Rain-Making in the Desert

Some business owners tend to sit on their hands during an economic downturn - waiting for the market to rebound before they make a move or spend a dime. But although it may seem counter-intuitive, recessions are a great time to get back to the basics of business development and marketing.

As tough as recessions can be on your pocketbook, they do free up space to think and plan - two things that most companies don't do enough of!

If you want to use a short-term lull to drive long-term success, what should you be focusing on?

Relationships. In a down economy it's more important than ever to take care of the customers you have, reconnect with customers you've lost and encourage referrals. By taking every opportunity to interact with people you already know, you can begin to fully understand what needs are in the marketplace and how you can fill them. And while you obviously want to get more money from your connections and leverage their Rolodex, you also need to focus on providing real value and gathering crucial information that will help you set your business up to succeed.

Networking, customer satisfaction calls, face-to-face meetings and hosting events are just a few ways to show your customers, suppliers, vendors and partners that you appreciate them and are concerned about providing thoughtful, personalized service.

Education. It can be hard to reconcile yourself to giving anything away for free, but freebies today drive sales tomorrow. Recessionary economies make consumers cautious, so you have to prove yourself before they will buy from you. Doling out valuable tidbits of information, offering instruction for do-it-yourselfers and having some products or services available for a free trial can create the confidence to earn real purchases.

Now is the time to do whatever it takes to build rapport and trust. Host seminars, offer low-cost classes to share knowledge with the public, allow people to sample your services for free and talk with anyone who will listen about your area of expertise. People do pay attention to companies that demonstrate that they care! Now is not the time to try and monetize every aspect of your business, rather you should be educating consumers on why they should buy from you both now and when their financial picture improves.

Education applies to your internal systems as well. Brief periods of inactivity are great times to mentor your staff, conduct training, implement better processes and upgrade equipment. That way when business picks up again - you're ready!

Market Strategically. During times of plenty marketing efforts can get sloppy. You buy any ad that a salesperson approaches you about... you send out mailers, emails and newsletters willy-nilly... budgets fly out of control as you sponsor events, join professional organizations, and take everyone you know out for lunch.

Economic downturns force companies to make responsible choices about how to spend their precious business development dollars. Go back to your strategic plan and remember who you serve and why. How can you connect with small target audiences on a personal level - and cheaply? Trim the fat from the marketing budget and drop any activities that don't get stellar results.

Most of all, don't stop marketing completely or trust your gut on where to put your marketing dollars. Tracking is the best way to demonstrate how marketing efforts pay off. In tough times many owners and managers think that the first thing to do is cut back on marketing expenses. However, providing numeric results and reporting on success stories are easy ways to underscore the importance of marketing/ business development and demonstrate ROI for the activities you keep.