Seven Sure Fire Steps to Jumpstart Your Business
How to get over the recession. Seven sure fire steps to jump start your business. Join the battle and leave the blahs behind.
So are you sitting around waiting for the economy to get better? Are you waiting for things to get back to the way they were? Or are you just hiding out, with your head in the sand and hoping? Well you just might suffocate before the economy recuperates.
The bad news is that the business playing field has changed and it is never going to be the same. If you are looking for it to get back to business as usual you probably won’t be around when you realize a new stadium with a field that is quite different from the one you are used to playing on is where your customers are now playing.
First you need to embrace the brutal facts of this is the way it is and you are going to have to do something to change. The business climate cannot be depended upon to blow fair winds. You are going to need to create your own weather. There is talk today about energy independence. Today each business must individually step up and take action for themselves. Waiting around for someone, or something else, will likely lead to being blown around by the wake of other’s actions.
Second, tighten your belt. Question why you have always been doing it this way and see it there isn’t a better way. Monitor your costs more closely against your results.
Third, get a strategy. According to Peter Drucker, a strategy is a sense of direction around which to improvise. With a strategy in place you can begin taking steps that lead you out of hand ringing and saying, “O woe is me,” to a position of confidence and action that brings about changes.
Fourth, stay close to your customers. Review whom your customers and renew your relationship with them. One thing you don’t want to have happen is for someone to come in a swoop one of your customers away because you got complacent and comfortable. Realize that there are more people out there seeking more work and hungry hunters may challenge established relationships.
Fifth, get a bigger piece of the pie. If you are like most businesses you have seen an erosion of your business because somebody else has expanded into areas that you used to take care of. So you need to figure out where you can add additional value to your standard products to capture a chunk of a bigger pie.
Sixth, help your customers increase their business. This can work well with the fourth counsel above, stay close to your customers. As you begin to get in touch with your customers start with an attitude of how can you help them win more business, rather than calling them and saying, “Hey, you haven’t ordered in a while.”
Seventh, be positive and forward thinking, which will be easier if you get yourself into action, stop hiding out or complaining, and begin to create your new business climate.
Tomorrow I will expand these counsels with valuable action generating suggestions to start the ball rolling.
Written by David Walrath
Ajalon Printing & Design
