Management & Beyond

The U.S. National media has done a great job in perpetuating a doom and gloom scenario for the next couple of years.

I do agree that things are tough, but as I have commented before, we are headed backward into the ‘70s.

For those of you who remember, the ‘70s, the world operated via cash and little credit.  The last 20 years of economic expansion has allowed us to operate via credit and little cash.

We need to get used to operating via cash again, just like we did in the ‘70s.  I trust disco will not return in this time.

I stress the importance of learning to plan and strategize how in fact we will use cash because whether we like it or not, times will get tight.

Notice how I said tight and not tough.

Tough will be for those of us who do not plan, tight will be for those of us who have the vision to plan and ride this out so we can come out ahead when it’s all over.

After all, that is what business is right?  Survival of the fittest.

I can appreciate an article via the Associated Press today where we are doing a great job in reducing our dependency on credit.

For someone like me, this article is an indicator of good things to come…if we plan.

On another note, I have noticed over the last two months that as consumer spending is lower overall, we are still in business and our businesses are still making purchases.

Yesterday, I was in a Los Angeles Staples store to see that small business owners are still buying things.

Not only are they buying things for their businesses, but they are buying big ticket items like printer/copiers.

I asked the manager of that store is she has noticed a decline in sales and she said no.

As a matter of fact she said that this last Sunday was their largest sales volume they had seen in months.

Hmm.  Is the media scaring us into managing our cash?

If so, good job.

I was also in Atlanta Georgia in November at another Staples store and noticed similar spending.

Bottom line is that we are going to go through difficult economic times, but we have the choice to make them tough or tight.

As we have now moved into the reality of the New Year and uncertainty in the economy, I find that with all the “panic” there are still service oriented businesses neglecting one thing.  Customer Service.

For those of us who own businesses that rely on customers (which is pretty much all of us), now is NOT the time to treat your customers as if they are bothering us.

I say this with great distain for those businesses (public and private) that do not take the time to re-train employees in how important each and every ONE customer is to our business.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen in these tough times there are still businesses out there that really don’t care if you walk into their business or not.

Well, at least that’s what it feels like via poorly trained employees that seem frustrated to serve you or those employees who seem to “cool” to acknowledge you would like service.

It’s as if employees despise being at work and we (customers) are a distraction to them just hanging out, getting paid.

In my continued work toward my Ph.D. and researching organizational failures, I have the luxury of studying this dynamic within businesses to realize that in these tough, uncertain times, we cannot afford to lose customers.

We have to re-train our employees, our managers; ourselves to make sure we provide the service required by our consumers.

We cannot blame business failures on the economy.  That issue will not be relevant soon, where we must re-train our employees to do the best they can to keep that customer coming back for more.