Bary Motlz posted a great 8 point article about what you can do to survive the market downturn… I’ll post the first few items here, but visit his site for the complete list: http://barrymoltz.com/rants/articles/8-actions-for-your-business-to-thrive-in-a-recession
1. Focus on Profitability not Growth.
Many times we need to invest in order to grow our business. In a recession, you can only grow if it is profitable. If you can’t be profitable and grow at the same time, just be profitable. Growth needs to wait.
2. Focus on Cash not Sales.
I have also said “It’s Cash Flow, Stupid” and this is even truer now. Forget about the sales line on your profit and loss statement. Look at your cash flow statement. Focus on getting paid from your customers, extending your payments to vendors and keeping your inventory as low as possible.
Draw on your bank credit line before the bank takes it away. Unless you have 6 months cash in the bank draw on your credit line and put the money in another bank for safe keeping. The insurance will be worth the low interest paid.
3. Challenge all of your business assumptions.
This is no time for sacred cows. Can your business be done another way? Adapt or die. Cockroaches do this extremely well. How can you increase gross margin? How can you sell to your clients at a lower cost? What parts of your business make profit? Which are the profitable customers? What are nice to have and what are luxuries in your business? Take no prisoners.
Read more of the article here:
http://barrymoltz.com/rants/articles/8-actions-for-your-business-to-thrive-in-a-recession