How To Save Your Business From a Downturn

Turnarounds are inspiring. The ability to rebound after a poor-performing day or decade shows the power of resilience and the determination to find success even when, at times, it seems unreachable. Every CEO should seek to become a Turnaround CEO.

It’s challenging to know where to turn when a company is declining, but you can get your company back on track by following a turnaround playbook. CEOs are wise to have a turnaround playbook that will help them succeed. That playbook includes a set of strategies that will focus the leader on knowing what decisions must be made and when to make those decisions.

One such CEO who was able to turn around his company was Chris Lamontagne, who leads TeeSpring (a social commerce platform to create and sell products online.) Chris has had a habit of focusing on growth and has played vital roles in many fast-moving tech companies, even starting his first business at age twenty.

In a short period of time, Chris, following the playbook that he designed, was able to take a company that was losing money and grow it to gain profitability. During that focus, he was also able to enhance the companies social commerce and engage a new audience to build products to create awareness through their platform. Through the use of this playbook, Chris was able to lead his team to recategorize their business and bring clarity to their customers, supporters, and funders. Chris worked to build a new partnerships eco-system (with the likes of YouTube, Amazon, Twitch & eBay) and develop a new fast-growing user base in content creators creating merchandise for their fans.

The 5 Plays That Should Be In Every CEOs Playbook:

1. The Profitability Play:

Many businesses can start bleeding cash when they are launching a new product or idea. It is crucial for a CEO who will lead the charge of changing the direction of an organization that they move the company to profitability and do so as quickly as possible. This play consists of educating the entire organization of the cash standing and helping everyone in the organization take responsibility to get to profitability. The CEO will know that the team takes ownership when the team takes responsibility to watch costs and reduce unnecessary expenses.

Every CEO that wishes to lead a turnaround must focus on the numbers every day. Turnaround CEOs recognized that every penny counts, and every penny must be counted. When a Turn Around CEO focuses on the team on profitability, then the team understands the value of taking care of the customer.

2. The Clarity Play:

I teach every CEO I work with a simple phrase: when the leader is clear, everything becomes clear. CEOs who wish to turn around their company must push for clarity about who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. The leader must help everyone in the organization embrace the organization’s true identity.

One tool that Chris used with his team to push for clarity was going through the exercise of having each person explain the company so that their mom could understand what they do. This simple question is a fantastic exercise for any CEO of any company. Can you and every team member explain your company and what you do so well that your mother could understand it? A company that does not know who they are or what they are about will not succeed in the marketplace.

3. The Awareness Play:

Leaders are visionary. Leaders have the ability to see into the future and develop a company or organization around the possibilities of what could happen or what could make life better for others. However, sometimes, the vision can become blurry. Blurry companies are often buried by their competition.

Chris made an unusual decision when he assumed the CEO role at Teespring. He decided to spend the first three to four months meeting with people in similar businesses to hear what they were doing and what was coming in the future to the industry. When asked about why he would make such a decision, he responded, “I had to find out what success looks like for our company. I knew that the answers were not in Teespring. That was today’s business, not tomorrow’s business.”

CEOs who wish to turn around their company must lead from their vision. They must look out ahead of the competition and make bold decisions that others in their industry are afraid to make. They must get out ahead if they will get out of being behind.

4. The Team Play:

It takes a team to make a turnaround. After leaders know where they want to go, they must focus on getting a team to go along with them. Part of the team play instills in the team the belief that the company or organization can be successful again. The CEO must embrace the role of Chief Belief Officer. They must inspire and call others to believe in the vision. The CEO must communicate the value of what the company is working to accomplish and that all the hard work is worth the effort.

Turn Around CEOs understand the value of the right people doing the right things in the right ways. People will either bring energy into the company or cost the company to expand energy in ineffective ways. This might be the most crucial play a turnaround CEO makes as they gather people who have high energy that will help to energize the company.

5. The Execution Play

The execution play happens by putting the strategy to work. Companies that are in free-fall mode often have a difficult time making decisions. These companies paralyze themselves because they are afraid that they will make the wrong decision. They analyze numbers and data and never move to work the strategy that will lead to success. When people know what to do and how to do it, they are empowered to execute. The CEO, during a turnaround, must focus on encouraging and inspiring the team to act with intention.

Turnarounds are not easy. However, every business will have periods when they start to decline. When a company does not know how to recover after a setback, it is doomed to continue a downward spiral until it closes. These are the five plays that Chris Lamontagne called to help turn his company around. This turnaround playbook should be embraced by every CEO who wishes to guide their company through a downturn back to an uptick for a positive future.