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Guest post by: Dave Ferguson Become an Author

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Coaching through a Recession

If you turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper, it's hard to go without hearing or reading about the pending recession, the recession we are in, or what will happen if we go into a recession. A few days ago, another coach and I were trying to remember where we were and what we were doing when we went through the last recession. Funny thing; neither of us could remember. So, either we have really bad memories (not usually) or we were just business as usual through the recessions we've experienced. We both agreed the latter was definitely the case. As small business owners ourselves, we read the same headlines and hear the same alerts on TV that you do. But our experience has shown us that small business owners that believe in themselves and know how to take risk survive recessions and economic downturns. This made me recall two great quotes from one of my favorite inspirational providers, Zig Ziglar. He said, "Your business is never really good or bad "out there." Your business is either good or bad right between your own two ears." & "There's not a lot you can do about the national economy, but there is a lot you can do about your personal economy."



As business coaches, we are engaged in our clients operations and have throughout the past few months provided them with our tips and perceived opportunities to actually grow during recessionary financial times. Yes, a business coach works with you on the timing of when to push and when to rest, when to expand your company and when to contract it, when to trust intuition and when to trust the numbers, when to run a test and when to just go for it. In essence, we help you get in touch with your internal clock, leading to smarter decisions, more choices and the ability to enter the all-to-brief windows of opportunity. With the right information and the right attitude you can actually come out of a recession better than you went in.

So just how do you do that? Here are just a few tips:

1. Don't overreact and start letting employees go. Cut only the fat. Hire slow during a recession and terminate the unproductive employees fast.
2. Don't cut back on marketing. Spend more on marketing; but force your team to quantify your ROI (Return on Investment). Use your coach for research and techniques.
3. Don't waste marketing money on branding ads. Use your coach to help you create a unique selling proposition (USP) that makes you stand out from the crowd.
4. Make your salespeople cold call new prospects. It is the cheapest and most direct way to find buying prospects.
5. Bundle your services. Start thinking like the phone and cable companies. Give your prospects multiple options to purchase from you.
6. Invest in your sales team and help them sell more. Don't be part of the estimated 15% of companies that don't invest in organized sales training. Coach Mark and I have really been busy doing quite a bit of sales training lately. Call us, we can help.

We believe that business owners look for opportunities rather than waiting for them to happen. Many have already faced tough times and by their very nature, they are survivors. We hope the timing of us throwing you this life vest of tips continues to keep you optimistic and always looking for a "silver lining". Keep your thinking right and your business will be right.

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