Recession visits the economy from time to time as a part of economic cycle. It brings in its train tumultuous times on the one hand and a host of business opportunities on the other.

Meaning Of Recession

Recession means contraction in business cycle caused by any of the factors such as:

• Financial crisis.
• Any external trade shocks.
• Any adverse supply shocks.
• Bursting of economic bubble.
• Natural disaster.
• Pandemic like CARONA – COVID 19.

When Gross Domestic Product-GDP of the economy declines for two consecutive quarters, Recession is said to have set in. With the contraction of the economy businesses and individuals prefer not to spend money, invest or take business risks. On the other hand, need of the hour is to conserve cash to ensure survival of business in tumultuous times.

It is noteworthy that industries meeting inelastic demands of customers are not disturbed by the phenomenon of Recession.

Small businesses and Start-ups in particular are quite vulnerable to adverse impact of Recession.

“Unfortunately, in a Recession the people who suffer the most aren’t the rich, but the wane-be rich and the poor”

(Robert Kiyoski)

It is imperative to make your business Recession – proof. It warrants:

• Focus on revenue preservation.
• Efficient cash flow management.
• Investment in strategic demand generation.

Assisted by technology, it is possible to analyse, measure and monitor progress in direction of action.

Want To Make Your Business Recession Proof?

Then comply with Basic Pricing Guidelines and Guard your Business from the Pitfalls.

• Determine the cost of delivery of the product or service to customers. Here, exclude the overheads.
• Estimate your overheads to work out ‘Break – even’ point. This will help to ascertain your required volume of sales.
• Incorporate your desired profit and calculate this into price.
• Keep a vigil on your Margin to ensure it is not being eroded by increased costs.
• Understand your customer satisfaction levels.
• Dissatisfied customers will not pay premium prices.
• Regularly review prices.
• Make small increases to cover increased costs.
• It is advisable to make small regular price increases at intervals throughout the year than one large increase just once a year.

Remember.

It is the right time to apply.

The 80/20 Rule implying that 20% of your customers, products or services will provide 80% of your business.

Assessment Of Risk Tolerance Capacity

It is absolutely essential to assess the risk tolerance capacity of your business. Here, you are required to ponder over certain questions such as:

• Break-even point of your business.
• Capacity of leaders and staff to handle uncertainty.
• Adaptability of your systems and processes to emerging situation.
• Your risk taking capacity for potential losses.
• Your ability to withstand any risk to your business reputation.

How To Whither Storm Of Recession?

 To thrive in business even in the midst of Recession you must as successful business owner:

• Evaluate your monthly expenses.
• Create and maintain an Emergency Fund.
• Create an alternative Revenue Plan.
• Analyse your Investment Pan.
• Analyse your Cash Flow management strategy.
• Pay off your highest debt forthwith.

Under How to Make your Business Recession Proof

Steps To Make Your Business Recession Proof

• Create a Marketing Plan for concrete action.
• Explore additional business opportunities.
• Secure involvement and participation of your team.
• Explore low cost product ideas for the benefit of your customers.
• Introduce internal cost-cutting measures.
• Measure your KPIs-Key Performance Indicators.

In a Nutshell

• Build up your business credit.
• Make workable business forecast.
• Create and maintain solid relationship with customers.
• Keep constant vigilance over business numbers.
• Maintain your investment in marketing.
• Explore multiple revenue streams.

Proactive Strategy To Recession Proof Your Business

1. Formulate Business Plan

A solid Business Plan must be prepared to combat repercussions of Recession.

 Main focus should be on building a financial forecast that includes:

• Profit & Loss
• Cash Flow
• Balance Sheet

Efforts should be made to ensure that your forecast is fully interconnected to provide for changes to your revenue in your P & L.

 A a one-page business plan should be prepared to keep it handy whenever required.

2. Experiment With Different Scenarios

Try to experiment with different financial scenarios to asses impact on cash and profits in different situations.

Experiment with a slowdown to your entire business as also slowdowns to specific revenue streams.

Working through different scenarios will help attune your business to various emerging situations.

3. Concentrate On Managing Cash Flow

Management of Cash Flow assumes special importance.. It tests your ability to keep enough cash in the bank in different situations.

Try to make to keep your cash balance stable. This is where having interlinked financial forecasts is very useful so that changes to one part of your forecast are automatically reflected everywhere.

You must ensure timely receipt of payment from your customers.  

Build systems to keep your accounts receivable under control.

4. Investigate A Line Of Credit

Building a cash cushion, or a “rainy day fund” is essential for your businesses. Most businesses spend much of their cash reinvesting into the business to fund additional growth. You may contemplate opening a business line of credit to use as a cash cushion. Ideally, you wouldn’t use this line of credit unless you absolutely need it and it will cost your business very little to maintain it, -only incurring interest and fees when you borrow from it. 

5. Tie Marketing Expenses To Revenue

A helpful budgeting strategy is to link certain spending to revenue.

Instead of creating a specific budget for something like marketing, you forecast that spending as a percentage of revenue. Using this method, you can keep spending in check if sales start to decline or automatically ramp the budget up if sales are better than expected.

6. Review Cycle Of Plan

Review your plan  regularly and track your progress against it.

With the help of a financial reporting dashboard  you can easily generate reports and see if you are meeting your sales goals and keeping to your spending budget. Schedule a monthly review meeting to go over your numbers .Make adjustment in   your forecast based on how your business is performing.

In a financial crisis you should increase that review cycle and check your numbers more frequently.

7. Diversify Target Markets

To combat Recession, diversification of target markets renders substantial help.

