Smart Businesses Planning for Market Upswing

Small businesses are finding NOW is the time to begin new marketing campaigns, reworking business models and looking at possible real estate deals. Many are even hiring on the expectation an upturn is right around the corner.

These smart retailers are moving away from "thinking in the short term, business is bad, I've got to really cut my expenses and keep it tight," and are now saying, "Business is going to get better, so I'm going to do something to position myself to do even better than my competition."

It's important NOW to look at all aspects of your business operations and try to ensure that it's working efficiently. Companies should be developing a system that helps it analyze how much merchandise it is buying compared to recent sales and sales forecasts.

This is also a time to figure out where you can expand your business. Market positioning is best done in a down market. Donn Flipse, owner of Field of Flowers in Davie, FL, says "We're looking at acquiring a business or businesses in a new geographic market and extending our reach. In time, we hope to consolidate those businesses into a new superstore, and we're already considering a location. We certainly should be able to get better terms from landlords than we would have a year ago, and better than we would two years down the road when the economy will be much better," he said.

"The smart thing is to do it NOW. When the boom kicks back in, other companies are going to start doing what I did a year ago. We will have the competitive edge."