The Recession and what we should do about it!

[RichAtVNS]

Hello fellow Web Pro World Members...

First my apolgies if this is in the wrong discussion group I wasn't sure which one it should go under!

Like you I'm sure you are seeing the effects of the economy as businesses are being destroyed from the stagnation and paralysis created from grim uncertainty facing us all.

This week in my weekly newsletter to my wholesale customer base I said what I believe we need to do... And the response I got back was overwhelming.....

Here's what I wrote:
Hi (customer name)

It's Bully Pulpit Time again!

Ok, I was just watching the bail out of the 3 big car companies, and we all realize that the government is not going to be the ones to get us out of the recession!

I call on you in a clear and concise voice to say: "We will not let this economy roll over and kill more American companies!" I ask you to act in our own national interest join hands and save American Businesses.

Now I understand that you at (customer company) want to freeze spending altogether and not spend at all, But this is a killer to all businesses. Look at it this way: company A does no business with company B and therefore company C gets no business, it creates a domino affect. Then Another Company A goes out of business because it has no business at all and owing money to company B which then has it's troubles paying company C forcing layoffs and less business for everyone. Another Domino effect!!!

I suggest we all adopt the following plan:
1) Don't stop ordering completely and not trying new product, Just put in small orders with a few companies (not allot just a small amount), lets reduce our minimums for our loyal good customers (I have done that this last week).
2) if you owe money to a supplier call them up and say I can't pay you all your money right now but I will make a small payment today towards it. And I will pay you as I go along. This allows them to plan liquidity problems and keeps you in good stead with them for the future.(I have had some of my customers do that)
3) Buy American (do I need to say more?)
4) Let's pass some deals (not liquidation crazy ones) to our clients to allow them to save some money to.

This plan will help stop the domino affect and get us through the bad times.

Alright I'm coming down from my pulpit and on with the newsletter...

The amount of reponse I got from this were large and positive....
The question for you is do you think of anything we can do to tweak the plan?
Say a (5 - 10) ... the only rule is they have to be realistic and not onesided.....

I'd love to hear your advice....

[sunnyshine]

After September, my sales amount is down about 40-50%. Now, I try to cut the cost down and keep the good relationship with my old customers. Sometimes, I give the discounted price to new buyers.

In the next year, I'll have more promotion & marketing plans.

Let's see more ideas from guys.

[ctabuk]

Good topic, it's all about marketing your products and the services you offer.

Place a video no matter how basic onto your site. The Google Universal approach for 2009 will mean more results based on relative searches. OK, it always has been the case, but now the concensus is, place a video link.

Yes, it's going to be a tough year in 2009, no point denying it. However, one thing to remember is that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

More people than ever will be searching for goods on the Internet. Petrol prices, time in general will mean more time being spent by people using the Internet.

Use your page headings as the means of getting your message across. Make your sites more 'personable' even add humour (humor for my USA buddies) remember, a smiling client is a happy client amd far more likely to recommend you and your site.

[RichAtVNS]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

Use your page headings as the means of getting your message across. Make your sites more 'personable' even add humour (humor for my USA buddies) remember, a smiling client is a happy client amd far more likely to recommend you and your site.

I agree with the marketing issues Ctabuk...

But those are one sided, essentially multiple companies fighting for a few retail crumbs, because as the economy gets worse from the dominoe affect there are less working individuals to purchase and those with means hold off.

Yes if your competitor goes out of business (if your strong enough to survive) you might be able to pick up a fraction of his business. But all the now unemployed workers from that competitor are now not able to buy from 100s of other businesses thus weakening the economy (everything from eggs to hair care, gas to insurance, and of course paying for a mortgage)

So remember here I am specifically asking for additional general rules of ethics in BTB that would help us get out of the recession quicker without more businesses going under. Essentially a Cooperative model.

Just suggesting Video for a website so you will be ranked by google is not a solution....

Suggesting free training videos for a website to give a tutorial to your customers / distributors so they don't have to pay for training would be though.

I hope I clarified that....

