The Head of Fred

Small Business, Big Recession Pt. 1: 3 Tips to Help Your Small Web Business Evaluate & Shore Up In a Weakened Economy

Posted on 14. May, 2009 by Fred in General Business

Being part of a small development agency in a non-metropolitan area of Massachusetts, our reaction to the housing crash and subsequent stock market implosion was probably similar to yours: What does this mean for us? Sure, we don’t work for or with public companies, but when will we feel a trickle-down, if any? We were pretty sure this thing wasn’t going to leave us unscathed, here are some ideas as to how you can ensure and potentially increase your sales in a big recession.

Tip 1: Take stock of your current client base

You probably already feel you have a pretty good handle on your clients, but what about in a general sense? Who is giving you work, who stopped, who is demanding the most of your time, who doesn’t pay on time well? Asking some broader questions and then evaluating your client base along that line of questioning will help you determine who could be hurting – rather than helping your business stay healthy.

Tip 2: Stop Relying on “that one, or those two or three key clients”

Think of clients as being legs. The more legs you have, the more chance there is your business will stand, even when you lose one. I’ve seen friends lose their business because that all-important huge client went out of business or else simply cut costs by stopping all work with them. The trick here is to find a way to gain more clients while staying profitable and not over-extending you and/or your staff. In another post I’ll cover some of the ways to tackle this particular problem, lowering your overhead on projects by choosing the right tools and reusing what you can from previous projects.

Tip 3: Invest some time in figuring out how to streamline your project development and operational processes

You might have a pretty great position with your business, perhaps you’ve narrowed down your strengths and weaknesses and have already started shifting towards a more streamlined business model, or perhaps you are capitalizing on the hottest new trend or opportunity out there, but at the end of the day, those extra 1 or 2 hours you spend sorting through emails, figuring out problems, talking on the phone with clients (and not billing the time), etc. might be costing you money better spent on other internal endeavors.

We all do this to a certain extent, it is the nature of the business we’re in. Most of what we do is provide service and as a result, there are many intangible factors that can add time to our daily workload but don’t actually generate real revenue. As a result, we’re essentially paying out our valuable time when we could be using it more effectively. The key is to be aware of these facts and to commit some time to finding solutions.

So, what solutions have you found? What steps have you taken to shore up your business so that you can gain when others struggle?