Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Recessions occur when the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, declines for at least two consecutive quarters. Recessions are natural in every free-market system but can adversely affect business. It leads to reduced cash flow, loss of demand, marketing constraints, and many others.
Fortunately, businesses don’t always have to close permanently once a recession hits — even small businesses can survive this economic turndown. The key is to reduce costs wherever possible to ensure the business continues to operate long-term.
The strategies below can help businesses thrive and survive recessions.
Office equipment is essential to businesses, but buying abruptly can cause your business to lose money. Avoid this situation by being a smart shopper — pay attention to where and when you buy office equipment.
Established retailers, like Argos, Costco, and Lidl, have discounts and promos weekly, so take the time to browse through their sites and schedule your shopping accordingly. For example, Lidl’s offers this week include amazing deals on monitor stands, printers, and desk lamps. Score any of these deals to save more and get a better bang for your buck.
Email tools are a common strategy businesses use to generate more leads. However, not all businesses can afford these tools, especially those that are new or small.
Instead of paying for email tools, invest in a video screen recorder. It’s more versatile as you can use it in a variety of ways, making it more cost-effective. For instance, to help prospects move through the sales funnel, take advantage of video screen recording to explain problems and solutions, create video content, and make how-to guides.
If your business sells apps or software, you can use a video screen recorder to provide technical assistance to customers. This makes it easier to provide solutions because customers have a visual reference, and they’re not solely relying on your instructions via phone or email.
Manual labour on repetitive tasks can hurt your business. It increases the risks of human-caused errors, affects employee morale, and leads to unwanted costs.
Embrace technology by automating essential business areas, like accounting. Accounting can become a nightmare of repetitive work for your team especially if you have a lot of customers that you have to invoice.
That’s where a Google Sheets invoice template comes in handy as it helps with generating invoices quicker by dynamically filling in your customer data.
By improving your invoicing process your accounting team will be more efficient, motivated and productive, and your business will save money in the long run.
Hiring an employee using traditional strategies requires a lot of time — a resource you could use for more significant, profit-generating activities.
Use new recruitment strategies to save time without compromising the quality of your candidates. For instance, use social media for recruiting and job sites to accommodate applicants simultaneously rather than talking to each of them on the phone. Technology expedites the recruitment process without the need to spend more.
Recruiting software is also an excellent investment as it speeds up the recruitment process, reduces administrative work, and increases hire quality. It also improves the business’s reach as this software allows applicants to send their documents 24/7.
Keeping cash flowing can be an issue for businesses during a recession. Because the economy is moving slower than usual, businesses must conserve cash for survival. You can achieve this goal by diversifying your income streams.
One way to do this is by offering new products or services related to your business. For instance, if you’re selling apparel, sell personalized items, like shirts and caps, to your customers. If you have a brick-and-mortar store in your city, expand your reach by creating an online store.
You can also make investments during recessions, like high-yield dividend shares and income investment trusts. The recession can affect your business, but having more secure investments allows you to gain more profits, which you can use to keep your business afloat.
According to an old proverb in business, you should avoid doing what everyone else is doing. So, while everyone else is concerned about the recession, take two steps ahead by looking for new opportunities — like implementing all of the tips mentioned here.
Creating a recession-proof business is challenging but possible. Even small and new businesses can survive a recession if they consistently implement the right strategies.
Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.