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The slowdown in the economy has primarily been in the business to business sector. Consumer sales and spending remains quite high. My suspicion is that the higher cost of energy, particularly as it relates to petroleum-based items, has yet to hit the pocketbook of the average consumer.

With that in mind, I recently sat down with a group of owners of mid-sized businesses that sell primarily B2B and together we compiled a list of items to consider during a slowing economy. While many of these items may not pertain to your particular business, I believe that an open-minded review at each item may trigger thoughts to make your organization more competitive and perhaps, more profitable.

The Revenue Focus

Focus on growing revenue; determine if there are products that can have their prices increased.

Hire stellar sales people.

Make sure that your people are the best that they can be.

Start another business, or buy another business—preferably a competitor.

Target specific competitors and go to war against them.

Chances are they won’t know what hit them.Develop new products.

Start by speeding up the new product development process.

Offer better discounts for your fast paying customers.

Offer incentives for collection, including forgiveness.

Expand the business, but do proper and complete due diligence.

Spend more on marketing, advertising, and public relations; not just money, but time and energy.

Review the current client base: pay more attention to them.

Develop ways to bring back older clients that would normally not be called on.

Increase your sales and marketing efforts.

Set goals for everyone in sales.

Discount prices. Don’t go broke doing it!

Review sales goals and objectives. Make sure that they are realistic.

Look for acquisitions (weaker players) in your market.

Do not take on more products, or do, depending on your particular situation.

Repackage and develop innovative ways to sell product/services.

Re-visit all customers, both old and new.Execute a customer survey.

Make sure they are getting good value from your company.

Re-design sales incentive programs.

Make sure that they achieve what you need.

Look for opportunities for complementary products/markets.

Contact your network outside of your industry.

They may not be effected by a slowdown.

Change price structure to stay competitive, yet profitable.

Give your customers terms.

Stay on top of whom owes you money.

Make sure that everyone in your company is in sales, not sales prevention.

The Expense and Cost Focus

Renegotiate with venders. Can you buy cheaper? Can you purchase in bulk? Get better terms?

Clean house by getting rid of “dead wood.” You know the employees are that are getting more than they are giving. When will you gather the courage to fire them?

Refinance loans with your bank. Bankers love to take people to lunch.

Reduce the cost of your product.

Evaluate the process to see where you can reduce costs.

Reduce hours/days of retained staff. Going to a 36 hour workweek may save jobs and other costs.

Outsource the departments that can be.

Take time to evaluate expenses and overhead. Where can these be cut? What is their necessity to the success of your business?

Have staff use up all vacation time.

Do not take on new expenses. Make sure everyone knows.

Turn off the lights when no one is in a room.

Sublease space that is not being used and make that dead space a profit center.

The Operational Focus

Evaluate employee workloads. How much work is duplicated? How many tasks no longer need to be done?

Business Help

Upgrade staff. Now is the time to find good people.Institute performance based compensation.

Monitor accounts receivable closely for control.

When large orders come in, take the time to review credit worthiness.

Review vacation policy.

Shrink your operation by 20% by going to a 4-day workweek.

Get all of your management team and employees involved in the process of improving how you run. Discuss with employees their input on cutting costs, improving sales and performance.

Improve internal and external communication; make it better and have more of it.Review your operations and limit risk whenever possible.

Review the management skill base and knowledge, to see if you have the resources to start up a different type of business.

Get a training program started, for both your employees and for your customers.

Write policies and procedures.

Evaluate personnel. Are they taking you where you see the business going?

Plan Human Resource needs and develop a downsizing plan.

The Focus of Leadership

As the leader, spend more time in the field with your employees.

Reevaluate your Business Plan and all the strategies and tactics that are included.

If you don’t have a Business Plan, now is a great time to write one.

Review your mission and vision statements to determine if they are viable and valid.

If you don’t have these two essential ingredients for success, devote the time to think them through and to share them with your staff.

Review the market and market position.Be visible and be accessible.

During tough times, leaders need to lead from the front, not from the rear.

Make a point of setting as a goal the concept of having your employees learn to be literate in business management.

My goal with this article was to stimulate the idea that during a period of economic slowdown, there is a lot more that can be done other than just cutting costs (including people).

Many business owners would simply say “These are difficult times and I will just have to wait until things get better.” People who have this attitude are destined to fail. Those that will weather this storm will take the burden of action into their own hands by being and staying proactive.

Now, which one of the four areas of focus will you start on first?

Renaissance Management Partners

From the January 30, 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated (www.SI.com):

February 2006 …For a tactical decision (Pittsburgh Steeler Head Coach) Cowher made the day after that Cincinnati loss set the team on course for Detroit (to the Super Bowl Game to be played on Sunday, February 5)… …In a meeting room at the football team’s practice facility, there’s a board that charts the Pittsburgh Steelers’ performance week by week, a statistical tracking kept by most NFL clubs.