[pdstein]

I would start by suggesting you check the spelling, punctuation, and grammar of the messages you send your customers.

But beyond that, I think it's important not to cut back on marketing, but to be more creative and innovative. We may be in a recession, but GDP is only down by a few percent at most which means people and businesses are buying almost as much as they were last year (depending on your industry).

- Paul

[RichAtVNS]

Originally Posted by pdstein

I would start by suggesting you check the spelling, punctuation, and grammar of the messages you send your customers.

But beyond that, I think it's important not to cut back on marketing, but to be more creative and innovative. We may be in a recession, but GDP is only down by a few percent at most which means people and businesses are buying almost as much as they were last year (depending on your industry).

- Paul

I agree my spelling is english is absolutely terrible!
I was a math Geek who could type to fast for his own good. Add to it a mother who taught languages and I never wanted to ever fix my punctuation....

That having been said... Gross Domestic Product is a terrible indicator of the health of an economy to the common man.. But I am not here to discuss the positive or negatives of supply side economics...

Anyone who has been in the furniture and gift industry over the last few years has witnessed this devastation to the economy even worse. That is a reality.

And spending more on Marketing doesn't solve the problem. Especially when ROI is lower because of the skidishness and resultant frugalty of customers because of the grim outlook....

Just a little insight....

For instance I have 5 very good customers who have lapsed in their payments way over Net 60 when they are not even on Net 30 terms, for significant money. Plus I have actually had long standing clients put in orders for custom work, when the product ws ready they did not show up for pick up and are unreachable, owing significant cash.

When I have gotten some of them they have apologized and promised partial payments which never arrive.
This is was not a common occurance, and now seems to have become an epidemic...

It is obvious that these businesses are now flying by the seat of thier pants, just to stay afloat.

The worst part is if they go under (which some will) they seriously affect my business......

I of course have been working on other clientele and marketing, but if we can prevent those businesses from going out then there is a triple bonus,

1) we get paid!
2) we get future business
3) Our businesses are not put in jeopardy!

I'm an agnostic but I Simply believe the parable.... "Help thy neighbor to help thy self"

[SemAdvance]

5. Stop the press from pummeling us with every bit of bad news. the nitwits have no idea negativity begets negativity.....

6. Whack all companies with CEO pay over $1,000,000.00 Nobody needs that much money to live. The workers who are the backbone don't earn 10% of that, so there is no need to pay over 1mil.

7. Cut back on the bells and whistles. Off brand is as good as brand name often. Be brave and try it.

8. Displaced workers can be moved to energy fields where new technologies will create more jobs. Go green to earn green!!!!!

9. Find new ways to feed people, indoor gardening, indoor farming.

10. Think Invent Remain Positive.

BUY AMERICAN!!!!!

The rest of the world can hate us, but without us they are sinking, it's up to us to get things back on track.

Peace!

[RichAtVNS]

Originally Posted by SemAdvance

5. Stop the press from pummeling us with every bit of bad news. the nitwits have no idea negativity begets negativity.....

6. Whack all companies with CEO pay over $1,000,000.00 Nobody needs that much money to live. The workers who are the backbone don't earn 10% of that, so there is no need to pay over 1mil.

10. Think Invent Remain Positive.

While I agree with almost everything you wrote and I like your zealousness
I think 5 & 6 are possible candidates for usw to implement on a micro level between businesses.

10 goes with out saying but doesn't address the exact hows.

For number 6 should we change that to ...

Do not do business with companies that the CEO's make in excess of a Million a year?
If so how do I get the list?
Is that only for public companies and companies running government contracts?

[SemAdvance]

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

While I agree with almost everything you wrote and I like your zealousness
I think 5 & 6 are possible candidates for usw to implement on a micro level between businesses.

10 goes with out saying but doesn't address the exact hows.

For number 6 should we change that to ...

Do not do business with companies that the CEO's make in excess of a Million a year?
If so how do I get the list?
Is that only for public companies and companies running government contracts?

I think there should be legislation limiting salaries to $1mil.

