Three years ago in 2008, prior to the economic collapse in October, almost every CEO, company president and business owner I talked to wanted to talk about employee motivation and employee problems.  Companies had more business than they could handle and many were struggling with managing their employees to get maximum productivity.  Business people talked about expanding and growing their businesses as well as how to best handle the work they had.

Today the business conversation has changed dramatically.

 
I almost never hear these days from a CEO, company president or business owner who wants to talk about employee problems.  Business people want to talk about sales and marketing.  How to find, get and retain business. 

 
Everything has changed.  What worked before doesn’t seem to work anymore.  Or at least, not in the same way as it once did.  It’s a different business world than what many business people knew and what they experienced. 

Many business people feel completely lost.  Confused.  Frightened and concerned about the future. Yet others are finding success in this economy.  Why?

There are a several points these business people are losing sight of: 

1) Always keep in mind that no matter how bad the economy there is an economy out there.  You just have to go and determine how your business fits into the current economy. 

2) It’s just as important to worry about today as it is to worry about the future.  Be concerned about today.  What are you going to do today in your business to have the most positive impact?  Build on this day by day and it will lead you into a successful business future.

3) If you have been in business for years, in order to be successful today, you need to look at your business as if you were starting over.  You need to regain your positive attitude and energy that you had a decade or two or three ago because you will need this type of determination going forward in this economy.

4) Know that traditional marketing is never going to go away.  You may have to change your marketing to fit the economic times and mindset of your customer.  Update your marketing.  Think your marketing message through.  But to a degree the tried and true methods will always work. 

5) The next thing CEOs, company presidents and business owners need to know is that the world has changed since the Great Recession.  Technology has changed.  Everything is moving at a much faster pace.  But what hasn’t changed are the basic needs and wants of people.  Though they may express those needs and wants differently today, people have always wanted the same things.  As successful business people we can’t lose sight of that. 

6) So although you shouldn’t give up your traditional marketing, you need to be exploring all of the new marketing possibilities now available to you.  Whether it’s updating your company website, using social media or how you can use email to promote your business to current customers. 

7) What customers, clients and people in general want today is: trust.  They want to be able to trust in doing business with you.  Revolve your marketing around this concept.

In business, there is one fact that is indisputable:  Whether business is good and we are in an up economy.  Or we are in a recession that a recovery that seems painfully slow.  The United States is a vast country with countless numbers of businesses and customers that you can do business with. 

The question you need to consider is:  How long can you hold onto the way you have always done business and truly succeed in today’s marketplace? 

Don’t get caught up in the fear and the 24 hour news cycle.  Don’t believe your business is going to fail because of the recession and its slow, uncertain economic recovery.  Because if you do, your business will fail. 

Take a look at all of the traditional marketing and all of the new marketing ideas being developed and rewrite your business plan for success.  This is the time to think, plan, be logical and develop a winning business strategy.