Friday, June 26, 2009

Survive A Bad Economy By Seeking Small Business Tips

By Sandra Alomar

Whether you want to believe it or now, our economy is struggling pretty bad right now. What will happen to your business if things continue to get worse? Will it survive? Or will you be the next company to close their doors?

There are hundreds, if not thousands of people who have been through these downturns before. These men and women provide valuable small business tips that can really make a difference in providing a way for a small business to survive in tough times. Here are ten small business tips to help you deal with a bad economy.

- Cautiously cut costs. Anytime the economy slows, companies of all sizes start looking for ways to cut their costs. This is not a long term solution. You can decrease prices for a short period of time to spur sales, but if you keep them low for too long, it will end up hurting your business.

- Look into sub contractors. Most companies see a strain on their budget due to rising health care costs. If you have employees who are currently working for you, you should consider turning them into sub contractors.

- Keep advertising and marketing. During any recession, the companies who grow are those who don't cut their marketing and advertising budgets. These hard times will weed out the weak and leave you standing tall.

- Have long term strategies. When developing and crafting your company strategies, plan about 10-20 years down the road. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Keep marketing every month, even if the economy is horrible.

- Choose all variables of your marketing mix wisely. Many marketing methods are hard to track. If you cannot track your return, what good is the marketing method you have chosen? Find ways to track your marketing and look at your ROI. Any method that is losing money should be cut immediately.

- Take time to make your marketing tools even better. I am sure that you have a few marketing methods that are working pretty good for you. If so, take time to improve them and make them better.

- Automate process whenever you can. Anytime you can automate processes, you will be saving time and money. Why do something yourself if a computer can do it for you? Take time to research possible solutions to your tasks and get rid of things that waste your time.

- Spend your time wisely. 80% of your business is generated by 20% of your customers. Therefore, you should be spending at least 80% of your time tending to those customers who bring you the most business.

- Make do with what you have. Don't upgrade or purchase new items for your business if you don't need them. Try to fix was doesn't work and make so with what you have for a little bit longer.

- If you carry an inventory, work hard to reduce it. This is very risky since no one really knows how long down times are going to last. Most inventory management systems can help you predict this a little better. But one thing is for sure, carrying less inventory will save you money.

So, it is vital for you and your company to start preparing for a downturn in business, even if you aren't experiencing one currently. Small business tips like the ones above will definitely help you make it through the downtimes and come out even stronger. - 16890

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