The Business Boom of 2009!

There is very little good news out there right now according to the press.  Keep in mind that they have a vested interest in expounding on the negatives.  Whatever is right about America or current business opportunity is not on their radar screen.  Their optimism detectors were, for the most part, turned off years ago.

So I am wrapping up the writing of my new speech: The Business Boom of 2009!  We have never needed a dose of positive perspective more than now, so as a business consultant and speaker I’m providing you with it!  I have six tips for you on how to be red-hot in a cooling marketplace by creating a more productive environment in which to thrive.  It requires you to focus not on your fears, but your opportunities.  Here you go:

1. Identify the positive happenings in your industry and study them for emulation; somebody out there is doing business and we need to learn what is working to expand our strategic horizons; 
2. Become intimately familiar with your customers’ current challenges and objectives and be more valuable to them than your competition is!
3. Investigate and brainstorm with your associates the options available to you as to how you will “go to market” in these times; think out of the box and consider new ways;        
4. Invigorate your efforts to differentiate to become the vendor of choice – improve customer “touch-points; implement technological improvements;  maximize customer experiences;  improve your products and solutions;  advance customer relationships and communications;
5. Master the “Head Game” – Think and act positively; Study your numbers… if business is off 20%, work 30% harder and 30% smarter to overcompensate for a tough market – let your competitors be the whiners while you concentrate on being the winner!  Read books that reinforce your optimism and perseverance;
6. Sell the value of your solutions, not the price;  resist temptations to compromise your margins with price-cutting;   If you must do something, maintain your price but include an extra premium or gift;

Good luck, and remember that you never lose until you give up or go negative!

Don