3 tips that may save your business, preserve jobs & improve the bottom line

 

If its December, and its Thursday; it must be time for a “tips” column!

My days are always interesting. In my “day job” as an example; one morning this week I met with a small struggling family owned hardware store.  A few hours later I sat down with a Fortune 500 CEO and his 5 top executives to discuss various business challenges.

On the surface these businesses could not me more different, especially if you look at their top line revenue results. When you delve into their businesses however, there is much more commonality than you might imagine and the solutions for both are parallel.

Perhaps your business is in an analogous position; losing customers, profit margins shrinking, employee uneasiness growing, and fear gripping the business. If any or all of this sounds familiar, please consider these three tips.
 

1. If you are not dedicating resources on studying customer insights, you my friend are standing in the middle of the woods at midnight without a flashlight.  In any economy, much less one like this; you cannot rely on gut reaction or instinct. You need to understand what is driving (or not) your customers and to understand what they want and expect; and trust me, its not just “cheap” prices.


2. All too often employers shelve employee research during poor economic conditions. HUGE MISTAKE! Are the messages you are sharing with your staff resonating? Is there a credible and independent system in place for employees to react to the plans and direction of the company, as well as a vehicle for them to share their suggestions without fear of reprisal? Does your team have the resources and tools that they need to properly do their jobs and to make money for you? Are your core personnel job hunting or being recruited? If you think that these things are not important, ask yourself what would happen if you lost some of your key (i.e. top sales people, highly trained IT people, industry respected managers, etc.) personnel to a competitor?


3. Have you wrapped yourself in a cocoon? I am always amazed when a business owner or “C” level executive essentially goes into hiding in the office when times are tough. If you are spending more than 1 day a week in the office, you need to get out of the bunker immediately! The “action” is not in the office, its out in the wild blue yonder. You need to be in front of your current, past and prospective customers every day, and you should be doing quality networking in-between customer related appointments. Here is a tip; if you don’t gain at least 10lbs this month, schedule an oil change (on Saturday or Sunday!) for your vehicle due to all the miles traveled, have a packed bag in your trunk ready to go, or to stay overnight somewhere, and require some sort of eye drops at least twice a day to get the red out; you my dear reader are not working hard enough and you are way too comfortable!