Ten things not to do in a recession…
Friday 6th November 2009 - written by Mark Goddard
Cees Van Der Kooij gives us ten things not to do in a recession in this months Access International*…
- Don’t do nothing: Don’t be an ostrich and put your head in the sand. Don’t think that it won’t affect your business or your sector of the business. The sooner you act the sooner you can put in place survival strategies.
- Don’t panic: A company in recession needs strong leadership.
- Don’t be re-active: Be proactive, for example focus on keeping existing customers or expanding business with them; pursue lapsed customers; chase large projects to maintain turnover; look for cost savings immediately.
- Don’t assume your competitors are in the same position: Take actions required for your own company and don’t worry about what others are doing.
- Don’t slim down your commercial powers: Invest in them unless they are proven useless
- Don’t assume that a recession will only influence your utilisation – it also challenges your pricing: When everyone is fishing in the same pond with less fish to catch – try new techniques, not more bait. (ie add value, find new customers and don’t just slash prices)
- Don’t only look at turnover, focus on net results: Sales patterns may change – this isn’t a “normal” situation.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of cash: cash is not king: Cash is Emperor.
- Don’t wait to cut costs: The toughest measures you have to take, particularly when redundancies are part of the plan.
- Don’t think that when the recession is over it’s back to business as usual: Some countries are at the bottom of the curve now; some areas and markets will improve faster than others; access follows behind the economy.
*Article from the October edition of Access International.
