Weathering Any Storm

Some of my clients are concerned about the weathering of an upcoming storm.

With hints of recession, the common advice is to “save up cash and grow your maintenance.”

But the advice doesn’t make sense!

You can’t pivot suddenly and pretend that you are making a quick significant change in your business.

Do you think God ever reached out to Noah and said, “Hey, it might rain soon. You should build an Ark in the next month or two.”?

To weather any storm, you have to be prepared in advance.

Here are seven proactive actions that you can take — these are some notes I have prepared for my live webinar.
To weather any storm, you have to be prepared in advance. Click To Tweet

Seven Proactive Strategies To Keep You Smooth Sailing

1. First, Remove Uncertainty From Your Employees Minds.
   You can increase confidence with more communication amongst your team. Include them on the ongoing financial and numerical updates regarding how the business is actually doing. Try making them part of the ongoing discussions, both good and bad. They will thank you, and as a result, they will become part of the solution.
2. Don’t Stock Pile Cash “In” The Business.
   Everyone says to do this, but it can make your operations “lazy” by sitting on so much money. I have seen this happen before. It’s better to focus your team on being lean and accountable from both a cash flow and profit perspective.
3. Don’t Hunker Down.
   Even when the economy is soft, there is someone still buying and someone is still selling. It’s a time to “buy low”, as the saying goes. You need to be on the look out for all opportunities. Stay positive and keep your game face on!
4. Don’t Build Up Maintenance.
   Unless it’s already part of your strategy for building the enterprise value and for keeping your competitors off your clients property. If you are an install driven company then you can’t just change your stripes overnight, but you can become more flexible with your overhead and operations. Own your strategy.
5. Invest In Sales Training.
   When times are good, your salespeople are order taking. Which means their sales skills tend to atrophy. Build a killer ’selling’ team and then spend time improving the selling process.
6. Don’t Ignore The Fuzzy Indicators.
   Leading indicators are hard to pin down. Similar to watching a long-term weather forecast. But if you spend time outside your business, while keeping tabs on the market, as well as inside your business keeping tabs on the leading data points, you will sleep better at night and be more proactive in all of your decisions.
7. Don’t Scale Back On Brainpower.
   Build a super strong leadership team that can think and act on its feet. Invest in the absolute best, and they will help you sail smoothly through troubled waters.

Your Challenge: Make Communication Your Power Move

Don’t pull back on your growth ambitions when it starts to rain. You can still grow in any economy with the right approach.

Even my race car wants to race in the rain. I may have to drive slower, but I still drive to win.

You can increase your traction by increasing your quality and volume of communication.
You can increase your traction by increasing your quality and volume of communication. Click To Tweet

The #1 issue that I uncover when I hold a consulting event with a leadership team is the lack of sufficient and relevant communication.

So turn that weakness into your strength, and then use that strength to power your way though all economies.

Regards, Jeffrey!