Everywhere I go, everyone will be talking about the current economic situation. Some of my friends who are business owner are getting mad on how the bailout is going to help them, others see the opportunity that is ahead of them. For working professional, most are worrying whether their company is going to cut down more people. Personally I believe that this is the time for us to stay focus and answer the question of the year “What should I be doing, NOW!”
Five basic areas to focus on first.
Examine your Mindset
Do you believe in your ability to survive and be successful? Are you prepared and open to the new opportunities that exist. This no time for Chicken Little thinking, invest wisely, but first on yourself and our mindset.
Back to School
The best investment you can now make is to increase your knowledge: read, attend a class or seminar, gain new knowledge and learn new skills. If you are temporary layoff professional, consider a postgraduate degree to brush up your skills so that you can prepare yourself to new challenge when the economy picks up. If you are an entrepreneur, evaluate whether there is any training that will improve there performance, customer service, sales, communication and team building are great areas to examine.
Financial Analysis
Analyze your company growth, revenue data and cash flow thoroughly. This is the time where numbers are the language of business, by knowing your key indicators and what drives the indicators. From there, drive your company strategy on ways to overcome downturn.
Market, Market and Market
This is not the time to trim your marketing budget; you should have solid data that allows to pin point the marketing that targets the best results. You cannot afford to “spray and pay”. You have to know what works and what does not work, measure the results of all marketing campaigns and repeat the successful programs. Do not highlight discounts or reduced prices, showcase value and unique product/service offerings. Take advantage of low cost, no cost marketing techniques.
Protect your existing customer
Build a loyalty fence around your existing customer. Give them no reason to consider about your competitor at this point of time. Value them as they are the most important part of your business. (Which they are) if you don’t know how they feel about you and your business, ask and listen.
We have many choices with the directions that we take our businesses and the choice is always ours. Some say it will get worse before the economy rebounds, will you be prepared? How are you going to come out the other side of this current situation? And if you are “all in” can you afford to not do things differently than before? The choice is all yours, what will you do first, what will you change?
Do share your thought here.
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