Full Focus Limited
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David Martin: 0274 902 401
Kathy Martin: 027 2800 564
Recent Focus May 2008
Estimated reading time for this issue: under 5 minutes
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Surviving the so-called economic “recession”
We hear about it everywhere …. the downturn in the economy and what it’s
going to mean for New Zealand businesses. Very doom and gloom. House prices are “falling”, well leveling off anyway, petrol prices are going sky high and household income doesn’t seem to be increasing much at all. It’s in the papers, on the TV, the internet and every other form of media you can think of.
I was talking to a retailer just this week who said how things were really slow at the moment and she could only put it down to the slump in the economy – people simply weren’t spending as much money on unnecessary items. It’s funny how we need to assign a cause to things. Last year I had a similar conversation with this same retailer– business was slow last May too, but there was some other reason for it that year.
A large number of our clients are having a great year - the best they’ve ever had. Sure, some of this could be industry-driven. One industry flourishes while another doesn’t. But how does that account for businesses in the same industry where one thrives and one dives? What makes the difference there?
I’m certainly not an economic forecaster in any shape or form and I don’t know a thing about what kind of business sectors may or may not be affected by this so-
called recession. But we’ve decided we’re not going to take part in it (the recession I mean). We can’t alter much what happens to the economy, but we can alter the way we look at it and we definitely have a say in how we view things. Personally, we haven’t noticed any slowdown in business. People are still spending their money .. now they may be a bit more careful and smarter about how they spend their money .. but spend it they do!
Now I’m not suggesting some kind of Pollyanna mentality. It’s not about living in a bubble and ignoring warning signals until it’s too late. But imagine if we all fully took on board the economic recession. – what kind of a global energy would that attract?? I have no doubt there would be a recession – in a very big way. The
impact would be enormous. I don’t subscribe to doom merchants. Thankfully a number of other people don’t either. However, at the same time it does pay to be vigilant and perhaps put some extra things in place to firmly beat this so-called recession around the ears and keep it away – in YOUR business at any rate!
It might be time to pay a little more attention to areas that sometimes get lost in the day-to-day running of your business. When your customers (and prospective customers) are feeling the pinch they are going to be more wary of how and where they spend their money. They are far more likely to carefully weigh up the alternatives and may take longer to make the decision.
You need to be thinking of ways to keep your business foremost in their minds so that when they do make the decision, it's made in your favour and not your competitors! Think of ways that will make your product or service the preferred one. Consumers won’t just stop buying during tight times, but they will buy more cleverly. This means you may need to sharpen up your tactics as well.
We have more on this topic and some ideas on how to survive the so-called recession.
Two little lifesavers:
1. A couple of weeks ago Dave’s computer died. No glimmer of life from the hard drive and slim chances of recovering anything useful.
I had a chuckle that this was one way to cull all the “junk” Dave keeps on his computer - harsh though it
was!
Seriously, what if this happens to you and you don't have a recent back-up (or any back-up at all)? There was no warning this was about to occur, the hard drive was only just over a year old. The interruption to business was nuisance enough while having to share computers – but I shrink in horror at what would have happened if we’d lost all our valuable client data and files. Back up … Back up … Back up … and do it regularly!
2. Parents out there .... you've probably seen the Team-up Magazine - a great little
resource that came across my desk at some stage last year. If you haven’t seen it then it's certainly worth registering on line at www.teamup.co.nz to receive their newsletters. A wealth of relevant information is available and I’ve found it especially helpful as my kids entered their secondary school years.
Do you know someone we might be able to assist? Please give them our contact details, refer them to our website, or provide us with details so we can contact them. Click here to see how we’ll handle your referrals
Read the previous issue of Recent Focus (Tax time ... are you ready?)
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