This article is a follow up to the previously released “Breaking Free of a Bad Economy” to help you overcome business and market challenges.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”, said Seneca, a Roman philosopher and statesman who lived in the first century. This still holds true today. Even in a bad economy – some say especially in a bad economy – there is great opportunity to prosper if you have the right preparation.
But in order to prepare properly one must first understand that an economy goes bad because of an extended period where a lack of “fair exchange” was allowed to persist. Take for example the U.S. housing bubble that burst in 2007. Extremely risky mortgages were hidden in preferred mortgage packages and the surge in real estate that resulted created an instability that caused widespread suffering.
Why? A liability was being sold as a valuable. The balance of exchange was way off. Businesses could not maintain viability because the economy was not based on real production.
L. Ron Hubbard identified this very thing in his article “EXCHANGE”, in which he wrote, “Thus, by bringing the problems of viability down to the rock-bottom basics of exchange, one can cut through all the fog about economics and money and be practical and effective.”
When exchange is out, one’s sense of value often becomes confused. Before the events that led to the housing collapse took place, many people had a relative sense of a piece of real estate’s worth. You could drive by a house in your neighborhood and reasonably estimate what it might be go for on the market. Homeowners worked toward increasing the equity in their property against future retirement, or upgrading their home. As the housing bubble expanded, this value distorted. Houses that would normally sell for $400,000 were now closing for close to a million dollars. But when the market collapsed, equity was wiped out almost overnight. Value, and the trust that exists behind it, vanished.
To a greater or lesser degree, all bad economies have this in common.
The stable datum of a workable, productive economy is knocked out and this creates uncertainty and insecurity as to ones ability to function in the world. When a stable datum is lost, there is no anchoring reality to hold things in place and confusion results.
SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO TO BREAK FREE?
In the same article mentioned above, Mr. Hubbard writes, “So we make it the first condition of a group to make its own way and be prosperous on its own efforts. The key to such prosperity is exchange. One exchanges something valuable for something valuable.”
But what do people in a bad economy consider valuable, worthy of exchange? You can’t guess; if you try, it will bite you. You have to survey and you have to do so in a sensible manner. You survey to find out who your public really is and you survey for their needs and wants and then you can tailor your surveys with regard to your products. You may find that your service or product must be modified in some way to meet the current needs of the public. But most of all, you survey, as Mr. Hubbard discusses in “Surveys Are the Key to Stats” because “…you are in actually fact seeking to know WHAT SERVICE THAT YOU CAN DO WILL PEOPLE CONSIDER VALUABLE ENOUGH TO GIVE MONEY OR VALUABLES FOR.”
In this article by Mr. Hubbard, he notes that there are more than a few ways to do surveys. For example look at sales responses in the form of invoices, promo response, call to action messaging. Study testimonials and find out what it was your customers liked. This is a highly effective thing to do. You not only see the benefits through the customer’s eyes, you also see how they express those benefits. Your promo should be written in that vein!
You should research the market your company exists within. A bad economy creates change, sometimes faster than a good economy. Companies fail and disappear. Some merge and change the landscape. Others come into being to address new needs and solve new issues. Have new windows of opportunity arisen? Are you trying to sell in a market in which the demand for your product is dwindling? And if so, how can you revise your product or service to supply emerging demands, or find a new market? Take a good look at the purpose of your company. Alexander Graham Bell had a major breakthrough when he realized he wasn’t in the business of making telephones, he was in the business of enabling communication.
You also need to thoroughly review your company. Is it well positioned in its field against competitors? Does your promo and website instantly communicate why you exists? Do you have a mission statement that is relevant to your public? Will it impinge? Is your staff productive, efficient? Are you well organized all the way through your production lines?
A good Public Relations plan is essential. PR causes things to happen. It not only increases your visibility, but it predisposes prospects to agree with the benefits of your product or services. But above all, PR can get you word of mouth, which is a living reality that exists in the field, quite apart from your operations. Mr. Hubbard says, in “Word of Mouth”, “That happens to be the senior publicity on any item. Something people do not talk about can be advertised and publicized until you are black in the face and it won’t sell.”
Your company must forward a reason that the benefits you provide are important and improve conditions regardless of the economic conditions of the day. Your company, in its image, service and mission statement needs to be a stable datum for people caught in a bad economy. If you can get your stable datum accepted, you can achieve a leadership position in your field.
In any economy there will come breakthrough opportunities you can meet head on with the right preparation. That’s your own luck!
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