Beat the Recession

Doom and gloom, doom and gloom! No matter where you look, the news seems to be getting worse. “Not bad” is now being termed the “new good.” Yesterday’s 38% decline in auto sales could not even be referred as the “new good.” They were absolutely frightening and with Chrysler’s 55% decline in sales, there must be serious concern that this historic company can survive the recession. As I write this, Costco has issued a warning for this quarter due to a poor January.

So what are you doing to beat the recession? As a keynote speaker (humorous, business growth, foodservice, marketing, cancer, healthcare) I’m in the same boat as everyone else. I’ve had leadership and strategy events cancelled and potential clients say ‘We’re slashing budgets everywhere.’ One thing is certain, doing the same thing, in the same way, to the same target market is not going to get me the same good results I was getting.

A few tips to beat the recession

1) Work Harder
Outgoing Wal-Mart CEO Leo Scott was interviewed recently on CNBC. The comment that really resonated with me was “I’m at my desk at six every morning reviewing yesterday’s figures.” If the chief exec of the world’s largest retailer is at his desk at six, why not you? ‘Why not me?’ I said. In the current environment you HAVE to work harder to get the same results. I am working harder and I am working longer hours than previous including commencing this blog before six this morning. That is one reason why I’m going to beat the recession.

2) Work Smarter
‘Hey, as a motivational humorous speaker on business, you’re not giving me a lot of new ideas,’ I hear you saying. ‘Work smarter’ is a simple concept. DOING IT is not simple. ‘Work smarter’ will help you beat the recession. I have ramped up a number of my activities including:
Better lead follow-up. I recently purchased a new ACT! Software program which is a pain in the butt to work with, but it definitely has improved my productivity with alerts popping up regularly reminding me to contact clients.
Continuous website development. As an Irish motivational humorist – Chicago based, who relies a lot on search engines for business development, I am adding a lot of content to my website with some over the top hyperbolic commentary related to my keywords. I have added more new content this month than any other comparable period – not just blog pages but Mark Twain speeches (the finest most inspirational humorous keynote speaker ever), Great Speeches and State of the Union addresses. All these pages include relevant commentary about the Chicago based Irish humorous keynote business speaker on topics as diverse as cancer, foodservice, business growth, beat the recession etc.

3) Network, Network, Network.
I attend every single cat and dog show that has any relevance to my business. I’ve signed up for more breakfasts, more luncheons than are good for my health. I am particularly interested in business associations which have regular networking meetings.

The more networking you do, the more networking works!

It is difficult to make a solid impression on anyone after one short introduction at a business meeting. However if you see that person again next week and the week after, you are on the way to creating a genuine business connection. Make sure you follow up on every business card you receive. You do not know always know who can make a difference to your business. So keep hammering away! I had a potential client contact me two weeks ago whose name seemed vaguely familiar. I had contacted him and sent a copy of my book Why Ireland Never Invaded America THREE years ago. That’s a long lead time that I don’t want to repeat too often, but the initial contact came about via networking.

Go to it – Beat the recession.

Let’s get more energetic here.

Go to it – Beat the crap out of the recession!

What A Car Wreck!

Lordy Lord! GM's share price at a six decade low! No matter how bad you think it is going to get for the US auto industry, it just gets worse. GM’s announcement of a 45% drop in car sales for October is mind-boggling. Some might argue that the Toyota sales decline of 23% is even more astonishing given that the Japanese behemoth has apparently been able to walk on water over the past twenty years. (Their success of course had nothing to do with walking on water – Toyota implemented the shocking concept of making good products which consumers wanted.)

Can GM survive? Can Chrysler survive? Can Ford survive? I don’t know but Chrysler seems to be the one that is in the most precarious position. I find it astonishing that the current triumvirate at Chrysler – Nardelli, Press and LaSorda are still (correctly) decrying product quality. Chairman Nardelli and President Press can not really be blamed for the Chrysler quality reputation and performance given their relatively short period in the job, but the company’s quality performance is just amazingly bad. In its most recent survey on car reliability, the 2008 Consumer Reports survey suggests that almost two-thirds of Chrysler brands are rated below average. How can this happen after so many years of saying “we must improve our quality”?

It is not too surprising that the government is baulking at providing additional support for a GM/Chrysler merger. Politically, Obama will not be able to leave GM fail because of the job fallout, but the concern must be that it is throwing good money after bad. Many commentators have made the unions the whipping boys for the problems of the US auto manufacturers. While they can shoulder a lot of the blame, they were not responsible for (lack of) product development, design, supply chain, consumer understanding and much more. Not so long - early 1980s' - GM's US market share was hovering at 50%. Today, it is less than half that! How can so many high paid, intellectually bright people get it wrong for so long?

Once I've figured out how we all got suckered into this sub-prime fiasco, I'll let you know. Don't hold your breath though!

Mamma - Why didn't we listen?

One of the most interesting books I’ve read in recent times is Satisfaction: How Every Great Company Listens to the Voice of the Customer by J.D. Power and Chris Denove. Power, founder of J. D. Power and Associates recalls a meeting he held with GM / Pontiac executives in January 1980 when he detailed the Japanese automakers emphasis on quality. Power told the geniuses then responsible for the Pontiac brand that unless they improved product quality, product reliability and fuel consumption, the GM market share would tumble. He predicted that the GM share of 48% would drop to 33% by the end of the decade. Not too surprisingly, some of the Pontiac / GM representatives did not take too kindly to the prediction.
I bet they wish they had paid attention now that GM has announced another whopping quarterly loss – $15.5 billion and its share value is less than when Power made his prediction only twenty-eight years ago!

To be fair to the GM execs, I would have probably discounted his apparently extreme forecast as well (in fact, the share decline he predicted took only eight years to occur), but you really have to ask, what have GM and Ford and Chrysler being doing over the past three decades? It is nothing short of incredible (sorry maybe that should read predictable) that GM’s share now hovers around twenty percent of the market, while Ford and Chrysler are close to life support.

The lesson for management I think is one I mention in my book Why Ireland Never Invaded America. It is ‘Do not believe your own blarney – do not take things for granted.’ Had these once profitable organizations paid real attention to what was happening in the market place and genuinely listened to the voice of the customer, they would not be in the position they are in today. Their one saving grace right now is that each of the once so-called Big Three does appear to have quality management – Wagoner (GM), Mullally (Ford), Nardelli (Chrysler), in the hot seat.