Recession blues 2
Recession blues 2 - batten down the hatches.
There are two extreme approaches to surviving: the ‘batten down the hatches’ approach and the ‘now is the time to stand out from the rest’ approach. Each seems to appeal to a different style of owner when there may actually be a more sensible middle path.
Batten Down the Hatches! The typical survival approach is like a doom and gloom monster feeding itself on itself: all new purchase decisions are put on hold; training, consultancy, advertising and sales budgets are frozen; all debtors are chased unreasonably; creditors are kept waiting; prices are reduced to ‘be more competitive’. It is all bit of a slippery slope.
In an attempt to avoid literally going over the edge, many owner-managers start lying at this stage. They lie to staff and suppliers – initially these are just white lies. But soon they can’t remember who they’ve told what and the deceit starts to catch them out. And of course they start lying to the wife/husband in a vain effort ‘to protect them from stuff they wouldn’t understand because thing will change soon’…
Competitors, suppliers, staff and customers all smell the panic in your behaviour. The bank gets nervous; the vultures get excited. Everyone starts asking about how long you think you might be able to survive. Someone kindly gives you name of a friendly insolvency practitioner who can make things easier for you.
And even if you survive the downturn, your miserly approach to anything that might help you to grow the business means that you no longer have the resources or deep pockets to invest and be ready when the recession is over and the new world of opportunity finally appears.
Hope is not a method!
