Business Distress Need Not Be Distressing

I wanted to provide you an update on RMW Commerce and what we are doing here.

Primarily, we are advisors. We help provide an outside perspective for vendors and merchants on their businesses. That outside perspective is designed to be a trusted sounding board as companies navigate difficult decisions.

It’s a market where a lot of difficult decisions need to be made. In essence, I find companies in two modes.

Mode one is survival mode. This mode is a week to week existence. In the worst case scenario, you have stopped paying bills, you have built a 13 week cash flow, and you are living hand to mouth.

Transformation is impossible.

In this mode, you have one big bet to make. Make it count.

Mode two is transformation. You need to change, but you have time to experiment, learn, and find your company’s next act. That next act includes a few new things.

First you could change your pricing model. Conceptually this is simple, but in actuality it’s difficult. Your customers could revolt.

Another type of transformation is to sell new products to your current customers. If you are in a growing market segment and have an opportunity gain share of wallet, this is the easiest way to expand. Examples of this include upsells and cross-sells.

You could also sell your existing products to new customers. In this case, you may need to learn a new goto-market motion. New customers have different behaviors and motivations. Examples of this include moving into a more lucrative segment than your current one. It’s harder than it seems and could take months or years depending on how much you know about this new market.

The hardest type of transformation is to sell new products to new customers. In this case, you are essentially starting a new business, but sometimes it’s not easy to admit that to yourself.

Most of the companies that RMW Commerce is working with right now are in one of these buckets. They are either narrowly focused on survival, or are actively focused on reinventing their business in some way.

If you find yourself needing help in the Commerce space with some of these challenges, we are always happy to listen and provide advice, even if you never become a customer of RMW Commerce. Reach out on LinkedIn, send me a text, whatever works for you.