As a consultant, I've deliberately avoided making too big a deal about this recession we find ourselves in because.
First it doesn't help a great deal to dwell upon problems when really you ought to be thinking about solutions; and secondly, you're probably hearing plenty about it from everyone else.
I've been getting a lot of emails and calls from business owners who are having an extremely bad time of things at the moment. Everyone, it seems, is asking the same question: "can you help me survive the recession?"
Hmm. Well, first thing I'll say is this is a hell of a time to ask. The time to be looking for new business is when you're busy, not when things are rapidly going creek-wise and paddleless. But, there's no point in worrying about what you can't change. You can't change the wind, but you can change the set of your sail. The economy is like it IS, so deal with it in that way.
So, let's do what I always find it's best to do with any threat and that's to face it squarely: there is some pretty bad stuff going on all over the world right now, the economy is dire, it's probably going to get worse, and just what can we do about it?
Well, let me ruffle a few feathers and annoy a lot of people by saying right upfront I actually don't believe it needs to be that much of a big deal for us. There are some very powerful things we can do to not just survive this recession but actually to thrive and come out the other side in an even better position than we were going into it. But, does it mean we can just carry on doing things the same old way we're doing them now and perhaps have been doing them for many years?
No, it doesn't.
We've had it pretty easy until recently, and we could afford to be complacent about marketing and getting new business through the door.
But now things have changed, and if you don't change with them, then you're going to have a rough time of it, even to the extent you might go out of business.
So we need to ask ourselves some pretty tough questions: exactly what challenges are we facing? What can we do about them? And how can we still think 'big' and grow our businesses and grow our profits, regardless of what's going on around us?
First, look back over the last few downturns we've weathered, and notice something interesting. Notice while there were a lot of businesses struggling, and indeed there were a lot of businesses actually going out of business... there were a few, perhaps 1% or 2% which did very well indeed. Believe me, this wasn't down to luck.
Here's the question: what did they do differently?
The answer may surprise you. Because you're going to find the biggest single factor determining your success or failure in the recession is your attitude, or 'mindset'. The most important thing these successful business owners did was decide not to knuckle under to the recession. They decided to succeed, instead.
Now, this might sound like a bunch of hippy, New Age woo-woo rubbish, but it's not. I'm not talking about affirmations or 'The Secret' or anything like that at all. If you want to read a highly entertaining and deeply insightful bit of real scientific research on this, I recommend Richard Wiseman's 'The Luck Factor'.
Basically, good and bad things happen to us all in roughly equal measure, and the difference between so-called 'lucky' and 'unlucky' people isn't what happens to them so much as what they pay attention to and remember. If I can sum it up, I'd say 'you get more of what you focus on'. See, when you're surrounded by bad news in the papers and on the television, when almost every conversation you have revolves around the dreadful state of the economy, something happens to you: you inevitably get drawn into all the negativity and unconsciously accept all this doom and gloom as being an unavoidable truth.
Consequently, most business owners are approaching this recession with the view they're going to 'just hang on' and weather the storm. I tell you now: if that's you, then that's the BEST you can hope for. We rarely exceed our goals and expectations. As the old saying goes, 'if you want to hit an eagle, aim for the moon; aim for the eagle and you'll hit a rock'.
So, the very first thing you need to be thinking about is setting some ambitious and positive goals (and remember I am not taking about tree-hugging here), and so instead of thinking in terms of just 'hanging on', think in terms of doubling or tripling your profits in the next 12 months. OK, so you might not actually hit that particular moon, but you will no doubt bag a few eagles in the process.
Once you set this goal for yourself, your brain, which has evolved to be an incredibly powerful pattern-matching and goal-seeking piece of equipment, will start looking for ways to achieve what you want.
OK, once you've set your goal, what now? What about those opportunities I mentioned? Well, the chief one is linked to what I just shared with you about people's expectations.
Your competitors are worrying and fretting and setting their sights on just 'getting by'. That means their actions and strategies are all aimed at just 'getting by'. And that's the best they can hope to achieve. But really, the customers out there still buying are just as scared by this recession as everyone else, and they want to be buying from someone bold and confident.
They want leadership and certainty. If you have set ambitious goals and are acting congruently with your words, then that's what you offer them. Following on from this, you'll notice in their fear and panic, most of your competitors will have curtailed their marketing and dropped their prices.
This is great news for you. First, because low price is almost never what really interests us; and secondly, if they aren't marketing and you are, then you appear to be the only game in town.
Of course, now's the time people start to complain and whine about how 'expensive' marketing is. Fooey. Not so. Some of the best and most effective marketing you can do is completely free, or as close to free as makes no difference. And don't make the mistake of thinking in this case 'free' means 'cheap and nasty'.
Think on it: how much does a recommendation from a friend cost, and how effective is it? You see my point, yes?
You may have noticed clients have changed their habits a little, but that's OK. I've noticed it in my own business for sure: more clients than ever, but the jobs tend to be smaller and my clients more frantic.
That's not my ideal situation, but it's easy enough to cope with and cash flow has increased quite nicely, even though I've substantially raised my fees (because I get results and people are happy to pay whatever I ask - there's a lesson in there for every business).
In short: I'm busier now than I've ever been.
So, pull your chin out of your chest, straighten your back and get out there and GET MARKETING!