In my book , I wrote 🍨candidly about one of the da🌟rkest times in my professional life. 

When the Great𒅌 Recession hit in 2008, we thought our business, , would never recover.

Almost overnight, we lost much of our expected revenue as customers decided they weren’t comfo🍒rtable going forward with spending on the pool we agr🐠eed to. 

澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:And it w🍃as understandable. 

However, within a few months, our business bank account was overdrawn, and we were forced to contemplate shuttering retail stores, laying off workers, and, potentially, closing our business for good. 

Now, more than a decade later, I can look back on that experience as a truly formative one in my ow𓃲n development as a businessman and leader. 

Today, we again f🐻ace economic uncertainty that 🤪comes from a complex bevy of reasons that stretch around the globe.

Although no t🔯wo recessions are the same, the way you should prepare doesn't change. In this article, I'll share what I learned — and the tips I share with business꧙es today:

• 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:See🎶ing opportunity in every challenge

• 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:Key metrics to watch for to k🐷now what's coming

• How to make plan A, plan B, and plan C💎 so you're ready for ﷺanything

I kꩲnow this isn't the most pleasant conversation to have, but it's necessary. And you'll be glad you did. So let's dive in.

Plan for a recession begins when things are booming

💎Today, the economy is one more thing no one can seem to agreꦉe on. 

In soꦉme ways, the economy is humming along, with and rising wages. At the same time, inflation, energy c🦩osts, and lingering pandemic fallout are troubling. 

All businesses can use this uncertainty to take a good look in the mirror and prepare for wh🌼atever is ahead. 

Econ🎐omic downturns are part of the natural cycle of bus♒iness.

While you can’t c🌺ontrol the economy, you can prepare in the best way possible — and you can control♕ your own reaction. However, if you choose not to prepare, you're less likely to make it through unscathed.

When a recession hits, your employe𝕴es, customers, and clients will all look to you, as a business leader for guidance, and they wil💜l interpret both what you say and what you do when determining how they should react. 

Even when the waves get rough and the storm rages, people like to know that ther💦e’s a steady hand driving the boat.

Remember the old saying: A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.

A culture of agility and openness is crucial to your long-term success

The truth about any economic downturn is that some business🔯es🍸 are guaranteed to gain market share, even as others lose it.

This happens in every economic contraction. Sometimes this comes with your industry, but in my experiꦿence, it is the small, agile businesses who are most likely ♎to do this — to see opportunity amid the crisis. 

Although this sounds like cold comfort if you’re facing a recession, small business owners have a🌼n advantage because of the nimbleness that comes with being small. 

While small to m🎉edium-sized businesses (SMBs) migꦦht lack the resources of larger corporations, I like to say that they can be a “digital David in a land of Goliaths.”

Major pivots and new iniꦉtiatives are more realistic with a smaller team. You can move quickly, shift to meet ꦕnew opportunities, and react effectively. There is less red tape and training to take place.  

Secondly, the smaller the business, the less bureaucracy and the better the chance that everyone knows everyone else. This makes small businesses more likely to have the advantage of transparency, which becomes an asset in a downturn. 

I believe it is critiꦇcal for business owners to be open and frank with their employees. (Of course, this should begin long before times get tough.) 

The more transparent leaders can bꦓe with their team, the mo🉐re likely those employees will feel trusting and informed. Value candor over comfort.

With a culture of transparency, you are more likely to have employees 🐽volunteer to accept new roles or change responsibilities if the✃ company needs it during difficult times.

If you do have to close stores or lay off people, it’s best if they can see it coming and understand the rationale behind 🍃it, rather than feeling blindsided. Should it come to this, you may have employees choose to leave and go on unemployment if that seems like the bes🐷t option for them. 

Such decisions are always difficult꧃ for all involved. Transparency, I’ve found, is the best method for easing the pain.

A downturn can be a time of growth — with the right strategy

I don’t want to pretend that anyone ever hopes fᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚor a recession or dreams about a depression, but trying times call for fortitude, initiative, innovation, and teamwork like nothing else. 

I know that River Pools and Spas would not be the strong company it is today if i♔t were not for the storm we weathered together a decade ago.

Although it was a very difficult time for me personally and professionally, the deci🍨sions we made allowed us to emerge more sturdy and focused than we had been in the past.

P🍬ersonally, I use the lesso🤪ns I learned during those times , when I write, or when I make decisions to help lead IMPACT.

In a downturn you find energy and focus that you just can’t always summon e☂lsewhere. 

You are forced to get creative, andܫ to make decisions that you may come to realize you already should have made. 

In Jim Co✨llins’ book , he asks companies to develop a 🐷“hedgehog concept.” 

This comes from an earlier essay t💯hat a𝔉rgues that,  

A hedgehog concept is the one thing your business does best. In a downturn, businesses should cling to their hedgehog concept — and that should be their guiding principle.

Be really clear about where your revenue 🎶is actually coming from. Then, you can double down on what's profitable and shift focus away from anything that's not. 

For us at Rive💦r Pools, it took a recession for us to see that we were not doing retail very well. 

