Mar

6 Ways to Kick Recession Into Touch

It’s now 2 minutes to 5pm on Saturday and I’m sat here watching England play Scotland in the 6 nations.

Right now we’re 18-9 up.

Who knows how the game will end…

Plus, we’ve got the Ireland, Wales game in a bit which should be a ‘cracker’.

Anyway, as I was sat here watching the rugby, it struck me that beating recession is a little like a close fought battle on the rugby pitch.

I don’t know if you are rugby fan and it doesn’t matter.

But, if you remember England’s campaign in the last World Cup then you’ll remember the dogged, ‘bloody’ determination and ‘never, ever give up’ attitude our team displayed on their way to the finals.

We didn’t win but my word what a fight we put up.

And, if you’re being hit by recession it is that kind of ‘brutal’, ‘take no prisoners’, ‘I CAN win this’ attitude you need and need to keep firm.

But there’s more to it than that. You also need to be thinking, planning and implementing ideas FAST.

Here are 6 critical things you should be doing:

Recession Slayer #1: Account for Every Single lead, Prospect or Enquiry. I’m willing to bet that you lose anything between 5% and 50% of the business you could generate through ’slippage’. Telephone enquiries that don’t get followed up, emails that get forgotten, proposals that aren’t closed etc, etc. In tough times the cost of new client acquisition goes up. In many cases there are less new clients around (not all) and you need to do more to attract them. A world class lead generation system will help you keep costs down and free up resources. Secrets to making your client acquisition more efficient:

1. Track response from all your advertising and marketing. Identify which get the responses and which don’t. Do more of the ones that do and less of the ones that don’t.

2. Perfect your sales process. Whether that’s face to face in a shop or office, online, offline or whatever. Spend MORE here.

Recession Slayer #3: Get Some Friends: Recession hits all business and those in your area, industry and outside are looking for help too. Now is a very good time to develop mutually beneficial partnerships. In simple terms you offer your products/services to another companies’ customers and they do the same in return. Many benefits arise - you both gain clients, you both gain easy profit, your customer win because they get added value from you both!

Recession Slayer #4: Keep Your Mouth Firmly Closed. Back in my deep dark days as a corporate ’superstar’ there was nothing which would draw my inspiration, creativity and motivation to a stop faster than hearing from a boss or colleague that the company was in trouble. Wham! The shutters went down. You can and will have the same affect on the people in your business. The moment they get a sniff of despair it’ll run riot. Remember - the market for what you sell still exists. People ARE still spending money (and more of it than either I or you could ever comfortably suck up). Be the opportunistic entrepreneur - don’t ‘throw in the towel’. Excite your own and your employee’s imagination with opportunity and creativity.

Recession Slayer #5: Specialise and Raise Your Prices. Focusing on a defined, niche group of prospects and customers allows you to charge premium prices and beat generic competitors. The very best way to recession proof your business is to change WHO you are targeting. Remember, your best clients will be those affected least and last by recession. Who are they? You got it… The affluent…

Recession Slayer #6: Mine for Gold. Earl Nightingale and ‘Acres of Diamonds’ keeps ringing in my ears. It is way, way easier and cheaper to extract additional business from your existing clients that it is to go find new ones. It astonishes me that so many small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors don’t have a rock solid system in place to sell additional stuff to their customers and clients. To get more from your base you must communicate with them more. Send a newsletter at least once a month and do not be shy to offer products and service that will be of value to them.

Above all, keep your chin up and keep thinking, keep creating, keep going. There’s ample, abundant opportunity out there for you. Grab your share.

And don’t forget to take me up on my FREE GIFT — It is packed full of recession beating ideas.

Click Here to Grab Your FREE GIFT

Have a fantastic weekend,

Henry.

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