Heard a good presentation on the topic this morning, from Ham Thorne, a mortgage originator. His first key points reiterate what I say in my forthcoming book: the time to prepare for the downturn is before it hits. "Squirrel away savings, reduce debt, watch over-exuberant expansion." Also diversify your customer base.
During the downturn, use your spare time to stay in touch with people, sending notes, making calls and visits. Ham actually said to do all of this all the time, but reality sets in when you're really busy with paying customers, and it's hard to do the plain old stay-in-touch activities. But certainly use the downturn to build relationships.
This is really common sense advice, but so many just don't "get" it. Knowing in advance that there will be downturns and preparing for them will mean less panic and significantly less regret.
Posted by: panasianbiz.com | September 09, 2006 at 01:47 PM
Selling in a Recession article that may be of interest. Also, podcast version at this address http://www.gaviningham.com/2008/02/29/selling-in-a-recession-podcast-1/.
Posted by: Gavin Ingham | March 22, 2008 at 03:54 AM