The Marketing Bureau

We may not, in the technical sense of the word, be in recession right now. But business is certainly still feeling the pinch and there are almost certainly more tough times to come.

Brian H Meredith shares some thoughts (his own and one of the Dali Lama's!) on how to navigate tough times – recession or not.

I am inspired by Sam Walton’s remark (Founder of Wal-Mart) who commented:

“I was asked what I thought about the recession. I thought about it and decided not to take part”.

As we all continue to navigate the recession, I have encountered a surprising number of businesses (and start ups amongst them) that have chosen not to participate in the recession.

Do we all have that choice? After all, we know it’s tough out there.

But almost certainly the worst thing a business can do right now is hunker down. Cut costs. Retreat from the market. I do, however, understand why so many businesses take this approach.

Largely, it is because they don’t know what else to do.

There is a better way.

It’s a new game now. There are new rules. And new opportunity.

The market has changed and business must adapt if they are to survive, let alone thrive.

How happy are you with how your business is adapting to a changed business environment?

The Dalai Lama said “Easy times are our enemy, they put us to sleep. Adversity is our friend, it wakes us up.”

So let’s all wake up and make a conscious decision not to participate in the recession. It is, after all, one of life’s great self fulfilling prophecies!

When it comes to marketing, easy times all too often cause us to not address a range of fundamental questions well enough or often enough.

Adversity is here but, so, too is opportunity. To get you started, here are some steps you can take to uncover opportunity:

Identify who your key customers are .

Opportunity exists in knowing and understanding your customers better than your competitors. 

Learn as much as you practically can about your existing customers.

Make sure you know what they buy, how they buy and why they buy. Most importantly of all, learn about how these patterns might be changing.

If you know who your customers are (in the most complete sense of the word) you will be much better placed to identify opportunities to serve them better.

Target new customers

Opportunity exists in understanding new groups of potential new customers and targeting them with relevant propositions. 

When market conditions change, everything else changes and this creates opportunities with customers who have not previously purchased from you. Their needs, wants & preferences can shift and their business can be up for grabs. 

Position your company as having a real competitive edge

Opportunity exists in developing a relevant and compelling competitive advantage over your competitors that goes beyond “10 cents off”

In tough economic times, your instinct may well be to compete with your competitor’s offerings on price and price alone. 

Don’t. 

Even in recession, the needs of customers are rarely based around price alone. If you understand your customers better than your competitor does, you have an exponentially greater chance of delivering a competitive advantage that will better meet customer needs.

Talk regularly to your customers to get regular feedback

Opportunity exists in talking frequently to your customers and finding out how their needs, wants & preferences might be changing. 

Talking to customers might mean commissioning costly market research surveys. But, often, simply picking up the phone and giving them a call can pay enormous dividends. What better, as a customer, than to get a call from a provider asking you your opinion of what they are doing for you and exploring how they can better serve your needs?

Develop new products and services

Opportunity exists in developing new products & services that are designed to meet the changing needs of your customers in turbulent times. 

A smart café operator I know (smart café and smart operator) has noticed that his lunchtime customers are spending less time and less money during their lunchtime visits. He has responded with the introduction of an Express Menu during Monday – Friday lunchtimes. It offers 4 dishes, all priced at just $12 and delivered within 10 minutes of ordering (or it’s free).  No rocket science but a great example of listening to customers and responding to their changing needs.

When times are tough, the very best thing a business can do is to get back to the basics of working hard to understand what they are selling, who they are selling it to and why people should want to buy it anyway. As I have already mentioned, this is not rocket science but it is hard work and you need to do it. That’s all, just do it.

Do it assiduously. Do it every day. Do it as if your life depends on it.

Worry less about the bank and much, much more about customers. After all, customers are the only place the money comes from.

It is customers who will be the final arbiter of whether your business succeeds or fails. Not the banks. Not the accountants. Not the lawyers.

Just customers.

Brian H Meredith