Published by Niall Devitt, Btb Business Training

This post is the result a conversation I had with one of my clients who is very nervous in terms of what the future holds for her business. Siobhan, this is for you.

Firstly, Lets get real here, this is by no means the first, worst or last recession. In fact, many businesses do better during recession than during boom times.

So Reality Check One: Recession creates opportunity

The big difference between this and other recessions is that the media, Internet and communications in general are now far more advanced so bad news now travels faster, wider and harder than ever before. In other words, the real problem is not the recession, it’s the collective psychology that’s been created, a fear of fear. This is the real issue.

Reality Check Two: The real issue is a collective Fear of Fear

Good businesses principles work regardless of a recession, in fact they probably work even better during a recession because customers are more tuned in when purchasing. Bad business principles are routed out and killed during a recession. This happens to also be good for people who conduct business in the right way.

Reality Check Three: Good business principles work better during a Recession

Reality Check Four: Bad business principles don’t, this is good for the rest of us

I have always been a believer in simple effective business advice, complex advice by definition creates complex problem.

Here are 15 simple strategies for doing good business in a recession or at any other time.

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With the wealth of information that is now available through books, online, TV and a host of other mediums, it has never been so easy or so cost effective to educate yourself, yourself. . Make no bones about it, this is not a luxury task that you do when you have the time. This is a critical business task that you should plan for. Not allocating the time to do this is the first step to business suicide.

Seek out good advice

While there are a lot of cowboy consultants out there, there are also a huge number of gifted people working in various fields. Hiring a consultant, particularly for a small business is a extremely cost effective way of getting knowledge investment and additional expertise. It’s also worth mentioning that the whole point of advice is to listen and take it on board. Remember the best advice is generally the most difficult to take.

Go Niche

One way to deal with competition is to get rid of it altogether by offering something that no one else provides. This often just means taking a slightly different slant on an existing products. The key here is listening to potential customers, what would they like? Is there something that you can provide that no one else is willing or able to offer?

Nurture Existing Customers

Growing a business requires new customers but equally important is holding on existing customers. Protecting your customer base from your competitors requires giving your customers lots of love and attention. We all know that the easiest customer to win is one that is unhappy with their current supplier. Make sure that you deal with issues before they happen, provide great customer service and let people know that you are privileged to do business with them.

Add More Value

Constantly evaluate and evolve your products to offer additional values to customers. When you make an improvement, let people know, e-mail, phone, call out to see them and take them through how this additional piece will make things better. Try to be more than the sum of your parts, give advice, insight, referrals. Know about and listen to client problems not related to your solution, be an trusted adviser, be a friend.

Don’t Cut Prices Just Because

Cutting prices is sometimes akin to saying this was never worth that much in the first place and many businesses do so as a knee jerk reaction. At the very least have a good reason for doing so. Perhaps offer valuable customers a special discount but don’t then devalue this by offering the same discount to others. Adding additional value will always be more effective than cutting costs so think before you act, if your competitors are likely to do the exact same thing, which they probably will, Ask yourself, what’s the point?

Ask for Referrals

Referrals are one of the best and easiest ways to get new customers so do it. So ask for them, simple as.

Prospect

Getting new customers on board requires you to spent time looking. The key to good prospecting is good research so before you pick up that phone, ask yourself, how much do I know about this business and will I have something of interest to say.

Hire a Proven Salesperson with Great Contacts

Another effective way to deal with competitors is to target their customers. We know that people buy from people so if you headhunt their top salesperson, you will also get many of their customers. If you are going to hire a salesperson, why not make it a true exercise in strategic business development.

Cut Unessential Costs

Evaluate to see if you are getting value for money, Are there places where you can cut, trim, save money. Now is the time to get really good deals so invite suppliers in to pitch for your business and listen to what they can offer.

Cut Unessential Activities

Can these two reports become one? Why are the sales people spending so much time on admin? Can we use technology instead of flying/driving to all these meetings. Time is a great resource, are you using it wisely?

Seek Out Free Marketing

Good marketing is always relevant but the difference between good marketing and bad marketing is often just an idea not money. A small business needs to be more inventive in terms of marketing. Technology means that marketing is no longer the preserve of the big guns, U tube, the Internet, blogs etc means that every small business can have access to a worldwide audience. Not taking up on this glorious opportunity is beyond foolish.

Form Business Alliances

Everyone in business has customers that require products they don’t provide or can’t provide. Embrace this obvious opportunity to create relationships with other providers and in turn new customers for yourself. This relationship can be complex in terms of referral fees etc or it can be as simple as you scratch my back and Ill scratch yours.

Invest in Training

People are the cornerstone of any business, the better the people, the better the business. Good training makes people better at what they do or equips them to do more. Training is how you invest in your people.

Invest in Technology

The right technology can make a massive differences to any business. Businesses who embrace technology win, businesses who fear it lose. Investing in technology is now more cost effective than ever before and the ability of technology to increase business productivity is literally increasing ever day. Don’t get left behind.

Tags: business, business development, business growth, business planning, growing business, Recession, Sales

This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm and is filed under General, Management, Sales, business training, start ups, web marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.