8. Tweak Pricing Models

It is prudent to explore different pricing options. Different approaches to selling can unlock new business. Consequently, you can make your products and services accessible to customers that may be hesitant to commit during times of uncertainty. 

9. Build Strong Relationships

During Recession, relationships are of paramount importance. It is very much required if payment of rent is deferred or payment to vendors required to be delayed. It will be much easier if you have established, trusting relationships in place, work to cultivate those relationships before a crisis hits so that it is easier to seek favours when needed.

Building solid relationships with your customers during good times will help keep them with you when times are tough. Enjoying their trust shall go a long way in turbulent times of Recession.

10. Be Open To Change And Diversify

To face Recession with all your strength you should be pragmatic. Be ready to give your business a new direction, if so required. It may be fruitful exercise to change your business completely. Brain storming to explore various alternative scenarios can aid in difficult times of Recession.

In Retrospect

There is absolutely no doubt that Recession posess strong challenge to businesses of all hues. Patience and perseverance of business owners are put to acid  test. However, silver lining is that crisis of Recession is not insurmountable After all, it presents an opportunity for:

• Organization of marketing channels.
• Efficacy of team management.
• Creativity in business.

Business environment holds the key. Smart and farsighted business owners like you apply the solid rules of financial management. Perhaps, that is the only way to survive shocks of Recession  and place your business on road to sustainable profit trajectory.

”During Recession, greed dies, frugality survives.”

(Amit Kalantri)

In the backdrop of fast changing dynamics of modern environment, Customer remains the backbone of business. Customer largely decides life span of any business. Customer has always been and shall always remain the King. Here, Customer Service is a potent tool to rectify complaints of the customers and make them happy and satisfied all the time.

“It takes months to find a customer…..seconds to lose one”

(Vince Lombard)

Meaning Of Customer Service

Customer Service means anything that a Company does to enhance satisfaction of its customers. Customer Service is the process of offering support and advice to customers before, during, and after the customer buys a product or service, and to ensure customer satisfaction.

There Is A Direct Correlation Between:

• Satisfied Customers
• Brand Loyalty
• Revenue Growth

Improving Customer Service is vital as it is one of the efficient drivers of company profitability.

Customer Service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services.

A well-performed customer service increases revenues.

Customer Service maintains focus on the external and internal aspects of the organization that facilitate the business activity.

A service package is a combination of tangible and intangible characteristics a firm uses to take care of its clients.

Customer Service is the way in which service professionals interact with and meet the needs of current and potential customers.

 It Involves Aspects Like:

• Answering Client Questions
• Solving Their Problems
• Opening Lines Of Communication
• Making It Easy And Enjoyable To Do Business With Your Company.

Customer Service And Its Other Forms

Essentially, Customer Service encompasses the entire buying journey.

Customer Support generally means providing technical help to a customer after a purchase, like installation help and troubleshooting.

Customer Aftercare, or Customer Care, takes place after a sale.

Notable Benefits Of Customer Service

• Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Conversion of one-time customers into repeat customers.
• Conversion of disengaged customers into loyal followers.
• Facilitates customers to travel along the customer journey.
• Grants status as a competitive differentiator.
• Portrays a positive brand image and reputation.

Impact Of Customer Service On Business

• Simply prioritizing good customer service in an organization increases revenue.
• Happy customers build a better reputation.
• It attracts customers, investors, partnerships, and employees.
• A word-of-mouth serves as the best publicity for business.
• Customer Retention is closely linked to customer satisfaction.
• Beyond product satisfaction or value, customer satisfaction reigns supreme in today’s landscape.
• Customer churn decreases with more customer care as otherwise Products have issues and Services have flaws.
• CLTV (customer lifetime value) reveals the amount of money a customer potentially brings to a company over the course of his engagement..
• Employee happiness correlates to customer happiness.
• Company culture strengthens with improved customer sentiment.
• When a culture of serving people is created, the employees follow suit. Teammates work together with kindness, compassion, and respect.
• Company culture strengthens with improved customer sentiment.
• Brand awareness soars with positive customer experiences.
• Marketing spend lessens with more customer advocates.
• Save money and time with every loyal customer. Not only do they purchase more, but they also bring in new business.
• Your customers become your sales reps.
• Valued customer service unites goals and processes.
• When everyone at a company has the same end-goal, the entire workflow becomes streamlined.
• Business longevity relies on satisfied customers.
• For scaling start-ups, providing an excellent customer service experience is the suitable way to keep up momentum and minimize loses.

Nuances Of Customer Service

Requisite Customer Service Skills

Essentially, good Customer Service skills concentrate on:

• Giving attention to customers.
• Empathetically solving the customer’s problem.
• Speaking in an enthusiastic and positive manner.
• Ensuring retention of valued customers.
• Take special care to ensure their problems are solved.

Rationale For Customer Contact Service

Customers need to contact Customer Service for various reasons:

1. Product or Service Problems:
   • Either they are not able to understand how to operate it, or
   • Customers feel it does not adequately meet their needs.
2. Time-Related Problems:
   • In case certain step in the customer journey is not fulfilled.
3. Miscommunication:
   • Effects of the change in some rules might compel the customer to call and enquire about the change.

Key Components Of Efficient Customer Service

• Timely attention to issues raised by customers is of critical importance.
• Customer service should be a single-step process for the consumer.
• The original representative should follow up with the customer to in another department to ensure that the problem is solved.

Business need to accelerate with great service that provides the experience customers expect or risk losing out to the competition.

How is Customer Service Rendered?

