How Smart Businesses Gain From Economic Downturns
Have written on many articles on the origins and the course of the recent recession, it is time to look beyond the theory and focus on real tools and strategies used to manage the crisis, and how, in many cases, companies use the "opportunity" in order to strengthen their business to greater success both now and in the future.Turbulence a real opportunity to not only improve the core business, but also to improve your competitive position. Of course with strategic options are unavoidable risks, but with an intelligent approach companies were active in a position to maximize the opportunities and minimize risks.The basic survival strategy is:
Improve cash flow and tightening cost management to maintain margins despite slowing sales
Strengthening the core - getting rid unprofitable lines and focus on the profit centers for higher long-term
Prepare for Change
Identify the right long-term investments
If economists predicted that the economic decline until at least mid-2009, there was little to slowing sharply predict long and eventful. Smart companies have the right BI tools to ensure that they always know where at any time. Their company This is an objective assessment of business risks range from:
Product portfolio and roadmap development
The technical infrastructure
Operational efficiency
Human capital
Liquidity
Current market economy customersHow we act out of recession and into the recovery phase, each company will be in a different position as a starting point, in different ways and know affected, to varying degrees, where you stand at all times, is critical insights. So what does the winner of the recession are different? They conducted a comprehensive assessment of criticism, then unfolds the right strategy. In other words, they want to come out on top.Critical ReviewThere are three important questions that should be asked:
Which will affect the industry downturn am I?
What is my current position of market competition?
I use what resources - financial, suppliers, internal and how you can most of these resources in order to obtain a competitive advantage to your customers?If your company can create a strong financial position, you can enjoy all the strategic positions and industry in a number of ways. You might be more in marketing, investing to increase customer loyalty. You can undermine the prices of competitors prices. There are many marketing tactics a company can take advantage of niche markets. You can even use the strategies for M & A with its competitors weakening.If you are in a weak financial position, you can dispose of non-core business assets and. Reduce debt while taking aggressive measures to reduce costs Seek partnerships with those who can provide some of your basic services is not absolutely necessary in order to maintain competitiveness. Focus your investment on your competitive advantage. There is one set of each business tactics can be installed according to their own unique situation.Price Reduction StrategiesMany companies make the mistake of aggressive pricing cuts these moments. If it helps to liquidate excess inventory, it also sets the expectations of the market, the price you pay for goods and services and also forces your competitors to lower their prices. Each company must decide to approach the cost of sales and support for each client and a cost basis, not just recipes. In many cases, more customer support costs - where maintaining higher margins can mean less revenue for the same income, but it also reduces support costs. Pricing strategies such as price wars usually worsen the market to strengthen instead.Cost reduction strategiesOnce the "cost reduction" hits the table the meeting room, are the areas most commonly affected those who are not customer-oriented computing such as finance and human resources. Cut in haste, repent at leisure. Across the board cost reduction can be deadly - eliminate many activities essential to the conduct of sales and profits. Most companies can reduce costs by 10 to 30%, without affecting the essential spending in areas that actually deliver the products and services valued by customers.In difficult times - sales and support staff are the most important resource of the company. Those with whom they interact with customers make their purchasing decisions, and as such much more than retaining existing customers. Everything depends on their performance.These areas should be reduced, restructured or AFTER core business strategies determined. In this way, only the peripheral activities are eliminated.Sales StrategiesThe most effective strategy is to make your sales force more efficient. Unfortunately, many companies discourage their sales by sales events and motivation for the premium reduction targets exceeded. These companies are short sighted and do not understand that sellers are the first to feel the effects of a declining market, and as such have more motivation than ever in these times.One of the best marketing strategies is to use business intelligence - to ensure that sales efforts laser designated targets the most profitable. This not only increases revenue and reduces the total cost of sales - improving margins. With a data approach to sales is a sure way to increase the effectiveness of your sales organization, with:Data Driven Sales Operations - sales cycles lengthen still in a recession, but using data results-oriented sales strategies greater victory. Combined with rigorous management processes and disciplines that systematically exceed prospects channels by closing other sales or marketing strategy.Targeted offers - micro niche marketing can be laser focused on one customer at a market. By adjusting your offer, the people on the basis of the information that you have made lifestyle and buying behavior, you are more likely to give them a value they are looking for, and a sale. Closely focused on your niche know that in these times, and how can your product or service help them.Performance Management - all the more surprising that the withdrawal of the event sales motivation, many companies adhere to pre-defined sales targets for their sales teams. This has an immediate effect discouraging, said despite all the other strategies such as the above. The most important element to start your new marketing strategies, to maintain the performance motivates your sales team. Start by objectives and strategies are borne fruit, goals can be restored. At that time, the field is confidence in the use of business intelligence and the new approach to micro-marketing. You can also reorganize the areas to better align with the new strategies. It can also reduce the cost of air transport. As individual sellers familiar with the use of dashboards performance they see very quickly be able to see which actions are to achieve the best results, your marketing efforts will be optimized. Sales Manager will no longer need to waste time in order to acquire updates on the performance of the company - instead, they can speak better use of time and strategies to overcome the obstacles of the representatives in the sales process.Promotion StrategiesAble to support use of business intelligence that cost center to contact a highly effective marketing. With real-time information and analysis background can run support staff in event marketing, every time they interact with a customer.Coming Out on TopBased on companies, the ability to think quickly and make decisions based on evidence, the crisis presents an opportunity to improve their competitive position. During the last recession, many companies initially establish beforehand not to survive, and others who were less effective appeared to make huge profits once the economic recovery.This is the time to increase not affect performance, but to the business performance with business intelligence. This is the doctrine and strategy in my last book "The Logical organization." Now, more than ever, is not the time to make decisions based on emotion or filtered on memories. "What happened last time." This recession is very different from the previous one, and at multiple levels requires a new approachBusiness Intelligence is the best way to define a successful action plan a rigorous program, not only survive, but to develop at this time successfully. BI helps your core business, optimize your marketing, customers turn driving referrer and you redesign your faithful business philosophy over this period in the future with a more agile business more efficient and more enjoyable.
