Business Survival Tips for a Tight Economy

**andrew16** · 02-26-2010 07:43 AM

Hello

# Review your inventory levels. It's always important to keep inventory turning. During a time of slowing sales, you need to evaluate your inventory more carefully and reduce the stocking units that are not turning well. Inventory turns are expressed in two ways -- days inventory (the number of days it takes you to sell your inventory) or inventory turns (the number of times you turn your inventory in a year). Do you know what your turn rate should be? Has been historically? Or what the industry average is?

# Review/determine your company's break-even point. Understand what level of sales is required to stay profitable.

# Analyze your customers. Take a close look at your customer segments, and make sure you understand why they purchase from you. Segmenting can be done in several ways. For instance, you can use volume of sales; type of customer, such as purchase location (retail/wholesale/internet); type of buyer (commercial/government/personal); or by buyer demographics (educated/family status/residence location).

Then you can analyze your various segments to determine what product/service features are important when customers make purchase decisions, which segment provides the best margins and/or greatest volume for your business and other identifying features.

Thanks
Have a nice time a head.

**edwin34** · 02-28-2010 04:05 AM

Hi

Watch what the big boys are doing. They have big dollars to spend on marketing and monitoring the market place. For instance, consider all of the value meals that have been developed by the restaurant industry, all of which are targeted at budget-conscious consumers. Another strategy the big players in the market are utilizing is to cooperatively market. For instance, if you buy a meal at some restaurants, you get free DVDs, toys or other added values. Consider what you can do to make customers feel they are getting more for their money.
Encourage/promote a "buy locally" strategy in your community. People do not want to travel to make their purchases, so as a local business, you may be able to capitalize on high fuel costs and the convenience you offer. Even though times are tough, now may not be the time to cut back on your advertising/marketing efforts in the local market. Remind people that buying from you saves fuel and postage costs.
Take positive actions and maintain a positive attitude. People want to buy from a winner, so act like a winner! Do a little market research and be ready to identify and capitalize on potential opportunities. A colleague shared recently that he talked to a restaurant owner whose business has actually been increasing due to the fact that he's taking advantage of a competitor/s cutbacks; offering more customer friendly hours (opening two hours earlier by customer request); offering friendly and personalized service (reintroducing big coffee cups and small ups again by customer request); and is actively combating any negative word of mouth in the local marketplace.

Thanks

**carl12** · 03-02-2010 11:03 AM

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