Posts Tagged ‘Customer service’

Can You Really Recession-Proof Your Business?

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

In these trying economic times are you wondering if you’ll be able to stay in business?

I remember, back in the late 80’s, my husband and I owned a small limousine business.  I say small because we owned one limousine while many of our competitors owned fleets of four to eight cars.

Throughout the 80’s, limousine services were all the rave.  Business was booming.  We catered to singers, actors, , business tycoons, as well as the local wedding, funeral, prom, and graduation.

Somewhere around 1995 or so, the limousine industry took a nose dive.  Suddenly the market was no longer there.  A trend that was once big, gawdy and flashy, turned low-key and conservative.  Instead of limousines, sedans and suvs became the ground transportation of choice.

Larger limousine companies, struggled to survive on side services such as vehicle detailing and stereo and alarm installation.  We smaller companies, however, eventually had to shut down and find another industry.

Although we both recognized the inevitable, it was difficult for my husband to accept defeat.  We had started this company from the ground up.  It was drenched with our blood, sweat and tears.

I remember days of juggling babies, dishes, laundry and cleaning the limousine while he slept, and nights of answering the phone and booking runs while he drove all night.  That business was who we were and to fail was heartbreaking-but what can you do when a whole market turns against you?

Well these days, there is a lot that can be done to recession-proof a business.

Thanks to the Internet and a myriad of inexpensive marketing strategies, most businesses today can avoid failure in spite of our economic downturn.

So what exactly can you do to recession-proof your business?

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