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Added for You - How Your Small Business Can Survive An Economic Downturn
Often as I work with small businesses, I find they assume their market is unchanging and static. They are so tightly focused on trading in their market that they miss the trends in the market around them: they can count their sales, they can describe their customers, they know their competitors but they are blind to the big picture.Once I have got them to agree that market trends might impact their business health, I write these four headings on a piece of paper to capture what they know about their environment:1. Changes in Society What social changes are happening? What demographic changes affect
Look At Your Business Forecasts
Draw up a realistic business forecast and work out the ‘break-even’ point. Once you’ve updated your cashflow forecast, work out what impact a drop in sales will have on the business. This will pro
Any time is a good time to sell creatively. Uncertain economic times are an excellent time to sell creatively. And, poor economic times require that salespeople sell creatively. What exactly do I mean when I say sell creatively? When you look at the sales process, there are six major pieces: attitude management, prospecting, presentation skills, disarming sales resistance and closing and servicing the customer for repeat and referral business. Let’s look at one (and there are many) creative approach in each of the five areas.1) Attitude management: It is easy to maintain a positive outlook and attitude when things
Financial experts offered the following advice for those companies intent on surviving an economic downturn:
Improve Customer Service
Understand your customers and what is happening in their markets. Anticipate their needs. Which customers do you want to attract and retain? Tighten up your quality control systems to avoid costly mistakes and guarantee customer satisfaction.
Manage Cashflow
If your company is a small to medium sized enterprise, you should concentrate more on cashflow than profits. Many profitable businesses face difficulties because they simply run out of cash. Managing your cashflow enables your business to keep trading and that means reviewing all the areas where cash can become stuck or ‘lost’. You need to identify potential cash bottlenecks within your company; review your investment in fixed assets, raw materials and saleable stocks; reconsider an appropriate system of stock control, and re-examine your credit system.
Halt Expansion Plans
If necessary you should delay any expansion plans.
Be Stingy With Credit
Avoid the temptation to win over large customers with generous credit terms because if the large customer gets into difficulty, your company will suffer the knock-on effects.
Review Your Business Plan
Revise your business plan regularly and update your visions, objectives and goals. Make sure everyone in the company understands the business plan and the part they play in it.
Look At Your Business Forecasts
Draw up a realistic business forecast and work out the ‘break-even’ point. Once you’ve updated your cashflow forecast, work out what impact a drop in sales will have on the business. This will prov
If you are thinking of starting your own small business, you have to start with filling out the various business forms needed for the purpose. You can get extensive information on small business forms by doing a little bit of search on the Internet. After a thorough homework, you will be ready to fill out the forms needed for starting your own small business.Small business forms are usually divided into several categories like analysis forms, legal forms, market research forms, memos, personal forms, and so on and so forth. Business analysis forms help you make better business decisions. Legal forms are there to aid y
Improve Customer Service
Understand your customers and what is happening in their markets. Anticipate their needs. Which customers do you want to attract and retain? Tighten up your quality control systems to avoid costly mistakes and guarantee customer satisfaction.
Manage Cashflow
If your company is a small to medium sized enterprise, you should concentrate more on cashflow than profits. Many profitable businesses face difficulties because they simply run out of cash. Managing your cashflow enables your business to keep trading and that means reviewing all the areas where cash can become stuck or ‘lost’. You need to identify potential cash bottlenecks within your company; review your investment in fixed assets, raw materials and saleable stocks; reconsider an appropriate system of stock control, and re-examine your credit system.
Halt Expansion Plans
If necessary you should delay any expansion plans.
Be Stingy With Credit
Avoid the temptation to win over large customers with generous credit terms because if the large customer gets into difficulty, your company will suffer the knock-on effects.
Review Your Business Plan
Revise your business plan regularly and update your visions, objectives and goals. Make sure everyone in the company understands the business plan and the part they play in it.
