Waiting for the Recovery

This past year has been a tough one for many companies as the economic recovery which was expected never quite arrived in most sectors. It doesn't look like 2003 is going to be any easier so here's a few things you can do with your small business to make sure you stay in business.

1. Batten Down the Hatches
   If you've been hanging on to fancy equipment and services waiting for the up-turn, now is the time to get rid of them. It's important that you don't cut things which are going to impact negatively on your customers. If you need two phone lines because you get a lot of faxes, cutting down to one is just going to make your customers wait and inconvenience them. That's not the way to go. But do you need the phone with the big display screen which you're leasing from the telephone company at substantial cost? Even if it's a minor cost item - get rid of it. These minor items add up and you have to be consistent - get rid of everything you don't need in order to serve your customers well.

2. Pamper Your Best Customers
   Competition is going to be fierce and everyone is trying to cut costs. You're going to lose some customers but you'll lose fewer of your best customers if you pay attention to them now. Identify the customers you want to keep and let them know you value them. Give them small extras and special pricing. Aim for a closer relationship with key customers.

3. Clarify your Basic Business Strategy
   Most small businesses fall into one of two basic categories. Either they are competing with a few big guys and have to prove they're just as good or they're competing with lots of little guys and have to prove they're better.

   If you're selling good quality computers and you're competing with Dell and IBM, you have to show that you're just as good. If they put glossy flyers in the local paper and you want to compete, that's what you have to do. To show you're just as good, you do what they do.

   If you're in real estate, you probably have a dozen other agents in the area doing what you do. Showing you're a good is not a useful strategy - you have to show you're better. If some send out cheap promotional pens, you should avoid doing that and come up with something better.

   Know your market, what you're doing in it, what your position and that of your competitors is and where you're going.

   The copyright of the article Waiting for the Recovery in Small Business is owned by Bert Markgraf. Permission to republish Waiting for the Recovery in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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