2009 - What does the future hold?

2009- WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR OUR INDUSTRY?

 

Over the last few months a good number of people that I have been talking to have expressed how negatively they feel because of the economic downturn. I thought that although I can do “diddly squat” on a global basis, I can certainly do something on a macro economic scale. So, for what it’s worth here are my thoughts on our industry and how each of us can affect a positive outcome.

 

2008 was probably the worst year that our industry has ever had to endure. It is interesting to note that traditionally, in times of economic duress, our industry should experience growth. In fact world wide the opposite has happened. According to Lyra, a respected industry journal, the number of prints world wide fell for the first time due to the downturn in digital output.  Despite this, most OEM’s increased their prices in the last quarter of 2008 and some OEM’s are about to introduce a second round of increases. This in itself should have contributed to aftermarket growth and caused some resurgence in remanufacturing laser and inkjet cartridges. Perhaps it is too early to tell and that the positive flow on effect for our industry is just around the corner.

 

If the pundits are to be believed there is an economic crunch looming in the not too distant future. According to the gurus, Australia will follow the downward trend experienced in other developed markets starting February or March with all the resultant negatives like job losses, higher inflation and the numerous depressing details we have heard too much of in the media recently!

A number of countries in the developed world are being down rated by Standard and Poors (an organization that rates amongst other things the ability of a country to meet it’s financial obligations) whereas Australia is still rated as AAA!

 

Who do we believe? I believe that economic gurus and their ilk are largely to blame for adding fuel to the fire by focusing and negatively reporting on all the woes of the economic crisis - there really is some good news out there and some great opportunities for those businesses that are analyzing their current business model and taking proactive measures to ensure their continued growth.

 

There are many questions that each of us has to ask ourselves. Amongst these are:

1. Have I done a SWOT (Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis on my business?

2. Have I invested in personal/business training and have I considered professional advice?

3. Am I creating enough awareness in my area that I have a real cost effective solution to the high cost of printing or am I sitting in my shop waiting for customers to come to me?

4. Have I set achievable goals for myself and staff for 2009?

5. Have I considered a bonus/commission plan to help staff meet new targets?

6. Am I proactive in my business dealings by developing further business with existing customers and actively sourcing and developing new customers?

7. Is my business all it can be? Are there other products and services I can offer my clients? How can I dominate my area?

8. Have I considered a strategic alliance with another remanufacturer that produces goods that I cannot remanufacture?

9. Can I reduce my costs further without impacting my service?

10. Are my service, quality and guarantees good enough to ensure ongoing customer loyalty and attractive enough to close new business?

11. How well do I know my opposition? What are their strengths and how do I capitalize on their weaknesses?

12. How well do I know my own business? How do I capitalize on my strengths and make improvements in areas of weakness?

13. Have I done all that I can to ensure that my staff are professional, motivated, well trained and service oriented?

 

So what if there’s an economic crisis and many industries are suffering a downturn?  We have a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on this because we are not part of the problem but part of the solution. There isn’t a company in Australia that does not want to reduce costs, so why wouldn’t they want to hear that you have a premium product that will reduce their costs?

 

The aftermarket inkjet and laser remanufacturing industry is one of the very few industries that are strategically placed to do well in times of economic duress and there is no time like the present to capitalize on our strengths.

 

Someone said “There are those who think about it, those who talk about it and those that do it”

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                                    As the NIKE advert’ says “JUST DO IT”

 

Dermot