Five Crucial Strategies for Post Recession Growth

Leveraging the knowledge and experience of small business owners from across the nation, The Alternative Board has identified five of the highest-impact strategies businesses should immediately initiate to capitalize on the beginning of a post-recession economy.

Financial Reevaluations:
Pricing – table any plans or scheduled increases until Q2
Bad Debt – change payment terms. Consider net 10 rather than the standard net 30. Charge interest. Enable customers to wire transfer funds
Employee Communication – share top-line financial data. Employees with a better idea of where the company stands are more committed to ensure the business reaches its goals
Sales Redesign: the entire landscape has changed. Those who examine their business as a true outsider will be the ones that can see clearly to pounce on rich new opportunities. Think Apple mobile checkout stations or McDonald's McCafé
Become a Social Butterfly: social networking is here to stay, and if you don’t engage, you’re leaving money on the table by not increasing word of mouth, brand awareness and thought leadership, thereby increasing sales. Engage targets through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Listen to your audience. They’ll suggest valuable ideas you never thought of
Accommodate More Potential Customers:
Recalibrate – consider different ways of delivering your services so you can target smaller companies that might not have been your ideal fit in the past
Reactivate – call a past client and offer paired down versions of your current services
Quit Functioning as an Island: business owners operate in a complex and often lonely dynamic. Expanding beyond networking groups to instead have the small business version of a board of directors – a peer advisory board – delivers an alarming impact on both business owners’ sanity and their profitability