Look At Your Business Forecasts
Draw up a realistic business forecast and work out the ‘break-even’ point. Once you’ve updated your cashflow forecast, work out what impact a drop in sales will have on the business. This will pro
Ring ring . . .Potential Buyer (PB): HelloCold Caller (CC): Is this Peter Miller?PB: Yes, who is this?CC: Hi, this Amy of XYZ Company. How are you?PB: OK, what is this about?CC: Do you want to know about a totally safe way of increasing your net worth by 200% in less than 10 years? We have an absolutely unique product you certainly have never heard of. I am sure you must be interested in that. Here is how it works . . .Do you ever get calls like this? If they annoy you at least half as much as they annoy us, then you have a good idea of what we are talking about.
Halt Expansion Plans
If necessary you should delay any expansion plans.
Be Stingy With Credit
Avoid the temptation to win over large customers with generous credit terms because if the large customer gets into difficulty, your company will suffer the knock-on effects.
Review Your Business Plan
Revise your business plan regularly and update your visions, objectives and goals. Make sure everyone in the company understands the business plan and the part they play in it.
Look At Your Business Forecasts
Draw up a realistic business forecast and work out the ‘break-even’ point. Once you’ve updated your cashflow forecast, work out what impact a drop in sales will have on the business. This will pro
Some people have a very skewed view of the world and condemn Wal-Mart for the incredible rise to power. You see, Wal-Mart is a great American Company and Sam Walton was a brilliant man, with vision, intelligence and passion for excellence. I would be proud to be a Wal-Mart Greeter in my retirement in his honor.Wal-Mart is the distribution system for the United States of America and those nations Wal-Mart moves into will be well served by over 212,000 skews and choice and low prices, Consumer Choice, freedom and variety. Wal-Mart is a wonderful example of what Free-Enterprise can do for the World. Still some say all th
Halt Expansion Plans
If necessary you should delay any expansion plans.
Be Stingy With Credit
Avoid the temptation to win over large customers with generous credit terms because if the large customer gets into difficulty, your company will suffer the knock-on effects.
Review Your Business Plan
Revise your business plan regularly and update your visions, objectives and goals. Make sure everyone in the company understands the business plan and the part they play in it.
Look At Your Business Forecasts
Draw up a realistic business forecast and work out the ‘break-even’ point. Once you’ve updated your cashflow forecast, work out what impact a drop in sales will have on the business. This will pro
As your cleaning company grows and your client list expands, you'll soon realize that you can't do it all yourself. Hiring, supervising and taking care of payroll are very time-consuming measures. Rather than putting an employee on the payroll, some companies elect to use independent contractors. But if you improperly classify a worker as an independent contractor when the IRS views them as an employee you could be liable for back taxes, penalties and interest!Putting employees on the payroll means that you are responsible for withholding income taxes, social security taxes, Medicare, and unemployment taxes. A busines
Look At Your Business Forecasts
Draw up a realistic business forecast and work out the ‘break-even’ point. Once you’ve updated your cashflow forecast, work out what impact a drop in sales will have on the business. This will provide you with a clear indication of how your business will shape up if trading conditions get tougher.
Review Your Stock
Reduce your stock levels or have more frequent deliveries to keep stock levels low. Consider selling off old or obsolete stock lines. Prioritise your fast-moving profitable items.
Know Your Best Customers
In many cases, 80% of a company’s profits come from just 20% of customers. Identify who your most profitable customers are and focus your efforts on them. See if there any other areas in which you can diversify so that if you lose a large customer, it won’t have a huge impact on your company.
Consider Your Suppliers
Does your company mainly rely on one or two suppliers? What would happen if you had to find alternative suppliers? Can you negotiate discounts for prompt payments to them? Can you negotiate better terms so that you keep your cash for longer before having to pay bills?
Cost Control
In which areas of your business can you save money? Consider bank and insurance charges and ensure you are getting the very best deal available. Look at rent, rates, power and lighting charges. Review your future expenditure/capital/equipment purchases. What about productivity, the use of temporary workers, performance-related pay, leasing unused premises/factory/office space?
Cut Your Bank Charges
Decrease the number of times you pay in and withdraw cash and cheques as your company is charged for each transaction that appears on your statement. Avoid unauthorised overdrafts or exceeding overdraft limits, as the penalty charges will
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