Yes, we still have a long way to go before full recovery, however, without a plan to move forward when the market becomes more viable, you could be left in the dust!

The following is a proactive concept that could help companies prepare for the gradual upturn.

Begin by training your management team and sales force to contact your customers, prospective customers and former customers regarding their opinions about business activity in the next six to twelve months and their interest in purchasing your products and/or services during this period. Once this information, along with intelligence about several other pertinent topics has been gathered, all of this data would be tabulated, interpreted and presented in a report to key members of your management and sales departments. Although it might be desirable to have this study prepared by an independent market research organization, we are still in tough economic times and in most cases money is short. Also, by having your own people establish contact with customers, you will be making a more positive impression about your company, its products and its employees.

Based on this informal customer research study, develop a sales and marketing plan that will take advantage of this new information. This plan should be built in a modular way, thus providing you with a great amount of flexibility should the market shift up or down. This plan should include such cost effective and highly measurable initiatives as; special interactive promotions, content driven web marketing, the use of social media platforms, blogs, podcasts, webinars, search engine optimization activities, key word utilization, targeted email campaigns, online videos, PR news wire outreach, web analytics, and perhaps the use of barter to purchase advertising media.

In addition to providing greater sales and profits, this plan would help to expand your vision, develop increased corporate momentum and keep your organization on course for planned growth.

Even if it may not be prudent to launch your new program at this time, it would be advisable to build the plan now and have it ready for action when the time is right. Keep in mind that it will take three to five months to complete the research and the marketing and sales plan. Thus by planning now, when the appropriate launch opportunity arises, you will be months ahead of your competition!

As an old Latin scholar once said, “Praemonitas, Praemunitus” (Forewarned is Forearmed).

Small Business Coaching is designed for people who: manage start up companies, operate newly acquired companies, control the launch of new products, services and division of larger companies or just want to make their small businesses more productive, efficient and profitable. Small Business Coaching for select management individuals or management groups from smaller organizations is generally more dynamic and fast track oriented than consulting for larger companies. After all, most of these small business executives do not have the luxury of time or large enough budgets to bring their products or services to market in a classic way. They must act fast and be equipped with the necessary tools to out smart and out engineer their competition.

In a way, Small Business Coaching is like training a guerilla force to out-maneuver and out-flank a larger and more cumbersome standing army. However, this small business/guerilla force must have many of the tools that the big boys require, only properly scaled for their respective sizes. These tools include, but are not limited to: a financial plan, a tactical marketing program, an action-oriented strategic sales program, an ongoing monitoring system, a strong team building program… In short, the responsibility of a Small  Business Coach is to help clients identify what they would like to achieve, uncover the most efficient ways to reach their goals, provide ongoing support and encouragement while delivering their services at a moderate cost.
Now that you know more about Small Business Coaching, let’s think about timing. When is the appropriate time to use a coach? On average, you should be working with a coach at least six to nine months before your program is ready to launch. Although our economy is just beginning to turn around and we can only see glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, this could be the time to carefully develop strategic initiatives that can be ready for the inevitable bounce back. By working well ahead of your planed start date, you can be prepared to launch your new programs as soon as the market indicates. Also, it is fair to assume that in most cases, you will be significantly ahead of your competition!
In closing, think of a Small Business Coach as a true capital asset that is just as important as the acquisition of manufacturing, IT, and research equipment. We are confident that the utilization of a coaching entity can make a significant difference to a small company in these precarious times.