How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn

by: Terry H Hill

An economic downturn is a phase of the business cycle in which the economy as a whole is in decline.This phase basically marks the end of the period of growth in the business cycle. Economic downturns are characterized by decreased levels of consumer purchases (especially of durable goods) and, subsequently, reduced levels of production by businesses.

While economic downturns are admittedly difficult, and are formidable obstacles to small businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. A well-managed company can realize the opportunity to gain market share by taking customers away from their competitors. Resourceful entrepreneurs capture the available opportunities, from an economic downturn, by developing alternate methods of doing business that were never implemented during a prior growth period.

The challenge of successfully navigating your business through an economic downturn lies in the realignment of your business with current economic realities. Specifically, you, as the business owner, need to renew a focus on your core clients/customers, reduce your operating expenses, conserve cash, and manage more proactively, rather than reactively, is paramount.

Here are best practices that will help you to successfully navigate your business through an economic downturn:

Goals:

The primary goal of any business owner is to survive the current economic downturn and to develop a leaner, more cost-effective and more efficient operation. The secondary goal is to grow the business even during this current economic downturn.

Objectives:

• Conserve cash.

• Protect assets.

• Reduce costs.

• Improve efficiencies.

• Grow customer base.

Required Action:

• Do not panic… History shows that economic downturns do not last forever. Remain calm and act in a rational manner as you refocus your attention on resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

• Focus on what YOU can control… Don’t let the media's rhetoric concerning recessions and economic slowdown deter you from achieving business success. It´s a trap! Why? Because the condition of the economy is beyond your control. Surviving economic downturns requires a focus on what you can control, i.e. your relevant business activities.

• Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Beware of the pitfall of trying to do too much on your own. It is a difficult task indeed to survive and to grow your business solely with your own efforts. Solicit ideas and seek the help of other people (your employees, suppliers, lenders, customers, and advisors). Communicate honestly and consistently. Effective two-way communication is the key.

• Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate! The value of a strong negotiation skill set cannot be overstated. Negotiating better deals and contracts is an absolute must for realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. The key to success is not only knowing how to develop a win-win approach in negotiations with all parties, but also keeping in mind the fact that you want a favorable outcome for yourself too.

Recommended Best Practice Activities:

The Nuts and Bolts… The following list of recommended best practice activities is critical for your business' survival and for its growth during an economic downturn. The actual financial health of your particular business, at the outset of the economic downturn, will dictate the priority and urgency of the implementation of the following best practice activities.

1. Diligently monitor your cash flow: Forecast your cash flow monthly to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line with accounts receivable. Include cash flow statements into your monthly financial reporting. Project cash requirements three-to- six months in advance. The key is to know how to monitor, protect, control, and put cash to work.

2. Carefully convert your inventories: Convert excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory items into cash. Consider returning excess and slow-moving items back to the suppliers. Close-out or inventory reduction sales work well to resize your inventory. Also, consider narrowing your product offerings. Well-timed order placement helps to reduce excess inventory levels and occasional material shortages. The key is to reduce the amount of your inventory without losing sales.

3. Timely collection of your accounts receivable: This asset should be converted to cash as quickly as possible. Offer prompt payment discounts to encourage timely payments. Make changes in the terms of sale for slow paying customers (i.e. changing net 30 day terms to COD). Invoicing is an important part of your cash flow management. The first rule of invoicing is to do it as soon as possible after products are shipped and/or after services are delivered. Place an emphasis on reducing billing errors. Most customers delay payments because an invoice had errors, and therefore, will not pay until they receive a corrected copy. Email or fax your invoices to save on mailing time. Post the payments that you have received and make deposits more frequently. The key is to develop an efficient collection system that generates timely payments and one that gives you advance warning of problems.

4. Re-focus your attention on your existing clients/customers: Make customer satisfaction your priority. A regular review of your customers' buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers' buying habits. Consider signing long-term contracts with your core clients/customers which will add to your security. Offer a discount for upfront cash payments. The key is to do what it takes to keep your current customers loyal.

