Don't Believe the Hype!

At the moment the newspapers seem to be full of gloom and doom articles about the coming recession and even most of the business blogs are talking about recessionary times ahead. The interesting thing about these times is that tightening business markets present the most wonderful opportunities. Whilst your competitors are focussing on maintaining a "batten down the hatches" mentality you may find that they are cutting back on the very things which have given them the competitive edge over time.

There is no doubt that these times call for a close observance of cash flow and expenditure but there is similarly no doubt that focussing on those issues alone can see you running the very real risk of being left behind. In these times businesses which focus purely on financial issues will often forget to deliver the superior quality products and or services which have put them in good stead in the past. Clever use of the resources which you have available to you however, may very well put you in the position of being able to take advantage of the inaction on the part of your competitors. So whilst I would encourage you to keep an eye on the bottom line, I would also encourage you to spend time, effort and resources making sure that you continue to deliver your usual or even higher quality of product and or service and that you spend time, effort and or resources focussing on delivering phenomenal customer service.

As tightening markets start to even out the playing field with respect to price and range, businesses which are able to deliver superior customer service will stand out from the crowd and continue to thrive and prosper. History has repeatedly shown businesses that focus on customer service and on spending time on developing their business in tightening markets often secure a larger market share than they had previously when times were good.

Some businesses won’t survive these times but then again some businesses don’t even survive in good market conditions. There is no doubt that the tightening market will sort the performers from the pretenders. Now is the time to make sure that you and your team can perform and deliver exactly what the client is looking for. Remember if you can survive this market then you will be in the box seat to take advantage of the conditions when they improve.

Businesses which have focussed on cutting expenses, cutting service, cutting product and generally diminishing what they can make available to their clients will have to play catch up from a market share perspective once the business economy improves. If you don’t want to be playing catch up then you need to make sure that you stay in the race now.

Regards, Mark