The Recession Session

Lehman Brothers and Freddie Mac, to name but a few, have been the latest victims of the economic slaughterhouse.

Reading the news about how major corporations are going broke sends a chill down the spine of any business owner.

How do you stop this from happening to your business? What strategies do you follow in order to survive these turbulent times? How do you keep focus on building your business and ensuring that you retain your customers? How do you keep the bottom line in the black?

Here are five mission critical strategies you need to incorporate in your day-to-day business activities.

• Customer Acquisition and Retention
  

The customer has always been King – however now the customer is god.

You need to ensure that every single customer on your books knows that they are valued by your business and that you will do everything in your power to keep them happy. In the same breath you also need to actively engage in finding new customers and winning them over to your business.

Take time out of your day to brainstorm with your staff on what advertising and marketing strategies they think will help you attract and acquire new clients. Do not neglect your existing client base though. They have been faithful in the past and will be faithful now if you remain sensitive to their needs. This applies to all forms of business.

• Keep it Lean and Mean
  

Get rid of the dead weight in your business model.

Identify the slackers on your staff and encourage them to become more efficient and effective with the time they spend at your business. Discontinue campaigns that no longer justify the energy that is being invested in them. Apply ROI – Return on Investment – to every single facet of your business. Do the numbers and see what the results are. 

Identify flaws within your own business habits and see how you can allocate your time in a more efficient and effective manner. As the team leader you need to be a shining example to those around you.

• Cash is King
  

Credit is a killer. Don’t finance someone else’s spending habits if you do not have the cash flow to fund your business’ operations

Encourage your customers to pay cash by offering cash discounts.  If your industry does not allow this kind of model offer discounts for early payment. Alternatively ask for a 30%,40% or 50% deposit. This is critical especially on goods with low margins.

Consider developing an aspect of your business into a Cash Cow. In the short run a Cash Cow will give your business the lifeblood it needs to survive – especially when your debtors are not meeting their payments. In the long run a Cash Cow can help you build up spare funds to enable research and engage in marketing efforts that may only offer long term benefits but will help build your brand.

• Take the long view
  

History  repeats itself.

Make the effort to read case studies on similar economic situations that have afflicted your industry in the past. Analyze what those business owners did in order to ensure that they remained in business. Determine how what they did is relevant to your business and implement those strategies.

Every business is unique. However there is a golden thread that runs through all businesses. It will be worth your while to look beyond your own industry and see what business owners in other industries are doing to bolster their business and to ensure that they keep growing and prospering.

• In Unity there is Strength
  

No man is an island and that statement rings so true in the turbulent times we face.

Look beyond yourself for solutions. Seek advice and seek alliances. Pride is a liability and will cost your business dearly. If you are not a member yet, join your local chamber of commerce. Actively seek opportunities to network with individuals that share your vision and passion. Share ideas, concerns and strategies. Networking is not handing out a business card. Engage with other business owners by showing a real interest.

The natural tendency in times of crises is to take as much of the cake for yourself instead of seeing how you can enlarge the cake.

Our Advice

Keep focus by analyzing what the key challenges are that your business faces. Analyze what challenges you face in your personal life. Rally your staff, clients, friends, and family behind a united front. Get as many passionate players on your team because on Match Day victory will go to those who are willing to bleed for the inches. 

In Pursuit of the American Dream

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this blog. As time is money we will make sure you get value for money from reading our blogs and will also keep our posts crisp and clear.

The authors are two entrepreneurs from South Africa who have left one unstable socio-economic environment to find themselves in yet another one, namely the USA.

They are two brothers with a passion for entrepreneurship and the positive impact it has on society. They have successfully managed their own businesses since they were 16 and 14 respectively. They have been described by the press as Future Business Leaders, a Dynamic Duo, Fearless, Visionary, and most importantly humble and respected. They have dozens of accolades between them to backup their business advice. They were born into poverty and this is their rags to riches story. And as Heinrich would say, the rags can still be felt but the riches are coming!

Separate they are strong but together these two brothers are invincible.

In the months to follow they hope to share their story of coming to America to start building their American Dream – a Dream that to many Americans has been lost in the despair created by recent economic events in the US. They are however more optimistic than ever and believe that this is the time to define the moment instead of allowing it to define you.

‘The time has come for entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience of business in order to ensure that small business owners make it through these trying times’, says Johan Hanekom.

‘The greatest challenge facing small business in America is a realization that it’s time to get back to basics like exceptional customer service, value-for-money, prudent financial management, and distinguishing between what is urgent and what is important’, says Heinrich Hanekom

Please share this blog with your friends so that they too can benefit from the thoughts and ideas that will be discussed in the posts. Please share your ideas and thoughts with the authors as we stand to gain a great deal more from listening than trying to prove to others how clever we are.

We look forward to helping you realize your entrepreneurial potential!