By Don Lafferty

(As published in Business Insider magazine)

Possible remedies for surviving an economic slowdown…Take two aspirins and go to bed...Ignore the issue…Panic...Beat the bushes for business. Of the four, the last is undoubtedly your best choice -- but if you are expecting immediate results, you may very well be disappointed.

Is there really a viable remedy? Where can you get relief?

How about from existing resources? That's it! In your own customer files, answers abound, ready to be uncovered and implemented.

Existing customers are, without doubt, your first and best resource for additional business in tough times. However, first and foremost, you must give them reasons to give you more business. How? Offer more. Be more visible. Cut your rates. Offer concessions. These are just a few of the potential solutions. It will undoubtedly take some creativity, but you may be surprised with the results of this effort. You may even recover a lane that you thought closed.

Someone once said, "The sales department is not the whole company, but the whole company is the sales department." Get your on-line staff to step up their customer development efforts. Get them in the habit of always asking for more business, and to suggest ideas to stimulate more business. Ask any salesman about referrals. These are often the best leads.

And how about leads and referrals from your employees? Fill them in on your economic needs. Find out who they know. Find out what do they know. Who are their friends, contacts and resources? You may be surprised at the hidden opportunities within your loyal staff.

Of course, we must not overlook our internal sales staff. Should their priorities be changed? Do they need to refocus? Are more frequent sales meetings in order, geared toward generating ideas for acquiring new business?

What if you don't have a sales staff, as is the case at many small carriers? These carriers can reap the benefits of others doing their sales work for them, namely Freight Brokers. Brokers are always looking for carriers willing to establish a year-around business commitment – a commitment that guarantees equipment based upon an average seasonal rate, rather than one that leaves them high and dry when rates temporarily spike elsewhere.

Core Competency – it’s more than just a buzzword. Attention to, and development of, your business’s Core Competency is fast becoming the key to survival when addressing the need for better, faster, and cheaper transportation services…and for landing and retaining business in tough times.

For years, the transportation industry recognized and promoted the need for shippers to outsource their logistics and, in particular, their transportation. This is one of transportation’s strongest selling points when trying to improve the value of its services. Shippers learned that by outsourcing their logistics needs, valuable time opens up for them to pursue their own Core Competency.

There may be a lesson to be learned in this – maybe we need to invest more time, money, and effort to improve our Core Competency, to improve our ability to give shippers the solutions and services they need. And maybe this could open more business’s doors to your company or perhaps even prevent doors from closing.

In the transportation industry as a whole, not much progress has been made in investing in new skills and technologies, although we have done exactly that at UniExpress Systems. Training and educating our brokers, drivers, and service personnel, as well as our office support staff, is at the heart of this investment. Investing in new technology like new computers and computer software, EDI, the Internet, websites, satellite communications, etc., are also part of the recipe for additional business.

Nevertheless, you can educate, train, gear up, and implement until you are blue in the face. Unless you specifically address the needs of your customers, your best efforts and intentions may fall on fallow ground. You must walk in your customer's shoes to ensure results and the availability of new business when there is little new business to go around.

Retaining business is just as vitally important as getting additional business; it's part of the same equation. We must be available and willing to work hand-in-hand with our customers to work out issues and resolve problems, then follow through to make sure all expectations are met and that customer satisfaction is achieved. Let's face it -- if you are not addressing all of your customer’s needs, you stand a good chance of losing the account to the next best (or lowest) offer, particularly during an economic slowdown.

Ours is a business that constantly lives with the specter of service failures. Service failures are impossible to eliminate, whether caused by a driver, dispatcher, handler, shipper, consignee, a lack of communication, or an Act of God. The consequences, on the other hand, may very well be possible to eliminate. Human intervention can make the difference. By developing and nurturing closer relationships with our shippers, failures can be dealt with and resolved to the satisfaction of all involved.

Probably the most important step to take, at this time, is to put together a Master Business Plan for dealing with a slowdown before it occurs. Let's face it; ups and downs are a fact of business. The foresighted company will take measures to minimize the effects of tough economic times by planning ahead. If you lost a major account tomorrow, you could experience your own exclusive economic slowdown. What is your plan if this should happen?

By all means invest in your Core Competency. Strive to build sound relationships with your customers. Listen to them. Work hand-in-hand with them. Remain focused on their needs. Take pride in being current. Plan ahead. With these attributes, you may just be able to survive better than most in tough times.