Times Best, Worst for Business

The book, Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, begins with the quote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This quotation aptly sums up the times in which we now find ourselves as business people.
 
Our world is filled with a wide range of events, opportunities and challenges. The dollar is at near record levels and that puts pressure on the profit margins of manufacturers and exporters. The economy continues to be uncertain with some good news such as low interest rates and substantial job creation, and some bad news such as a slower than expected recovery. The US economy and its health or lack thereof is also a factor creating turbulence in our business environment.

With all of this uncertainty and turbulence in the marketplace, it is important to keep our focus on what is important to us and what makes our enterprise successful. Sometimes, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, you face uncertainty, unable to decide what to do. Doing nothing is a prescription for failure. Doing something positive to keep our business growing and moving forward is a critical factor in the way you can differentiate ourselves from the rest of our  competitors. I call it separating the best from the rest.
 
Here are ten things you can do to successfully manage your way through these turbulent times:
 
1. Use downturn as an opportunity to evaluate performance and plan for success. Think about what you are doing for our customers.  Which products and services are selling and which have to be re-evaluated. Think about adding value. Planning for success means driving your marketing effort.
2. Expand the pond. Get a larger share of your customer’s wallet. For example, expand what you are doing for various existing customers. Review all customers for present and future opportunities. Make a plan to contact previous customers. Expand your product or service offerings.
3. Get out of the bunker. Make sure you consistently go out and meet customers and develop new ones. Target people or companies that you have done business with or with whom you want to do business. This is primarily about marketing yourself aggressively. To be very successful you have to get good at generating appointments, selling business. Add other elements of the way you go to market, e.g. announcements, press releases, small seminars, collateral advertising, etc.
4. Be a hero to your customers. Build relationships and cement those you already have. Under promise and over deliver. Over service, contact, follow up, provide information, etc.
5. Lower your break even point. Review accounts and take them seriously. Manage cash flow upwards by more timely invoicing and expense recording. 
6. Focus on Nurturing New ideas. Have an idea conference. Elaborate on current products or services. Nurturing requires us to get the right people together, in the right social operating mechanism - a system of meetings, assessments, and communications that relentlessly conveys the values supporting the delicate business of bringing new ideas along.
7. Keep up your investment in infotech. Manage the website better, get all your systems working perfectly. Create a good tech image. Use print medium effectively. This will accrue value to you.
8. Overhaul your financial management. Do the proper work forecasting and prospecting. Keep the spreadsheet of Business Forecast up to date and use it. Make the Marketing process work for you.
9. Keep track of early warning signals. Check with customers and get their reactions to the economy. Maybe employ someone to provide you with economic commentary. Use contacts to generate more contacts and more information on the marketplace.
10. Keep Communicating. Develop a clear view of what you are building and keep on talking about what it is. You will benefit from continued communication. Make sure that communicating to your customers is an integral part of the whole marketing process.
The whole idea of managing proactively is to make “the best of times” better and “the worst of times” not so bad. There is plenty of opportunity in the market for those that see it and are not blinded by the headlights of challenge.