IS IT TIME TO BACKOFF YET?

By David Rogers

Since the current recession started back in 2008, we’ve been telling shop owners that the shops that survive and thrive during economic downturns are the shops that keep their marketing and advertising focus and who work on fixing their internal numbers.

But what happens when the headlines start to change?

After all, just a one minute glance through today’s news and it seems like the media is convinced things are getting back to normal….

• “The dollar is mighty once more!”
• “7 Reasons why the job gains could last this time!”
• “Stocks have ‘more room to run’!”

So it should come as no surprise that I keep hearing the same question from shop owner after shop owner…

“Since the economy is improving so much do I need to keep advertising and improving efficiencies? When can I safely back off?”

There are two parts to that question.

The problem with the first part is that it assumes that things are “improving.”  I don’t want to be doom and gloom, and I certainly don’t wake up every day depressed about the state of the world.

But I do try and pay attention to the actual news instead of just what makes the top of websites.

For instance, Morgan Stanley just quietly released a report showing that energy demand is dropping rapidly (the sort of thing that happens when businesses are selling fewer products).

Does that mean things are going to tank any day?  Of course not.  But it does mean that saying the economy is improving might be more a wish than a fact.

As I said, I’m not an alarmist.  I don’t think the world is ending tomorrow and I hope things are actually improving.  My point is that no, this isn’t the time to “back off.”

The experts say that businesses that market during a recession are the businesses that win.  They don’t say to change the tactic when things seem like they’re getting better.

Why?

Because you can be sure that even if you decide things are getting better and you can start to relax, your competition isn’t.

And the only thing you have to do to let your competition start taking your customers away from you is to let them have total, uninterrupted access to your best clients.

If you’re not trying to stay in front of your best customers and maintain your relationship, you’re giving your competition your permission to take them away from you.

So if my advice is to keep marketing and advertising and keep working on fixing your core numbers, is there anything you can be doing differently this spring?

In my mind, “not backing off” means two things.

As I mentioned, it means building and maintaining a great customer base. That means continuing to reach out to great customers with effective direct mail and targeted internet marketing, as well as staying in front of your current customers with an internal marketing strategy that focuses on bringing back your best customers more frequently.

But it also means preparing for the future.  After all, the business pages may be optimistic, but if you flip over to the main news pages, things aren’t quite as cheery.

Between a European Debt Crisis spreading from Greece to Spain and beyond and escalating situations in Iran and Syria, things are on edge throughout the world.

The best way for you to protect your future against all kinds of threats — from your competition to around the world — is to increase your profitability and save for future emergencies.

In other words, right now your best bet is to continue marketing and continue working to fix your shop’s numbers.

Looking for something more specific?

Here’s what I’m doing…

• Build reserves. Make sure you have the cash in the bank to cover emergencies.
• Get current with your creditors. Pay your debts off so you can put more money into savings.
• Build for retirement. Start to think about your exit plan if you haven’t already.
• Keep the pipeline full. By continuing to market and advertise, you’ll avoid the slow days that can kill shops.  Make sure you have internal and external marketing in place that attracts quality customers (if you want the same marketing results I have in my shop, call the Automated Marketing Group at 1-866-520-3030)
• Advertising and marketing must be an ongoing process! Keep working with your advertising experts to continue to find new and more powerful ways to accomplish your marketing goals. Measure, train, adjust, measure, train, adjust!
• Keep working towards improving your numbers.  The improvements you make now will have a positive effect on your numbers all year.  Keep measuring, keep holding your employees accountable, and keep growing by using the RPM ToolKit daily.

The good news is, you can control all of this.  If you keep marketing, keep measuring, keep improving, keep saving….you’ll be the one surviving and growing no matter what comes your way!

This blog is also posted on Motor Age!