Partner, Persevere, and Pivot: Keys to Success in New Markets

The decision to break into a new market is seldom an easy one. It requires a significant amount of market research to identify the potential customer base, assess the risks and benefits, and develop a marketing plan to achieve objectives. This edition of Partners in Progress emphasizes three other key factors for success in new market development: the ability and willingness to pivot and adapt, perseverance in the face of adversity, and the importance of finding the right partner to help that process reach its full potential.

Previous issues of Partners in Progress have focused on the significant changes that contractors and sheet metal workers have had to embrace to work post-COVID. Meeting those challenges has required perseverance and commitment to new ways of thinking. This issue shares more examples of the same.

“Pivot” used to be a word that was generally used to describe the center point of a mechanical rotating system or a movement in basketball in which the player with the ball can move in any direction with one foot while the other foot remains in contact with the floor. Increasingly, it has morphed into a popular buzzword to describe shifting a business strategy.

A business may need to pivot to compete in a new market or to address a change that makes some aspect of the current business model unworkable. Doing so requires perseverance because thinking outside the box is seldom painless. “Pushing Through” on page 4 details the quick adaptation the International Training Institute (iTi) took in switching its curriculum to online learning to ensure that training in the sheet metal industry carried on despite COVID-19 lockdown orders.

This month’s “My Journey” (page 7) features Robert Dak, whose outstanding career led him from apprentice and journeyman air balancer to contractor to award-winning TABB instructor. Through it all, he stayed the course in doing the best he could for the industry.

A sobering statistic is that for every successful market entry by a business, four will likely fail. In “Developing New Market Opportunities” on page 8, industry experts share their perspectives on the critical need for SMACNA contractors and SMART Locals to leverage their partnerships to enhance their odds for success. SMACNA contractor leaders stress that when entering a new market, their entire team needs to be on board, and they explain that their labor partners are a critical part of the team.

“Pivoting During a Crisis” (page 10) provides more great industry examples of how SMACNA contractors and SMART Locals relied on teamwork, perseverance, and partnerships to enact changes post-COVID-19 allowing them to meet tight deadlines on challenging projects while ensuring the safety of their workers.

Need help building your local labor-management partnership to enter new markets or to successfully pivot to meet changing conditions? Turn to page 12 to learn the details of the Partners in Progress labor-management Strive to Succeed challenge, and learn the four simple actions that SMART Locals and SMACNA chapters can do to earn a $1,500 grant to apply to a future joint marketing effort. It’s as simple as meeting virtually or in person, agreeing on a joint goal, developing an action plan, and reporting the progress to pinp@smacna.org by February 28, 2021.

Did you know that SMART and SMACNA have a jointly sponsored entity devoted entirely to developing programs to create or expand opportunities in emerging markets, news technologies, and advances in manufacturing and construction processes in the sheet metal industry? The “Energy to Thrive” article (page 14) details the exceptional work and services the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI) offers to help labor-management partnerships. See page 15 for a list of available NEMI certifications and the accomplishments of SMART Locals 105 and 88 that earned them 2020 Industry Awards.

Partners in Progress is always looking for new market success stories. Please share those successes with press@ pinpmagazine.org so we may cover them in future editions and so others in the industry can learn from your good ideas. ▪

Did you attend the latest webinar on the SMACNA/SMART Best Practices Mark Expansion Task Force Recruiting Resources? If not, you can find a link to the presentation and recording in the members-only Recruiting section under Resources at pinp.org. The final webinar is scheduled for Nov. 17.