In my book , I wrote candidly aboജut one of the darkest times in my professional life. 

When the Great Recession hit in 2008, we thought our bus🀅iness, , would never recover.

Almost overnight, we lost much of our expected revenue as customers decided they we🔯ren’t comfortable going forward with spending on the pool we agreed to. 

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:And it was 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 truﷺly formative one in my own development as a bu🃏sinessman and leader. 

Today, we again face economic uncertainty that comes from a c🌺omplex bevy of reasons that stretch around the globe.

Although no twoಌ 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 businesses t𝓀oday:

• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Seei♓ng opportunity in every challenge

• 澳洲幸运5官方开ꦓ奖结果体彩网:Key metrics to watch for to know what's coming

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

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

Plan for a recession begins when things are booming

Today, the economy i🐎s one more thing no one can seem to agree on. 

In some ways, the economy is humming along, with and rising wages. At the same time, inflation, eꦕnergy costs, and lingering pandemic fallout are troubling. 

All businesses cꦫan use this uncertainty to take a good look in the mirror and prepare for 🐓whatever is ahead. 

Economic dow✃nturns are part of the natural cycle of business.

While you can’t control 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 t🐼o make it through unscathed.

When a recession hits, your employees, customers, and clients will all look to you, as a business leader for guidan♋ce, and they will interpret both what you say and what you do when deter🔥mining how they should react. 

Even when the waves get rough and the storm rages, people like to know that there🅠’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 ꦉbusinesses 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 experience, it is the small, agile businesses who are♒ most likely to do this — to see opportunity amid the cri𝄹sis. 

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

While small to medium-sized businesses (SM꧟Bs) might 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 initཧiatives are more realistic with a smaller team. You can move quickly, shift to meet new o﷽pportunities, 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 critical for business owners to be open a🌃nd frank with their employees. (Of course, this should begin long before times get tough.) 

The more transparent leaders can be with their team,ꦗ the more likely those employees will fee🃏l trusting and informed. Value candor over comfort.

With a culture of transparency, you are more likely to have employ💮ees volunteer to accept new roles or change resp🌟onsibilities 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 blind🐻sided. Should it come to this, you may have employees choose to leave and go on unemployment if that seems like the best option for them. 

Such decisions are always difficult for all involved. Transparency, I’v꧋e found, is the best method for easing t🥃he pain.

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

🍬I don’t want to pretend that anyone ever hopes for a recession or dreams about a depression, but trying times call for fortitude, initiative, innovation, and te⛄amwork like nothing else. 

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

Although it was a very difficult time for me persꦉonally and professionally, the decisions we made allowed us to emerge mor𓄧e sturdy and focused than we had been in the past.

Personall෴y, I use t💫he lessons 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 elsewhere. 

You are forced to get creat🉐ive, and to make decisions that you may come to realize you already sho♍uld have made. 

In Jim Collins’ book , he asks companies to develop a “h🐼edgehog coܫncept.” 

This comes from an earlier essay that arg♏ues 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 River Pools, it took a recession for 🍨us to see that we were no𒆙t doing retail very well. 

We had two beautiful retail stores where we sold everythin𝓰g from pool noodles to tanning beds. The tough economy made us see that these facilities didn’t align with our core goals, so we closed 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 economy was strong, however. 

The recession forced us to see the writing on the waꦰll.

In tur🍌n, we were able to focus our efforts on installing fiberglass pools. That was o✅ur 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 all the more frenzied. Bu𝔉t we were certainly not the only ones sౠurprised. 

Major busine🐟sses and institutions wereꦡ caught off-guard, and many did not make it through the recession. 

After all𝔍, Lehman Brothers Holdings had been in busine𒅌ss since 1850, weathering the Great Depression and any number of smaller recessions, , which remains the largest bankruptcy in US history.

Today, with a myri𒅌ad of metrics being reported by dozens of government and NGO organizations, it can be hard to know which ones matter to your business. 

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

1. Lead flow

If you are aware that your lead flow is trending downwa🐠rd and you haven’t really changed anything with your marketing, this s▨hould be a red flag. 

If you see this happening, you should use the relationship𒁃s you have with industry peers to see if they’re experiencing the same thing.

Remember, 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 choose 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 competi🌸tion, it’s inaction.

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

If the relationship is 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:a trusting one, the prospect will tell you, “you know w💧hat, we just looked around and said to ou🎐rselves, ‘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 m🅷ore, that might be a deal you can win in𒁏 the future.

Again, a downturn forces you to be inventive. If enough deals fall through for a certain product or service, now might be t🍃he time to reimagine what you sell.&nbs♓p;

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

At Rive✤r Pools, we were suddenly much less likely to sell our typical pool installation package, 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 o💦wner in a recession has to always be thinking creatively.

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

Future-proofing your company starts in the good times. It begins wi♔th communication and alignment. 

If you don’t ha🦋ve those things 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 wiജll get worse.  

By contrast, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:the moreไ aligned and 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,ꩲ okay, for plan A: let’s say there’s a moderate downturn. For plan 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 i🐻n the open, on the table. 

Then, you can start planning for it. 

Right now we're all experiencing some economic challenges in 2023. We're trying to imagine what 2024 will be like. So, at this point, because we're speculatingꦜ,🐟 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 so🧔ld 70 po♌ols next year. What would our business look like?

That’s our “plan 🦋C,” and when it’s out in the open, it su💯ddenly 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 inspire focus. Wꦚhen things go badly, it doesn’t help to pound sand and wallow.

You🐎 have to move quickly 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 𓂃location?

If you and your leadership team can agree on what the 𓂃worst events could be, you can start to talk about solutions. 

As hard as it can be, I urge you to reject negativit𝓰y, which ca൲n be contagious. 

As a leader, you have to model optimism and pragmatism. Be op☂en with your workers about the reality, but focus on the solution.

Remember, in every 🔥single downturn, 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, shrewd decision-making, you can find recessions to be times of clarity, purp🧸ose, and direction.

It all comes back to being prepared — and choosing the right o🅷utlook.