Today, service is a crucial element of any product, service, or business, and needs to be baked in the all platforms and channels of your brand, such as:

1. Phone
2. Email
3. Social Media
4. Website
5. SMS or text
6. In-person/on-site support
7. Traditional Postal Mail

More than pricing, and even the product itself, Customer Service is the biggest driver of customer loyalty.

Elements Of Customer Service

While embarking upon journey to plan Customer Service Strategy, understanding your customer is imperative. It can be done by asking two fundamental questions: 

• Who are your customers? 
• What is the treatment they are expecting?

Pillars Of Good Customer Service

1. Channel variety

Here are a few of the most common channels for clients to get in touch with you.

• Social Media
• Live Chat
• Email
• Phone Calls
• Self Service

2. A proactive customer service team

A great customer service team looks for ways to meet their customers’ needs before their clients even tell them what those needs are.

• Willing to go the extra mile. An adequate CSR simply solves a user’s problem. An excellent CSR listens to the customer, asks penetrating questions to get to the root of their issue, and does not mind spending a little extra time to make sure the client gets what they need.
• Empathetic
• Patient
• Responsive
• Positive

3. A focus on customer satisfaction

The core goal of customer service is to satisfy the client. High levels of customer satisfaction usually mean repeat business.. Some key strategies to consider include:

• Focus on creating loyal customers.
• Training to avoid poor customer service.
• Extra attention for new customers.

4. Usage of an internal and external knowledge base

External knowledge bases are for customers or potential customers.  However, internal knowledge bases exist for the benefit of the team.

Some knowledge bases for customer service team available include:

• Customer FAQ.
• On boarding or training FAQ.
• Customer service tips.
• External pages with information for customers.

5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A good customer relationship management system can be instrumental in improving the customer experience.

It serves as a central repository of all client information and allows departments across the organization to access and add to this information.

A CRM tool can store and organize information like a customer’s demographic information, past purchases, and contact with your business.

Essential Features For CRM:

• Contact management
• Tracking interactions
• Scheduling and reminders

Pain Points In Customer Service

Pain points are issues that are causing prospective customers of your business “pain,” requiring a solution. Uncovering customer pain points have ultimate bearing on both sales and marketing strategy. For Sales Managers knowledge of the prospect’s pain points help to tailor their sales pitch. Marketers understand these pain points so they can advertise/present their solution effectively and in an appealing and enticing way.

• Customer pain points are shortcomings a product or service has that can make the consumer less likely to engage with it.
• Businesses can use different metrics to determine what these pain points are and determine how to fix them.
• Pain points can impact a brand’s image, which can result in less brand loyalty and an overall unfavourable reputation for the company.
• By properly identifying and addressing pain points, it is possible to improve the customer’s experience. It can have widespread positive impact on the success of business
• Greater confidence of consumers induce them to purchasing or engaging with a product or service. They continue supporting the business by contributing to sales and using reviews and word-of-mouth to positively impact the company’s reputation.

Types Of Customer Pain Points

1. Process Pain Points

Process pain points are problems in your internal processes that enable business to interact with customers. These pertain to cases in which it takes too long to get a response, causing potential customers to lose interest and go elsewhere.

Customer pain points related to processes are:

• Tracking and delivery issues.
• Anything that doesn’t work.
•  Too many redundant steps in the customer journey.
• Waiting in queues for answers to questions.
• Poor communication between teams.
• Difficulty in connecting to the correct department.

2. Financial Pain Points

Financial pain points are customer problems that involve money.

Money-related customer pain points include:

• Expensive subscription plan or membership fee.
• No transparency of the final cost.
• Overpaying for equipment, software, or tools.
• Less browsing and spontaneous purchases, more buying in bulk

3. Customer Support Pain Points

If customers do not get the help and support they need when looking for a solution they will soon be searching for an alternative elsewhere. 

Customers lose trust when they encounter customer service staff who do not understand their products, services, or the importance of contributing to a positive experience.

Support pain points come from a failure to help your customers with their product-related questions throughout their customer journey or the sales process.

Examples of this pain point include:

• Customers get frustrated when information provided by them is not transmitted to the appropriate persons. Ideally customers want to resolve their own problems. Frustration arises only when answers cannot   be found in a self-service channel of their choice.
• Not knowing whom to contact in the event of a problem with product or service.
• Lack of product knowledge in support team. 
• Lack of information available about product or service.

4. Productivity Pain Points

Customers want to use their time more efficiently and productively.

Understanding productivity pain points can help you offer a solution that balances time and convenience. That means eliminating some of inefficiencies such as:

• Outdated processes and redundant steps in the buying process.
• Complicated checkout processes.
• Forms that do not work with your customers’ systems.

Identification Of Customer Pain Points

• Observe Your Competitors
• Use live chat.
• Check in with your sales, marketing, and support teams.
• Implement Thank You page surveys.

Malady For Customer Pain Points

• Remedy any pain points that are easy to fix.
• Analyse results from research.
• Improve processes and monitor changes.
• Offset negative experiences with positive experiences.
• Ensure a customer follow-up strategy.

Customer Service Strategy

Essential Parameters

• In times of change, customers need support to help quickly answer questions and address any concerns.
• Customer feedback through the service channel is an invaluable source of information about how your company is performing, and ways that you can continue to improve.
• Customer Service personnel need access to all relevant data.
• Intelligent technologies help reduce contact volume and manual work to enable concerned personnel to have more time to focus on customer interactions.
• Customer service improves business resilience by smoothing the effects of change.

If you support your customers when times are difficult, it’s highly likely they will stick with you for the long term.

How Is It A Virtuous Circle?

