Tough Times Call For Focus

“These are the times that try men’s souls… yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”

Thomas Paine, the great American pamphleteer, famously penned these words in December 1776 when the newly established United States was in dire straits. And these powerful words ring true today for businesses that are struggling to turn the tide and win their own battles for independence.

This blog post is geared toward businesses that are in tough financial times. I would like to offer hope because there is a way to turn things around. I’ll build on Paine’s words and offer five solutions to save your business and get on a path to prosperity.

1. Focus on Essentials. Stop doing anything that is not producing results right now or expected to produce results soon. Do the best you can with what you have. If you’ve tried to spread yourself too thin with new initiatives, return to the basics and focus on what you do better than your competitors. Remember, you can’t grow if you’ve lost your core business.

2. Get Rid of Waste. Slash spending on everything but the essentials. Increase your efficiency by automating as many processes as possible, such as order management and manufacturing. At the same time, retain as many employees as possible. They will likely be the key to coming up with creative solutions to your company’s challenges.

3. Control Inventory Like a Hawk. One of the best ways to cut unnecessary spending and increase efficiency is to improve your inventory control. Keep just enough inventory on hand to meet demand, but be careful not to cut too much or you’ll face shortages. The best way to find that perfect balance between too much and too little inventory is to use inventory management software.

4. Stop Guessing. Now is not the time to go with gut feelings, but with hard facts. You can’t afford to keep guessing about what your customers want. You need to track product sales, costs and other data to set realistic prices and to know where to concentrate your efforts. Again, this level of tracking requires inventory management software. If you try to keep up with all of your orders, sales and costs by hand, you’ll quickly be overwhelmed.

5. Give Customers What They Want. Once you’ve stopped guessing and you have detailed charts and data to back up your decisions, you can begin in earnest to get your company back on track. There are many opportunities you probably didn’t notice before that you’ll finally see when you use inventory management software. For example, if you have multiple locations, you can find out what are the most popular products in each location and then transfer inventory between locations accordingly.

The survival of small businesses is no less miraculous than the survival and eventual success of the United States. Fishbowl knows that from experience. To save your business you need to get back to basics, cut unnecessary costs, keep a close eye on your inventory, and give your customers exactly what they want. As Thomas Paine would say, all of this is just common sense.