The very reason the Big 3 are sinking is the amount of money that needs to be earned in order to pay someone $1mil. If I am not mistaken a company needs to earn 20mil to pay $1mil in salary.

So 1mil in profit goes into some guys pocket who is running a business into the ground, that is insane and we pay these CEOs multi millions to destroy.

Their salaries and others within these companies, could be reinvested in the company and boost its profits and stability, as opposed to the CEOs house size and bank account numbers...

I hate the thought of legislation but it makes me sick to the stomach to see the multi-millionaire automakers looking for handouts.

We can't feed people but we can give billions to idiots who lost billions already....we woild be better off giving that money to the 10,000s of small businesses that truly support the USA and world.

Great job Obama!! As expected it's politics as usual.....

[seiretto]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

Place a video no matter how basic onto your site. The Google Universal approach for 2009 will mean more results based on relative searches. OK, it always has been the case, but now the concensus is, place a video link.

David,
Thanks for the heads-up on this, our stats already confirm you are very right about this.

[chrisJumbo]

Many stores sell products that aren't all made in the USA. And those stores employ Americans. So what happens to those people and those stores.

Without some real change in how the Gov't handles imports, many American Made products can't compete (large [Cars] and small [toys]).

The companies wanting to do business with us would have to some sort-of fair wage tax. However, that would raise the price we pay, and thus we would be affording less.

People making large sums of money also buy luxory producuts. Are those needed, no. But revenue is generated by purchasing them.

The problem with setting a # on wages, is who gets to decide. Just because you made $1MM this year doesn't mean you earned that last year or will next year. How about sports starts, should we limit their salaries? How about internet gurus that send me emails about making $50K a day, should they be limited to only 10K a day? Are you only proposing going after publicly traded companies, so a business owner that doesn't employ anyone and keeps all of the dough to himself is off the hook? So does that mean we can't use Google, Yahoo, MSN, Amazon, etc.?

Sounds like a slippery slope.

I think doing your best with what you have is all that we can be asked. I try to leave larger tips at restuarants. I support local places more than chains, but remember, the chains are employing people to.

If you can extend credit to folks, do it. If you can extend special offers do it. Just do your best to think of others as you make your decisions.

[RichAtVNS]

Originally Posted by chrisJumbo

Many stores sell products that aren't all made in the USA. And those stores employ Americans. So what happens to those people and those stores.

Without some real change in how the Gov't handles imports, many American Made products can't compete (large [Cars] and small [toys]).

The companies wanting to do business with us would have to some sort-of fair wage tax. However, that would raise the price we pay, and thus we would be affording less.

People making large sums of money also buy luxory producuts. Are those needed, no. But revenue is generated by purchasing them.

The problem with setting a # on wages, is who gets to decide. Just because you made $1MM this year doesn't mean you earned that last year or will next year. How about sports starts, should we limit their salaries? How about internet gurus that send me emails about making $50K a day, should they be limited to only 10K a day? Are you only proposing going after publicly traded companies, so a business owner that doesn't employ anyone and keeps all of the dough to himself is off the hook? So does that mean we can't use Google, Yahoo, MSN, Amazon, etc.?

Sounds like a slippery slope.

I think doing your best with what you have is all that we can be asked. I try to leave larger tips at restuarants. I support local places more than chains, but remember, the chains are employing people to.

If you can extend credit to folks, do it. If you can extend special offers do it. Just do your best to think of others as you make your decisions.

I agree we should not be limiting people
s salaries. That's not a solution.

But if you work for a firm and have to make some purchasing decisions based on a few cents difference then to use the old parable ... you are being penny wise and pound foolish.

It is actually cheaper now to do production of many items here in the states and locally then abroad because of transportation costs, Yes oil prices came down but NONE of the transportation companies like Conway, Yellow, UPS, the US Postal Services, G.O.D., B.A.X or any of the other big carriers actually lowered their rates back down.

Isn't the rachet effect of economics wonderful.

