Red Frog, Inc.

(from "How to Profit in a Down Economy" by Josh Barinstein, Copyright 2004)

Second is focusing on what's important. We've done this already, in a general sense, in terms of a strategy, and in terms of a gameplan that then translates into things you can prioritize, you can follow them and be focused on them. In the process, and this should come as no surprise, you should keep customers in mind, bringing them the best products and services you can.

So, definitely do not sacrifice projects and investments just for the sake of cutting back. That is what many companies will do. Your competition out there is doing that, at the expense of what? Of losing business, of losing stability, and clearly bringing themselves down. So you want to be looking for, focusing on important projects that relate to your customers, and with the greatest return on investment. We've all heard of ROI, as a buzz word I'm sure, as a buzz acronym.

It isn't either about replacing what you have. I don't mean that… there are many things that surely you can leverage on, investments that are in place, where you can brainstorm on new products and services that you can deliver without uprooting the entire organization, which is something you definitely don't want to be doing during a down time!

Squeezing out additional inefficiencies, I think that through this out-of-the-box process, it will be easier to identify areas where money is going where it shouldn't be and that creates waste. You want to be focused on things that aren't wasteful to you, and be smart about your money.

Layoffs. Layoffs are associated with down times, with downsizing. Research has shown that it is possible to shift resources around. There are many creative ways where you can shift resources around and avoid letting people go. That will keep you from that demoralizing… you know, from feeding into that demoralizing effect that is going to cause a greater impact on your company.

The good news, and I'll keep sharing as many good news as I can, I'm sure you'll appreciate that, is that these actions clearly make you leaner as a company. And so if you follow these steps you are becoming a more efficient company during a down time. You do it out of necessity, yes I would agree with that, you have to now. But, it puts you in a position where you have to do it, and when the economy picks up you are in great shape, you truly are because you are leaner, you're stronger, you're able to take on business in a new way.

Now, one interesting point, I think, is that a bad economy helps to weed out bad business models. And I'm sure you've seen a lot of businesses and companies around you disappear into thin air. Theoretically, and it depends on your industry so I don't want to generalize, when times get better, a lot of these business will be gone, maybe gone in your industry and you will have less competition. And that is good news, not for them, but for you obviously.

So, that completes my second point on focusing on some things we deem to be very important.

OK, let me go into the third area, which is diversifying your customer base. And I'll spend a few minutes on this and the next one and we'll focus on spending money. If you do, were you should.

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Josh Barinstein is President of Red Frog, Inc., the Southern California ad agency that provides worry-free experiences and powerful results in the areas of Marketing, Print design, and Web/CD-ROM development.

Learn more at www.RedFrogInc.com or by calling 888-955-0550.

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