The Conference Coach™

Albert Einstein once said that “Life is like riding a bicycle – in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” This illustration rings true not only for our lives but for business. During a recession it is common for companies to lock themselves and their finances in place, bunkering down and hoping for survival. Forward motion is sacrificed for safety and preserved in memory for when markets return to expansion. If we are going to be successful during a down market we need to remember our bicycles.

I ride my road bike to work as a means of saving money, maintaining fitness, and staying connected with a world often missed. My forward motion maintains my balance and allows me to quickly react and steer my bike. For anyone who has ridden a bike, you know that the faster you go the easier it is to move your bike, the smallest lean can provide direction. The forward motion in our business provides the same ability to react and steer with efficiency beyond our customers expectations and our competitions ability.

What are some areas where you can gain forward motion during this recession?

1. Customer service – Are you developing your customer service to be a shining star in your company. Is your customer service helpful, educated, proactive and a part of your companies forward motion and development? As one of the main human points of contact in your company it is important to understand what is occurring in their world and how it can be applied to business practices, marketing campaigns and resolution of pain points.

2. Technology – Is your company investing in techno fluff or common sense technologies? It is common for new technologies to be overlooked due to financial or time costs related to training and use. We have become accustomed to laboring through new systems for the sake of some reason unknown. But there are new technologies coming out everyday that are positively affecting productivity and cutting costs. Find motion with hosted applications like SalesForce (sales and customer tracking), Google Documents (online office suite), BaseCamp (project management), etc.  Also, take time to look at your internal technologies and determine whether an investment in expanding functionality or new technology could help to differentiate you as the recession passes.

3. Marketing and Social Marketing – While your sales may be slacking, it is important to maintain a quality brand and image. Marketing allows you to stay in focus as consumers begin to heavily way their options and purchasing decisions. Begin to look at new marketing trends like social media and how they can be appropriately applied to your company.

4. Office Culture – Look at ways to boost morale, participation and commitment through developing a unique and purposeful office culture. Give your employees the opportunity to interact, brainstorm and develop new ideas within different environments and activities. An office culture can also provide an easily defined identity that helps to determine whether new hires will integrate well.

5. Decreased Overhead – Cutting back doesn’t mean decreasing the quality of your service and your products. But begin to honestly question the “why” of certain expenses and are these expenses affecting your ability to produce motion and direction. Coming out trimmer and fitter financially means more mobility post recession and into the future.
   

It seems that the old adage “it’s like riding a bike” may be applicable for both our lives and our work. But to be figurative and literal, I hope you will think of the bicycle when you consider the direction of your company during this recession and that you actually take the opportunity to ride a bicycle to work. You may be surprised by what you have been missing.

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