What steps are Landpro taking to stay competitive and resilient in the face of domestic and global challenges?
Our analogy to the question posed is “it’s a bit like when a big long weather system hits the farm. You need to:
Read the forecasts. Using what ever intel you can get your hands on, it is critical to tell you what the outlook might look like in 1 day to 1 year. Ground truth it, and keep modifying it if the info changes. We probe local to international sources of information to try and understand the future. And we keep reviewing this.
Make a plan/strategy of what needs to be done before it hits . At Landpro we started planning for this current time about 1 year ago when the indicators we look for were moving in critical directions that would lead to now. By being prepared it helps us with two things:
- It lets us align key work and resources to where they will meet the plan.
- The problems is halved as it already shared so the “unknown” isn’t quite as daunting if you can prepare for it right?
Get stuck in and implement your plan – remember the storm is on the horizon now, get that rain jacket handy and get your ar*e out-there!
With priorities and timeframes clear from planning get going. You can only do so much in the time and resources available, so be fair on yourself and everyone else by being realistic.
What if the roof blows off the barn halfway through?
Be prepared that things wont go 100% to plan. My acid test is “has anyone died, and if not can it never be repaired?”
Being adaptable and open that you will need to change your strategy on the hoof is part of this game to stay in business. I’ve never met anyone in farming or business who got it 100% right all the time (and if they tell you they have, they’re delusional).
10 key things that we do and I see others in farming and other business lines doing that may help in your planning are:
- Positive Attitude. If you are struggling try my acid test for size?
- Get the right people around you for what you need to do in your plan, and look after them.
- Make sure where you spending and time and money is returning its best value possible. Our company slogan is “better environments, better returns” we do this test at every point for our clients outcomes and this really helps us.
- Look for value added opportunities and benefits. Can you get more out of what you have, side uses?
- Sell move-on things that don’t add value.
- Mandatory needs win in this market. Make sure you tie your offering to what is “needed” rather than just “wanted”.
- Strategy changes your viewpoint. E.g. Short- term = survive. Long term = maintain and grow. You can actually have both plans in place at once we have year plans but also a plan right out to 2040! – This really helps on short term focus/pain v’s long-term view. Sometimes just this one simple step gives you so much more peace of mind.
- If you are going to try something new get as much low-cost intel as you can first, so when you get into concept/starting you have bypassed a lot of the trap-falls.
- Integrated systems are all reliant on each other – we live and work in one such system - make sure you look after and protect all the bits and people in your chain. To this end please hop into this conversation to add your insights of things that have helped you and your business so others can benefit.
Summary :
To survive this current business storm we consider some of the key things are to:
- Make a plan/strategy and keep reviewing it.
- Get stuck in and implement it.
- Be prepared to change and adapt as the outlook changes.
- Have a look at the 10 things we and others are doing to tackle this.
Jason Harvey-Wills
CEO
Landpro
