Recession Strategies for YOUR Business

Lets face the Facts:

There’s no doubt about it....The economic recession that’s raging across the United States courtesy of an absurd number of layoffs, massive quantities of homeowners defaulting on their mortgages, an inflation rate that far overpowers current adjustments to incomes and the resulting decrease in consumer spending has hit everyone hard. As Americans struggle to pay their bills and put enough away to ensure their retirement, companies from coast to coast are taking a major hit in profits.

''Somehow purchasing a new Ferrari just doesn’t look as appealing when you consider the impact that expense is going to have on your retirement account.''

The bad news is that this trend doesn’t show any immediate signs of coming to an end, particularly as gas prices continue to soar. The good news is that an economic recession is not always a bad thing! In fact, if you are a savvy investor and business owner an economic recession can actually help you. Why? Because there are certain things that happen during a recession that, if used correctly, can help you ensure your security and the security of your family for many years to come.

It seems as though every time you turn on the news there’s another story about a plant that’s closing, another company that’s outsourcing their labor and laying off their employees and a rapidly growing line of people standing in the unemployment office. What they don’t tell you about is the hundreds of people behind the scenes who are benefiting from this economic recession including businesses. Why should they? Good news doesn’t make good news!
Ironic isnt't it.

So lets us focus on what you can do as a business owner to safe guard your investmen that you have worked so hard to achieve.


Keeping Your Business Floating Until the Flood Waters are Gone

If you’re the owner of a business you’re going to have a much more personal view of the effects of the economic recession, because it’s going to be your profit margin that’s beginning to show a loss. It’s times like these when many business owners find themselves wishing that they could go back to the days of being a mere employee, because then all they had to worry about was whether or not they were going to keep their job-not whether or not their investment was about to come crashing down around their heads and leave them in debt and bankrupt.

The good news is that if you’re a business owner facing the inevitability of an economic recession you’re in a unique position to take advantage of it. An economic recession can be the savvy business owner’s best friend if you know how to use the opportunities that only present themselves in times of hardship like these. If you’re prepared to take the steps you need to take in order to make those opportunities a reality then you’re in a perfect opportunity to ensure that when all those other businesses out there are floundering yours continues to thrive.


How Low Can You Go?

The first thing you have to remember is that an economic recession happens for a reason, and that reason is that people are trying to hold on to their money like they’re afraid the next Great Depression is waiting right around the corner for them. You’re not going to be able to pry that money out of your customers and clients with clever marketing strategies. They’re far too clever for that (or so they would like you to think).

If you can’t get money out of them the old fashioned way, how are you going to keep your business afloat? By doing what businessmen and women have been doing for centuries to make sure that they stay on the top of their game. You’re going to undercut your competition!
Think of it this way. If you only had fifty dollars in your pocket and you needed to buy a new lamp from your home, where would you be more likely to go to purchase that lamp? To an expensive retailer that specializes in high quality lamps and might have something that was only a little scratched or chipped for fifty dollars or your local Wal-Mart, where you can purchase a perfectly fine lamp for half that amount that will be more than serviceable until you have the money to buy something high quality that will last?

If you’re looking at this and wondering why anyone would pass up the opportunity to get a once in a lifetime deal on a decent lamp you obviously haven’t looked at Wal-Mart’s financial reports lately. There’s a reason that Wal-Mart is one of the top retailers in the country, and it’s not because it offers high quality, one of a kind items. It’s because it offers mediocre, generic but necessary items cheap.
Stores like Wal-Mart thrive in times of economic recession like this because even those shoppers who turned their nose up at the idea of shopping someplace so completely lacking in designer brand labels will view things a little differently when their budget doesn’t allow for them to continue living the lavish lifestyle to which they’ve grown accustomed. They are thrust into a position where they will dominate the retail market because they are able to offer a wide variety of the basic and not so basic necessities of daily living (like living room lamps) at a price dramatically lower than that of their competitors.

You want to take a page out of Wal-Mart’s book. During an economic recession people are looking for ways they can save money, even if it means accepting slightly inferior quality products and services. If you can offer them top of the line products and services for a lower price than your competition, you will have done three things:

1. Ensured that you have a steady stream of profit coming in at a time when most businesses are losing money. If you can convince these customers that you deserve to have their business you’ll be able to keep money flowing steadily into your pocket-and you better believe they’re going to tell their money-conscious friends.

2. Stolen them away from your competition. Loyalty is a beautiful thing in the business world. As a general rule, when consumers find a provider or supplier that they are happy with they will continue to do business with them to continue enjoying that same smooth relationship…even if it means they have to spend a little extra.
An economic recession takes loyalty like that and throws it out the window, because when you get down to it most people are far more worried about the state of their own pocketbook than they are about whether or not a company they happen to do business with stays in business. If you can offer your goods and services at a lower price than your competition you can rest assured that you’re going to be enjoying their business for a long time to come.

3. You’ve cemented your future. As I mentioned above, consumers develop an incredible sense of loyalty for the providers of their goods and services when the experience has been good. By stepping in and offering them a great deal you’ve laid the foundation for building a fantastic relationship with your customers, and while you continue to offer them that same great deal you’re guaranteeing that even when the economy picks back up you’ll keep their business and their loyalty.


N.B Regardless of how dirty or underhanded it may feel, take the time to shop around and see that your competition is charging-then deliberately undercut them. Remember, all’s fair in love and war, and when it comes to helping your business through an economic recession it’s definitely a war!

Look for my upcoming posts on taking your business to the macro level on a budget.