Anyone Can Hold the Helm when the Seas are Calm
- 1/2/2010

SURVIVING HARD TIMES

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. “

Publilius Syrus

1st Century B.C.

Latin Writer of Mimes

As our economy continues to be sluggish, here are a few tips from Stefan Doering of Best Coaches Inc.

Ten Steps to Creating a Recession-Proof Business:

1. Don’t React... PRO-act do not wait until you experience a problem in loss of sales, slow paying clients, etc. Make the choice to work now and quickly. Pre-empt things that might effect your business. Waiting can be the kiss of death.
2. Clarity is Power be clear on what you want and not what you don’t want. Keep your eye on the ball. Create your strategy for the next coming months for what you from your business. For example,’I want to build sales 10% while keeping my profit margins in tact.’
3. Find Where It Hurts  get in your customers’ heads. Learn and understand their economic’pains.’ Define and create solutions to these pains. Here are the current top three pains:
1. Mortgage fallouts
2. Tightening credit
3. Cost of energy
4. Adjust Your Mix introduce products/services to address those pains. Look at cost-saving and value-driven solutions. How can you help others deal with the economy crunch?
5. Repackage present your product(s)/service(s) how your customers will save and create more value by using it/them. Back up your claims!
6. Preposition use current events in the news to hook and grad your audience and market your product(s)/service(s)... authentically!
7. Rewrite your message in a way your audience can’hear’ it... using language they can relate to.
8. Bundle your products and services with synergistic businesses that bring some serious clout to the table, i.e. complementary product(s)/service(s), customer lists, expertise, network of contacts, etc.
9. Be Real With Your Stakeholders stakeholders are anyone with a stake in the success of your business, i.e.: customers, vendors, investors, employees, etc. Understand it may not be easy for them to keep things moving. Find creative solutions to keep their cash coming in. They will appreciate you helping them and more likely to reciprocate.
10. Avoid Collapsing collapsing is when a few things are not working properly or going according to plan and you say,’Nothing is working!’ Stay calm. Remember all is well. Spooking your customers is not a good thing. Drop your prices if necessary... but only with a powerful’why’. No G.O.B.’s (Going Out of Business) or fire sales without discussing it with an outside, objective expert.

Action Step For the Week: