Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for Dr. Moran’s seven-step business recovery plan! My winning formula is guaranteed to improve all of your business financial woes, to help generate highly creative campaigns and to significantly increase the bottom line! It might even slow that little gut forming over your belt.
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Managing for success in today’s economy is a subject that everybody wants to master. If I had this winning formula, I’d be a very rich person. We’re all looking for "quick fix" answers to improve our financial positions in an ever-changing industry, but ultimately, our successes are dependent on business lessons we’ve heard continually over the years. As we’re all at the mercy of a giant economy beast with a mind of its own, Darwinian principles of "survival of the fittest" apply most in these times of economic hardship. We all read the papers daily, about "X" big company laying off 20 percent of its workforce; or we hear through a colleague at "Y" medium- to small-sized company that his business has slowed significantly since Q4 2000; or we talk with a marketing director at "Z" client company, who states that his firm is freezing its market spending until the end of the year to review performance. All are scary signs for business leaders in today’s economy. So, what can you do?
While I have never experienced an economic slowdown quite like our current situation, as a person managing a business I have felt its bite over the last nine months. The seven points below outline basic business practices that I’m following for Attik’s business in New York, and lessons that translate to our company on a global level. Sometimes, the most effective solutions are the ones that are simple and common sense driven:
1. Under-promise and Overachieve: When pitching for new business, if you promise clients the world and can’t deliver, you and your company lose credibility. The industry is small and bad press travels fast. Promise clients what you know you can deliver well, and then impress them by going that extra mile. It always pays dividends.
2. Manage Expectations: Agree up front with your clients externally and your team internally on the parameters of the relationship. You know the rules when you buy a $250 CD player at Circuit City—30-day money-back guarantee with a receipt if you don’t want the product. But you’re going to enter into a deal for thousands, if not millions, of dollars without clearly defining all parties’ expectations. And I don’t mean just signing a contract. Define all aspects of the relationship up front. Although you might be considered too detail oriented in the beginning, you are ultimately being a good businessperson by always managing these expectations up front and then throughout the process.
3. Take Creative Risks Internally: While many of us conceptualize, develop, design or sell creative to our clients in one form or another, it is easy to lose sight of applying creativity for our own companies. But isn’t creative drive the main reason we got into this business in the first place? If we lose this core element, we cannot call ourselves creative companies. So start a creative revolution in your own firm. Challenge your company’s daily norms, break out of routine, do unorthodox things, have fun. You’ll find that your staff will feel inspired, morale will improve dramatically and ideas will flourish.
4. Watch Your Pennies: Yes, this is the boring stuff to many, but it’s a vital aspect of running a successful business. Monitor receivables and payables weekly, run your business with tight controls on spending while minimizing overhead costs, and maintain a healthy cash flow position. While these points seem obvious, you can never ignore the fundamentals.
5. Believe In What You Sell, And Sell What You Believe: You must believe in your offering passionately. If you don’t love what you do and how you do it, if you don’t have a deep and thorough understanding of your abilities, then why should a client trust you with his business?
6. Listen: It’s really simple, but listen to the needs of your client and the market forces surrounding them. We get so caught up in what "we do" that we lose sight of our clients’ needs and wants. Continually challenge your clients’ thinking in line with their needs, not with your ego.
7. Stay Flexible: While we must build businesses that have strong foundations, we must also have businesses that can adapt to changing economic and market needs. Can you make quick business changes when necessary? Do you have your finger on the industry pulse, or do you just hope that it’s still beating? We must constantly assess our business, our market, and our offering in dealing with changing climates. And if we need a change, then we must embrace it.
Yes—simple and basic points. But can you honestly say that you follow these ideas daily, weekly and monthly? If you applied them, would they add value to your business? Could they help your company navigate through these difficult times? Ultimately, it’s up to each company to decide its own business strategy. But just remember Darwin.
