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Three more tips to survive

In the last month (April 2002), four different business owners have told me that requests for quotes are way up, orders are starting to pickup and they feel the economy has bottomed out. That’s good news. Increased activity is usually a sign that sales will soon follow.

It doesn’t change the fact that it’s still tough out there, the recovery is slower here than in many other places and the recovery is still predicted to be “gentle.” A return to the super boom times of the late 1990’s seems unlikely. Here’s three more tips to thrive in any kind of economy.

Balance persistence and urgency

The first reaction many people have when in a slump is to push harder. Often the result is similar to pushing a string. First, go slow to go fast. A friend taught me this years ago and it’s so true. How often do we rush into things, only to spend much more time and money to correct what we could have prevented? When we damage a customer relationship, it may take years to correct, if we ever can.

It’s important to think through decisions. My first real job out of college was in the entertainment industry. Specifically, with a company that promoted concerts, plays, ice shows, etc. We were in a very competitive situation with another firm and there was a constant attitude, on both sides, of “we have to do bigger and better shows than they do.”

This led us to do one rock and roll band in three successive years in a 60,000 seat stadium, a 22,000 seat amphitheatre and finally in an 11,000 seat arena. Every time we were in one venue too big, and it cost us. Rather than think it through, the owner bowed to competitive pressures.

Every day we are all faced with decisions. Some we need to make now, others can wait. One trait of good leaders is to make good decisions and that means using your experience to think through the best course of action. It means being persistent without being obnoxious and moving the customer along by creating value, not by being pushy.

Build on your strengths

The top of the curve is when it’s the time to experiment, expand and take on new challenges. When times are tough you have to build on your strengths. Mike Ochoa owns Precision Technology Corporation (PTC) in Woodinville. PTC is a machine shop, similar to scores of others in the Puget Sound area.

That means they’ve experienced the same problems almost all shops have over the last year or so. Commercial aerospace work is down, military work was down until 9-11 gave it a kick-start and non-aerospace work wasn’t much better.

Rather than hibernate, Mike identified PTC’s strengths and took action. First he recognized the areas they were good at and did all they could to keep their current work. This customer contact paid off with a joint venture from a firm “down the street.”

Second, he recognized that PTC is excellent at participating in the design process. This allowed them to expand their product offerings by participating in the design process and ensuring customer retention. A good example is a direct partnership on a new, very high end line of brass saxophone mouthpieces (that have received rave reviews).

Finally, he hired an outside salesperson to drum up business. This salesperson has brought in a lot of quotes, primarily from customers PTC has never worked with before. Rather than wait for business, they went and found it.

Create value

Turbulent times are when you have to do all those little extra things so your customers perceive value that far exceeds the price. Sure, some people will always be interested in price more than anything. If you don’t mind working with them on that basis, fine. Realize if they switched to you because of your low price they will switch again when someone beats your price.

Concentrate on the service you provide, the follow-up, ongoing communication and special attention to their specific needs. This means don’t have a “one size fits all” customer service mentality.

More and more, people are realizing they have to build strong relationships. Not just with customers, but on all fronts. Big companies love voice mail mazes. Combat this by offering a quick, live person response.

Make sure your employees realize they are appreciated. There may be more prospective employees to choose from, but there’s a high cost to turnover and training (and the potential for damaged customer relationships).

There is never a penalty for paying special attention to your customers, employees and strengths. There are a lot of keys to success. Providing value, building on what you’re good at and going slow to go fast are just three. Pay attention to these areas and your business will grow.

Copyright 2002. John Martinka. All rights reserved.