The recession is coming! The recession is coming! That’s what you hear on the news every night. Manufacturing is down, property values down, and retail stores filing bankruptcy. But construction is booming, we can’t find people to do the work because unemployment is low, and the stock market is at record highs. Recession? What recession? What’s going on? It’s been over 10 years since the last recession and most of our listeners weren’t even in business then. All they know is business is great and it’s going to last forever! But the party is coming to an end. It’s just that nobody knows when. What have you done to prepare your business to not only survive but position yourself to thrive during a downturn in the economy?

Today I’m going to give you 10 simple tips to recession-proof your business and also take advantage of the opportunities when the economy comes back.

Show Highlights:

• Tip No. 1: Be prepared by having a plan. Download my FREE 1-page business plan to simplify your process. This plan asks you the important questions, the ones that really get you to think about what your business is, where you’re making your money, what your ideal customer looks like, where’s your business going to come from, etc.
• This will also help you figure out where you want to go with it. If you’re looking at retiring in 5 years, that takes some serious planning. If you’re a young person starting out, you want to build a business that’s sellable, and that can support you in the lifestyle to which you’ve become accustomed.
• Tip No. 2: You need to know where you’re making your money (residential, commercial, etc) because when things slow down, you’re going to want to focus on that niche and bag the rest of it. You want to see what it looks like to have a 20% drop in business.
• What tends to happen during recessions is a building owner isn’t going to want to spend big money to put a new roof on, so they’re going to look at repairs (maintenance, coatings, resurfacing). This is where a huge opportunity exists. It is a low cost, low risk, high margins business. If you have a service department, now is the time to get the process down, and consider expanding. Service is a great profit center both inside and outside of a recession. If you do not have a service department, it might be time to consider one.
• Check out the Show Notes for a link to my past podcast with Greg Hayne on How To Start An Extremely Profitable Service Department!
• Tip No. 3: Cash! Have a lot of cash on hand to get you through a lean period to cover your overhead. Having a good amount of working capital solves a lot of problems. It will also be useful in case of opportunities present themselves.
• Collect your money on accounts receivables. If you aren’t in the practice of doing this regularly, you need to start getting a good process put in place. This is how you make your profits, and where your cash is going to come from. When things slow down, people are slow to pay, so you need a way to stay on top of this.
• Check out the Show Notes for a link to my past podcast with Thea Dudley on 5 Reasons You May Have Cash Flow Problems!
• Check out the Show Notes for a link to my past podcast with Alex Barthet on How To Get Paid!
• Tip No. 4: Cut the fat! What expenses do you currently have that you can cut back on? Do it now so it isn’t so painful later.
• Tip No. 5: Have your sales process down. When things slow down, there will be fewer opportunities, so you need to have a properly trained sales force that can go out there and sell for a higher price so that you can get your margins.
• Tip No. 6: Know your numbers. The number one reason contractors go out of business is because they don’t charge enough money for their services. This is because they don’t understand the costs of doing business. When the market turns, you’ll have to be more competitive, and you can only do that if you understand your costs. You need a good reporting system.s,
• Tip No. 7: Have a good CRM set up to track your team, leads, jobs, and scheduling.
• Quick Tip: A good way to rustle up some business that you may not have thought of is dead leads! A simple way to bring those leads back to life is to send an email with the subject line, “Are you still looking to re-roof your home in (City)?” In the body of the email, just state “Let me know.” Include your contact information, your signature, and that’s it! Send to all your dead leads!
• Tip No. 8: Make sure your website is fully optimized to attract visitors and to convert them, building trust as you go, into an actual lead. Then convert the leads into sales.
• Tip No. 9: Tips for your website:
• Establish yourself as an expert.
• It has to be fast and look great on a mobile device.
• Have the button on your website that they can click to call you.
• Don’t use stock photos. Show photos of your guys and your equipment.
• Have a good “About” page. Include your photo and a short welcome video.
• Tip No. 10: Make sure that you’re getting reviews. Make it an easy system by asking for a review upon completion of a project and making it a part of your sales process.
• Bonus Tips: 11) Get with your bank and set up a credit line. 12) Be sure you’re taking your discounts with vendors. 13) Don’t cut your marketing; increase it. You want repeat business and referral business. 14) Put out a newsletter to keep your name out in front of everyone.