Maximise Your Business In A Turbulent Economy
The importance of business fundamentals cannot be passed over during a credit crunch. Today, we are in the vicelike grip of the “credit crunch” and businesses in every country are hitting problems each and every day. With more and more closing down sales signs popping up – another symptom of the problems faced.
We are to blame in many ways. Economies behave in cycles – when there are good times, this will inevitably be followed by a slowdown, this is not inevitable perse, instead because economies are driven by emotions instead of common sense, profit and loss accounting.
Greed and fear perpetuate these problems. During the bear run, greed drives the rampant growth of the economy. Management, Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers turn their back to problem practices by their subordinates and in some cases encourage huge and irresponsible gambling practices. When everything is in the black, everyone is happy getting their bonuses and living the high life.
You need to be careful when you hear the term “leverage” used by such people during a growth cycle. Leverage when used correctly can indeed build a company organically and responsibly but when you over-extend your leverage your balance is lost. This is precisely what leverage is all about – unbalancing your books to favour growth.
Why does this bubble burst? – this happens for a number of causes but the number 1 causative reason is fear. The people “in the know” become afraid when they see these huge unbalanced leverage inequities. When they observe a share price over inflated for a company, they look to take some profit and start to get rid of stock.
The herd mentality then kicks in and before long, a whole bunch are leaping on the bandwagon and making the problem worse. The problem is – even businesses who were profitable and who had not over extended themselves can also become effected as cashflow dries up, tough lending restrictions are enforced and the future which looked so inviting before now looks very grey.
Increasing Your Sales
This is why Increased Sales is so important during such hard times. Perhaps you’ve heard of of the “Power Parthenon”. In this powerful strategy, Jay Abraham hightlights the value of having what others have termed “multiple streams of income” for your business.
In computing terms, this is all about ensuring you do not have a single point of failure in your business whether this be a way to get new customers, having two or more suppliers to source from and also having many products to sell.
You cannot be a one trick pony in the business world today. If you have a single product or service you are reliant upon, it is inevitable you will encounter problems. So start preparing now if you haven’t already.
There’s an old Chinese saying:
“The best time to plant a seed is 20 years ago, the second best time is now”.
Use this multiple streams approach to all areas of your business but remember you have to maintain focus on customer conversion very carefully to optimise the rewards attainable.
You must look at your sales funnel as a chain of connected activities and at each crucial point in the process, you need to zero in on maximising the number of people you bring along to the next process.
Remember the analogy of a leaky bucket – no matter how much you put into it (traffic), your bucket will empty before you get it home (a sale) unless you plug the leak (customer conversion).
http://www.PDQCustomers.com focuses on customer conversion and increasing your sales.
