Have You Noticed Some Businesses Are Hiring Again?

Out of the blue-gray October sky something very positive is happening out there. The companies I visited these last few weeks are singing a similar upbeat song.  Companies seem to now be looking for key players from the outside that will make a difference in their top lines. Some selected comments heard this last few weeks on the road are:

  

•    “We have hunkered down by cutting inventory, personnel, overhead, and non profitable customers during this economic downturn. Now all we can do is grow the top line to survive so we are looking for the “rainmakers” to hire”.- 20 million dollar digital printing company.

•   “Our company was poised to grow rapidly when the bottom fell out”. Now we feel it is time to get back in the game and put our “shelved” strategic plan into play as we can’t cut anymore. – 45 million dollar CPG  American manufacturing company.

• “Do you know of any top salespeople out there we could hire”? We are ready to expand again. -37 million Distribution/Fulfillment third party Warehouse company.

•  “With the coming election we will now get a better sense of future cost planning for health care, taxes, and regulatory business “rules”.  Regardless of which political party wins, at least now we can set our course with some knowledge of how we the company will proceed for the next few years. -55 million dollar consumer garden products reseller.

•   We are proceeding with upgrading to new web based computer systems as our repair and servicing costs are now more expensive than the “new” technologies available. – school product fundraising company. 

•   “Our average order is starting to rise and is now higher this year compared to last, same customers. –B to C 140 million dollar CPG internet/mail order catalog /Retail Company.

Could this chatter be a small trend indicator of next year’s economy? Cross your fingers!

What Are Small Businesses Really Doing In This Economic Downturn?

Getting tired of all the political chatter about how small business owners are affected by today’s economy? I started on a quest to find out what they really are doing and found these choice bullet points help capture the essence of what is really going on*:

Here are a few selected findings:

 *20 percent of small employers have reduced, postponed or canceled a planned investment or reinvestment in the last six months; the slowing economy is the primary reason in more than half of these cases. They are becoming much more prudent in their resource commitments for expansion.

*Increased marketing and sales activity is a common strategy to combat an economic downturn. However, this is one of the least frequent approaches a small business owner uses. This is a big problem for the future. Now is not the time to reduce marketing efforts!

*44 percent of small business owners are spending more time at their businesses today than six months ago.

*Over the past six months, small business owners are highly likely to have become more attentive to their cash flow and inventory status. This is key, and should also include cutting overhead and debt. Creative ways to always use "Just in Time Inventory", leverage assets for working capital, use suppliers as the "Bank",  and how to stretch A/Rs has become a major topic.

* NFIB.com

Are You A Short Sited Zax In A Digital World?

This Memorial day I found myself rummaging through a box of old children's books for fresh reading material for my granddaughters. I quickly came across the Dr. Seuss stories with the North and South Going Zax catching my attention like never before.  I pondered, as Dr Seuss would have me, this story as a metaphor for 2010’s unsettling world. How does the Zax story apply to:

*Legacy business companies competing in the new global economy after this recession?

*American Politics today, other countries, cultures, religions, and various views of the world?

*My own changing attitude toward other folks views, and how I interact?

*What’s really important in a meaningful life?

*What technologies will be the accepted norm in 2 years? 5Years? 10Years?

* Shouldn’t we all let the petty Zax stuff go or be left behind?  I take pause on what’s really important  today; the service men and women who gave their life this Memorial day so I can enjoy my granddaughters.  These fallen soldiers made it all possible for you and I to enjoy life as we know it. May they rest in peace.

Regarding your future thoughts, check out the short video.  Where will you be next year this time? Where are you headed, or not?  I’m sitting up straight in my chair thinking and thinking, thank you Dr. Seuss, you are timeless!

Is “Rosie The Riveter” The Best Hope For America’s Economic Recovery?

You Go Girl!

Women have gradually outpaced men in earnings and educational growth in the last few years*. The evidences of gender role reversal are now impacting the economic survival of the nuclear and extended families of the nation. Women are stepping up and helping in many  new ways as society adapts to these difficult financial times on Main Street.

 With the alarming rate of recent men's job losses straining the middle class American family’s ability to keep the dream alive, women have stepped up to the task and in many cases saving the day (or house) by going back to work in key positions.

 While much is still yet to be done to close the fair earnings gap, American women are rapidly becoming the leadership engine for many companies as the face of the work force goes thru rapid change. Perhaps this is one bright spot to help bolster the economic future of the nation. "Rosie" to the rescue again just like their grandmother's did in America's greatest generation! You go girl!

*Women's share of household income climbing:  Here
*Women are now the majority of college graduates: Here

Yes, Kemo Sabe, This Company Is Succeeding In Today’s Economy!

Want real positive simple answers to why this giftware supplier company is making it?

1. Products people want to buy are offered for sale at fair, affordable retail prices. Simple as it sounds many companies today have beaten to death tired old product lines because they get a big mark up or they don’t have the monies to develop new designs. Most old giftware today is in the "dollar store" graveyards and competes directly with the "Brand" offerings at rock bottom prices. The perceived value is still there on this new companies products, they sell thru and the "Brand" retailer gets great turns because it is priced right. Many giftware companies are still slapping new or licensed art on old tired junk, this is not 2010 product development, those days are gone....

This "new" company understands that impulse products must do more than one thing in the market today. Being a “dustible” (A giftware or Collectible that now or in the future collects dust on a shelf) doesn’t sell in today’s economic environment. Products today have 3 seconds to stoke the emotion of a buyer, cruel as it sounds. This company positively pushes specific targeted responses and connects with the individual buyer’s “emotion button.”

2. Internal systems are state of the art, outsourced, and yield variable overhead at low cost. VOIP Phones, Cloud email, I.T., accounting, HR, customer service infrastructure, and web services, etc, are all outsourced and the savings are given back to the end customer in lower prices, again giving the products high perceived value and high turns for the retailers.

3. Interactive consumer mindset. One of their top selling “Giftibles” is designed for today’s and tomorrow’s buyer enlisting the capability to have the product interact with a personalized live website as an ongoing ROI service.

4. Aggressive marketing that finds the customer and supports the brand for its retailers. Infomercials, Permission email marketing, Direct Marketing, and a number of innovative techniques that are proprietary all support their retailers and drive end customers to their dealers in an ongoing effort. They are playing offense, not defense with their marketing and sales in conventional and unconventional ways!

Who is this company that “get’s it” in today’s challenging marketplace? The company is called Little Gifts (http://www.littlegifts.com/) and is one of the top giftware companies listed on this year’s best seller list by Giftbeat magazines 2009 charts (Pet gifts) (http://www.giftbeat.com/ ). One of its hot items? IDtag.com (http://www.idtag.com/ ) is a non evasive, privacy protected pet system that invokes a gift and interactive web solution for finding lost pets. Great sellers are breed specific targeted affordable impulse items for owners of specific dogs, cats, etc.

The owner’s did not drop out of the sky with their innovations, rather learned the gift marketplace after being highly regarded consultants (for some of the “big Dog” brands back in the day). Growing up in the new interactive world Little Gifts owners took the entrepreneurial path and combined their business know how and consulting experience with their own money to create this vision of what works. This product line and company is gift, collectible, and decorative accessories circa 2010. They have reinvented the successful gift company model for the next decade.

So Kemo Sabe, better to light a candle than curse the darkness of this consumer economy, lessons learned from today’s buyer are showing the way. This is one case study with a happy ending, these folks are adapting and being rewarded for creating a new business model; they should be congratulated!

You might want to take a page from their book and forget about all those Indians that are swarming around your present situation.......