4 examples of why you should be having a more close to home focus on supporting production:

1) Steel used to inexpensive here in the states and well made. We closed our mills because of cheap imports and now that the imports have ski-rocketed in cost, domestic steel is no longer available! Why because people were penny wise and pound foolish.

2) TJ Max/Home goods advertises that they sell below retail stores because of over production by a designer. What is really happening is they are picking the bones of businesses in distress. I know because I have done business with them before and even after agreeing to additional charges for reboxing, they disavowed what went on after the fact and did not pay the modified invoices for 10s of thosands of dollars.

3) Toys are no longer cheap coming out of china because of the crack down on pollution, and we all know that Japan and Korea don't have Anti-Trust legislation related to large scale home based manufacture and subsidize the development across industries.

4) By the way it is better for the global enviornment because of the carbon foot print for transportation of goods is smaller.

Yes I know that TJ Max, Home Depot, and Walmart are US companies that hire US employees. But they do it after devasting a local ecomony.

Have you ever been in a Home Depot in most cities looking for a simple filter for a HLVP cup spray gun (a 5 cent piece). You can't get them, in fact you can't even buy the cup, they expect you to buy a whole gun $65. Why can they do this? Because they knocked out all the local competition and then didn't sell enough a month and dropped the product.

Now you can't get things like Metal Stainless Steel Wire, Plexiglass, fixings for 4 inch PVC Pipe, filters for paint, round wood dowels, and sheets of laminate if the local Home Depot in the past did not make a sales goal of that product in a particular month.

Which means your wasting time on a 3 minute purchase going to the internet to buy something that you need to waste days and pay an exorbinate amount in shipping and time.

That type of mass commercialism while employing minimum wagers, in the end does not help the economy.

By the way I use the smaller local food chains, health food stores, and try to purchase from the small local retailer whenever feasible everything from palletts, bubble wrap to compatiable ink catridges made in pa. for my international brand office printer.

Guess what it helps....

[CPL]

Good attempt at getting some ideas Rich. The advice and responses show that you'll never please all the people all the time and how how difficult it is to be a "decision-maker" or "politician". But this is a good place for adding the odd idea or two, it just needs one idea to maybe help somebody in trouble change what they're doing for the better. So, for my two cents I would like to add.

• Somehow, you (supplier) need to make customers depend on you whether you decide that is by price, quality of service/product, both or whatever.
• Find a way to give the customer more than they expect.
• Make it easy for the customer to buy from you. It sounds obvious but if you can get them to buy on a handshake rather than through long-legal contracts it generates trust. (I tell my customers they can cancel any time they like if they find I'm not performing for them, I've possibly had 6 do it in over 7 years).
• It starts with you. Look at yourself and your own philosophy, if the world is changing, you may need to change. One of my favourite business philosophers said, "work harder on yourself than you do on the job". Read the books, listen to the tapes, cd's etc. find out how others did it and copy them.

Look at your business model. Does it fit the changing envoronment:

• 1. Look at your product/service can it be "bought" on lower scheduled regular payments. Example:- my customers pay me a low regular payment by standing order while some of my competitors charge larger one-off fees. Whilst I can't profess to know how my competitors are doing, I'm not losing any customers and have good steady regular cash-flow
  2. If you can't do that, possibly, Look at the "Gym" business model. They charge you a monthly fee but they get the lump sum from a loan company. Yes you have to pay interest but follow it through. Customer gets the goods/service they want > you stay in business > loan company gets their interest > Govt gets their taxes > spends on infrastructure > less unemplyment > the "money-wheel begins to turn again. No, it's not perfect but it's one solution for some.
  3. There's always the good old Barter System - Barter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia again, probably doesn't suit everyone but may suit a few. I'll fix your car if you fix my roof philosophy.

Most important thing to remember. This "so-called" recession will probably spawn more millionnaires than ever. Why? because they will look at it as an opportunity not as a problem.

[SemAdvance]

I think I have a solution for America based on what I know of other cultures.

It may be time for American families to unite into a pack so to speak. In other cultures several generations of families live together.

