With the economy in a downturn, budgets are tight.  The normal reaction for businesses is to cut costs specifically by bringing company spending to a standstill, and while cost reduction is important and a reliable strategy during financial downturns, it can also lead businesses to overlook valuable business opportunities.  And in this time of economic uncertainty, when new business is scarce and aggressively fought for, it is mandatory that your company wins these new accounts while maintaining all current clientele.  It is therefore not only beneficial, but vital, to embrace the current market opportunities as they will place you above the heavy competition of the times. 
 
 It just so happens that many of these opportunities lie right at your fingertips and can be derived from your very own valuable data, free online resources, and preexisting relationships with technology professionals.  These opportunities are not only affordable (and some completely free) but will actually improve total business efficiency, everything from operations to perfecting your brand image, making them cost effective investments with the potential to yield a very valuable return. 
 
Businesses need to invest in the new technologies and business opportunities available to them, advice that is always sound, but in this uncertain economy it now seems downright critical to follow through.  Run through the list and be certain that your company is not making these three common mistakes.

Do not take your existing clients/customers for granted

The last thing any business should do in a slowed economic climate is take their existing clients or customers for granted.  If you are aware that finances are tight, then obviously so are your customers and you do not want them eliminating your services from their budgets or turning to your competition.  You need to adapt your business model to the times, and to the new and specific needs and goals of your clients.  Be sure to know who your top clients are:  First of all you want to keep them, but second they give you valuable insight into the success of your client retention.  Send out customer satisfaction surveys. Consider sending special newsletters to customers only, or white papers or other such valuable information.  Or consider special pricing options for loyal customers such as discounting or extending their credit or more flexible payment plans.   
 
Find out the areas you need to improve upon.  Does your business need to improve upon the speed in which it delivers its products and services to clients?  Do you need to improve upon general efficiency? 
 
The best way to holistically improve operational competence is to incorporate managed technology into your business model.  Managed Service Providers (MSPs) proactively monitor your business network, keeping it up and running and tweaking glitches before they even become problems, meaning no unnecessary downtime, no loss in productivity, and a greater capacity for profit.  Not to mention, the cost of their services are significantly less than the pricing of break-fix projects.

Be sure to capitalize on the latest market opportunities

In this economic climate, businesses need to tighten their purse strings and decrease their business spending.  However, you must remember to still make investments, just selective, wisely thought out, and justified investments.  Consider this: Your existing clients and prospects are also going through this economic downturn.  They are adapting, and their needs and their goals are changing.  They are also tightening their purse strings.  You need to keep up with them.  What do they need now?  Be honest with them.  Consult them on the bare minimum that they would need to purchase from you.  Do your homework.  Your clients and prospects are only making the wise investments themselves nowadays.  What exactly does that entail to them?  How much of their budget can they allot to your products and services?  You need to find a way to be there for your clients and prospects in this economic climate.  You need to adapt yourself.  You need to help your customers save money so that you will continue to make money. 
 
You can make your business more efficient by incorporating Managed Services.  They will make your business more organized, faster in execution, and will proactively prevent technology problems that would cause you downtime.  With Managed Services, you are saving time and money; you are increasing productivity, getting more business done faster, saving money on your technology services, and are now able to pass those savings on to your clients.
 
Inbound marketing, or online marketing, is another new market opportunity that is completely free (save for the cost of allocated time). There has been a drastic shift in marketing over the past few years, and the new paradigm for 2010 revolves around online search.   Be sure that your business is utilizing the power of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, as well as your own website and blog.

Acknowledge and address all operational inefficiencies

You must be sure to diagnose and then correct every problem in your business.  This is smart business in general, but once again in the economic recession you need to be better than all of the competition.  In order to keep the cost of delivering your products and services low and competitive, you must perpetually trim away all operational inefficiencies.  If you allow wastefulness to continue, you run the risk of losing control of your cost structures, and this is not the time for such a problem as most businesses are analyzing their cost structures and gross margins, looking for ways to reduce company expenses and product costs.
 
David Thompson, founder and chairman of The Blueprint Growth Institute, a management consulting firm, has a few ideas.  In his book, “Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth” he acknowledges the fact that the leaders of business carefully manage their expenses in sales and marketing and business research and development. Thompson suggests three ways for your business to manage expenses: sell value to maximize your gross margins, contain expenses so as to ensure a cash flow positive, and reinvest.  I can suggest some examples. An example of adding value to your product would be to offer a compatible service and tie the two together as a package deal.  An example of containing your expenses in the realm of sales and marketing would be to utilize inbound marketing.  As mentioned earlier, inbound marketing is not only the new business generating paradigm, but it is also a very efficient way to manage expenses as it virtually requires no monetary investment and is all return. And finally, an example of reinvestment into your business would be to allocate funding to Managed Services.  Managed Services is not only an investment, as Thompson notes in his book the leading businesses that invested in technology infrastructure also improved their customer management and market intelligence, but an example of expense containment as well, as the proactive strategy behind Managed Services eliminates downtime 

Conclusion

The aforementioned is sound advice, any given business day.  However the current economic climate mandates the business to really stop and take the time to analyze the current state of their business model.  Identifying and solving these three common mistakes will be a giant first step towards holistic operational improvement, making your business impervious to the recession.  Rectifying them will also give you the potential to increase your client base, making you a case study for other businesses that wish to generate greater profits in an economic downturn.

