The One Thing to Drive Business Growth
October 7, 2016
In the modern market, if businesses aren’t moving forward, they are falling behind. Though ingenuity is a necessity, it’s often easier said than done. During an Omni session on Oct. 6 at ALTA ONE, Ryan Estis revealed how to avoid the frustration of stagnant creativity and become a title insurance innovative industry “rock star.”
Estis, a sales professional with more than 20 years of experience, informed a packed room of more than 800 exploring how to initiate change, inspire innovation and drive business growth. To achieve success, businesses must learn how to provide value.
“Customers do not buy on price,” he said. “They default to price in the absence of value and a quality experience.”
The challenge is that market disruptions happen in real time and title professionals must adapt to an ever-evolving market. Showing a screen of company logos that were leaders at one point in time, but are now gone.
“You could argue that they were at the pinnacle of success until they got disrupted,” Estis said. “The pace of change navigating the next few years will happen at a remarkably different pace.”
To highlight his point, Estis showed a video of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who said that it wasn’t Amazon that changed the book industry, it was the Internet.
“Amazon will be disrupted one day, companies come and go,” Estis said. “Hopefully, that happens after I die.”
With the market expected to change more by 2020 than it has in the past 50 years, Estis provided four areas title professionals should consider to keep pace with the change:
- Era of the Customer
- Initiate continuous reinvention
- Brand the customer experience
- Prepare to win
Estis shared that great companies execute and disrupt at the same time, often disrupting themselves.
“To win in era of the customer, you’ve got to initiate continuous reinvention,” he added. “You can’t get stuck in status quo or comfort zone.”
“There’s a reason why people resist change,” Estis continues. “The biggest reason is fear of the unknown. But fear of what? Fear of failure. You need to reframe your relationship with failure. If you’re not taking some missteps you’re not taking large enough step outside your comfort zone. The antidote to fear is to take action.”
To help with the sales process, companies should rethink how to conduct an audit. The length of the sales cycle is getting longer. Suggestions for a sales audit include:
- What commitment did you earn? What are the next steps?
- Did you confirm the commitment roles in writing? What’s the value added?
- Next commitment objective? When?
“Thinking about how to review an audit will prepare you to win,” Estis said. “If you look at length of the sales cycle it’s getting longer. It takes an average of seven touches to convert a suspect into a prospect and up to 11 touches to get a sale.”
To compete in the new business world, Estis said it’s vital to have a digital presence. Waiting too long to get into the digital game could be fatal, but is an equalizer for Main Street companies looking to compete against Wall Street.
“As small business owner, you can compete with anyone on the strength of ideas and connections online,” Estis said. “This is new and changing everything. What happens when these Millennials become a customer and they don’t prefer to communicate by phone? That’s the shift. Remember who you are and the value you provide.”
Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or [email protected].