Bringing back the family nucleus will have so many benefits I can't think of all of them but there are quite a few that can equate to a huge reduction in expenses to live.

If we regroup, sell off extra real estate for small families and buy larger homes for larger families.

By doing this we will have supervision of our children back in our homes with grandparents who need something to do able to watch the little ones while parents are working.

We can sell off extra cars there by reducing need for oil and helping to save the environment.

We wont waste as much food and thereby reduce the need for more mass produced products which ultimately cuts into the need for oil and reduces greenhouse grasses currently increasing due to increased farming operations to feed the planet.

We can also start cutting back on meat...meat is bad for humans as it rots inside us. To produce meat it takes oil and creates an impact on the environment. So lets cut down on the meat we consume.

Bringing families back together would also reduce the amount of heaters and air conditioners running in homes, there by reducing energy costs and reducing harm on the environment.

Additionally since we will all pitch in there will be more money to spend on other goods while we reduce our utility & food expense.

We can save this money for the family to ensure the continued family nucleus, which will increase morality and in the long run our planet and other species living here with us..

Having extra cash will reduce our need for credit which will reduce Americas need to rely on loans from other countries.

Supporting ourselves make us more of a powerhouse as we won't need to capitulate to allies wishes based on the debt we owe them.

Just a thought...

Peace!

[RichAtVNS]

Originally Posted by SemAdvance

I think I have a solution for America based on what I know of other cultures.

It may be time for American families to unite into a pack so to speak. In other cultures several generations of families live together.

Bringing back the family nucleus will have so many benefits I can't think of all of them but there are quite a few that can equate to a huge reduction in expenses to live.

If we regroup, sell off extra real estate for small families and buy larger homes for larger families.

By doing this we will have supervision of our children back in our homes with grandparents who need something to do able to watch the little ones while parents are working.

We can sell off extra cars there by reducing need for oil and helping to save the environment.

We wont waste as much food and thereby reduce the need for more mass produced products which ultimately cuts into the need for oil and reduces greenhouse grasses currently increasing due to increased farming operations to feed the planet.

We can also start cutting back on meat...meat is bad for humans as it rots inside us. To produce meat it takes oil and creates an impact on the environment. So lets cut down on the meat we consume.

Bringing families back together would also reduce the amount of heaters and air conditioners running in homes, there by reducing energy costs and reducing harm on the environment.

Additionally since we will all pitch in there will be more money to spend on other goods while we reduce our utility & food expense.

We can save this money for the family to ensure the continued family nucleus, which will increase morality and in the long run our planet and other species living here with us..

Having extra cash will reduce our need for credit which will reduce Americas need to rely on loans from other countries.

Supporting ourselves make us more of a powerhouse as we won't need to capitulate to allies wishes based on the debt we owe them.

Just a thought...

Peace!

Based on your suggestions then:
If you were a Sci Fi: Fan I would think
The Lottery from Logan's Run or Harrisan's Soylent Green is your belief of the future.

Get real some of us realize we are omnivores and a heathly thing to be independant (which this country was founded on). And not many of us would agree with the logical conclusion of taking your suggestions to the extreme. Which would be to live in a commune/kibutz and support Home Schooling to reduce carbon footprint.

-----------------------

[SemAdvance]

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

Based on your suggestions then:
If you were a Sci Fi: Fan I would think
The Lottery from Logan's Run or Harrisan's Soylent Green is your belief of the future.

Get real some of us realize we are omnivores and a heathly thing to be independant (which this country was founded on). And not many of us would agree with the logical conclusion of taking your suggestions to the extreme. Which would be to live in a commune/kibutz and support Home Schooling to reduce carbon footprint.

-----------------------

Not a science fiction fan.

Did not mention communes.

I've seen plenty of familes of Asian Spanish Arabic descent who all live together as a family unit.

They are nothing more than ideas on how struggling families can survive the current recession.

I am glad you feel I am off base however reading through your responses so far, it seems you are fast to shoot things down... but very slow to offer "BETTER" solutions.