5. Re-negotiate with your suppliers, lenders, and landlord:

i) Suppliers: Always keep your negotiations on the level of need, saying that your company has reviewed its cost structure and has determined that it needs to lower supplier costs. . Tell the supplier that you value the relationship you have developed, but that you need to receive a cost reduction immediately. Ask your supplier for a lower material price, a longer payment cycle, and the elimination of finance charges. Also, see if you can buy material from them on a consignment basis. In return for their price concessions, be willing to agree to a long-term contract. Explore the idea of bartering as a form of payment.

ii) Lenders: Everything in business finance is negotiable and your relationship with a bank is no exception. The first step to successful renegotiations is to convince your lenders that you can ultimately pay off the renegotiated loan. You must point out to your lenders why it would be in their best interest to agree to a new arrangement. Showing them your business plan and your action plan that includes your cost-savings initiatives, along with "the how" and "the when" of the implementation of your plan is the best way to achieve this goal. Explain to them that you will need their cooperation to insure that you can survive, as well as, grow your business during the economic downturn. Negotiated items include: the rate of interest, the required security to cover the loan, and the beginning date for repayment. A beginning date for repayment could be immediate, within several months or as long as a year. The key is to realize that your lender will work with you, but that frequent and continual communications with them is critical.

iii) Landlord: Meet with your landlord. Explain your need to have them extend the term of your lease at a reduced cost. Make sure you have a clause in the lease agreement that entitles you to have the right to sublet any or all of the leased space.

6. Re-evaluate your staffing requirements: This is a very critical area. Salaries/wages are a major expense of doing business. Therefore, any reduction in the hours worked through work schedule changes, short-term layoffs or permanent layoffs has an immediate cost saving benefit. Most companies ramped up hiring new employees in the good times, only to find that they are currently overstaffed due to slow sales during the economic downturn. In terms of down-sizing your staff, be very careful not to reduce your staff to a level that forces you to skimp on customer service and quality. Consider the use of part-timers or the current trend of outsourcing certain functions to independent contractors.

7. Shop for better insurances rates: Get quotations from other insurance agents for comparable coverage to determine whether or not your present insurance carrier is competitive. Also, consider revising your coverage to reduce premium costs. The key is to have the right balance-to be adequately insured, but not under or over insured.

8. Re-evaluate your advertising: Contrary to the other cost-cutting initiatives, evaluate the possibility of increasing your advertising expenditures. This tactic realizes the advantage of the reduced "noise" and congestion (fewer advertisers) in the marketplace. The downturn period a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and create additional demand for your product/service offerings.

9. Seek the help of outside advisors: The use of an advisory board comprised of your CPA, attorney, and business consultant offers you objectivity and provides you with professional advice and guidance. Their collective experience in working with similar situations in past economic downturns is invaluable.

10. Review your other expenses: Target an across-the-board cost-cutting initiative of 10-15%. Attempt to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Tightening your belt in order to weather the downturn makes practical, financial sense.

Proactively managing your business through an economic downturn is an enormous challenge and is critical for your survival. However, through well-planned initiatives, an economic downturn can create tremendous opportunity for your company to gain greater market share. In order to take advantage of this growth opportunity, you must act quickly to implement the above best business practices to continue realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill

You may reprint this article free of charge in your newsletter, magazine, or on your website, provided that the article is unedited, and that the copyright, author's bio, and contact information below appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to the author's web site, http://www.legacyai.com

Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc, a business consulting and advisory services firm. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. To find out how he can help you take your business to the next level, visit his site at http://www.legacyai.com

To download a copy of this article, click on this link: http://www.legacyai.com/Article_Downturn.html.
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Loan Protection Explained

by: Simon Burgess


Mis-selling of loan protection has occurred in the past and one of the biggest factors that contributed to this is poor information given when the policy was sold. The main culprits have been high street lenders that have poor selling techniques, with little or no training when it comes to selling. While the high street lender can give a good deal on a loan, they cannot give the cheapest quotes for protection. It has been revealed that they make £4 billion in profits when selling high cost insurance alongside a cheap loan.

Many individuals are under the impression that they have to take out protection insurance offered by the lender in order to be able to borrow. This is not true; all individuals can shop around for a policy. In fact, this is the cheapest way to take out what could be valuable protection. It is also one of the safest ways when it comes to getting the information needed to determine whether a policy would be suitable. There are exclusions which mean that loan payment protection is not suitable for all. Being of retirement age, working for yourself, having an ongoing illness or not being in full-time work could all mean a policy would not be suitable.