Customer Service requires the business to go to the people, where and when they want. Serving up the best that you can offer. If you do this, Customers will begin flocking to you wherever you go!

Essential Steps for Developing a Customer Service Strategy

1. Create a Customer Service Vision

It is imperative for the company to communicate the customer service vision to its employees.

Employees must  understand the vision and organizational goals for customer service. They must shoulder   responsibility to help achieve that vision.

2. Assessment of Customer Needs

The companies must find out what is it that the customer wants and put together plans to satisfy the needs of the customers.

They need to talk to the customers to find out their perception of the services and  ascertain their needs and expectations.

A customer needs assessment is done by soliciting feedback through focus groups, satisfaction surveys, or customer comment cards,..

Customer needs and expectations are a moving target.

Expectations and needs change over time. It is essential to strive to stay on top of these moving targets.

3. Recruit Job -Suited Employees

Hiring with the customer in mind is needed in an overall strategy for strong customer service.

Employees must possess the disposition and skill set to help support a strong customer service environment.

Limit interactions with customers only with those employees that can present a positive and helpful interaction.

4. Create Goals for Customer Service 

It is necessary to create goals for achieving customer satisfaction.

Employees need to understand what the target is so they can help the organization reach its corporate objectives.

5.  Training on Service Skills

The training to employees should explain how the organization would like the employees to behave in every situation .It should help employees understand how to respond to their customers.  

Training must cover topics like:

• How to respond to customer complaints.
• How to be responsive to customers.
• How to meet customer needs.
• When to perform service recovery.
• How to answer the phone.
• Your organization’s standards for service.

6.  Induct Accountability

Employees need to be held accountable for achieving customer satisfaction goals.

This should be part of a comprehensive performance management system. 

Send employees to refresher classes when expectations fall short of your high service standards.

7 Acknowledge Good Service for Rewards

Employees need positive reinforcement and should be rewarded when they demonstrate the desired behaviours of a strong customer service culture.

Organizations need to identify who their customers are, what they want, and develop strategies to achieve those customer requirements.

Requisite Tools For Customer Service Teams

• A help desk system to help customers.
• A knowledge based FAQ on website.
• Shared email foe customer support.
• CRM to manage customer data.
• Live website chat for customer service.
• Methods to manage customer queries.

 “It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder

According to Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, and Wong,

“A service is an activity or benefit that one party can offer to another, which is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. It production may or may not be tied to a physical product.”

In Retrospect     

Provide great customer service today and you will never regret!

Customer Service is about more than meeting customer expectations. Excellent Customer Service skills require an in-depth understanding of all of your clients’ needs and a firm commitment to meeting those needs.

Today’s consumers demand customer interactions that are fast, convenient, and personalized. If you can deliver on these counts, flourishing business is all that is served on your plate.

In a way this is the most effective and efficient way to honour Customer Sovereignty and recognise the maxim that Customer is King!!!

‍“Building a good customer experience does not happen by accident. It happens by design.

Claze Muscult

As Business Owner, are you stressed by?

• Frequent paucity of business funds.
• Hazardously plateauing cash flow.
• Overscheduled commitments.
• Sore client-employee relationship.
• Fast decline of personal relationships.

Then, these stressors are strong enough to afflict Entrepreneurial Burnout.

They invariably lead to:

• Lack of passion for work.
• Lack of motivation.
• Dread for work.
• Extreme fatigue.
• Constrained decision-making.

Suffering for a prolonged duration is bound to create Entrepreneurial Burnout.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is a medical disorder as a result of excessive and prolonged stress.

Coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, burnout refers to “a depletion or exhaustion of a person’s physical or mental resources attributed to his or her prolonged, yet unsuccessful striving toward unrealistic expectations internally or externally derived.”

There Are Two Main Types Of Burnout:

Circumstantial & Existential

The Circumstantial is the result of challenges in:

• Workplace
• Neglecting one’s personal life
• Not taking time off work

The Existential burnout struggle is with:

• A loss of meaning in the job
• Deteriorating relationships with colleagues and clients.
• Lack of self-worth.

Psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North developed a 12-stage model of burnout to visualize its progression:

1. The compulsion to prove oneself – demonstrating worth obsessively.
2. Working hard – with an inability to switch off.
3. Neglecting basic needs – lack of sleep, lack of healthy eating, lack of social interaction.
4. Displacement of conflicts – problem is dismissed.
5. Revision of values – values are skewed, friends and family dismissed, hobbies irrelevant.
6. Denial of emerging problems – intolerance, perceiving collaborators as stupid, cynicism, aggression, problems are viewed as caused by work.
7. Withdrawal – social life small or non-existent, hard social contacts.
8. Odd behavioral changes – changes in behavior obvious to friends and family.
9. Depersonalization – seeing neither self nor others as valuable.
10. Inner emptiness – feeling empty inside.
11. Depression – feeling lost, exhausted and the future feels bleak and dark.
12. Burnout syndrome – includes mental and physical collapse; medical attention is required.

Prime Reasons For Entrepreneurial Burnout

• Failure to delegate tasks.
• Avoiding work-life balance.
• Skipping meals.
• Setting unrealistic goals.
• Trouble in maintaining a distinction between “on time” and ‘off-time”.
• Denial of burnout signals.
• Losing perspective.
• Excuses for procrastination.
• Everything is irritating.
• Exploring burnout signals.

The Top Six Signs Of Burnout Include

Exhaustion

Chronic emotional and physical exhaustion is a sign that getting burned out.

Cynicism

If as an entrepreneur you are losing interest fast and having negative thoughts about work, that is a sure sign you are burning out.

Irritability

This implies being irritable and impatient, even at the smallest provocation.