On Dec. 5, the 48-year-old coach Bill Cowher went to the board and removed all references to the first 12 games of the season and the last three, leaving only that week’s opponent, the Chicago Bears, for the players to ponder when they arrived later that day. “Clear your mind,” Cowher told them in the meeting. “The slate’s wiped clean. Forget the past. Forget the future. Only one thing matters: Chicago. Every week’s an elimination game now.”

The Bears, on an eight-game winning streak, went down in a snow squall 21-9. When the Steelers reported to work to prepare for their next opponent, the Minnesota Vikings (on a six-game win streak of their own), there was no evidence that Pittsburgh had even played Chicago.

The Steelers rolled over the Viking 18-3. Same story before the 41-0 rout of the Cleveland Browns and the 35-21 whipping of the Detroit Lions.

That 4-0 run down the stretch earned Pittsburgh the final wild-card spot, as the Chiefs limped home 2-2 and the Chargers staggered in 1-3.

“Coach put us in a playoff mode with four games left,” said Porter. “With some teams that works, with some maybe it doesn’t. But we’ve got guys who really respond to that.”

The live-in-the-moment vibe carried the Steelers through their 31-17 wild-card win at Cincinnati and their 21-18 upset of the top-seeded Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round.

Alone outside his locker room, after the Denver game, Cowher sounded like a preacher, extolling the virtues of this elementary approach. “You’ll be amazed—amazed—how fresh you feel when you forget everything in your life except what you’re doing right now,” he said.

In Susan Scott’s book “Fierce Conversations” she suggests that it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation of any consequence unless the participants are “here and nowhere else.”

Coach Bill Cowler of the Pittsburgh Steelers subscribed to that approach and his team will be playing in the Super Bowl.

Imagine how powerful, insightful and focused these interactions might become if you were “here and nowhere else” doing any one of these tasks: conducting a job interview; performing an evaluation of an employee; calling on a vendor; having a conversation with a coworker about a project; speaking and listening during a telephone conversation; sitting in a staff meeting; making a call on a client; working on an assignment at your desk.

Forget about multitasking and focus on the task at hand. Not only will you be more focused, but more will be accomplished at a higher quality level.

Manufacturing

What are the human qualities that successful people in business possess? It takes more than motivation and will power. It requires more than the ability to set goals. It takes considerably more than having the need to achieve. It takes more than title, or being born into the right family.

It has been said that the worst day of the week for someone who works for a successful person is Monday. The belief comes from the fact that the successful person has had two entire days to think about what needs to be created, changed or eliminated and is now ready to come to work and get all of this done in a single day—Monday.

Cast Parts

That is not always the case, successful people have ideas on a 24/7 basis. But what sets these people apart? What makes them different? What can you learn from watching them? Here are some observations based on watching top performers for almost half a century.

Successful people have an extraordinarily high fear of failure. Should they fail at something, they come back roaring, determined to be on top again. This fear of failure is something that comes from within, as successful people are not at all concerned with what others say, or think. Successful people have a standard within themselves, a personal barometer if you will, keeping themselves motivated to achieve.

Top performers understand fear. However, unlike most others, who focus on a fear and avoid it, successful people face fears head on. They welcome the challenge of addressing the obstacles that stand in their way. Each fear is fully dealt with, never to be an obstacle again.

Taking a long-term view is another trait of those who outperform others. That is not to say that this kind of individual has patience. Usually, patience is not found in the DNA of this kind of person. However, they do understand that to do good things, to build an organization that will succeed over time, a long-term perspective is essential.

To be successful over the long term, top performers have the ability to execute. All too often, this element separates those that are successful from those that are not. The less successful spend a lot of time planning, thinking and dreaming. Those that succeed not only plan, think and dream, they actually divide those plans into bit size pieces, develop action plans and hold themselves and others accountable for getting things done. When timetables are not met, when goals are not achieved, something happens. In less successful organizations, when timetables are not met, when goals are not achieved, nothing happens. Because there is no penalty for not meeting an objective, this becomes the new acceptable standard of performance. American Die Casting Company

Successful people have plans. It is a rare occurrence when the plan is written, but the plan exists nevertheless. The plan changes frequently. To stay successful, these individuals quickly come to realize that they must be flexible in their thinking, ready to move quickly should an opportunity pop into view. This of course, drives most everyone around the successful person crazy.

Making mistakes is something top performers seem to do a lot of. Some of these individuals will talk about what they have been unsuccessful at, and others will not say a word. Regardless, making mistakes is something that has to happen in order to be successful. Having made a mistake, it isn’t dwelled upon; it will be considered a learning experience.

Finally, successful people are not afraid to seek out help. This kind of person understands what they need to know and understands what they don’t know. To close the gap, they ask for help. The funny thing is, they do not usually do this in a public forum, but open themselves up during more intimate, private conversations with those that they trust.

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