All the evidence says the United States, and therefore the world, is on the edge of a recession. This is a fact that business owners don't control, except in response. Using the perspective of managing the business based on the economy, there are two rules: in a (1) contraction - strengthen your core to (2) gain a multiple in the next expansion from processes under control and therefore better margins.

Given a contracting economy with diminishing business opportunities and inflation devaluing the currency, you will demonstrate the need to strengthen the core of the business to not only survive, but thrive.

Recession Proof Customers: How to Make Money in an Economic Downturn. Start Date: Week of 25 Sep 2022 delivered via weekly email for self-paced study. Additional coaching and consulting provided to address specific business needs.

• Week 1:  Data Based Relationships (1hr)

  • The essence of all business relationships is data. That includes quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (feelings) to build a complete picture of the relationship. Most businesses, the large included, focus on just one. However, both are required to tell the story of the customer's relationship with the offer and doing business with you. 

    • Create a unique model that fits your organization and customers that completes the picture of business performance.  The goal is to measure CUSTOMER ENTHUSIASM.

• Week 2:  Customer Gap Pt 1 - The Promise Promise Gap (1hr) 

  • The most critical issue in customer service is the initial delivery of what the customer purchased - does it perform as sold? How user friendly is it? Was it delivered on time? Is the value worth the price? Many times in the sales process, marketing and sales personnel or materials overstate the results gained from purchasing, delivery date, or features. This creates a situation where the customer will feel deceived or cheated when the product or service is delivered; at this point there is usually no reasonable recovery that will hold this account or recovery that is affordable.

    • Analyze how well your company can understand and close the gap between what was promised and delivered to customers.

• Week 3:  Customer Gap Pt 2 - Recovery and People (2 hrs)

  • When Delivery on Promise fails, your Recovery process becomes paramount. It is the opportunity to show how service oriented the firm is, as long as it is not an ongoing situation; it will destroy your reputation and become financially unsustainable. The marketing and sales processes create a set of expectations on how important the customer's business is to you, what results can they expect from purchasing the offer, and how easy the offer will be to use or consume.

    • Devise a viable way to take a negative event and make it a win for the customer.

  • The third element in building and maintaining an effective customer relationship is having the right people with the right personal characteristics with sufficient authority to solve problems. Based upon expectations created in marketing and sales, your personnel must demonstrate they care about the customers business and aspirations or problems you are here to resolve. During their interactions with customers, they need to be emphatic in emotionally charged situations - deal with the emotion first, then move on to a solution.

    • Create an environment where the customer-contact personnel can help the customer win while protecting the financial health of the company.

• Week 4:  Inside the Customer (1hr)

  • This is about taking the customer relationship to the next level. Your company has developed specific areas of competence that the customer might not possess and provides an opportunity to share  and help customers to learn from your experience.

    • Create a plan to bring your expertise inside the customer to help make improvements and recession proof their business.

  • Zoom Q&A Call with the IBGR Founders - Zoom Meeting Thurs 7am 20OCT22

• Week 5:  Process Improvements (1hr)

  • Given your moves to improve the cost picture of the business, it is time to share how those cost reductions were achieved without affecting product or service quality. Since you are using a systematic approach to achieve LCP (Lowest Cost Producer) in comparison to the competition, there should be a report produced. Share it with the targeted customers how you were able to lower their prices and see if they are interested in obtaining the same with your support.

    • Create a plan to bring your expertise to the customer and help them achieve the Lowest-Cost Producer in their markets.

• Week 6:  Customer Relationships, Customer Inside (2 hrs)

  • Do you really understand what the customer thinks? Do you know how the customer experiences all of the touchpoints they have with your business? Last week we covered helping the customer with process improvements, this week is all about helping them improve their customer relationships.

    • Create a plan for helping your customers improve their customer management process that will help you hold their best accounts during an economic contraction.

  • Once you have helped the customer by transferring your technology it is time to trade - what do they do better than you. Additionally you need their help in the new product / service development process. In order to run a D&R (Development & Research) process, you cannot build on spec - you need customer involvement in the process.

    • Create a plan to bring your best accounts inside to help with process improvements and codevelopment of a new or improved offer.

• Week 7:  Co-Development, Co-Testing (2hrs)

  • Bring the customer inside your product / service development process to ensure you are building something they will buy. The product or service of the process is obviously the objective, but there is more. Usually this is the first time that you and the customer have really worked collaboratively and it presents an excellent opportunity to upgrade the relationship, to take it to another level.

    • Develop a process to ensure you are building something your customers will buy. 

  • Once the new product / service has been built in beta form, the final step is understanding how it performs for the customer.

    • Using the data collection processes previously established, how well does the new offer perform in the areas of promised results and user friendliness - UX

• Week 8: Implementation Plan To Revolutionize Customer Relationships (1hr)

  • If you build a data based relationship with core customers using these tools it will be a defining competitive advantage for your business - we promise! The implications are beyond the insights and tools, it is about a new type of relationship where their success is yours.

  • Zoom Q&A Call with the IBGR Founders - Zoom Meeting Thurs 7am 17NOV22

The IBGR Founders and Project Team

William Eastman

William brings over 4 decades of experience growing large and small businesses as well as lessons learned building his own 5 start-ups. The biggest lesson? There are many excellent ideas impossible to implement. “Few of my peers have actual work experience and therefore are disconnected from operational issues. Running a business is not a head shot - it is hard work requiring tough decisions with limited information, and then you must live with the consequences. My unconsulting approach is simple; share what works, explore the risks, and let the owner decide”. Bill’s LinkedIn profile ​can be found here.

Donna Kunde