Inefficacy

Burnout can leave you clueless about what you are doing for problem solutions or the creation of new ideas.

Depression

It might be time to take a look at your work-life balance and day-to-day stressors.

How To Avoid Burnout As An Entrepreneur

Burnout is prevalent in all industries and job roles. However, it especially applies to business owners and entrepreneurs whose business success relies on their productive capacity and depth of engagement.

How To Spot Entrepreneurial Burnout

• You dread going to work consistently. 
• Your mood and personality have changed as per the version of others. 
• You are experiencing physical symptoms.
• You always feel tired. 

How To Spot Signs That You Are Experiencing Burnout

Mental Fog

Your mental sharpness is significantly reduced. You are prone to committing more mistakes in your work and can no longer accomplish mundane tasks.

Irritability

As stress becomes toxic, you are likely to become more irritated easily even over minor things. It will begin in the workplace. Eventually, it will spill over to home life or interaction with friends.

Frequent Sickness

It can directly impact your physical well-being and you could find yourself suffering from cold or flu even during the summer. You could feel sore and experience body aches on a regular or consistent basis. You may even get diagnosed with chronic conditions due to stress.

Unexplained Weight Gain

Even if you are eating healthy food and exercising, excess cortisol sends a signal that your body is at risk and should maintain your calories. The excess cortisol could increase your body’s insulin levels causing a drop in blood sugar. As a result, your body will crave foods that are high in sugar or fats. This will help add extra pounds around the middle.

Ever-increasing Exhaustion shall render you helpless and mood less for any fruitful pursuit.

Increased forgetfulness

When you are burned out, your mind is clouded affecting your ability to remember things that would usually be top of mind.

Recognize The Signs Of Burnout

• Take a vacation.
• Be prepared for whatever comes your way.

Entrepreneurs usually experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Hence, whether you have experienced
– A Major Financial Blow,
– An Unprecedented Time Of Crisis,
– Or Other Life-Changing Events.
It is important to recognize and reflect on what you have endured, without giving yourself the time and space to reflect, the weight of these burdens can pile up.

It is imperative to have a crisis management plan in place to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

With foresight, you can have faith in knowing you can take care of your team and your customers, and manage whatever comes next.  

• Manage your time in order to physically recharge.
• Stay active and monitor your health.
• Connect with the ones you love.
• Celebrate holidays and milestones.

 “The behaviors that manifest clinically — the consequences of burnout — can include:

• Drinking or smoking to cope with stress.
• Strained relationships where you are not nurturing your relationship with your spouse or your partner.
• Loss of interest in things you once found enjoyable, and troubled sleeping.”

Can You Recover From Burnout?

Fortunately, burnout is not beyond repair. One can fully recover if it is properly addressed and treated.

Lifestyle changes complimented by added support systems can help entrepreneurs recover faster.

How To Recover From Burnout While Working

When stepping away from the job that is causing stress may not be possible —— there are l tools entrepreneurs can deploy to fight their burnout:

• Getting enough sleep.
• Hiring people to help you with tasks that create boredom for you.
• Reconnecting with your passions.
• Spending more time with friends and family.
• Spending time in nature. 
• Starting a group with other entrepreneurs.
• Strengthening social relationships.

How To Combat Entrepreneurial Burnout

Here are some tips on how you can effectively avoid the different types of entrepreneurial burnout.

1. Tackle what worries you first

As an entrepreneur, identify the things that make you frustrated and why.

Find out your stressors and deal with them. For example, if it is the cash flow, then do something to ensure that it flows smoothly.

2. Surround yourself with motivation

Hire some multitalented people to your team. Delegate tasks to them- hiring the right people will help you get the job done with less supervision.

3. Heed red flags

It is essential for entrepreneurs to detect early warning signs of motivational fatigue. It can grow and snowball into more serious symptoms such as perpetual indecisiveness, rising dissatisfaction, and depression.

4. Network with other entrepreneurs

Join local groups or networks so that you can share your problems with others who may be experiencing the same situation as you.

5. Switch off

Too much social media puts you at risk of connectivity overload. It is important for you to disconnect from them from time to time.

6. Spend time for Self-introspection

Self-introspection can go a long way in preventing burnout.

Earmark some time to sit in silence and think about what would make things better. Introspecting can help you get the answers that no other mind tools can.

7. Catch some sleep

Lack of sleep can cause several physical and mental illnesses. After a hectic day full of meetings and paperwork, your body needs time to repair, restore, and relax. Not getting enough sleep can cause serious medical conditions such as high blood pressure and stroke.

8. Find an outlet  

Instead of keeping stress or frustrations to yourself, look for an outlet to vent it all out in a healthy manner. Talk to someone -a friend, companion, or therapist so you can release all those emotions.

How To Avoid Burnout When Starting A New Business

Burnout can happen to anyone at any time, but it is especially common for entrepreneurs:

Here Are Eight Ideas For Avoiding Burnout When Starting A New Business

• Delegate and divide up responsibility.
• Set clear expectations.
• Give people time off.
• Plan a “Think Week” on your calendar.
• Create opportunities for growth.
• Respect people’s personal lives.
• Develop and lean on your network.
• Find your outlet.

In Retrospect

Entrepreneurial Burnout is a serious problem confronting the business community. For its effective cure, it is imperative to understand its adverse effects in toto.

The first step to beating burnout is acknowledging its effects. Once you recognize that you are suffering from it, you can take some of the necessary steps to address it. That is how you can come back to your start-up with a level head, better than ever.

A successful entrepreneur must muster the right amount of energy and motivation. Total freedom from the shackles of fear and risk aversion is an absolute must!!

