, many businesses find that features like electronic signature options or VPNs are key to making their business safe to access in today’s online realm.

A VPN is a virtual private network that protects the privacy of your customers when they are accessing your services or products online. It is immensely important in today’s cybercrime-filled society, where information is always seemingly at risk, to have this type of additional protection, along with technology-based features.

Product Feature Pivot

When you change the way your products function or their features, this is yet another way you can adapt to a changing market. A good example of this is Facebook. It started as a college-only social network originally. It changed to a global social network to meet demand, and now features wide uses and applications. It opened up access to another realm of potential customers.

Customer Need Pivot

Of course, you always want to meet customers where they are and provide workable solutions to problems that come up. Changing your customer need focus allows you to keep your current target market and even value proposition while changing the way you are serving your customers.

A good example of this type of change is Amazon. This brand began by selling books online but quickly changed to fulfilling customers’ needs for products by becoming an online marketplace.

Change is a Certainty, So Learn to Adapt

The information outlined above explains why pivoting or changing is necessary for today’s businesses and how you can successfully adapt to change and sustain success, no matter the market trends or economic realities. Keep them in mind as you seek to navigate the ever- evolving landscape of the business world and remain effective and engaging with your client base, listening and reacting to their needs and product preferences. In this way, you can effectively pivot while still staying true to your roots and remain a success for many years to come.

Guest post written by Megan Isola

Megan Isola holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and a minor in Business Marketing from Cal State University Chico. She enjoys going to concerts, trying new restaurants, and hanging out with friends.