One of the hardest decisions we made at Chubbies was whether or not to shift manufacturing to international from Made in the USA.
A mistake I made was assuming a lot of things that made the decision much more painful than it had to be (does this resonate??).
1) I assumed we'd lose all our customers.
2) I assumed Made in the USA was the main reason people liked us.
3) I assumed our customers would not understand the business realities we were facing, even if they valued the fact our product was Made in America.
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However, If we didn't make a decision, we would be putting our business in a higher risk position, given the cost of manufacturing domestically. The negative impact on our customers would be material.
1) It would negatively impact how we could invest in new products.
2) It would negatively impact out ability to keep pricing in a relatively accessible place.
3) It would negatively impact out ability to brighten out customers' day by creating fun/funny content and distribute it to our audience (and yes, of course, it limited how much we could spend on other less awesome ads, so the customer impact wasn't all negative)
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Here's what our advisors helped us with: They helped us approach this decision with a framework that allowed us to make a decision given the fact we didn't have 100% perfect information.
The framework had 3 parts:
1) Align on the upside/rationale: The whole team must be bought in on why we are making the decision. The objective definition of the upside must be compelling and clearly understood (if not, then why do it?!). If not fully bough-in, then use a 'disagree-and-commit' approach.
2) Quantify downside: Agree on your best estimation on what the negative impact will be. Define the metric that will be impacted and by how much. Know that you might be wrong. Simultaneously, know that you have non-zero data points to inform your estimate. Include the broader team in the process so they feel ownership.
3) Prepare your team to handle what might happen: Put together playbooks, customer scripts, etc. Run head first toward the customer and their feedback.
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Results:
Yes, we lost some customers. Yes, we had some negative commentary on social and in CX tickets. However, the impact was smaller than we predicted. The playbooks and scripts we put together worked. They weren't perfect, so we adapted/edited. The prep, however, was essential to make sure we were ready and started from an aligned front.
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Ultimately, you still might be wrong. You can't necessarily control everything that happens. However, you can control your inputs. And, you can also control learning something from the inputs that led to the previous decision to be better in the future.
There are countless other decisions you'll have to make as a founder / leader, and frameworks can help us remove the scary assumptions and move forward knowing there is risk, but with a systematic process.
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What framework has worked for you?
Account Executive, Chubb Workplace Benefits
1moThey are lucky to have you! Congratulations!!