“Running a start-up is like chewing grass and staring into the abyss. After a while, you stay staring but the grass chewing never ends.”

(Elon Musk)

Can Business Coaches Help You Grow Your Business? 

Yes, definitely.

Business Coaches -can help you grow business by identifying the primary areas of growth.

Business Coaches:

• Set up short and long-term targets while monitoring company’s progress graph.
• Push business owners to maximize potential and profitability based on the company’s financial data.
• Build healthy employer-employee relationships
• Assist business owners to build key performance indicators (KPIs) that serve as progress markers.
• Secure a competitive advantage for entrepreneurs.
• Unlock organization’s true potential, be it, for a small start-up or an established firm looking to expand.

Business Coaching: Myths and Reality

“Business Coaching stands for management training for entrepreneurs.

It enables business owners to better decisions and assume leadership role in the company.

However, vitality of Business Coaching for growth of business is surrounded by MYTHS which need to be demolished for better perspective.

Myth No. 1

Coaching is expensive and I need to save money.

Business Coaching involves methods to identify inefficiencies in the company and learning how to fix them, Thus, it , leads to saving money in the long‑term,

Myth No. 2

I just cannot spare any time for this as I am too busy running my business.

A  Business Coach can help you identify and resolve the root cause to get out of this vicious cycle.  Thus, problem solving begins and firefighting stops.

Myth No. 3

I am already aware of what is wrong in my business.

Visible problems are usually symptoms of bigger issues that can only be identified through a careful, thorough assessment.

A Business Coach will take a holistic view of your business, and find the underlying cause of the problem. Thus, you will know how to fix it.

Myth No. 4

Coaching would not change anything in my company

Coaching helps entrepreneurs become more confident and skilful leaders.

They acquire a better understanding of your business’ strengths and weaknesses .Thus,   they know how to make it more successful.

Myth No. 5

I do not need another advisor. I need someone to fix my problems

The goal of Business Coaching is to transfer knowledge and know‑how to business owner and his management team.

Thus, it connotes imparts the knowledge and skills to address problems on your own.

Myth No. 6

My accountant and lawyer give me advice. Why should I pay someone else to do it?

An experienced Business Coach will look at your company as a whole to determine the cause of your challenges and help you learn to solve them.

Your problems could be strategic, operational or HR‑related, requiring intensive concentration.

Thus, the competent Business Coach will provide you with a systematic approach and tools you can use to address fundamental issues with confidence.

What to expect from Business Coaching (?)

Business Owners can expect exponential growth from Business Coach both on personal as well as professional levels. 

 A Business Coach can actually accelerate pace of growth through feedback.

He can prepare a blueprint for achieving business growth targets. 

The effective Business Coaches challenge their clients to greatness.

You reach an enviable position when you partner with a personal business coach who deeply understands your company — as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

What to look for in a Business Coach?  A Noteworthy List of Traits (?)

It is essential for you to do enquiry before time, money, and energy are invested into a business coaching relationship,

Vital traits to look for in a successful business coach may, inter alia include: 

• Testimonials will tell you the truth about how beneficial this coaching relationship can be. 
• Consider how many years of experience this coach has.
• Ensure if they possess coaching certifications.
  

Development of Hard and Soft Skill-Set

Seasoned business coaches have the ability to teach and model the hard and soft skills leaders need to reach their full potential.

Key Benefits of Business Coaching

1. Improvement in Performance and Profitability:

 By structuring an achievable growth model, A Business Coach defines a vision for entrepreneurs for improvement in Performance and Profitability.

 2. Honing New Skill Sets:

 Business Coaches improve a company’s proficiency level by pushing the employees to work smarter, not harder. This is made feasible by:

• creating a business plan.
• providing guidance
• boosting confidence
• promoting networking

By identifying a company’s strengths and shortcomings, business coaches work with the employees to make targeted adjustments. 

Business coaching assists businessmen

by enhancing their general performance, productivity, and effectiveness.

 3. Instilling Accountability:

Businesses are accountable for dealing with financial, marketing, and organizational considerations, as these are the most crucial aspects of running a company .Business Coach helps implementation of aspects which have been put off by business owner for one reason or the other.

4. Building Leadership: 

Business Coaching can help entrepreneurs build essential qualities like concisely communicating, setting performance expectations, and providing feedback, being supportive, boosting morale, and recognizing the efforts of their employees. 

5. Arena for Personal Growth:

Business coaching offers encouragement and assistance to both the novices and seasoned business owners work it out at your own pace.

6. Boost to Networking Opportunities:

 A reputable and established business coach helps to boost networking opportunities for the firm by building symbiotic partnerships with related companies. 

7. Organization Planning: 

Business coaching aids in optimizing and stabilizing organizational operations, such as marketing and sales strategy, financial decision-making, enhancing administration efficiency, and employee retention.

8. Marketing and Sales Planning:

 A business coach helps to map out promotional strategy, brings the leads, and sets up a sales staff that is effective.

9. Financial Management:

 A Business Coach with credible knowledge in managing company finances can advise and assist business owners in understanding numerous elements such as tax planning, pricing strategies, locating monetary leaks, and cash flow management.

10. Identifying Pitfalls:

 By identifying blind spots, a Business Coach will observe pitfalls in the company’s workings which is usually missed by most entrepreneurs.

Afterward, through a collaborative endeavour, the coach will assist in minimizing the damage.

