TOP TEN WAYS TO RECESSIONPROOF YOUR BUSINESS
TOP TEN WAYS TO RECESSIONPROOF YOUR BUSINESS
Here are our Top Ten recommendations of ways you can recession-proof your business:
1) Know Your P & L In addition to your income and expenses, measure and identify your accounts receivable (numbers & days to collect), customer retention rates, project estimates w/variances, sales cycles and closing ratios, and inventory control. Understand which numbers and percentages have to go up or down for you to succeed. Forecast a 10-15% decrease in revenue and create a plan.
2) Intensify Marketing This is an area that many business owners will cut first in a down economy. DO NOT CUT your marketing budget. Marketing is important in a good economy, but vital in a slow one. Stay networked and connected. Be creative and strive to obtain a bigger market share.
3) Cater to Current Customers and Deliver Extraordinary Customer Service Create new products and services. In a down economy, sometimes it is more cost effective to generate additional sales from existing customers than find new ones. Continue to build outstanding customer service solidifying repeat business and new customers through referrals. Make follow up calls and/or use direct mail to stay in contact with current customers.
4) Be Lean & Fit Cut costs where you can, but NO cost cuts in learning or marketing.
5) Reduce Debt Long-term debt can sometimes be renegotiated saving dollars on interest rates and increasing cash flow. Reduce inventory, if overstocked. Always efficiently manage the cash flow.
6) Keep Good Employees Look to hire even better employees in this age of corporate downsizing. All employees should add value and get results.
7) Adopt Cutting Edge Technologies Create efficiencies, reduce costs, improve service and increase employee satisfaction.
8) Maintain Prices While it is tempting to cut prices to free up cash flow, it is a mistake! You will definitely sell products, but you will cut your profit margins in the process. Discounts are also hard to take away when the economy improves.
9) Good Credit Ratings Good credit ratings are always important, even more so in lean times. You want to always make payments on time and maintain that credit rating. Your borrowing ability and loan costs depend on having good personal credit.
10) Dismiss Your Fear and Consider Expansion Any down-turn will create new business opportunities. Seek out market opportunities that would enhance your current business. New changes and growth will always have a positive effect on attracting new customers, satisfying existing customers and growing your asset.
TOP TEN WAYS TO RECESSIONPROOF YOUR BUSINESS - To learn more about this author, visit David Barr's Website.
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The economy seems to be a topic thats discussed over and over in our local and national media and at almost every business level in America today. Predictions abound that the remainder of 2008 and into the first half of 2009 will see a decline in the economy.
Here are our Top Ten recommendations of ways you can recession-proof your business:
1) Know Your P & L In addition to your income and expenses, measure and identify your accounts receivable (numbers & days to collect), customer retention rates, project estimates w/variances, sales cycles and closing ratios, and inventory control. Understand which numbers and percentages have to go up or down for you to succeed. Forecast a 10-15% decrease in revenue and create a plan.
2) Intensify Marketing This is an area that many business owners will cut first in a down economy. DO NOT CUT your marketing budget. Marketing is important in a good economy, but vital in a slow one. Stay networked and connected. Be creative and strive to obtain a bigger market share.
3) Cater to Current Customers and Deliver Extraordinary Customer Service Create new products and services. In a down economy, sometimes it is more cost effective to generate additional sales from existing customers than find new ones. Continue to build outstanding customer service solidifying repeat business and new customers through referrals. Make follow up calls and/or use direct mail to stay in contact with current customers.
4) Be Lean & Fit Cut costs where you can, but NO cost cuts in learning or marketing.
5) Reduce Debt Long-term debt can sometimes be renegotiated saving dollars on interest rates and increasing cash flow. Reduce inventory, if overstocked. Always efficiently manage the cash flow.
6) Keep Good Employees Look to hire even better employees in this age of corporate downsizing. All employees should add value and get results.
7) Adopt Cutting Edge Technologies Create efficiencies, reduce costs, improve service and increase employee satisfaction.
8) Maintain Prices While it is tempting to cut prices to free up cash flow, it is a mistake! You will definitely sell products, but you will cut your profit margins in the process. Discounts are also hard to take away when the economy improves.
9) Good Credit Ratings Good credit ratings are always important, even more so in lean times. You want to always make payments on time and maintain that credit rating. Your borrowing ability and loan costs depend on having good personal credit.
10) Dismiss Your Fear and Consider Expansion Any down-turn will create new business opportunities. Seek out market opportunities that would enhance your current business. New changes and growth will always have a positive effect on attracting new customers, satisfying existing customers and growing your asset.
TOP TEN WAYS TO RECESSIONPROOF YOUR BUSINESS - To learn more about this author, visit David Barr's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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