Out of Crises Comes Opportunity: Will You Seize It?

You are sitting in your virtual boardroom, clinical space, or manufacturing plant, contemplating the future.

In addition to us all doing our personal and professional best to lift our communities above crisis, we attend online sessions, keep up with a torrent of emails, and consider the troubling question about our economic future. Solely on that subject, one thing is clear: out of crises profound business opportunity is often born.

This is a rare moment in time to strengthen your market position within the specific area of integrative health space you serve.

Only by taking a couple steps back—not to be confused with retreating—will the full picture emerge as to what is possible moving forward.

Only by pivoting from a defensive posture to an offensive stance is sustainable success possible.

Only then can you commence the charting of ‘what comes next’ for the health-directed organization to which you are fully committed.

There are no guarantees of what things will look like over the next three, six, or 18 months. Many small businesses and organizations will not survive, even with government assistance—especially those that were floundering before COVID-19 struck. As history shows us, legacy firms disappear, and new organizations emerge in the wake of crisis.

No one can accurately predict the human and fiscal impact of an unprepared government in the face of a silent killer. Apparently the U.S.—in the here and now—is not as adept, organized, or nimble enough to quickly mobilize as smaller countries have (read: South Korea).

The ‘program’ to address population health preparedness, in response to this viral crisis, has been at best at the level of an undeveloped nation. The depth and breadth of this health and fiscal crisis could have been greatly mitigated had delayed and poor policy decisions not failed us. Yes, it will be ‘fixed’. We will catch up. We will eventually get out in front of this monster. After all, $2 trillion dollars, with more in reserve, can impact recovery.

Objects Are Closer Than They Appear

We can heed the words of the expert economists and their advanced modeling techniques, yet it’s deep speculation against a backdrop of fog. While we don’t know the final effects, we can push now to advance our market position within our competitive set.

While it is true that unparalleled health crises can trigger economic disasters, the fundamentals of the economy in the U.S. were strong before COVID-19. It’s the fear of the unknown—coupled with the closing of a large chunk of the economy, and our collective hunkering down (and not spending money outside of necessities)—that drives our newfound economic woes and uncertainty.

However, the absolute core of health creation, and all that falls under the rubric of integrative health, remains intact as we absorb the physical and mental health challenges of self-isolation, change exercise and movement patterns, establish a new normal in the way we purchase food, and deal with financial stress on top of it all.

The question becomes: When the dust starts to settle and the economy begins its ascent, what will you have done to prepare your business, organization, or personal brand for this moment?

Without taking immediate control of critical decisions now, you will fail to capture economic recovery for yourself, your employees, and those stakeholders you represent. Preparedness, strength, positioning, and vitality is only possible with advance, pragmatic strategic planning.

Do Not Press Pause

Some of the largest and most successful brands today were launched during deep recessions, including:

Apple: 2001

General Electric: 1890

IBM: 1896

General Motors: 1908

Disney: 1923

Microsoft: 1975

CNN: 1980

In 2009, at the height of the great recession, half of the Fortune 500 companies were recognized to have been founded during a previous recession or bear market. From crises come innovation, improvement, promise, and financial gain.

Innovators—not the majority—go to work now to help ensure a larger slice of customer attention and market share later.  In which camp will you and your team live?

I realize integrative health does not generate many blue chip firms (yet). Still, the premise holds true: there is no better time than right now to take a long, measured look at what it will take to secure not only the survival of business, but to ensure an incredibly well-positioned spot for the next phase of its life… think post-COVID-19 relief.

This is the critical window in which to act—to examine and to imagine what is possible and what comes next in the evolution of your integrative health and wellness enterprise or organization. It is the ideal time to reassess gaps in your brand platform and unique market positioning—and to assess how your firm engages current and prospective clients and investors.

Put simply, today’s unique challenges present an extraordinary opportunity for business leaders to think forward, and work on their companies, not just in them both operationally and administratively.  

You cannot control when your business may reopen (if you work within a nonessential sector). Nor can you control the inevitable human resource challenges and decisions ahead—both short and longer-term. However, you can emerge in a much stronger position through a proper assessment to inform strategy.

Many companies and entrepreneurs intentionally launch at the beginning of a recession. Furthermore, other forward-thinkers see value in existing top-tier quality brands and companies that are teetering—on the brink of dissolving or going into bankruptcy—and make smart acquisitions or form partnerships to their financial advantage. Prudent and swift action often pays off for them over time.

In this moment in time, we have been forced into an almost entirely virtual landscape. Conferences are moving rapidly to virtual platforms. Private physicians, hospitals, and health systems are fully tapping the power of telemedicine. Government is loosening regulations to support this dire time of unmet patient need.

Now, as you hunker down—literally and figuratively—look inward as you also look outward at strategic planning for an exceptional future.

This hunkering provides opportunity: before the disruption of COVID-19, you didn’t have time to strengthen core elements of business platform or personal brand.  What’s holding you back from making decisive moves now?

Are you ready to seize this moment?  Contact us today for a discovery call with FON’s founder, Glenn Sabin.

About FON

FON is a leading integrative health and medicine business development and strategy consulting firm. FON specializes in custom solutions for growing patient volume, developing programs, and increasing product sales. Our practical business models are driven by innovative marketing, clear messaging, and customer engagement via branded storytelling.