The Ultimate Recession Planning Kit

Kit Intro

We've put together this Recession Kit as a help to aid in your scenario planning during this economic downturn. On behalf of the M3 Planning staff, we hope the compilation of articles, how-tos, tools and advice will help you come out ahead of these turbulent times.

Happy Strategizing!

Recession Survival: Find a Way to Paint the Grass Green

Do you see the glass half empty or half full? How you answer that question may impact your success in a tight economy.

Readiness isn’t just about disaster preparedness; it’s also about being ready for opportunity as well as adversity. If you can anticipate or plan for a downturn in the economy, yours just may be the business that not only survives but thrives. 'Every cloud', goes the proverb, 'has a silver lining… read more

The Butterfly Effect: How Scenario Planning Protects Businesses from National Events

We’ve all seen and heard the unsettling headlines pointing to a business slow down in this newspaper and in national news - "Home Foreclosures Skyrocket;" "Housing Market Continues Slump;" "Disappearing Sales Tax Revenue;" and "Credit-market Contagion From US Subprime Crisis Affects Global Economy."

Most of us consider such trends to be too national to have local impact. However, the chatter in our local business community would indicate otherwise… read more

Tools

How to Make a Recession Plan for your Business

Here are the steps to running your own recession plan. One suggestion – this exercise need not be exhaustive. Begin by identifying the risks from the list of big “what-ifs” and smaller “what-ifs” and create a one-sheet for a few realistic, possible scenarios that your organization might face in the next few years… read more

How to Perform Financial Forecasting

After you’ve completed your goals and actions, assess the financial viability of your strategic plan. While your action items and goals are fresh in your mind, estimate the costs associated with the implementation of each item. All the best-laid strategic plans are subject to time and money.

In this section of our recession toolkit, you look at the estimated expenses and the potential revenue. This review helps you make decisions about when to implement certain action items and whether your cash outlay generates the required revenue to meet your financial goals… read more

Expert Tips

Latest Tips from the Web… read more

Financial Articles

The Do's and Don’ts of Cost Cutting"

The two words “cost cutting” are almost as upsetting as the word recession. It smacks of negativity and loss of jobs. Unless you are a turnaround consultant, cost cutting is as painful as weight loss. But consider “strategic” cost cutting, instead of taking action that might hurt your future sustainability. That old adage: Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul… read more

Business Continuity Planning: Your Plan B

You’re surrounded by circumstances and choices every day, and you need to be ready. Readiness isn’t just about disaster preparedness; it’s about being ready for opportunity, as well as adversity. Readiness is a lifestyle, and any organization needs to prepare for all those little things that can go wrong and that seem to add up when the time is right.

All the strategic planning in the world isn’t enough unless you have contingencies in place. You should always identify what to prepare for when business doesn’t go as planned… read more

Marketing Articles

Does Your Marketing Budget Make You Look Fat? Five Exercises for a Leaner Organization

If the economy tanks, is your marketing budget ready? With uncertain times ahead, the last thing that you’ll want to do is stop attracting customers. In fact, with a possible recession approaching, this is a great time to increase your market share, become more efficient and get to know your market.

Just like returning to the gym after a long absence, it may take a little work to get in shape, but the following exercises can help any organization whip a flabby, overweight marketing budget into a lean, mean customer-attracting machine… read more

The Free Market(ing) Economy: How to Get No-Cost Exposure on the Web

By the time you finish reading this, three internet startups will have emerged to help you find new customers. OK, that’s a made up number, but it illustrates something you need to be aware of: while the economy may be taking a dump, you can turn to the web to market yourself for almost nothing- and it’s only getting better.

Three things make the web the best place to market in a downturn:  the virtually unlimited flow of instant information, the almost non-existing barriers to entry, and it’s just really, really, cool… read more

Operations Articles

Recession Hacks: 20 Essential Tricks to Get Through a Slump in the Economy

Throughout our Ultimate Recession Planning Toolkit, you'll find a wealth of information, but here's a collection of some of the best of it- boiled down to a list you can print up to bring to your recession planning meeting or keep nearby to reference throughout your day.

1. Don’t cut your marketing budget

Especially if your competitor has reduced their marketing, you can increase your market share for less than it would cost during a strong economy… read more

How we’re Cleaning Up For the Coming Downturn

Over the last several months there’s been a lot of talk of economic woes, a slowdown, or some other soft-peddling term for the possible coming recession. This evening, listening to NPR I heard an economist say that it’s no longer a question of whether we’re facing one, but for how long and how severe. Whether you’re a business owner concerned about this year’s profits or an employee concerned about the future of your job, we all feel some sense of uncertainty about what the looming economic dip will throw at us.
But it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom… read more

HR Articles

Recessions Don't Have to Suck for Employees

Recessions don’t just affect businesses- they have a real impact on individuals. It’s hard, in fact, to imagine anyone whose job won’t be impacted one way or another during the recession. In a recent article titled Recessions Suck, Jared Bernstein put it this way:

But what does recession mean to folks on the ground? How bad is it, really? Pretty damn bad. Given recent historical patterns, three million more people could join the unemployment rolls, and middle-income families, already squeezed, and with income levels still recovering from the last recession, could lose another $2,500.

Smart employees need to take action now, before things take a turn for the worse. The choice is simple: by taking steps now to secure your future, you can make sure to come out of a recession better than when it began… read more