aWith the economy taking a nose-dive and business getting tougher than ever, many small business owners are worrying about whether they are going to survive the tough times or how they can survive the tough times.

Here’s a quick self-analysis checklist to determine how “at risk” your business is.

1. RecessionProof businesses monitor and measure their sales conversions. They make the most from every sales opportunity that walks through their doors.

2. RecessionProof businesses are masters at prospect follow-up. Every single potential client is followed up and nurtured until they either buy from a competitor or they buy from that business.

3. Recession-proof businesses truly appreciate their customers. As marketing budgets tighten companies spend less on customer retention and customers get more and more disgruntled. As a result of that, defection rates climb. Recession-proof companies recognise that it’s at least 6 times easy to generate repeat business from an existing customer than it is to attract new customers. With that, they have customer loyalty measures in place to turn those customers into evangelists.

4. Recession-proof businesses recognise that the recession is an opportunity to sort the men out from the boys. They recognise that the price-cutters will close shop because they won’t be able to exist anymore and the dodgy operators will also shut shop. So too will the competitors who reduce their marketing spend and cut corners on customer loyalty. That leaves you with an exciting opportunity to increase your marketshare dramatically.

5. Recession-proof businesses recognise the value of maximising their average sale value so they are masters at cross-selling and up-selling. As in the Mcdonalds example, their people always ask, “Would you like fries iwth that” or upsell by asking “Would you like to supersize that Meal Deal?.

… to be continued