Leading in a non-ending crisis

2007-2008 financial crisis raised concerns that the global financial and economic system might experience a truly substantial collapse. The media, publications and business cases were all circulated around “leading in such crisis”. Few in the Levant area especially in Lebanon cared to put the efforts and go through these articles. We were enjoying a peak in our economy supported by a confident banking sector after the 2005-2006 political collapse.

But 2011-2012 to the Arab region is different. On Wednesday August 15 of this year, a lot of people in Lebanon were enjoying their holiday on the beach, mountains, with the family and friends. Like many others I was having a tour in Chouf, enjoying the fabulous natural reserve scenes before facing few barriers on the airport highway on my way back. Followed by the different recent chaos, I woke up the next day on a lot of negative vibes spread from the media. Amazing how bad news is directly broadcasted and nevertheless inflated.  Although summer was rich with different successful festivals, activities, and many other entertainments, we still require a microscope to depict from such media some good news.

That day I started to feel the bad vibes that such instability is bringing to people. Meeting and chatting with various fellows, I significantly noticed how friends are nagging, salespeople and many other employees are again seeking opportunities abroad, and business owners searching for a way to cut their expenses. Even successful entrepreneurs are slowing down their decisions. It is very stressful, the days of uncertainty. But it’s only a slowdown, not a stop, a slowdown that we can control.

In a study conducted on more than 126 big companies (Coca-Cola Co., DuPont, Gillette, Chrysler,… ) to name a few, the critical factor was not the absence of difficulty in time of crisis but the ability to bounce back and emerge stronger. Today knowing that this is the key to success, I allow myself to call upon entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, salespeople and all economical catalyst especially startups like us to invest wisely and push the flywheel of our non-stopping economy. It is these days that ask for our energy. It is in these days that we should keep our attitude, aptitude and eye towards the future.

PR, word of mouth, even marketing doesn’t remove uncertainty. Who is better than salespeople, the front-liners in any economy, to aid in such times? As described previously in [SalesPerson: Lies and Truth], “when they believe that their product brings the required added value, expect to see them then on your door every day, fighting all challenges and objections raised by clients that became warriors of being sold to, unless they hear a Logical no.”

What is better than building or even developing a structured sales department that resiliently follow on their deals? It will aid to control and maintain the visibility of your forecast, minimize the uncertainty that will help you better to strategize and diminish the errors of any significant variation.