When there is an economic shift, it's time to rethink, restructure, refresh, re-energize and reinvent every aspect of your business that is not getting results.
Go back through your business plan, your marketing plan, your budget, and your systems to see where and how you could do more with less.
You might need to retool and upgrade your systems.
Are there fixed costs you could change to performance-based or bonus-based compensation? Adapting and overcoming requires holding everything and everybody accountable.
You must know what you are spending money on and what you are getting for the money spent! If any expense is not providing an adequate ROI, get rid of it.
You may have to do more with a bit less, but that does not mean slashing quality or service-or your prices.
Get very clear about which aspects of your business are non-negotiable-the core of your business model, your plan and your reason for being in business in the first place.
Be careful not to act in desperation and undermine the principles that make you successful in the first place.
That's not adapting or overcoming, that's RETREATING.
Your commitment to excellence doesn't change.
Your commitment to superior service doesn't get scaled back in any way-in fact, a down market is a powerful motivator to make you service better than ever.
It forces you to do things the way you should have always been doing things.
Go back to your BBB-beans, bullets, and Band-Aids.
When I was on active duty as a Marine, we'd get hand-me-down gear from the Army, so stuff was broken and beat up and we had to adapt to that reality.
It was a case of fix it, tie it, duct-tape it, figure it out, make it work, shut up and do what you're here to do! No excuses! Kick Ass, Make Money & Have Fun Doing It! Craig Zuber