You do have to go over the wording of the terms and conditions carefully. Those who are self-employed could still benefit from taking out a policy if they were to cease trading altogether due to reasons which were no fault of their own. In addition, if the pre-existing medical condition had not resurfaced within the past two years then those suffering an illness could benefit from a policy. Providers can also add in other conditions and these can vary from provider to provider, so along with comparing the cost of the insurance you should also compare the small print.

Providing protection for a loan is suitable and you have checked it out thoroughly then getting the cheapest policy is the next step. It is important to remember that by shopping around and getting several quotes you can save as much as 80% on the premiums. A specialist offers the cheapest premiums, which are based on the amount you wish to cover each month and your age. Loan cover will be offered when borrowing and while it might be the easiest option just to have cover added on, it can also be very expensive. In some cases lenders have been known to work out the full cost of the insurance for the term of the loan. They then add this onto the cost of the borrowing and then calculate the interest with loan cover on top. When combined this way your protection policy could almost double the cost of what was once a cheap loan.

Loan protection polices do vary when it comes to paying out. The majority of policies will begin to provide the policy holder with a tax-free income once they have been unable to work for between 30 to 90 days. If you were to remain incapacitated then the income would continue for between 12 to 24 months, depending on the terms and conditions of the provider. However, this payment of course depends on the policy being suitable for your circumstances in the first place.

Check A Payment Protection Policy Very Carefully Before Buying

by: Simon Burgess


A payment protection policy is taken out by those who have credit repayments to make each month and who wish to protect those repayments. A policy can be taken out to cover against being unable to work if you should have an accident or get ill, or become unemployed through no fault of your own.

However, there are certain conditions that could mean a policy would not benefit the individual. Due to the exclusions present in all policies designed to safeguard payments, you have to check the cover thoroughly before taking it out. Those individuals who suffer from a pre-existing illness, are of retirement age, only work part-time or are self-employed would certainly have to read the small print very carefully. The cover can be valuable and give a much needed income, but only if the policyholder meets the set criteria. It is also worth nothing that statistics show that only 4% of those who take out a policy actually claim on it. Furthermore, 25% of those who do make a claim find their claim rejected by the provider.

You should also make sure that you are not covered for being unable to work by some other means. Around 85% of employers will actually offer much more than the statutory sick pay they have to pay out. Those who are extremely lucky will find their employers will pay out a full wage for a certain period of time. This of course means if you are able to get back to work quickly you would not need a protection policy.

If you believe protection cover would benefit you then go with a standalone provider for a quote. Protection products can be extremely expensive but by choosing to shop around for your quotes with an independent provider you can save as much as 80% on the premiums. While you can take cover alongside the loan at the time of borrowing this could mean you would pay five times more than you would if you shopped around.

The high street lender can play many tricks when it comes to offering protection. Some will work out how much the insurance would cost and then add this onto the amount you are borrowing. This means that instead of quoting you a monthly premium for the cover you will be paying interest on it. On the other hand, a standalone provider will give you a quote for monthly premiums. This is based on the monthly amount of your debt and your age at the time of applying. In some cases the savings you make are immense.

Another huge benefit of going with a specialist provider for your protection quote is that they are more ethical. They will ensure that consumers have access to the FAQs regarding a policy and will explain the technical jargon in plain English, which takes the confusion out of buying a policy.

The majority of policies offered by an independent payment protection specialist will begin to provide the policy holder with a tax-free income from between the 30th and 90th day of being incapable of working. The policy gives peace of mind and allows the individual to relax and concentrate on getting well without financial worries. The pay out would last between 12 and 24 months depending on the terms set out by the provider. You can find the terms and conditions in the key facts that are supplied by the provider on their website before signing up for cover. This makes comparing and deciding if a policy is value for money so much easier.

The Basics Of Loan Payment Protection

by: Simon Burgess

Not understanding loan payment protection is the number one fault associated with mis-selling. Providing cover is suitable then taking out a policy to cover your loan repayments can save you from getting into debt and give you peace of mind and the security of an income each month. This income is used to cover your loan or credit card repayments and is tax free.

