A RECESSION MAY BE COMING - TIPS AND ADVICE ON HOW TO SURVIVE

Published 21 February 2023
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The UK Economy is expected to shrink by 0.4% in 2023.
 
Entering a recession can cause many businesses to fail and cause financial strain for everyone involved.  Looking on a brighter side it can also encourage businesses to be more innovative and make changes.
 
Here are some ideas that may help you stay ahead of the game and flourish in tougher times:-
 
Marketing
Increase your marketing activity – get good quality content out for people to engage with.  Engagement is very important as without this your marketing is useless.
 
Becoming visible in the marketplace keeps you ahead of the game.  People may be looking for alternative suppliers or ways to save and being visible to businesses can only help you.
 
Review what has worked well in the past and what has not and make any changes where necessary.  Look at what your competitors are doing and ascertain whether they are ahead in the game.  What is working for them?
 
Does your website need refreshing – be clear on what you do.  Do you have any unique services that makes you stand out from the crowd.  Now is the time to advertise what you do and how you can help.
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Clients
Its always easier to retain a client/customer than obtain a new one.  Look at your customer service and see if this need revisiting and upgrading.  How can you keep a client loyal to you and what do you need to do to go that extra mile for them.
 
Call your clients regularly – keeping in touch can be a way of keeping up the contact and enquiring how they are doing is always appreciated.  No contact can be perceived of you not actually caring about them.
 
Cashflow
As the saying goes cash is king.  This will be the most important thing to your business and businesses who fail say that cash flow issues were the main reason for them having to close.  Don’t bury your head in the sand, keep a close eye on cash and if things are getting tight speak to your accountant or bank for ways you can ease the situation.

Look at where the money is being spent and conduct a thorough audit on whether there is wastage within your business.  By doing this you can change things sooner rather than later.  Build cash reserves where you can and review loans and finance packages.  Are there better deals to be had again saving you money.
 
Are you on top of your debtors now is not the time to ignore these.  By having dialogue and close contact with them you are more likely to be paid first rather than a business who just sits back.
 
Look at Recession as an opportunity to grow and diversify
When Covid hit,  businesses had to change and adapt and most of them came out the other side and moved on.  This is just the same as when times are harder.  Look at whether you can offer additional services/products.
 
Use this as a chance to totally re-evaluate your business and gear it up for long term success.  It may seem doom and gloom but after hard times there is always recovery and brighter times just around the corner.

If you require any advice or help on this matter please contact us.

Mayes Accountants
Tel:  01254 300050
Email:  [email protected]