If Dorothy was a business executive, she might click her heels together three times and say, “There’s no time like now, there’s no time like now – to start making better decisions.”

Despite all the doom and gloom in the news, this is the time to ramp up the ROI of your decisions and increase the likelihood of getting the results you’re seeking.

How do you do that? Start by changing the company’s focus from what the company thinks – to what’s occurring in the marketplace. Don’t hunker down and wait out the turmoil.

This volatile, uncertain, constantly shifting and surprising economy screams opportunity. Change is a synonym for opportunity in business. Can you identify specific changes in your industry and with your customers? “The economy” is a cop-out answer and indicates that you don’t know the current state of your market.

Our non-US wrestling client was astonished to learn that there are as many female wrestlers in high school (US) as male college wrestlers. The reason? Title IX which mandated equal funds for girls sports, thereby encouraging girls to play all the sports previously denied. The opportunity? There was no equipment (headgear, singlets, shoes) expressly for females. (Remember Reebok noticing that female runners were wearing men’s running shoes?)

How do you find these nuggets? Through Competitive Intelligence, which is due diligence on your market. Yes, we could have done the usual competitor intelligence, where we investigate what competitors were doing, but then we too, would have missed this new opportunity.

CI is knowing what you need to know about today’s reality and what’s changing or emerging. Decisions are only executed today and tomorrow so they need a mega dose of what’s current.

Decisions based on new insights are the basis for opportunities that continue to satisfy your customers. They’ll grow your company (BtoB, BtoC, non-profits), minimize risk, and decrease uncertainty. As Dorothy discovered, she was no longer in Kansas (her past); her reality had changed (today); and she now had to make decisions about her new marketplace (Oz).

Want to know more? Check out Seena Sharp’s new book, Competitive Intelligence Advantage (Wiley), and download a free chapter. Answer the quiz at Sharp Market Intelligence to see if CI will benefit your decisions.

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