Many of your competitors are sitting in their offices hoping Wall Street and the Federal Government will do something soon to end the current recession and restart consumer purchasing.
While this will do nothing for them, their inactivity is great for you and your business.
You and many of your fellow small business owners understand only you and your team can keep your business profitable and successful.
In about a year, we will all see television reports about small businesses that have grown and expanded while their competitors filed bankruptcy.
Refuse to participate in any financial downturn and use this time to correct your business!! How often have you told yourself that when things slow down you will start the budgeting process or write a better employee manual or find a new lawyer or think about new internal procedures? The world has heard you and has given you all the time you want each week.
Use it wisely Now is the time to truly review your mission statement and vision to see if you are heading in the direction you initially planned.
Have you taken a different direction because it seemed to be the right way at the time? Take a day off, even if it seems to be the wrong time, and have a board meeting with yourself.
Rethink your vision and review the initial thoughts you had about starting your company.
Now is the time to make the adjustments.
Now that you have a clear vision again, do you have the right people in the right areas? Put that objective employee performance appraisal system in place and be objective about your employees.
Have you allowed a friend, your nephew, the son of a good customer or the great hire that has soured over the past several years to hold your company down? Take a very good look at all employees and allow the recession to help you make some personnel changes.
Don't, under any circumstance, let your core personnel leave.
They know that now is not the right time to look for a job and will be very happy to stay and help through the difficult times.
With your clear vision and the core people you need for your business, start working as a team on the other corrections you have been talking about for years while your business was growing too fast and was controlling your time and attention.
First, look internally and have your department managers put together a list of the top ten things they see that need to be fixed.
Have someone compile the entire list and eliminate all duplicates.
Now add your top ten and prioritize the entire list.
Buy lunch for your managers and discuss the items that each need to work on and always put completion dates on every project.
Sure everyone has daily duties to keep your customers happy and satisfied but there is time to complete this project and have it in place when the new financial cycle begins.
Next, look at your products and services.
Now is the time to do some tweaking and perhaps put together new items that you had forgotten about until you cleared your vision and rethought your company's mission.
While you are doing this, look at your inventory, fixed assets, machinery, furniture, and building.
It is time to get rid of slow moving or obsolete inventory.
Now is also the time to paint your building, reseal the concrete floors and all those other repairs that are minimal in expense but never seem to get done when everyone is working 14 hours a day.
Look at your supplier base and rethink who you want to continue working with.
Now is the time to find new suppliers because they truly want new customers.
As you are looking, make sure you remember you want business partners and not just suppliers.
Anyone can sell a product but a business partner works with you to increase your profitability.
Also, don't forget about your bankers, your ad agency, your insurance broker, your outside accountants and lawyers.
This financial downturn is a great excuse to get away from that old college friend who was a great insurance agent when you started but has not grown with your company and is a liability going forward.
Always the toughest challenge for every company but should be an annual requirement, take a good look at your customers.
Ask all your department managers to provide you a clear and factual review of each and every one of your customers.
Have your controller ensure you are making money from each.
I am always amazed at the customer that has successfully fought each price increase but now has two customer service reps on your payroll to keep them happy.
This is usually the same customer that requires your Sales VP to fly out and buy them dinner and drinks monthly while they complain about not getting enough attention.
I remember reading an article early in my career written by Jack Welch, the great businessman who ran General Electric for several decades and made GE the great business it was for many years.
Mr.
Welch stated that the bottom ten percent of all employees and customers should be fired annually.
I was astounded by this statement but it does force continuous improvement for those who have trouble with this discipline.
Be objective and sure of your information but put the list together and ask your sales department to come up with the plan to either get the pricing in line or terminate those customers.
You will probably be amazed at the customers who are unaware of their cost to you and will be willing to take a price increase when they hear all the facts presented to them in a clear and objective fashion.
You cannot, however, let them call your bluff.
You must be willing and able to terminate the relationship if they fail to accept your price changes.
Now is the time to start this process because you cannot afford to lose money during a downturn.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, take the time to look for new customers and venture outside your normal customer base.
If your company produces and sells leather cleaner for automotive dealerships, why couldn't that product be sold to any customer who has leather furniture? Hospitals, hotels, office buildings, and janitorial firms are all potential customers for leather cleaner.
Now is the time to look at diversification of your customer base and have your management team get creative.
Brain storming is a great exercise that allows everyone to throw up all kinds of crazy ideas that might not be as crazy as they sound.
You have a great team of people so use them to grow and diversify your customer base.
They don't want to find another employer so keep them and you from having to do so.
Great business leaders do not allow a global financial recession to get in the way of their company's vision.
Use all slow economic periods as a time to make corrections and improve your company's future.
Remember the old adage, when the world gives you lemons, make lemonade!