*
“Life has a tendency to bring about crises that offer character development moments.”
—Kim Archer
Crisis and challenge are inevitable. The key in getting through the challenge is the way companies and leaders plan and respond. That insight comes from Kim Archer and Jennifer Shooshanian of Business Development Resources (BDR) in a virtual session during Pantheon 2020, ServiceTitan’s annual conference for the trades. Here are the key takeaways:
1. Archer’s principles for navigating a crisis: Be ready, build your agility, prepare and plan.
Being ready means planning for any challenge, and once it hits moving quickly and strategically. Planning, which Archer compares to baseball’s spring training, means a company is prepared for what’s ahead.
“We can mitigate potential losses and other bad things if we’re ready,” Archer says. “If we have a strategic plan. If we’re agile.”
2. Remember that the service department is the foundation for success.
Any company’s core beliefs are found in service. Shooshanian points out that ServiceTitan’s built-in efficiencies—such as helping with remote work and no-contact payments and signatures —have helped profitability during the COVID-19 crisis.
“If we’re going to sail through the storm,” Shooshanian says, “we have to make sure that our service department provides stability.”
3. A company will respond the way its leaders respond.
Leaders create a sense of safety in times of challenge.
“People are watching and they want to make sure that you are in the game,” Archer says. “If you’re in the game, I’m in the game.”
4. Challenges demand agility and adjustment.
A crisis might require adjustments in approach or thinking. Shooshanian suggests the virtual service call and ServiceTitan emailing of repair options as ways to adjust.
“Planning,” Archers says, “can predict obstacles.”
