There is no denying, it appears that the U.S. seems to be heading for an economic slowdown. I refuse to flat-out say ‘recession’ as I would prefer to be the optimist.
I read a good article in Business Week this morning as to how to prepare your small business to be recession-proof. The bits of advice has opened my eyes into changing my ‘road map’ on things that I need done for at least this quarter.
To keep from losing business, keep in close touch with your customers. “Show that you care. Understand how their business is being affected and look for ways you can help. Lasting relationships are built in hard times.” And look for new market opportunities, recognizing that when the business climate changes, customer needs will change as well. That may mean new markets will open up for you…
When I finish an assignment with a client, I follow-up from time to time just to say, ‘hello’ and inform them that Remote Admin Services is here for them for both big projects and small tasks. Therefore if my client needs to cut back, they still have me in mind and use my services albeit more likely on a smaller scale. Better to have a smaller assignment than none at all.
…Create a positive experience…Another good option for local businesses is community involvement. “Join the Rotary Club or the Chamber of Commerce. Sponsor a Little League team. Let the Girl Scouts do a car wash in your parking lot. This is part of bonding with your community and becoming an established part of it.”
This is particularly useful if either you are just starting out as a VA or other small business. Virtual Assistants spend just about all of their time in an office and very rarely do we venture out to the community at large. This is not particularly bad especially if one has their majority of clients that is out of state or even out of country. However, there is something very special when you build a relationship within your local community. There is nothing like it in the world in which you can go actually meet with your client or potential clients face to face or deliver a finished product in person.
…small companies need to reach out to the new residents in their communities. “They’re going to choose someplace to buy their pizza and their shoes. You want to have an active campaign to greet them and bond with them…”
Technically the above does not really pertain to Virtual Assistants (unless one is niching to personal assistance services), but the concept still holds true if a new business opens up in the community. If you happen to be driving by a new place of business, make a point to stop by and introduce yourself with business card in hand and welcome them into the community. Checking the local papers or a Google Alert of local press releases might help.
In the article it also talks about hiring, not firing. Say that a small business has an administrative assistant and business is doing fine, but not growing due to the slowdown. Yet the admin is buried in tasks that really requires another assistant. No problem, a Virtual Assistant can easily take care of the overflow, until business picks up again…and you will be able to hire an additional in-house admin! Do not have an administrative assistant at all? Remote Admin Services can take care of your tasks until you are ready to hire!
Finally, as much as it is a crunch in these hard times, now is not the time to get rid of your marketing plans…silence your marketing, you silence your business…period. If you must change to an alternative less-costly plan of action, the article suggests innovative ideas such as e-mail marketing, blogging and online newsletters.
As a wise-relative used to say to me all the time, “this, too shall pass…”
