SIAServices.net

It Changed.

Day after day I have people coming to me. Day after day I get someone insistant that the market is dead.  Day after day I have to shake my head slightly and bite slightly harder on my tongue to keep from verbally slapping them for their ignorance.  Not stupidity, mind you, but the failures of others who listen to people who are not in a better place in business than they are. 

We decided many years ago to outperform and make more money than anyone in our families.  We stepped out from shackles of living paycheck to paycheck to spin the wheel and hope that we would do better than those ever confined in the bondage of working for someone else until they were too old to truly enjoy life.   We knew we would have to work harder, and smarter than those before us if we were to succeed.  We get up earlier, work longer hours, go home exausted and dream about working some more.

So why, when we try so hard to seperate ourselves from the pack, do we listen to that pack when they tell us times are tough?

Did someone burn all the money?  Did I miss a report of a nuclear attack on banks? 

I spend every free hour of my time studying trends, listening to the news, and planning for markets just like this.  As I watch many of my unprepared competitors close their door, their is a bittersweet victory each day as I know I am not going anywhere.

The market did not die, it just changed.  If you are able to see a change coming you will better be able to not only weather the storm, but push through it and be a leader when the clouds subside.  While the wind kicks up and the other boats begin to take on water and list, you will pull out your larger sail and skim away from the hurricane other have allowed themselves to get caught up in.

That being said, yes, I will be the first to admit that their are markets out there that are in for a rough ride, but those who have already planned, or are planning now, versus hunkering down, can take advantage of this market in ways never before thought of.

Five years ago, anyone serving the residential market was flooded with more work than they could handle.  The money was flowing freely from the hands of the consumers and people were writing checks larger than their annual salary of years prior.  People got comfortable with minimal expenses going into marketing and more money going into luxeries such as dining out more than in, gas guzzlers, and taking pride in having to spend more on increasing weight lines.

But some of my clients knew better.  I remember one in particular (who shall remain nameless as he has not given me permission to disclose him).  He came to me during the height of the boom and first laughed saying how everyone was so easily being successful that it worried him.  He knew the market couldn’t sustain the growth it was having and wanted to know if he was alone. 

I assured him that he wasn’t alone and that a few people knew that he was right.  They were setting aside funding for operations, marketing, and advertising and that he would do best to do the same.  He listened to my advice and we drew up an extensive marketing plan for him with three separate contingencies based on what the market shifts could be.  Today he is one of the few remaining in his fields as everyone else who was so fattened by the feasts of the last years, were unable to migrate their business to greener pastures.

Many times in business you have to truly plan for these market shifts with a couple of thoughts to your company.  For the sake of this page here are a few simple questions to ask that could mean the difference between being successful during this harder time, or being a statistic.

Where did my market shift to?

How can I target my new market?

Is my business too broad/narrow?

 

Where did my market shift to?

If you normally target the residential market, for example, you should look at the corporate or industrial markets to see if your business could fit in there.  Many mortgage companies closed their doors because once the market shifted from a sellers to a buyers market they were left floundering.  The smarter ones began looking for people who would buy homes in this starving market.  The even smarter ones began to buy investment properties themselves.  Trying to identify where you market has shifted to is a much better alternative to hunkering down in a bathtub with a mattress over you waiting for the good weather you enjoyed to return.

 

How can I target my new market?

This is the scary step where you really need to sit down in front of a qualified marketer.  One wrong move could be costly and deadly.  A good marketer saw this coming and already has survival gear set aside for you in the way of options.  SIA Professional Services for example, now offers a digital solution for lower quantity printing for those who can only afford a few hundred invoices rather than the thousand minimum we had when the market was good.  Yes you can save yourself a few hundred dollars by trying to figure out the market by yourself, but how many customers do you have to miss before the “savings” wasn’t saving anything but a competitor.  If you are still insistent on doing it yourself; identify your new market and tailor a new business approach for them.  This may mean some severe changes to your website, printing, and all around approach, but if you would have diversified in the first place, you wouldn’t be feeling the same pinch you are right now.

Is my business too broad/narrow?

Five years ago a niche business in Sacramento could thrive just fine.  Selling embroidery, scrap book supplies, or even gold plated teeth was a profitable industry.  However, the trend that is emerging is that the businesses who had a broad service base lasted longer, or are even thriving in this market.  SIA’s new office used to be the home of a window coverings business.  The name can still be seen in the faded paint where their sign used to be.  I can’t help but wonder if they would have been in the same boat if they would have offered a few more products and services, such as blind cleaning, on site repair, and related services such as window cleaning and glass repair in to the mix. 

But diversity is not a good thing if you spread yourself out to thin.  A few years ago I visited an auto parts store who had a restaurant attached assuming that people would love to eat there while they were waiting for their car to get repaired.  You and I can laugh now as we see the insanity in thinking someone who is nervous about their investment being under the knife goes into a restaurant and is expecting a high end meal amongst all the 10/30 oil.  Yes he shut down, and the example is extreme, but some businesses are so broad in their services that it never surprises me when one of my reps tries to call them and ends up writing “Not In Service” on their phone number.  Don’t be so broad as to take on another risk, rather diversify only so much as it compliments the first service.  A car wash probably would have been a better idea than a steak house in the aforementioned case.

Remember, money always changes hands.  The job now is to find the people who have it and target them.  But don’t forget the market you have worked hard to be in now.  Because you and I both know, soon the money will be back in the hands of those who had it before.  Let’s just hope we all have learned something in the mean time.