Instead of looking for failure... try looking for further success.

Peace!

[Dcrux]

There's something lacking in this thread so far. And that is what to do. Most of this "company A doing business with company B" business is far too abstract a notion. Same with the buy American angle. We tried this, it was the theme in the early 80s recession.

And it didn't work. Looking back, the utter cluelessness might have been a component making that recession so deep and brutal as it was.

What worked was explaining, in no uncertain terms, what you as a company are doing to earn a customer's business. Wrapping yourself in the flag turns people off and makes you seem like a used car salesman trying to enter into politics -- a combination of the two most most disreputable professions from a marketing standpoint. You automatically drop credibility of your marketing message to zero.

What works? Try developing and sharpening your core business proposition into a Unique Selling Proposition. That proposition had better be light on the "customer relationship" and heavy on the "customer life preserver." You want to play up your service as key to surviving the recession -- whatever you sell.

Survival in either pure dollars and cents or in escapism and symbolism that you will survive the recession.

Stop selling the American flag, start selling decision insurance. People will loudly applaud your flag waving, agree wholeheartedly to your face -- then go off and act in their own self interest. No need to argue with me based on what you prefer to believe, this is a testable proposition you can prove for yourself in your own business. Just test one well constructed offer against another, which brings me to ...

Test. Test. Test. A recession -- especially this one -- is a crucible where all the denial, the excuses, the rationalizations get burned away. Put those assumptions to a test and prove them out -- or disprove them -- now. Start practicing evidence based management; by starting with the new assumption you aren't doing it now.

Absolutely certain your "soft sell" isn't really a no sell? Test it. Try a well constructed sales message that does nothing more than get to the point. You're not fooling anyone ...but yourself. It's about sales. You know that. The site visitor knows that.

Long copy works, you're sure? Try working under the assumption the mega headline and long copy is really an excuse for not editing -- and then edit that long copy sales letter. A lot of long copy advocates are so-so copywriters, but great editors. Long copy people have got to hold interest all the way through. And for goodness sake, get to the point and stop all the pawing the ground with copy.

Is it really a CMS? Or is it a primitive text editor with delusions of grandeur? Leave it to the technology field to take three perfectly good words and make their combination meaningless. A CMS without a content strategy -- and throw it at the wall to see what sticks is not sound strategy -- is not content management. It's mismanagement at best, abdication at common worst. And many developers aren't -- they're CMS installers who might as well be hooking up cable boxes. Content management means more concern with human interactions with software than the single minded pursuit of this weeks code and PhotoShop (or worse yet Flash) fads.

Start understanding message-to-market match. How? Call up a few customers and talk to them. Don't text, twitter, or IM -- work the phone. Don't chat. Find out things. Make a sale. People go on and on about customer relationships that don't produce any real money. Guess what. In that case you have no relationship.

Quick and dirty prototypes. Experiment with the goal of improving your indispensability to customers. I've seen plenty of people who talk about "the customer relationship" like they're talking unicorns. Sales down 40%? The relationship needs some serious work.

People are talking about recession like it's recess time at the school yard. It ain't. And I do not have to argue that point ... in less than six months reality will drive the point home with a sledge hammer.

Elephants in the Living Room:
The Destructive Role of Denial in Web Design Developers talking about "the user" might as well be arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The is no such thing a "the user." Talk to "A" user for a change. Heck, talk to a whole lot of 'em.

A List : Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason) Most sites, even today, are started and completed based on excuses to do website development and design, not reasons. Excuses lack specifics and objectives that have anything to do with a target user. Consequently most sites are overly wordy "Open For Business" signs that don't even qualify for brochureware. (That's "soft sell" for you).

Evidence-based management shouldn't be something you have to make a case for. Just about anyone will say they're evidenced based already. Based on the evidence ...no. For example, people will read every study about how bad splash pages are and exactly what percentage of people leave after seeing a splash page. Then they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and go and build a splash page. (Then go to a forum to whine about what the recession is doing to business).