References

1. "Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth" written by David G. Thompson

2. "Six Mistakes Companies Are Making Today and How You Can Avoid Them" a White Paper written by SAP Thought Leadership, to be viewed at http://www.sap.com/usa/search/index.epx?q1=6%20Mistakes

Want to learn more about managed services and how they can help your business during economic uncertainty?

Call Bryley today at 888.280.5799 or email us at Info@Bryley.com for a free consultation.   

Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. is a market consulting firm based in New York. AMI’s market intelligence of SMB trends and strategies specifically in the realms of IT, Internet, telecom, and managed services has them leading their industry.

Every SMB that relies on information communication technologies (ICT) is obviously aware of the following 2010 trends such as the increase in the use of software as a service (SaaS), managed services (MS), virtualization, and mobile applications.

Well here are 6 more trends for 2010 that AMI has identified while analyzing the global SMB arena.

1.       SMBs will finally loosen up their ICT budgets

The fourth quarter of 2009 showed that SMBs were finally allocating room in their budgets for ICT purchases, and so in 2010 we will see a rise in this trend as SMBs switch from survival mode to business expansion.  ICT technologies obviously facilitate this shift as they all around enhance business efficiency, making it easier to strengthen existing customer relationships as well as generate new ones through referrals and an impeccable image. ICT tools that will assist in employee collaboration, improved customer and prospect networking, and ICT tools for data backup and disaster recovery will become more important to SMBs in 2010.

2.       All SMB ICT purchases will have tangible value in 2010

Due to the economic recession, business decision makers are now completely hands on with regards to their ICT purchases, and now in 2010 these decision makers will need complete justification for all ICT purchases that will guarantee tangible, measurable results.   SMBs will be doing business with ICT vendors and managed service providers (MSPs) that have established themselves as trusted advisors in their field, professionals that can prove with quantifiable data the ROI attached to their products and services. Brand familiarity will also be key in 2010, as SMBs will make ICT purchases from well established leaders in the industry.

3.       Cloud Computing Solutions will struggle to fully capitalize on the ICT industry potential in 2010

This third trend goes hand in hand with the aforementioned trend # 2. SMBs need stronger justification for all ICT purchases nowadays. They need tangible, measurable, guaranteed results from all of their investments.  And with ICT that still appears somewhat ambiguous in the eyes of SMB decision makers, such as Cloud Computing Solutions, SMB decision makers are not only going to require justification for their purchases, but clarification on what these products and solutions entail.  There is still much confusion for business decision makers who are not IT savvy on how exactly Cloud Computing Solutions will benefit their companies.   ICT vendors and MSPs need to be perceived by SMBs as trusted advisors now more than ever, as these Cloud Computing Solutions deliver a tremendous ROI.  They are cost effective, improve all business efficiencies, and now there are data backup and disaster recovery plans as well in case of emergencies. 

4.           Social Media’s popularity with SMBs will continue to grow in 2010, increasing its scope from      just a promotional and networking tool to a source of business intelligence

Social Media obviously has become quite popular over the past few years, first with individuals, and now with businesses.  As of 2009, the primary use of such sites as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were for brand promotion and business networking.  2010 will see an increase in these prior trends as well as usher in a new era of Social Media for business, where businesses will be monitoring, measuring, and managing their brands, products, and services.

5.       The number of “Total IT Providers” will increase in 2010, putting pressure on IT Specialists

Two factors are responsible for this trend. 1) The consolidation and convergence happening in the IT industry.  The consolidation of leading vendors in the industry in the form of mergers and acquisitions and the convergence between hardware, software, and services translates into traditional value added resellers transitioning into full service, end-to-end managed technology providers.  2) With the economic climate the way it is, SMB are making fewer IT purchases, forcing traditional VARs to seek new outlets of revenue.  What does this mean for the SMB looking for a MSP? It means that they will be adding even more value to their services in the way of product training and constantly available support.

6.       There will be a “capabilities chasm” between MSPs in 2010

Now that the MS industry has matured, those MSPs who are seasoned will pull away from the pack as they will continue to adapt to meet the latest needs and goals of SMBs and a large imbalance of abilities and competence in the MSP realm will ensue. Not to mention, the more seasoned MSPs are more likely to be Partners with the big leaders in the industry, such as Microsoft, HP, and Cisco, and in 2010 AMI predicts that there will be more co-branding to the tune of “our product their service,” again putting the seasoned vets ahead of the pack.  AMI has also noted that SMBs in general prefer one MSP that will provide full, end-to-end IT solutions as opposed to out-tasking different IT needs to different providers.  And so once again, the more seasoned MSPs will be victorious in 2010 as they have been the ones to adapt their business model into one that is “total solutions” to meet their client’s needs.      

Want to learn more about SMB business technology trends?  You can visit the AMI Partner website and learn all about the company and their methods of analysis.

www.ami-partners.com

Want to learn more about managed services and how they can benefit your SMB?  Call Bryley today at 888.280.5799 or Email us at Info@Bryley.com with any and all questions.