Recession! Doom and Gloom! Not!!

A Client of mine asked me a little while ago how I felt about all the talk of recession. He was in the middle of implementing bold expansion plans involving significant investment. Easy to appreciate his concerns. he was a little surprised, I think, at my response! Whilst it is important in any business to keep a firm grasp on reality, I do believe that the gloom mongerers are making bad matters worse. To me, the flip side of the undeniably worrying times we are currently experiencing, is opportunity. It is a sad fact that when things are going well, we are inclined to take certain things for granted and complacency creeps in. It is perhaps no bad thing, then, that concerns over future economic stability are forcing so many companies to address this.

Carefully considered strategies need to be worked out to ensure any potential crisis is survived and the business emerges on the other side. This means some tough questions have to be asked - and answered. This doesn't just mean knee-jerk reactions such as cutting back the workforce or making other false economies. It is a well worn cliche and I have referred to it before on this blog, but there is a need to 'work smarter not harder.' Reducing staff numbers is an option but so is improving effectiveness and productivity through staff training and development. Too often management in companies are too close to the day to day minutiae and the fire fighting so often required to be able to step back and take an objective view of their business - hence the need for people like me.

Sales & Marketing activities are crucial at any time but especially when companies are competing for increasingly elusive business. Don't slash your advertising budget; explore alternative promotional activities (of which, there will be more news here soon - watch this space!) And what of your core business? Can you diversify? Can you expand your market - have you considered exporting? Are you fully exploiting internet opportunities?

There are no quick and easy sure fire solutions and many of the issues are outside of our control anyway - take the price of fuel for example, and its impact on most of our bottom lines. However, whilst we can't control the price of fuel, we can certainly handle the impact of it and take steps to mitigate it.

Flip the coin, I say; ask questions, explore options and turn the doom and gloom of recession into positive opportunity. And if you aren't sure what questions you need to be asking or don't have the time to review your situation, give me a call and we'll take it from there!