Achieving Revenue Targets in a Recession



Can we still hit our targets in a recession?



In times of recession income targets for businesses become much more difficultt to achieve, markets shrink,price competition is fiercer and forecasting of revenues and profits becomes more challenging. Past trends are no longer a reliable guide to the future as new and unheard of challenges become more visible. What do we do? Play the optimistic card and think that everything will be alright? or do we go for a doomsday scenario of making excessive expenditure cuts and losing the day? The answer is somewhere in between. Yes we do have to take a realistic view of revenues and adjust our cost base accordingly, that is the first part of the process, however the second part of the process involves looking for new revenue streams,providing products and services that people desire at the prices they want to pay. This latter process involves us looking for new ways of delivering products and services to newer markets. Perhaps moving outside our traditional market base and looking more internationally as well. Stage 1 may well be the pessimistic phase of cost and revenue adjustment but stage 2 is the more optimistic stage of revenue growth and advancement. It may well be challenging and difficult but stage 2 is the way we can claw back some of the pessimism that we encountered in stage 1. 

Are we ready for the challenge?