One of the benefits to becoming a veteran at anything in life is the ability to foresee the duplication of prior human events or their challenges. Over the last 18-plus months I have been preparing my family, staff and friends for a softening of the market, reduction in real estate values, decrease of potential buyers in the market and an increase in expenses. (Just to clarify: I do not claim to be Nostradamus nor any other prognosticator of the future, but my experience led to a gut feeling that we are now living daily.)
During the pandemic our industry absolutely blossomed, which utterly surprised me. I was miffed by people’s desire to spend large amounts of money on their homes, cars, furnishings, etc., when they weren’t sure whether they would be able to return to work or to normal life in any reasonable amount of time. Government intervention allowed for that transition to be softer, and I’m sure many business owners took advantage of the relief that was offered. Eventually, however, those free dollars dried up—one of the key indicators to the possibility of a change in market direction. Subsequently, our costs began increasing, subsidies disappeared and many jobs were already completed during the pandemic, diluting work that would have surfaced more incrementally in the future.
Now for the good news: It is in times like these that your efforts will be rewarded exponentially in the future by seizing the opportunities before you. You can always grow your market share on a larger scale when things don’t seem quite as good as they used to be. While, understandably, you may think this defies logic, the reverse is true. The inherent challenge to making this all work for your benefit has a few different layers to consider. Most important is your ability to trim the fat from your expenditures by taking a hard look at your break-even analysis, negotiating with your vendors and shopping all your current expense lines. Make good use of the extra time you have by strengthening your bottom line and increasing every available dollar possible without sacrificing the quality of your products or services. The absolute best time to negotiate with your suppliers—by virtue of the laws of supply and demand—is when their sales have decreased as well.
Next will be your ability to grasp the idea of marketing your company through low cost or no cost means such as social media marketing, networking events or my favorite, belly to belly in front of your current or potential clients. During this process, however, it is crucial that you are strategic about highlighting what you can do for them. Although your customers may also be negotiating hard with you in this market, it is incumbent upon all of us to stand out from the crowd by delivering your value message to your customer with confidence and positivity.
Finally, make a point of having candid conversations with your staff about sharpening business processes and communications. Good leaders become great leaders during challenging times, and I promise you the staff does not forget those efforts. If you show up, rather than trying to show them up, you will build a very strong team that will have your back when the time comes.
Scott D. Perron is the founder of 24-7 Floors & Flooring Investors 4, Inc. He is the host of a nationally published podcast on Spotify titled “Getting Down to Business,” a business consultant and WFCA-approved speaker. He may be reached at scott@ScottDPerron.com.
