Economies are always in flux, and after a boom, there will come a bust.
Fortune
mentions that recessions are part of a business cycle, and just because the last one was a decade ago doesn’t mean that the economy is safe from another one this soon.
A recession is predictable to the point that it will happen again, but economists can’t yet predict precisely when next it’ll show up. That uncertainty makes business owners cautious since there’s no telling what could trigger an economic downturn.
For business owners, the knowledge of how to make their business able to stand up to the specter of recession is critical to surviving the rolling tides of the economic storm. McKinsey states that the only way to truly ensure a business survives an economic downturn to is keep the company healthy. Businesses that are already suffering from existing problems are the ones to get hit first and hardest by the economic downturn. What methods could a business take to make itself healthier and more likely to brace itself against the coming recession?
Undertake Fundraising
Fundraising increases the amount of money that the business has in cash reserves. Reserves mean that the firm has a store of value that it can draw upon when income is limited or impacted by the poor economic state of the nation. SOFII reports that fundraising can even be done after the start of a recession, but care should be taken as to how it’s implemented since it may cost more than the business can manage to recover from the process. Being able to leverage liquid assets when everyone else is unable to give the company a firm footing to survive the weak economy.
Sign Long Contracts with Clients, not Vendors
Locking a client into a long contract ensures that the futures of both the company and the client’s business remain linked. Clients mean sure income and the more long-term clients that have been signed by the time the recession rolls around, the more income the company can hope to draw on throughout the recession. On the other hand, signing multi-year deals with vendors is a terrible idea. Just like clients are income, vendors are expenditure. Having a solid idea of spending is essential, but by locking the company into a specific vendor, it cripples the freedom of the company to seek out better-costing contracts if they were to come along.
Invest in Consumer Research
Even in an economic downturn, consumers buy. The only difference is that the amount of money consumers spend on products is much more limited. Businesses competing for customers need to have insights that others don’t. CMS Wire notes that the best way to approach a recession is by having a customer-centric model in how the company does business. Customers that believe the company cares for them remain loyal, even in tough economic times. Additionally, conducting research in the field by finding out what services or products the customer needs that the business can provide can be useful in opening up new areas for income.
Why Recession-Proof a Business?
If the last economic downturn hasn’t been enough of a lesson to business owners, the reason they should recession-proof the business is that they need to withstand the worst that the economy could dish out or else they will fold. It doesn’t matter if the company is selling something necessary like food items or luxury items like wireless MS teams headset the plan remains the same. By ensuring the business can stand up to the uncertain times, it creates a platform to build upon when the dust settles at the end of the economic hiccup.
