The economy is in big trouble. Stocks, mortgages, banks, insurance companies, the Yankees. All falling or failing.
Falling from where? The biggest economic boom of all time? The biggest housing boom of all time? The easiest loan requirements of all time?
Business is not down, it’s different.
For example, when you hear the negative statistic on the news that home sales are down 33 percent, it actually means that five million homes will be sold this year. The only unanswered question is: Who will get that business? The media portrays gloom when actually there’s still plenty of opportunity – just not as much as before.
As a result, businesses are adjusting to current market conditions, and your company is no exception.
In times like this, leadership must do what they believe is in the best long-term interest of the company. You can help by doing your best every day. Adjust to whatever decisions are made without reducing your level of service to your customers, your loyalty to your company and your fellow workers, and your effort or belief.
But cutting expenses or laying people off is not the only answer – it’s just a safeguard and a response to the situation at hand. The best answer is more sales – and more profit. This is where you can help.
Listed here are the critical elements in your ability to help your company and yourself in these times. These elements, when combined and mastered, will gain more sales now, and keep your customers loyal as the economic conditions begin to improve.
• Ease of doing business with you. Provide more Web offerings, easy access to more people, less voicemail, less automated attendants, more human-to-human contact, and no excuses.
• Error-free order processing. When I get an invoice, the easier it is to understand and the more correct it is, the faster I pay it. No backorders. No surprises.
• The quality of your relationships with customers. How strong are your relationships? Are they transactional or interpersonal?
• Service excellence. Often slower times means slower service. Less people, more work. Big mistake. Double your service offerings.
• Your attitude. If you can’t be positive for yourself, you can never be positive with and for others.
• Your belief. Belief in your company, your product, your service, yourself, and belief that the customer is better off having purchased from you.
• Your loyalty. From bosses to employees, from employees to customers, and finally from customers back to you, loyalty is the profit frontier. In these times, giving won’t always breed receiving – but the seed is planted and the roots are deep when the economy begins to rebound.
• Help your customer whenever possible. Understand how they are hurting and meet their needs as best you can. Offer to assist with anything from manual labor to brainstorming ideas with them to making connections for them.
• Your extra mile. What are you doing above and beyond the ordinary? What are you doing to out-sell, out-serve, and out-value the competition?
If the economy is down, you have to be up. You have to be ready to help, ready to serve and ready to be your best. This will not only help others to survive, it will also ensure that you thrive.
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