You’ve got questions and the Biz Doc has the answer! Questions for this week include,

  1. Are we well on our way into a recession? If so, how bad or how long will it be?
  2. What should I do to prepare for the recession?

Take a bunch of economists, lay them end to end? You’re going to reach the same conclusion.  You could take a bunch of economists, lay them end to end, and they’re not going to reach a conclusion on this. A conclusion that lines up perfectly. I think Harry Truman said that. I believe that we are stepping into our recessionary environment right now.

I’m sure you saw the unemployment I tweeted out today. Meta has actually laid off 25% of their Facebook workforce. Twitter is a different example. Elon Musk bought Twitter and said that it doesn’t take all of these people to run a text messaging system at scale and on a global basis. So they’ve laid off 80% of the people, taking their severance and heading out.

META

  • Meta is just tech. And we’ve talked about this on the PBD podcast about layoff predictions. So when people’s spending starts dropping, interest rates are high, inflation starts and remains high, it’s not plummeting, and unemployment’s going to start ticking up. And layoffs are driving unemployment. That is how a recessionary environment begins. I believe we’re going to be in a two-quarter recession. Is it third and fourth quarter? I’m not sure.

INVEST IN BETTERING YOUR BUSINESS 

  • We have a bunch of people that came to our Sales Leadership summit from Valuetainment. What are they doing? They’re investing in training and education. And I think right now, don’t go into debt to do it. But if you can afford to invest in training for your sales force or invest a little more in product to try and be opportunistic, you can stick with your customers. In other words, you could pull in and stick with your customers, try to ride it out. So pull in or drive out.

FOCUS ON THE OPPORTUNITIES

  • However, I recommend driving out, but don’t do it with debt and foolish decisions. Look for opportunities. Look for, I hate to say it but weaknesses in your competitors. Look for people that may not be serving their folks. This is the perfect time to win a customer by showing them this during the recession. You’re all in this together and you can give them a great product at a great price, or a great service at a great price. I would work on that. I would also take time to educate the whole team through popular media. And here’s a great source for you. We happen to really like the book, Unreasonable Hospitality – talking about putting that little extra into every customer relationship, I highly recommend you read this book.

IT’S GOING TO GET BETTER

  • So don’t pull in and hide, getting into a cycle of only talking to customers or suppliers. Be the voice that says when this ends, I’m going to be better. And make that your mantra. Look for the next customer. Read books with your team to educate yourself. Think about how you could do something a little bit better, even if you don’t have all the budget to do it and come out on the other side better than you came in. Because if you’re in the weight room just lifting weights, you’re going to be stronger. Great question, thank you for asking!

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