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE proves the benefit of a quantum jump in Return on Investment (ROI) for companies who have invested in Business Coaching:

• According to The Institute of Coaching, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, over 70% of coaching recipients experience a marked improvement in relationships, communication, and work performance.
• One study found that executive coaching could have as much as a 788% return on investment for the companies surveyed.
• A study of Fortune 1000 showed that the average ROI on executive coaching was almost six times what they originally paid for the coaching services.
• The Harvard Business Review found that companies who heavily invested in employee development (including coaching services) performed better in the S&P 500 during 2003.

A Healthy and Positive Outcome of Business Coaching 

Here are some other benefits that result from Effective Business Coaching yield a healthy and positive outcome:

Revenue growth:

Business Coaches navigate the complexities of a financial spreadsheet. They can also work with leaders to explore and remove limiting beliefs.

Such combination leads to exponential growth and bolsters the bottom line.

Resilience:

Business owner has  the ability to bounce back from even the biggest of crisis.. Business Coaches teach an array of resilience-building strategies, like positive psychology and challenging negative assumptions.

Leadership

Apart from being trained coaching experts, Business Coaches are backed by experience of being company leaders As such,, they are a unique leadership partner who can serve as a mirror to executives expanding their skills. 

Team-building

Business Coaches undertake Team Building by:

• identifying the holes in an organization that need to be filled to drive expansion.
• pulling together the right chemistry of people who will respect, challenge, and complement each other.

IN RETOSPECT

Business Coaching is very successful in bridging the difference between success and failure for budding entrepreneurs, business owners, and corporate leaders. Positively, the unbiased and apolitical input provided by Business Coaches goes a long way-that too substantially!.

No leader is born endowed with ability to handle the business demands of fast changing dynamics of a multidisciplinary world.

All leaders need support to elevate themselves to the next level.

Here, significance of contribution made by Business Coaches can be reckoned in right perspective!!

As Business Owners, are you struggling to resolve issues like:

• Stagnant sales.
• Shrinking margins
• Escalating cost
• Hazardous cash flow management
• Mounting debt burden
• Workload of +50 hours
• No time for personal leisure

Isn’t it frustrating and disgusting?

Definitely YES.

Then, you need to immediately consider hiring of Business Coach for your business.

It should be given top priority in your business agenda.

This is regardless of whether you are a company in nascent stage or progressive established organization aspiring to further scale up!

What is Business Coaching?

Business Coaching signifies a collaborative relationship between a business owner and a professional coach.

Its core lies in strategic development of a successful business.

A Business Coach helps to design a vision for business in alignment with values and the goals a business owner cherishes in life.

 A Business Coach instils the elements of guidance, support and accountability in the aspired goals.

Typically, the Business Coaches are entrepreneurs accompanied by vast business experience themselves. They are expert entrepreneurs who know exactly what is warranted  to achieve success in business.

Business Coaches aim to deploy their talents for building and growing a business by helping other business owners reach their goals

They provide something far more valuable – personalized, customised solutions to their clients-the business owners.

Business Coaching is a process in which a professional coach guides business owners in the pursuit of their work goals.

 A Business Coach might help his client

• build leadership skills
• create business strategies
• improve their mindset.

It is solely governed by what the person hiring the coach wants out of the relationship. In essence, Business Coaching is about growth of business.

An experienced business coach can help walk a client through the process of aligning personal and corporate values.

It enables the client to develop a strong vision, executive presence, and rock-solid confidence so crucially needed to lead their team to success.

Very well backed by a Business Coach, the unfettered corporate leader can explore novel ideas for growth and assume leadership. 

As a sequel, a leader’s confidence, directly impacts pace of growth, corporate culture, and company vision.

What is a Business Coach?

A business coach is a professional mentor who

• supports, educates and motivates business owners.
• provides recommendations for a company’s vision, growth and goals.
• provides motivation.
• implements and prioritize strategies to help growth of business..

Business Coaches are usually seasoned entrepreneurs. They leverage their expertise in creating and expanding a business to assist other business owners in reaching their goals.

Business Coaches strive for maximizing your company’s potential.

• Business Coaches are seasoned professionals who enable start-ups, entrepreneurs, and corporate leaders with advice and feedback based on their real business needs. 
• The effective Business Coaches combine real-world business experience with coaching skills. They are  active listners  and  have the ability to ask powerful questions.
• A Business Coach can be a catalyst for creating and achieving action plans.
• Business Coach   also help with KPIs that drive accountability, real results, and business success.

The Business Coach is an expert who teaches  business owners you to use their resources::

• To improve performance,
• To lead change with authority,
• To stimulate innovation and the search for alternative solutions.
• To find a greater balance between personal and professional life.

Business Coaching offers personalized support focused on two main aspects

• your personal growth in the workplace, relationships and communication
• your ability to maximize your potential in work performance

Hence, Business Coach is referred to as the mind-set and performance coach.

The Business Coach can evoke a profound inner transformation, bringing out your untapped potential and improving your approach to different business or personal situations.

Functional Areas of Business Coaching

Compartmentalised

• Definition of professional goals.
• Definition of the vision of the organizational context.
• Identification and transformation of limiting beliefs regarding oneself and one’s role, colleagues, and the company.
• Clarity in personal, professional and corporate values.
• Creation of a growth plan in one’s role or one’s work team and / or company.
• Acquisition of business and financial success strategies.
• Training in reasoning and effective communication.
• Improvement of people management and conflict management.
• Development of a successful entrepreneurial mind-set.
• Change management strategies.
• Development of emotional intelligence.
• Development of influential leadership.

Importance of Business Coaching in Business

Business Coaching is vital for businesses because it acquaints entrepreneurs with the fundamentals of running a business .It aids them to develop the requisite skill-sets. 

