Here’s How Small Businesses in this Recession can Survive and Thrive
With the slowdown in the markets, I’ve heard a lot from many business owners that they are being directly impacted by the recession. The three things I hear about often have to do with budget cuts, how long it takes to get a client and not making as many sales as they used to.
Actually, this is what I hear from them:
- We’ve got less money to work with, sales are slowing down.
- It takes longer to make a sale/get a new client.
- We’re closing less sales/clients than ever before.
There is always a way to break through, go around or over any obstacle. I’ll be tackling each one in a blog post over the next few days, since this is the kind of information all small business owners should have access to, or a kick in the pants about.
Number 1: We’ve got less money to work with, our budgets are down.
If you have less money to work with, use your smarts and think beyond what you have done in the past. Don’t focus on your smaller budget, but on reaching the people in your market most likely to receive value from your small business. Don’t think of traditional ways like the same old things you were doing before, think of new ways. Ask yourself what kind of return are you getting on those old habits? Are they actually working for you? If you can’t measure the impact they have on your business, consider stopping those techniques and focus on what you can tell is adding in more revenue to your business.
In Summer ‘08 we got see some of the best athletes come to Beijing to compete among the best of the world. Can you imagine what years of training would cost an athlete? Having access to the best coaches, the best swimming pools, the best everything right and paying a premium for it too. But what happens when you’re coming from a less privileged place? You give it everything you’ve got from the bottom of your gut til you have nothing left.
Imagine what swimming in the Olympics is like when you’ve never practiced in an full sized pool before. Do you think you’d never be able to compete in the world games? Would you stop yourself from the chance of greatness because of lack of resources? No way. That’s what Palestinian Olympic swimmer Zakia Nassar had to do. She trained in a 12m pool because she wasn’t allowed access to full Olympic sized pools. So look at your budget cut, or smaller spending power and ask what could you do to get you to win? To grow and to succeed with every resource at your disposal — money, time, people and sweat equity.
What would dedication and an open mind do for your business in your market?
If your business could pinnacle to success under the same conditions as some of the war battered athletes to make it to the Olympics, what would you be doing differently?
Wall Photo by rayphua and Swimming Photo by dmkr