Dealing with a Slowdown in Business
A business slowdown is always tough to deal with. However, in today’s uncertain times, it can be even more frustrating and worrisome. The world changes quickly and seemingly on a daily basis, and many businesses have been negatively affected by world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When business slows down, it’s easy to start wondering and even worrying about the future.
If your business is experiencing a slowdown, here are a few ways that you can cope.
Communicate with Your Team
Communication is always crucial, especially when your business is experiencing a slowdown. If you don’t communicate effectively, your team may start to worry. Trying to keep things secret can seriously hurt morale and will likely lead to rumours spreading through the organization.
Your team will likely begin see the signs of a slowdown and start to get concerned for their jobs and the future of the company. By being transparent with them, you’ll put a stop to false rumours, and they’ll respect you for your openness. Even if the news isn’t positive, your team will appreciate your honesty.
Allow team members to ask questions and voice their concerns. By creating an open dialogue, you’ll have everyone on the same page and working towards the same goals.
Do Market Research
This is a good time to do some market research. If there’s a slowdown in your standard offerings, you may want to consider launching a new product or service or changing how you deliver your current offerings.
Don’t overextend yourself, but one or two new launches may be helpful. Before you decide how to proceed, conduct some market research for ideas and to see what may be viable.
Think About What Work Is Most Important
You may need to scale back on some of your products or services during a slowdown. Look at your business offerings and see which ones remain profitable and which ones are lagging. A downturn can be a good opportunity to refine your organization.
Looking at your sales, leads, and conversion numbers is also important. If these areas of the company aren’t where they should be, consider making adjustments or scaling back some areas of the company until things pick up again.
At Ralevic & Ralevic LLP, we conduct business valuations and financial modeling and can even provide assistance to help you restructure your business if necessary. Find out more about our financial advisory services.
Change Your Marketing Strategy
When business is slow, you need to walk a line between spending money on marketing to increase business and cutting costs to stay financially solid. It may be a good idea to change how you market your business, rather than drastically increasing or decreasing spending. Using a new strategy can help your company stand out in a changing marketplace and give your organization an edge during difficult times.
Look at the Competition
How are your competitors doing right now? Are they facing the same struggles that you are? Have they made changes to their offerings? Have they seemingly found a way to keep things going during these difficult times? You don’t want to go out and copy what they’re doing, but you can potentially learn from the mistakes or successes of your competition.
You may also find an opportunity while reviewing competitors as well. If they’ve cut back on a certain product or service, is there a possibility that your organization could gain in this area? How can your business succeed where others have failed? What can you do differently? These are all questions that could help your company survive a slowdown and come out stronger.
