Economy coming out of recession... are you?

There are indications that the world is slowly coming out of recession and companies globally are hoping to regain lost momentum. India, in fact, has outperformed predictions and is looking at a robust growth in 2010-11. While some may not, most companies will manage to survive this slowdown and some may actually come out stronger!

This does not sound very surprising if you look at some fundamental stuff that companies do, or should do, in a slowdown. Any company that engages in consolidating its market share and focuses on long term goals during a slowdown, is actually taking a step forward rather than cutting back.

So what type of companies will come out stronger? What do you need to do so that your business too improves with improving market conditions? Here’s my list;

Value proposition – Additional value offered to customers, rather than discounting price, will not only keep them motivated to be loyal but also help in retaining your margins and increasing your goodwill.

Costs vs. efficiency – Most of the focus is obviously on cutting costs, but there is a real danger of losing your competitive edge if you stop or marginalize activities that affect your customers’ overall experience. Many companies that stop marketing completely are at a risk of losing their ground; the focus should rather be on improving marketing efficiency.

Engagement with customers – Only your customers can tell you if they are, and how much they are likely to use your product or service. Market conditions for you will improve only when your customers’ confidence improves, so discuss these broader issues with them.

Efficiency analysis – Review various business functions and run marketing analytics to fill holes that may be causing leaks in your resource pool.

Manage relationships – It is very important that your vendors do not run out of business and your employees don’t lose motivation during trying times. You will need them to gain momentum once the markets are looking up.

R&D and innovation – Some amount of resources can be moved to research and innovation. For instance, you may not spend so much on sales and promotion and instead channel some of these resources to develop new capabilities or improve on existing ones.

[Via http://ablemarketing.wordpress.com]