The underlying objective of Business Coaching is to assist the business owners to evaluate the company’s position and identify loopholes that need to be addressed.

“Coaching works because it’s all about you. When you connect with what you really want and why-and take action-magical things can happen.”

(Emma- Louise Elsey)

How does Business Coaching work?

Business coaching is a co-creation process between Business owners and the Coach.

Based on your personal and professional needs and goals, your Business Coach associates himself with you to create a real action plan for the manifestation of your results.

Each session is focused on:

• Improvement of skills,
• Transmission of new knowledge,
• Structure of a winning mind-set and

Transmission of strategies and techniques to overcome obstacles and manifest your goals.

Your coach will always be present and will also support you in the company if necessary.

Depending, on your needs and objectives, sessions will be organized both in your business coach’s office and at your company or workplace.

Nature and Extent of Help Rendered by Business Coach

Most business coaches enjoy versatility in their services package to

• revive a struggling business,.
• make an already successful business even more successful,.
• help build a new business from the ground up,
• define its mission and vision,
• incorporate both long-term and short-term strategies for the business,
• help business owners that have hit a plateau in their company’s growth.

Business coaches can assist business owners through the challenges with their experience and expertise and navigate through tough times..

Purpose of Business Coaching

Business Coach guides entrepreneurs in defining business’s vision in conformity with their long-term plans.

Through the efficacious and close-eyed examination provided by the Business Coach, the owner can gain a comprehensive picture of the business objectives. 

To further prioritize these objectives, they help the clients distinguish between short-term targets and long-term ambitions.

This involves meticulous planning and prioritizing of strategies and tactics to advance the business closer to its target.

• Regular meeting with a Business Coach helps business owners to follow through on the goals they previously established during their coaching sessions.
• The wisdom and experience of a skilled Business Coach provides a noteworthy insight about the industry. 
• Business Coaches assist customers in developing key performance indicators (KPIs) which l act as milestones for measuring progress.
• Advice and recommendations   from a Business Coach can offer a competitive edge. It can also help entrepreneurs unlock the true potential of their organizations. 

Business Coaches are essentially the industry’s expert problem solvers.

When to Hire Professional Business Coach

WHEN

• your new company is getting off the ground.
• you desire to identify barriers to your business growth and goals.
• you require an impartial approach to focus on efforts and resources.
• you notice a lack of consistency in revenue, profitability and cash flow.
• you wish to avert risk of failure in the incipient stage.
• you require a professional partner to bring in wealth of knowledge and experience into play.

Functions of Business Coach

Functions of Business Coaches encompass:

• To provide clients with advice on new plans and strategies.
• To ensure clients are accountable and motivated.
• To communicate  with clients for better understanding of  their vision and goals.
• To assist clients with their company growth, goals and plan development.
• To assess a client’s strengths and weaknesses.
• To help clients grow their business from inception.
• To encourage clients in using their personal skills for the betterment of their business.
• To assist   clients in the completion of strategic business growth tasks.
• To monitor business growth and create methods for improvement.
• To analyse strategic plans that contribute to the company’s successes and/or failures.

How Business Coach Accelerates Business Growth of Company

An outside perspective for your company

By highlighting what is weighing down the organization, business owner can make well-informed decisions towards progress.

Apart from directing focus on your company Business Coach takes its complete holistic view of life.

Helps to establish business vision and goals.

Business Coaching can help to achieve business goals when the set of goals are healthy and attainable.

A coach will help you to grow your leadership skills.

Business Coaching works on strengths of Business Owners

By identifying areas where you shine, business coaches can help you maximize your natural abilities and strengths. They develop tools and procedures to help you figure out details like:

• How you learn.
• Methods deployed to work.

Your way of interaction with others.

What methods work well for you and which do not?

Business Coaching manages your weakness

Business Coaches help to ensure your shortcomings do not  slow down your progress.

Business coaches develop tools and procedures to identify your weaknesses as a company owner.

Then, they take to developing ways to manage them to ensure they do not spill over to constrain the business.

Business coaching provides accountability

With deep insight and understanding of the organization’s vision, goals, and current standing, the Business Coach can give invaluable feedback every step of the way.

 A coach will model leadership for you and keep you moving forward. This will help keep you motivated and focused.

With an outside perspective, the business coach has a better vantage point to pinpoint areas where you’re wasting efforts or investing in vain..

Developing a business road map and following through

You can expect business coaches to aid in developing feasible plans towards achieving set goals.

Professional standards and values with business coaching

Business Coach shares with his client his pristine professional standards and values, – qualities like trust and patience, integrity, faithfulness, trust, and respect.

Are You Ready For Business Coaching?

The right coach can help you 

• add more profit to your bottom line.
• free up time on your calendar, and
• systematize your business so your team performs the right way every time.

 In Retrospect

Is Hiring a Business Coach a Sound Business Proposition?

Yes, definitely.

According to Merrill C. Anderson., from Metrix Global LLC:

“Coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible results to the organization, including financial benefits from employee retention, the ROI was 788%.”

Investing in a good coach has proven to be an excellent investment.  It generates significant returns in terms of greater revenues and earning potential of the business. Hiring a business coach can totally change the life of business owners. The outlook of the business turns for the better.- gets better with every successive months and years.

Returns on investment in a good Business Coach are not merely restricted to financial gains. They simply surpass many expectations. They go much beyond and yield immeasurable benefits like:

• Greater attainment of set goals.
• Increased engagement and commitment within the company.
• A downturn in anxiety and stress levels.
• Enhanced well-being and resilience.

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities”

Bob Nardelli