Loan insurance premiums can vary a lot and the cheapest way to take out a policy is to go with a standalone specialist provider. By choosing to buy cover after taking out the loan you will not feel as though you are getting pushed into the cover and you will be able to take your time going over the terms and conditions. An independent provider will always make this information available.

A policy could start to pay out if the policy holder was out of work due to an accident or illness, or through unemployment such as redundancy. The policy holder waits a period of time before receiving a payout, which usually comes 30 to 90 days after being out of work continually. The policy pays out a tax-free income for up to 12 months, or for up to 24 months with some providers, which is usually enough time to recover and get back to work.

You do have to make sure that a policy would be suitable for your circumstances before you buy. This is due to there being terms and conditions that can stop you from claiming. The exclusions most regularly found include being retired or self-employed, suffering an illness or only working on a part-time basis. But these exclusions are not set in stone; for example, providing the illness has not occurred within the last two years then cover might be suitable.

Beware of borrowing online and if you do pay attention to whether loan protection cover is already included. Online lenders have in the past included loan protection as standard unless a box is un-ticked. While the majority of lenders have now put an end to this to avoid confusion, it is worthwhile double checking. The same goes when taking out a loan with the high street lenders, because they have also been known to add in the cover and then add interest onto the total amount. This, of course, can almost double the cost of what was a cheap loan and is the most expensive way of purchasing peace of mind.

When buying a protection policy for your loan make sure you know whether you will pay a single premium or regular one. If you pay a single premium then lenders will charge around three years’ premiums upfront, which you are expected to pay in one lump sum. You also need to pay attention to any clauses relating to early repayment of the loan. Always check to make sure what you would be able to claim back if you should take the loan out then find out you can afford to repay it early.

While loan payment protection can work and give you a much needed income it does only pay out for a maximum amount of time. While in the majority of cases the individual will return to work within this period, occasionally they remain unable to work for a longer period. Therefore, you must consider how you would be able to maintain the repayments if you should remain off work once the cover stopped providing an income.

Income Protection Could Give You Financial Security

by: Simon Burgess


If you were to suddenly find yourself without an income, due to losing your job or being unable to work for health reasons, your lifestyle could change drastically. If you have monthly mortgage repayments to make you would still have to continue meet the costs or risk losing your home to repossession. Loan or credit card repayments would also have to be made too, and you could struggle when it comes to finding the money needed. Income protection could give you the financial security needed each month for a small monthly premium.

A protection policy would replace your lost income up to a certain amount each month. The exact sum you would receive is decided when you take out the cover. A specialist provider will offer the cheapest premiums, which will be based on how much of your income you wish to protect and how old you are when applying for the cover. Along with a quote for the protection, with an independent provider you will also be able to take advantage of the many tips and advice offered by way of articles and FAQs relating to payment protection products. Understanding what you are buying is key to making sure your cover delivers exactly what you need for your circumstances.

Not explaining to the consumer that there are terms and conditions attached to these insurance policies is the main failure that providers have been guilty of in the past, and this is deemed mis-selling. There are some exclusions that are general to all policies and it is essential to check them against your circumstances to be absolutely sure that the policy you are considering would benefit you. Individuals who are self-employed, suffer from an ongoing illness, only work a few hours each week or who are retired might not benefit from taking out cover. However, those who do suffer from an illness should still give some thought to cover if the illness has not been present within the past two years. In addition, a self-employed individual could benefit if they have to cease trading through no fault of their own.

Just as the premiums for income cover varies from provider to provider then so do the exclusions, so it is absolutely imperative that you compare the exclusions along with comparing the cost. Providers can add in their own exclusions too and these can vary considerably. The best independent providers add in very few exclusions and this is what you should check for.

An income protection insurance policy could kick in anywhere between day 30 to 90 of being continually unable to work. Cover is then backdated to the first day of being unable to work, whether that’s due to redundancy or suffering an illness or accident. The majority of policies will last for up to 12 months. There are providers that do extend the payout for up to 24 months, but you can expect to pay a higher premium for this. The terms and conditions will be set out in the key facts of the cover and will include the details of the payout. You should also give some thought to the fact that after the period of protection ends you could still be unfit for work or might not have found another position.