Pivot or Persevere: A guide to Making Strategic Decisions for Your Business

When you launch a new venture, understanding when to pivot or persevere can be the difference between success and failure. Drawing from our journey with Kaizen Minimalist's Simple Living and Lean Startup principles, we're sharing practical ways you can apply this methodology to your own business.

1. Analyse Customer Feedback Thoroughly

Customer feedback is crucial in evaluating whether your product or service is resonating with your audience. For Simple Living, we used direct feedback from market attendees to assess the appeal of our plant hangers and indigenous plant offerings.

The questions to ask yourself include:

• Are you receiving consistent feedback that aligns with your current offerings?

• Do customers frequently request changes or additions?

If feedback is mostly positive and matches your offerings, it may indicate you should persevere. However, if suggestions for change are consistent, a pivot could be necessary to meet customer needs.

2. Evaluate Sales Data and Trends

Track your revenue over time and compare it to your projections. At Simple Living, we monitored sales trends across various product lines to see which items resonated.

Ask:

• Are sales increasing, stagnant, or declining?

• Which products contribute most to revenue?

If sales data reflects growth or potential with slight adjustments, persevering may be your best bet. If data points to stagnant or declining sales despite efforts, it might be time to pivot your strategy.

3. Study Market Dynamics and Competitors

Take note of how your business fits into the broader market. For Simple Living, observing the I Heart Market’s environment and competitors provided insight into unique opportunities we could tap into or challenges that required change.

Ask yourself:

• Is your offering distinct or being overshadowed by competitors?

• Are market trends shifting in a direction that aligns with or contradicts your current path?

If your niche is unique or growing in demand, perseverance may lead to long-term success. If competitors are innovating in ways that outpace you, a pivot could help you stay relevant.

4. Assess Resource Efficiency

Reflect on your internal operations. Simple Living examined whether our resources were being used effectively to manage demand and support new products.

To decide if you should pivot or persevere, consider:

• Are your current efforts sustainable with the resources you have?

• Are you stretched too thin without seeing sufficient returns?

If resources are being maximised efficiently, you might decide to persevere with optimisations. If your operations are struggling without results, a pivot could reallocate resources more effectively.

5. Project Future Trends

Forecasting market trends can guide your decision-making. Simple Living’s experience with eco-friendly and sustainable products gave us insight into how aligning with broader movements can support growth.

Ask yourself:

• Is the market for your product growing or shrinking?

• Can you adapt your offering to align with future trends?

  
  

Pivoting to stay ahead of new trends or persevering with future-oriented tweaks can ensure you remain competitive and relevant.

Applying the Build-Measure-Learn Cycle

The Lean Startup approach emphasises building, measuring, and learning as a continuous loop. We built our initial offerings, measured customer interest and feedback, and learned from those insights. By revisiting these steps, you can iteratively decide whether your business should pivot or persevere.

Final Thought

Making the choice between pivoting and persevering isn’t easy, but when based on data and insights, it can be the most strategic move for your business.