Recession Survival Tips

Great Advice for Tough Times by Tom Ziglar

I was speaking with one of my mentors this week.  Larry Carpenter is a very successful business and family man and a longtime friend of our family.  Larry lives out the Ziglar philosophy.  Currently, Larry owns and operates a very nice hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas, that is doing remarkably well in an extremely tough industry right now.

Larry and I were talking about the economy and he mentioned that about four months ago he called all of his key accounts that book rooms on a monthly basis and had a conversation that went kind of like this:

“I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that we really value your business and our relationship.  I know that times are getting tougher for everyone and I wanted to let you know that if you should need some help down the road, we are ready to sharpen our pencil on our end and do everything we can.  Just let me know, because we want to be first in line to work with you in any way that we can.”

Larry shared with me that he got his first call back from a key account last week and he is working with them to create a mutual win.  Here are some key take-aways:

He was putting the relationship and the customer first

He was offering a helping hand and taking the edge off a potentially tough conversation

He was making it clear he is in business for the long term and in the short term real relationships help each other out

He was being very wise and proactive in that he was likely to get “the call” anyway

He understands that especially in tough times you can create trust and loyalty if you are willing to be creative and do not let fear of loss drive your decisions

I bet you have a few longtime customers who could use a little bit of good news and a helping hand right now.  Be proactive and give them a call; let them know you will help any way you can.

Tom Ziglar is the proud son of Zig Ziglar and CEO of Ziglar. 

This article was taken from his blog, http://www.tomziglar.com/.