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Cut costs
cautiously. As soon as
the economy starts slowing down, many business owners think they must
cut costs. But this is a short-term solution. Only cut costs or
decrease your prices if it won't harm your business later. You can
always lower your price - but you can't always raise your price.
Advertise,
Advertise, & Advertise! During the last recession, McDonald's almost
tripled their advertising campaign at a time when their competitors,
namely Burger King, were cutting back. So even though this may seem
counter-intuitive, a recession may be the time to increase your
marketing. Hard economic time’s weeds out your competition, leaving
the field wide open for you.
Revamp your
marketing tools.
For those marketing techniques that are working for you, this might be
the time to revamp your marketing tools. Could your sales people use
more training to close the deal? Online training cuts costs and time.
Automate
wherever you can.
Find ways to automate any tasks to reduce the workload on yourself and
your staff. What have you been doing manually that a computer system
can do for you? Take a look at all your daily tasks and see if there is
a computer solution to these time-wasters.
If your company is in need of new
equipment, look at leasing as an alternative to paying cash or using up
the bank line of credit. Preserve your cash for marketing and other
day to day needs while still getting the equipment you need to further
increase your sales and efficiencies.
Above all, stay positive. There is
always of opportunity out there. While some markets might slow down
others will be growing.
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