We had two beautiful retail stores where we sold everything from pool noodles to tanning beds. The tough economy made us see that these facilities didn’t 🎶align with our core goals, so we c🎀losed them.

Now, you may think that was a bad thing, but in reality, it was the right decision. It was a decision we didn’t have to make 🎃it when the economyꦛ was strong, however. 

The recession forced 💝us to see🔥 the writing on the wall.

In turn, we were able to♓ focus our efforts on installing fiberglass pools. That was our hedgehog concept, and that became our sole focus. 

Keep an eye on these 2 metrics to know when a downturn is coming

The downturn of 2008 took us by surprise. 

We, at River Pools, were not prepared, so our scrambling was allജ the more frenzied. But we were certainly not the only ones surprised. 

Major businesses and institutions were caught off-guard, and many did not make it through the reces💧sion. 

After all, Lehman Brothers 👍Holdings had been in business since 1850, we♕athering the Great Depression and any number of smaller recessions, , which remains the largest bankruptcy in US history.

Today, with a my🅺riad of metrics being reported by dozens of government and NGO organizations, it can be hard to know which ones matter to your busi🌊ness. 

For small businesses concerned about a coming downturn, I would say there are two essential metrics to monitor.

1. Lead flow

If you ar🌄e aware that your lead flow is trending downward and you haven’t really changed anything with your marketing, this should be a red flag. 

If you see this happening, you should use the relationships you have with industry peers to see if they’re experiencing the sa﷽me thing.

Reme𒅌mber, recessions are something everyone goes through together. If you have friendships with competitors in your market, you can ask if they are experiencing a dip in leads as well.

2. Inaction

In my experience, the number one reason why a customer doesn’t cho𒐪ose to buy from a salesperson is not because they found a better solution elsewhere — it’s because they decide they can’t afford to make the deal, especially in a recession. 

The🌠 biggest enemy to sales is not the ♛competition, it’s inaction.

It’s important to train your salespeople to build relationships with prospects that are strong enough to still have a conversation even if a deal falls through. Tha♈t way, you can find out the real reason a deal didn’t close. 

If the relationship is 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:a trusting one✱, the prospect will tell you, “you know what, we just looked aro🌞und and said to ourselves, ‘we’re just too nervous about the market.’”

In such a case, you should remember that you didn’t lose the deal. There was no deal. What’s moꦜ🌜re, that might be a deal you can win in the future.

Again, a downturn forcꦐes you to be inventive. If enough deals fall through for a certain product or service, now might be the time to reimagine what you sell. 

Can you come up with a package that would help more deals close?

At River Pools, we were suddenly much less likeꦐly to sell our typical pool installation pac𒀰kage, that usually ran about $60K at the time. 

So, we asked ourselves, could we come up with a $40K package that might bring in more deals, even♛ if we ꦺmake less profit and have to adapt our work process?

The business owner in a recession has 𝓀to always♕ be thinking creatively.

You'll be okay if you make plans A, B, and C

Future-proofing your comp🎃any s🌌tarts in the good times. It begins with communication and alignment. 

If you don’t have those thing🐲s in the good times, you can’t expect that they will suddenly be there in a downturn. Pain and struggle magnify every element of your company. If there are divisions or fractures, those will get worse.  

By contrast, 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:the more aligned a𝔉nd the💙 more self-aware you are, the more foresight you’ll have in a recession.

Business owners and leadership teams should be having a conversation in which they make plan A, plan B, and plan C. 

They can say, okay, for plan A: let’s say there’s a moderate downturn. For pl🍨an B, let’s say there’s a significant downturn. For plan C, let’s say there’s a recession.

That way, the scariest prospect is out there in the open, on the tableღ. 

Then, you can start planning for it. 

Right now we're all experiencing some economic challenges in 2023. We're trying to imagine what 202💮4 will be lik🥃e. So, at this point, because we're speculating, we have a great chance to plan.

At River Pools, we installed 160 pools in 2022. In 2009, during the height of the crash, we installed 70. That was our worst year.

So, we look ahead to next year and think, what if we only sold 70 pools next year. What would our business l෴ook like?

That’s our “plan C,” andꦺ when it’s out in the open, it suddenly becomes less scary.

Economic struggles reveal the soul of a business — and the character of its leaders

Bad times are inevitable, but they can spur growth and inspi🍌re focus. When things go badly, it doesn’t help to𝓰 pound sand and wallow.

You have to move qui♈ckly through the negative and focus on the solution.

Put the worst-case scenario out there on the table. What is it? Is it laying off half of your workers? Is it closing a l🅘ocation?

If yo🃏u and your leadership team can agree on what the worst events co🐲uld be, you can start to talk about solutions. 

As hard as it can be, I urge you to reject neg💎ativity, which can 🐲be contagious. 

As a l🐲eader, you have to model ♕optimism and pragmatism. Be open with your workers about the reality, but focus on the solution.

Remember, in every single dowཧnturn, someone is going to gain market share. How can you be the company that gains?

With a steady demeanor and the right attitude of nimble, shrღewd decision-making, you can find recessions to be times of clarity, purpose, and direction.

It all comes back to being prepared — and choosing the r꧒ight out෴look.