Tararua District businesses get new perspective on surviving recession

Bob Selden gave a talk on changing perspective and how businesses can survive when the economy is bad.

We learn a lot about ourselves in a global financial crisis, says Bob Selden.

“We learn a lot about business and we learn a lot about how people can ... survive and come out the other side.”

The business coach and regional manager of Family Business Central believes there are ways for businesses to still survive when there’s a downturn in the economy.

He was speaking to several Tararua District business owners at a workshop hosted by Digital Spaces and Bisset Honda in Pahiatua.

Bob is the author of four books offering management and leadership advice.

One of his books is simply titled: Don’t.

Using anecdotes, Bob talks about how changing language or using creative solutions can change perspective.

For instance, he uses a story of encountering a lady with two children in a gift shop and says the first thought of what she would say was: “Don’t touch anything”.

“The only problem with ‘don’t touch’ is the brain doesn’t recognise the word ‘don’t’.

“One of the things that will turn your thinking around is to get rid of the word ‘don’t’ in your vocabulary.”

One of the main pieces of advice he gave was for businesses to “think about the client first”.

“What are they feeling at the moment? What are their concerns, what are their issues and then work back from that.”

Bob says a good barometer of the economy is Harvey Norman.

He cites the example of the store where, if the economy is good, they will market the luxury items such as sofas and beds.

However, if the market takes a dip, they will advertise items such as laptops, televisions, or essential items.

If the market downturns further, they will advertise interest-free terms.

The second piece of advice is to build a profile of the client, by age, gender or socio-economic status.

“Who is your customer, where are they from, what are the things you can tell about them?”

He says that’s where business owners need to focus in terms of making their business work.