Focus on What You Want

One thing that’s become even more clear to me over the past several months is that the businesses that are succeeding through these tough times are the ones that are focusing on increasing revenue and sales and on getting and keeping customers—much more than those focused on cutting costs. In each downturn I’ve lived through, I’ve heard the marketing mantra “don’t cut marketing during a recession.” And I’ve heard a number of rationales for that. But don’t they all come down to keeping money coming in?

In a recent discussion with several CEOs, three of them reported that 2012 was a record year for their companies. Two of those three were in industries that have been hit very hard. Several clients, also in hard-hit industries, are extremely busy and have contracts or engagements running out for multiple years.

The businesses that are succeeding have developed creative ways to keep business coming in. Realtors have organized bus tours to foreclosed properties. A commercial contractor has radically changed how his company does business with governmental entities in order to stay in the forefront in that market. A pool builder has expanded his work to pool maintenance and other landscaping. Residential builders have reinvented themselves to do home improvements and renovations when new construction stopped. Some banks and credit unions are working with borrowers to adjust credit terms to help them through a tough period. Imagine how loyal all of these customers will be when the economy picks up?

So it seems clear that business is being done, even though it sometimes sounds like everything is coming to a screeching halt. The question is, what does a business need to do or do differently to get or keep the business that’s being done?

Creativity is a common thread connecting those who are succeeding. It may not mean a radical departure, but those businesses are doing something different—expanding services, refocusing capabilities on a different service that people are buying, finding new applications for what they sell or just plain kicking things into higher gear. In other words, they’re doing something to turn the lemons into lemonade.

Quality of service and execution also makes a huge difference, and that, like creativity, is within the complete control of the business. I saw an article several months back titled “Don’t Blame the Economy for Poor Retail Performance.” The gist of it was that well-run businesses continue doing business; the ones that fail are the ones that weren’t run well in the first place. Or as a builder related his version of the 80/20 rule to a colleague of mine, “When things slow down, 80% [of builders] accept their fate and go home.”

And finally, at the risk of sounding like I’m oversimplifying, doesn’t much of it come down to leadership and communication within a business? Consider the following:

The economy may not be in our control. Financial markets and the availability of credit may not be in our control. But creativity, quality of execution, communication, vision, direction, focus, a strong sense of urgency and positive thinking (i.e. a focus on what we want versus on what we don’t want)—aren’t these all within our control? And aren’t these essential for success in any time, and especially tough times?

Michael O’Reilly is regional director of Paradigm Associates, a management and sales consultancy headquartered in Cranford, N.J.