We continue to plug through challenging economic times and organizations are feeling the effects. How is your company faring? Is your business flat or shrinking? More importantly, what are you going to do about it?

I always recommend to clients to get back to basics first, look at what made them successful in the past. Get to the bottom of your firm's core competencies, systematically and dispassionately review your entire business structure: Operations. Your sales wins, losses. Marketing strategy. Social Media. Differentiators. Lead capture/nurturing. Behavioural factors in your pipeline. Environmental factors. Why are customers jumping ship? Alignment between your departments. This is just the tip of the iceberg....you have to take action.

We need to wake up to the fact that the entire buyer ecosphere has changed. Here are 9 tips to help you through an increasingly complex playing field.

9 Key CEO Tips to Successfully Guide Your Business Through the Next 12 Months.

1. Make decisions. Thinking too long about anything . . . is a NO decision. Are you kidding yourself? -- time lost in a tough economy is wasted time. Prospects will move on without waiting for you. It's a downhill steamroller, so a key business action step to be successful is to analyze your next step and then do it. 
    
2. Take action steps with speed. Once you have decided to make changes, move quickly. Time is more than money; it's your survival.  
    
3. Cut costs. Where? Any overhead that fails to directly or indirectly add corporate revenue should be cut such as company cars, trade shows, direct mail that fails, after-hour parties, or travel to prospects who fail to qualify. 
    
4. Choose new business verticals. Are you selling blue shoes to a red shoe market? Is your current business vertical lacking revenue? Change. Adapt and become something different. Will your product or service work in a new industry? Do you know? Find out quick. Fight for it! The best business verticals in a sluggish economy are Energy, Federal Government, Healthcare, Utilities, and Pharmaceuticals.    
    
5. Develop better marketing. Do you calculate marketing return on investment? Are you doing the same marketing you did last year? STOP! It's a new world order. Stop repeating poor marketing because you need leads. Develop new marketing based on the economic environment.  
    
6. Improve team productivity. If you have employees who are taking it easy and are wasting time, money and office space, replace them. Are you running a business or a Country Club for the unemployable? This is hardly the time to pay Ringo (the loyal puppy dog down the hallway), John (the I am late all of the time service rep), George (the I am above cold calling salesperson because I think I am too senior) and Paul (the son-in-law, you owe me manager). Employees need to work harder or employers should find someone who will. 
    
7. Generate better financials. Costs are up, revenues are down. Do you know all your numbers? Do you know your key metrics? Find out what they are. As a CEO, always do things that you hate first.   
    
8. Provide sales training. I know your sales team is made up of professionals but when was the last time your firm actually invested in professional sales skill training for your staff? This is a tough economy to be successful . . . everybody can use new training. Reading one book 5 years ago fails to pass for sales training. 
    
9. Act professional, avoid acting entrepreneurial. This is the wrong time to be emotional about your business. Yes, you have invested untold years of sweat and blood into the business. Stop loving your business; instead manage your business and make the tough decisions.    

Follow these recommendations and you can weather the current economic changes. Ignore them or take too long pondering their value and you might a statistic next year.

What worked last year will probably fail this year. It's up to you!
 

To your success,

Top-performing organizations are increasing their companies' revenue, within a constricted economy by investing in business growth acceleration strategies. For more on increasing your revenue capture effectiveness, subscribe to my Email Newsletter, follow me on Twitter, connect to me on LinkedIn, friend me on Facebook or join our CEO Strategies Group on Linkedin. If I can help you or your firms revenue growth acceleration strategies, check out my coaching and consulting firm, Business Growth U.S., email me, or call me at (972) 727-6880.