Summary

Pivoting is a positive shift in strategic thinking about your idea or enterprise. It involves using observation and feedback about how your product, service or concept is perceived in the marketplace to make necessary adjustments. Pivoting is a recognised way of establishing the right customer fit with your value proposition and it may involve subtle shifts in operations.

It may be necessary to pivot to ensure that your market positioning is aligned with your brand values, your pricing is appropriate, you are targeting the right customers or even how you distribute your product. There are many possible ways in which you may have to adjust course through the lifetime of your business.

Being alert to what is happening in the marketplace, with competitors and, most importantly, with your customers, will provide valuable data and insights to inform why your progress is stalling or failing to meet your customers’ expectations. With deeper consideration and analysis, issues are highlighted and then with careful planning and execution, corrective action can be taken. However the key thing is to remember that in a pivot, one foot remains firmly in place, grounding you to your original ideas and values while the shift in direction is about finding new ways to achieve them.