If they removed the response killing, sales destroying things from their business, the boost would about offset the recession. Which would be good -- right up until they realize what they've been missing out on the past few years.

[VideoWhisper.com]

We just released our video conference software project.

Not a very good time to start selling a new product. So we decided to help the people having trouble with finances and released a free limited edition.

[dmwcons]

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

Buy American (do I need to say more?)

Hello RichAtVNS

Yes, please will you expand on this point and explain what it is that you are advising Americans to achieve by adopting such an action.

Regards, David.

[kgun]

The Recession and what we should do about it! First of all that diagnosis may be wrong. The correct term may be deflationary depression, the corrective wave of a prolonged periode of inflationary growht since 1932.

So:

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

First my apolgies if this is in the wrong discussion group I wasn't sure which one it should go under!

Yes may be it is. There are many related threads in the break-room. Especially these:

• http://www.webproworld.com/breakroom...tml#post395818
• http://www.webproworld.com/breakroom...tml#post403748
• http://www.webproworld.com/breakroom...tml#post401217

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

3) Buy American (do I need to say more?)

Personally I buy where I get most quality / USD. Protectionism is no solution and ruled out by your next president as a solution to this financial / economic crisis.

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

So remember here I am specifically asking for additional general rules of ethics in BTB that would help us get out of the recession quicker without more businesses going under. Essentially a Cooperative model.

It is difficult to stop Mr. Market that you Americans loves more than many other people. Ethical and green economics are new terms introducing nothing essential new in economic models.

Originally Posted by SemAdvance

5. Stop the press from pummeling us with every bit of bad news. the nitwits have no idea negativity begets negativity.....

News are reported history (daily noise) once it is published and has nothing to do with short, medium or long term trends. Mr Market is also forward looking and "news" are nearly always discounted by the market before it is published.

To sum up. There is a

1. Macroeconomic top down problem best handled by governments that coordinate their actions at the international / global level.
2. A micro economic bottom up problem, best solved by competitive companies.

Your company have two ways to grow.

1. Grow with a growing market.
2. Increasing your share of the market at the cost of other companies.

Related to the second point there is a conflicting theory of concentrating your resources on specific markets or widening your market efforts to many markets. As always, there is a tradeoff in economics, so it is best to find the optimal combination of your resources / inputs that maximizes your profit.

Economic cycles are nothing new to a capitalistic market economy. Some are worse than others.

At the macro economic level, a traditional keynesian model have the potential to lift us out of a deflationary depression, but if it is done wrong it can end in stagflation. The bigger problem is that deep economic crisis often go hand in hand with conflicts, wars and increased nationalism. It is very difficult to control social mood.

P.S.

Yesterday 3 Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. Pr capita, that is more than 200 US soliders on a single day. My children are half Danish.

There have been worse economic conditions i Norway. 1894 is called the year of horror. On average 6 ships were shipwrecked per week. Fishing were one of our main businesses at that time.

Originally Posted by SemAdvance

BUY AMERICAN!!!!!

The rest of the world can hate us, but without us they are sinking, it's up to us to get things back on track.

Hm.

[Dcrux]

Not a very good time to start selling a new product.

This is not a very good time to have poor skill in sales and marketing. Because you might come to the incorrect conclusion you have to offer your stuff for free.

Because all you're doing is postponing the inevitable -- you won't be able to convert very well when it comes time. Free limited edition is not a substitute for marketing and sales, and it is being used exactly that way.

[scanmonkey]

Increase your marketing efforts in a recession. Build landing pages that can help increase conversions. Spend more time marketing to your established customers and people ready to buy.

[sam2]

Good topic! everyone is concerned about recession, but not sure which step is safe yet.

[mtheory]

Ive seen an increase in business since September.

[kohc0004]

Recession time is also a good opportunity time. More companies are looking for ways to cut cost and mind you, most are still offline which through their supply chain model incur a huge overhead cost. Hence, this is a great opportunity. So, hopefully, it sparks some idea ......


Regards,
Jerry

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------