Business Opportunities Weblog

February 25, 2005 by Dane Carlson | 1 Comment

Steve Strauss in USA Today:

My personal sympathies lay with the thousands of small business and individuals that are wholly or partially dependant on the hockey season to drive sales – restaurants, bars, parking lots, cabbies, and so on. Losing a full season really affects them in a bad way.

Small businesses lose big opportunities fairly regularly. It may be that the anchor tenant in your mall is moving to a new location or a big client has decided to move on to a new vendor. So what does the small business do when the engine that drives its business backfires?

There are several steps to take:

First, take a deep breath and don’t do anything sudden. Evaluate the situation with as little emotion as possible. The first thing you may be tempted to do when you lose a major client is to cut costs to the bone, but that is probably shortsighted.

Such a decision, while helping immediately, may hurt in the long run. Not only will it install fear in your employees, but it will likely be noticed by your remaining customers. And when they smell failure, you can bet that they too may decide to move on. Moreover, you must remember your vision and your brand. You have worked too hard developing your business reputation. The decisions you make now, however difficult, should, to the extent possible, remain in line with that vision.

This is not to say that a major change for the worse necessitates no change, because it must. Look at your remaining income and expenses and see where you can cut back – but without going to the heart of your operation.

Next, you have to re-group, get creative, and try new things. Remember how energetic and innovative you were when you first started your business? That is the mode you have to get back to. In your case, without hockey clients, you have time (too much, I know) to try new ventures. It may be increased catering. It may be lunch deliveries to nearby offices. I don’t know what exactly, but I do know that you have to get your thinking-cap on and start to try new ideas out.

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