Uncertainty is the Rule
Just about 7 years ago, right after the last recession, I wrote a piece titled “Uncertainty is the Rule” for a local marketing magazine.
I stumbled over the article while looking for something else and was surprised to find how pertinent it is today.
It opened this way:
The voice at the other end of the telephone line paused, then answered with one quick word: “Sucks!” My question? “How has business been for you over the last year?”
I interviewed Seattle printers or printers with a Seattle presence to check the pulse of the local print industry, and the word I heard most often was “uncertainty.”
There is no doubt that this economic environment is many times more critical than what we experienced after 9/11. However, the companies I spoke to survived the last downturn and gave me good advice when I asked them how to survive and even thrive. Here’s what they had to say:
- Getting caught in price wars is NOT a healthy strategic move! It is a slippery slope that can take a company out.
- You cannot “save your way to profitability!” While cost cutting, often to the bone, can mean the differences between keeping the doors open and closing them, you must look at new markets, new products, and new services to recover.
- Know the difference between sales and marketing – and there is a difference!
- Spend time with your customers and find problems that needs solving.
- Find a niche that you can fill.
- Look for value-added services you can offer.
- Become much more active in trade associations; not your industry, but the associations your customers are involved in.
- Be willing to adapt and change.
- Don’t expect technology to solve your problems. Technology is a tool not a solution.
All good advice today, seven years later!
. . .
“Uncertainty is the Refuge of Hope.”
Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 19th Century
Swiss philosopher and poet
