Keep those windows open to any opportunity

‘Window timer’ refers to the duration for which a window of an opportunity is open. It’s all about the right timing or, as I like to call it, striking the iron when it’s really hot.

As a retailer, in the fast-paced world where it takes seconds for a customer to move to the next brand, you may come across several opportunities that you might want to build your strategy on and capitalise. However, an opportunity usually has a window timer.

That is, how quickly do we need to respond to this opportunity? Do we want to grab it now or can we give it a miss? Or is it something we can afford to take our time to build on?

Opportunities are like waves. At times, they hit the shore with full vigour and retreat within a blink of an eye. While sometimes, they slowly build their force and take time to touch the shore. A good surfer would know when and how to be in the right position to ride it, no matter what the velocity or direction of the wave. He would know when to adjust his body and surfing board to successfully ride the wave.

A parallel can be drawn between opportunities and missed calls too. If you fail to respond to either of them promptly, you wouldn’t know what good fortune it had in store for you.

What is crucial is that as the number of opportunities arising goes higher, they require a quick response.

A key advice here for the retailers would be to learn from your mistakes. The biggest mistake that most retailers usually make is that they try to grab an opportunity even after missing it. The bitter fact is that this opportunity has already passed by ... sooner than you expected.

Well, a lost opportunity is an opportunity lost forever. But, as the protagonist (played by Brad Pitt) in the Hollywood flick The Curious Case of Benjamin Button says,” Our lives are defined by opportunities — even the ones we miss.”

So, when you miss an opportunity, don’t let it overpower your confidence. Instead, you need to question yourself, “All right, I missed this one, but why did I miss it?” Your learning lies in the answer to this question.

A missed opportunity is not just the only thing that should worry you. It also means a detailed and critical analysis of — why was it missed, will there be more, how soon can I expect the next one, has the competition taken that opportunity, do I restrategise as a result.

Learn from the past

Learn from your mistakes and see how you can use this experience to develop better judgement in the future. Over a period of time, and perhaps after a few more trials and errors, you will be a pro at estimating how long opportunities are likely to exist.

Don’t forget that when these windows and opportunities arise, they don’t invite themselves in on their own with a cheery, “Hey, I am here.” They just come by, giving you subtle hint so that you realise their presence.

When a business opportunity presents itself, you need to identify it with your intuition as well as your past experiences. You should be able to pinpoint the early indicators and predict, “This is something that will grow into an opportunity.”

You should also be able to distinguish between a good and a bad opportunity. Just the way you need to recognise whether the shoot (opportunity) of a plant pushing out of the ground would grow into a tree (benefits) or a weed (zero or negative returns). If you know which way the wind is blowing, you cannot only make it your destination faster, but also with the least amount of effort.

Window timer provides a gateway for retailers to develop a skill-set and be able to identify what is being built. Because, by the time it is built, everyone’s going to be part of it.

It is actually associated with how the life cycle of products, categories and brands should be managed. A brand can become bigger and stay at the pinnacle for a while before crumbling into dust. If only it could have identified a window timer ...

— The writer is Executive Director at Thought Leaders M.E.