THIS WEEK: STORMY SEAS MAKE FOR STRONG SAILORS

Dear DOYLE,?

I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice that the papers are flooded with talk of a looming recession.?I’m racked with nerves about this, and barely sleeping.?I’ve worked through downturns before, but back then I was an employee at a large corporate and felt slightly sheltered from it, whereas now I’m a business owner (a marketing agency) with less protection from the storm.?I’m desperate for some guidance on what to do.?Any help much appreciated.

Niamh, Dublin

Yes, it hasn’t escaped the author that recession seems inevitable.?The great irony is that we can talk ourselves into it a bit, knocking our confidence and limiting ourselves with each downbeat comment, but that’s a topic for another day.?Central banks all over the world are saying a slowdown is pending, thus we must deal with the situation ahead of us.?

The first and most important thing to do is look after yourself.?You need to be fighting fit, as stress-free as possible and with a clear head to help you see the way ahead.?Invest some time in this goal – it could be regular exercise, meditation and breathing practice, a better diet, general activities outside work that help take your mind off it…whatever works for you.?You’ll make better decisions for it.?Equally don’t be shy about speaking with your contemporaries, even those at rival agencies.?Friendly competition is good, but you can be sure they too are going through the same woes.

I suspect there won’t be a silver bullet to solve all your problems, rather a series of actions across the business.?No matter what you do, my advice is to behave decently and employ a back-to-basics approach:

• Are your costs as low as possible (office rent, technology subscriptions, staff wages) or have you splurged on anything unnecessary??Start by looking at yourself, trim where you can, and redeploy where required (more on this later)
• Focus on your clients – you need them to do well for your business to do the same.?Are you offering the right mix of services, or do you need to adjust your offering to reflect today’s reality??If they can’t afford paid advertising, can you add PR or influencer marketing services to your portfolio??Would performance marketing be welcomed in your pitches??It’s a different reason to start a conversation with them, and you might find you can expand your way out of the problem
• Concentrate on commercial rather than social-purpose initiatives for the time being.?You can’t make much of a difference in the world if you’re not in business anymore
• Candid conversations with your clients are vital for both of you – if they’re struggling, what can you do to alleviate the pressure??Temporarily lower your rates??Offer extended payment terms??Don’t be too transactional about this, but do try and get something for yourself in return (business isn’t entirely altruistic, after all) – if you offer any of these things, can you get a longer or broader contract, covering more parts of their business??Or introductions and referrals to other companies or captains of industry?
• Don’t screw your collaborators and suppliers either – be kind, you’ll need these relationships in the future
• Can you team up with complementary – or even competitor – companies to help broaden your offering (see point above), or simply for safety in numbers?
• Are you being passive or proactive in your pursuit of new business??Many times working for large corporates I heard that we needed to hunt for new business, but now you’re the business owner this is truer and more important than ever.?Don’t just rely on your new business team either; get the whole company motivated and incentivised to bring work in.?Start with your current clients, then look at new ones, then look at new markets.?Your new and improved offering can be the foot in the door you need, and you can use these clients to refine your offer too, by making sure you’re selling what they want to buy
• Redundancy is an unfortunate fact of life; if you have to let people go, do it with dignity and generosity (financial parachutes, use of company resources, introductions to your contacts, etc).?See my earlier column advice for the redundant for more on this.?However, don’t be too ruthless – this should be your last rather than first action; if you re-orient your company and start offering new services, can your current team be retrained and redeployed elsewhere? Can you afford to carry them for a while, until your fortunes turn the corner?

Be honest with yourself and your staff about the status quo, and what you plan to do about it.?They’ll appreciate it, their morale will be higher knowing you have a plan and they may have some golden nuggets of advice as well.

You’ll come out stronger for this, but in the meantime don’t beat yourself up: worry about what you can control, and keep an eye on what you can’t.?

DOYLE ?

NEXT WEEK: WOULD YOU BE HAPPY WITH YOUR PROFESSIONAL OBITUARY?

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DOYLE is an international advertising agency for ambitious brands.?Contact us to discuss how we can help grow your business.

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