Navigating the Financial Crisis
Muthu Ramadoss
Lately I’ve been flooded with questions on where the communications
market stands in light of macroeconomic conditions. I do believe there
is risk to all sectors of the global economy. But for us, the immediate
question we must ask is — how do we benefit from such a scenario or, at
best, how do we tread water so our sales, revenue and income does not
decrease?
Most importantly, you must focus on areas which save your customers
money and make them more productive. UC, telepresence, workforce
automation, FMC and other technologies pay for themselves quickly. Also,
SIP trunking is a natural in this market, since its saves your customers
money and you get a recurring revenue source if you are a service
provider or reseller. Mobile banking andWiMAX ( News - Alert) are on
fire, and emerging markets and rural America are ripe for wireless
broadband. Moreover, the continuing explosion in mobile devices and web
browsing increases wireless services opportunities. Given the booming
mobile application market, you need to have an application which works
on the iPhone, RIM devices and eventually the Gphone — and don’t forget
about Windows Mobile orNokia
That said, here’s my strategy for making sure you come out the other end
of a slowing economy in a better position than you are in today:
Conserve Cash: Obvious, but how you do it is crucial. Don’t cut your PR,
marketing or R&D by more than a few percent. If you must cut a bit more,
do it incrementally to R&D. That’s because “feature wars” among vendors
are less important than explaining to customers why they need to buy
your products. Also, keep in mind that every company to which you sell
now must engage in more internal scrutiny before they buy. You need to
reinforce sales with more marketing and sales efforts. To survive in a
slowing market you need to keep selling. If you’re too heavily
R&D-focused and don’t do marketing and PR effectively, immediately hire
an agency to help you.
Become More Productive: Operate at 100 percent efficiency. Cut off your
dead wood. Do it today. Let the complainers and high maintenance people
go. Believe me; it will work out better for you and for them.
Rally the Troops: Explain to them why they need to work smarter, harder
and faster. Customer service is key. Don’t lose customers because of bad
service.
Hire PR/Marketing People: If you aren’t strong in these areas, you have
to hire an agency or top people who can help you market more effectively
in slow times. Spending a marketing budget and spending it wisely are
totally different things. A million dollar marketing budget can be blown
stupidly with 10 newspaper ads or used much more effectively in focused
media vehicles where your potential customers are actually looking for
your products.
Market Analysis: Companies founded by engineers are typically the worst
run from a marketing perspective. (Remember — I am an engineer myself so
no insult intended — we aren’t sugar coating here). Companies where an
engineer runs marketing will likely have trouble selling products in a
slowdown (or any other time for that matter). Keep your eyes open for
acquisitions or weakness in the markets you serve. Keep your ear to the
ground. One of these small companies about to go under may have good
ideas for products but just no clue how to sell them. You may determine
that developing a competitive product/service to one of these small
companies makes sense.
Speed: It is better to be fast than right. After all, you can’t be right
every time but if you are fast, you can adjust and become right faster
than the other guy.
Optimism: Be optimistic. If you are smart and run things well and your
entire team works together to support you, your company can come out of
any downturn stronger than it went in. Sure, be cautious — but in the
end, business is cyclical. It just is. That is the nature of the beast.
Work harder, faster and smarter and you will be rewarded.
Remember, things are still generally good in the communications and
technology markets and if you follow these rules you should make it out
the other side of any slowdown in better condition than you are in
today.
http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/1108/navigating-the-financial-crisis.htm
--
Thanks.
Muthu Ramadoss
http://mobeegal.in - mobile search. redefined. (+91 9840348914)
http://linkedin.com/in/tellibitz