As brand managers and founders, we spend a lot of time preventing and solving problems. Thinking about the negative “What ifs”:
What if the specs are wrong?
What if we don’t make enough money?
What if no one buys this?
Those are real and important questions. And we’ll write more about them and mitigating risks later. But right now we want to talk about the OTHER “what if”—
WHAT IF THINGS GO RIGHT?
What if the specs are perfect for more users than we knew?
What if we triple our revenue this month?
What if EVERYONE buys this?
What if this product becomes the IT item of the season? What if our app lands on the app store homepage? What if that national retailer wants our full line…next month?
There are so many ways that our launches can go right:
Increased sales far beyond expectations
Unexpected press
Celebrity or influencer endorsement
Major customer contract
International opportunities
We need to prepare for wins if we want to take advantage of those opportunities. Timing is everything. So if we can capitalize on golden moments that pop up, it can change our year or entire company for the better.
And if we’re not ready when good stuff happens, that good stuff can turn very, very bad.
On the downside, successes we’re unprepared for can quickly turn into disaster. We can run out of stock, fail to deliver to a new customer on time, or get on a national talk show and say something weird. Getting caught off guard can with a golden opportunity can lead to serious problems for our brand, our business and our reputation.
How can we be ready for the next magic opportunity?
We have to realize that not only is it okay to imagine the best thing happening to our brand, it’s responsible to prepare for it. This doesn’t mean ordering 3 million units when you don’t have any customers. It means that if you did suddenly need 3 million units, you should know how quickly you could build them.
Here are a few questions to think about to be ready for the wins:
- How are we using social listening to know when our brand is getting buzz? How can we amplify that excitement and leverage it into sales?
- How quickly can we ramp up production if we get a giant order?
- What if a Kardashian tweets about our stuff? How can we ensure our products are easy to find and order?
- What boundaries can we set in our agreements with big customers to ensure we meet their expectations?
- How can we train our team to be ready talk to media?
- What if we sell out? Or hit maximum capacity in our location?
- What if our $30,000 Kickstarter instead sells $3,000,000?
- When we see a major increase in revenue, how much should we keep in reserve? Where should we reinvest?
Asking our teams questions like these will spark more and better questions. And will spark more work toward pursuing the next golden opportunity. When it shows up, we can be prepped for the best to happen.
Have any questions to add?
