by D Hartley

Created on: May 02, 2008   Last Updated: May 08, 2008

As the U.S. economy struggles so will many small businesses, however there are a number of things that a small business owner can do, to help fight against the tides of economic diversity. First and foremost a small business should be continually evaluating their core competencies and should concentrate on them. Second a small business needs to evaluate their customer base. Third a small business needs evaluate their work force. And last a small business needs to evaluate its suppliers.

As indicated above the most important thing a small business can do during an economic downturn is to continually evaluate and concentrate on its core competencies. Chances are that when you started a business you had a strong opinion that you could provide a better product or service than what are now your competitors only quicker, or at a lower cost, or with new features. As a small business you need to re-look at what you believed you brought to the market. If you can't define what makes your product or service different or better than others in the market, then neither can anyone else. Once you define what your core competencies are as a business then you need to concentrate your energies on those items that set you apart from everyone else. Additionally all of your marketing whether word of mouth, self-promotion, or paid advertising, should highlight what your core competencies are.

The second thing a small business needs to do to protect itself in an economic downturn is, to evaluate their customer base. Who are your customers and why, if you don't know and understand this, it makes selling your product or service to them very difficult. Customer surveys are a good way to get this information. Once you know who your current customers are and why they use your product or service, you can focus marketing on the same demographic who may not have found you yet, or you may see that there are other demographics that would like your product or service but for some reason are not learning of you, which could mean your marketing may need reworked.

The third thing a small business needs to do to protect itself in an economic downturn is, to evaluate their work force. Now everyone is going to immediately assume that I am talking about trimming your work force, and although that may be the end result it could mean hiring more people as well or reassigning the people you currently have. Small business have a tendency to have a few people doing a lot of different tasks, some of which

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