Table of Contents
Introduction
A recession is strictly defined as two or more quarters of declining economic growth. It is clear by now that we will be in full recession by the time this book is published, which is why you must act now.
You know the frog in the boiling water story, dont you? Put a frog in boiling water and it jumps out: It reacts, it takes action; the frog does something. Of course, it would! What about the manager of a small HR consulting firm? Wakes up on a Monday morning, picks up his Wall Street Journal and sees that the lead story is about the biggest stock market fall since records began, how housing prices have dropped by 30 percent. He gets into the office and his in-box is full of cancelled contracts. YesI know. Its a no-brainer. Hed take non-stop 100 percent action, wouldnt he?
Now the manager of a small Italian restaurant hears that major retailers from Neiman Marcus to Wal-Mart had a dreadful Christmas. Oh, and by the wayhe hearsnew car sales are considerably down. Oh, and by the wayhe hearshis neighbor down the street has had no offers on his house after four months on the market. Oh, and by the way he reflectstraffic in his restaurant this January has been unusually low. Oh well. Maybe itll work itself out. A cappuccino, please.
No, no, noI dont think so. And Im certain you are not thinking like that. You are going to take action. You must. The bigger your business, the longer its going to take to turn it around, and the earlier you need to start. And even if you are a one-man band youve got to keep bringing in revenue while making these changes.
ACT NOW
Act to make your business as robust as possible. In times of growth, you can lose a bit of margin here and there; you can carry one or two under-performers. Customers slow to pay? Well, its not ideal but the banks supporting us. How many contractors are there working on that project? Nobodys quite sure! But there are plenty of salesall heavily discounted of course. All of the above are tolerable (although not ideal) when the economy is growing, but when it stalls bad business practices become exposed.
And theres the rub: A recession exposes our poor working practices. This blueprint for survivalthis plan for successwill take you through exactly the points you need to follow to get back on track in a way that you know makes sense for now and the future.
In the chapters that follow, well address money issues and make sure you get the cash you need more quickly. Well ensure you maximize your margin and profit and stop unnecessary discounting.
Well look at how to find new sources of profitable business and weed out the bad payers. In particular well show you how to avoid a slippery slope of discounting and deals, which is the panic reaction of many at such a time, even though it will only put your back against the wall. Weathering a recession requires good planning and nerve; well help you with both.
Well take you step-by-step through the tough decisions that need to be made about products and customers who are losing you money, about under-performers on your team, and about suppliers, who are, quite frankly, distracting you from what you do best. Delay on these tough decisions and you will rapidly become exposed. Act quickly and you could find that the recession is genuinely a time of opportunity for you.
Well discuss the facts you need to make great decisions: facts regarding who and what makes the money in your office or at your factory. Well give you the knowledge to help you see which salespeople are worth three of the others. And well show you how to spot a great deal. Too many businesses, too much of the time, make decisions based on guessworkyou cannot and wont: knowledge is power.
When we focus on people, well remind you what really motivates them: because its not simply money. Well give you ideas that will enable you to get a lot more out of (probably) a lot fewer peopleand have them enjoying themselves, too.
Its absolutely critical that well get right back to real sellinghandling price concerns, proper negotiation. Well focus on real targets of profitability not just revenue, and on developing accounts not just taking orders. Well show you the benefits of a proper pipeline and forecasting system, that lead to reliable and predictable cash flow.
If you thought marketing was a luxury in a recession, well show you just the opposite: This is the time that marketing is most important. You thought Philip Kotlers 4Ps was just a business school exercise? Absolutely not. Well review how to position and price for the growth you want. Pricing elasticity is mere jargonwell show you how to price properly.
Well explain why the phrase you need to live by now is get back to basics. Do the basics right: efficient phone answering, friendly reception, accurate shipping, timely collections and you have an excellent businessand there arent enough of those aroundwhich is good news for you.
Because there needs to be some tough communicating to do during tough times, well summarize how to deliver your message: the bad news, the grim news, and the good news.
When it comes to finding opportunities you are already ahead of the game. Some of your competitors have hardly woken up to whats really happening out there and are going to really struggle: Thats good news for you. Well show you how to grab every opportunity.
Time management was a challenge before the downturn. And now? Lets get clear on the critical difference between working in your business and on your business. Study this blueprint right nowthat means /on /time, so get used to it!
Youll need some fun because without it you and your staff will all burn out, but fun need not be expensive at all.
The way out of this recession is innovationthat is creativity plus action. Perhaps you had not thought of yourself as creative before, but well show you that you are, and how to take creative action to build a powerful new organization.
If a business slowdown has led you to cut staff, you need to implement great working processes and systems. The more you can automate the better, so well help you work out the systems you need to devise and how to improve the ones you have quickly and effectively.
What about youyes, the management? How can you help? Easy: great leadership, cool decision-making, and smart coaching. These are the soft skills that turn out, in times like this, to have real hard benefits. Well give you guidance.
The panic option is often to strip back your systems to their bare minimum to reduce costs, but what you really need to do is invest. Spend wisely of course, but without investment youll be in no shape when you come out on the other side of the recession. Well guide you on which investments you should make.
Stop talking and start acting. This blueprint is 100 percent action based. No waffle; just guidance. But you can relax. It really will be OK and you will come out of the tough times leaner, meaner, and stronger if you start here and now. This book contains the best of current thinking on how to surviveand with care, thrive inthe current recession. It is entirely practical; there is absolutely no padding. You know where to find that and you dont want it. There are no pictures, stories or anecdotes, just 100 percent turn-this-business-around-now value.
