The fallout from large multinational businesses having to become accountable is causing a cascade of failures in honest and hardworking small firms, the business-to-business (B2B) companies in the supply chain serving these multinational failures. This fallout ends up hitting the smallest firms the hardest, firms just like yours and mine. The challenge is how to increase your fading sales and stay in business when the businesses you normally serve are frantically trying to insure their own survival.

Your task is to solve the problem of decreased sales. There are several things you can do to turn things around, and you don't have to wait for a congressional committee to jail someone, you can start improving your business tomorrow morning.

Most of the following ideas will require a drastic change in your company operations, but by now you have already proven the old ways are not working. Your firm is going to have to make customer service the ONLY focus. Keep in mind that none of the suggested strategies will work without your personal whole-hearted support. You have to not only accept the fact that changes are necessary, you also must be the driving force behind the changes. Get out in front and lead!

BUILD A ‘CAN-DO’ ATTITUDE
Nothing, absolutely nothing is more important than your present customer base. To survive you must maintain business relations with current customers. Hold a company meeting tomorrow morning and frankly discuss the fact that keeping present customers is the number one job of everyone in the firm. Attracting new customers is only number two. This means everyone in your firm – everyone – must adopt a can-do attitude when talking with a customer. No excuses, no failures.

BECOME PROBLEM SOLVERS
Your customer or prospect doesn’t want to hear your sad story, he or she wants their problem solved. They are looking for business solutions exactly as are you. Start your change to becoming a problem solver by finding ways to help your customer reduce the cost of doing business, how to increase productivity, how to find new customers, or how to improve their competitive position. Starting immediately, ask your customers what it is they want or need, and then get busy supplying it to them.

GET MOVING
You are not likely to get a second chance; you have to have your business survival solution ready right now. This means you don’t have the time to indulge in the traditional product/service research cycle, etc., etc. If you are 80 percent sure, ACT! Beating the competition and solving your customer's problem is of prime importance. You can fine-tune the program later.

GET THE BIG PICTURE
Re-think your overall business attitude. Profit per sale may not work as the driving force of your company. If your new customer service program is going to cost a bundle, look at the profit gain over time. If new delivery vans, fax/computer/telephone ordering systems or some other customer satisfying changes are needed in your firm, DO IT! Use the Census Bureau’s on-line files to discover the size of your market and who is in that market and work to gain a larger share. Do the same Census Bureau research to find new customers. Use this information as a guide to real growth.

QUIT SELLING PRODUCTS
Quit telling your customers about your product or service and start telling them what you can do to help solve their problems. Brainstorm with your employees to generate benefit lists which demonstrates how your product can help your customer make money. Then and only then can you talk with your customer about why your product is better than your competitor's.

REVIEW
Modify or throw-out your old indicators of success. Examine your entire operations with the aim of changing your firm to a customer oriented status. For example, make sure your sales reports show sales per product, per customer, and per sales person. Consider modifying your traditional distribution channels with customer convenience being the key factor rather than your immediate profit. Start a customer-oriented training program for your whole company, not just the sales staff. And don’t forget to prune your old product line and add new products with customer service as the guide. Hold regular reviews with your staff to see how the program is working and make changes where necessary. Make the effort! It’s YOUR business!

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.