With the free falling American dollar and a full blown recession right around the corner, more and more people are looking for ways to recession proof their business. While there is no magic wand to instantly get the job done, there are some tried and true methods you can use that will lessen the chances of your business going under as the economy gets worse.

Diversify & find a niche

The first two steps go hand in hand. First, your company should attempt to diversify what they do. If you offer a product, try to broaden the appeal of that product and sell different versions or different uses for it. No one expects you to come up with these ideas all by yourself. You can create a contest amongst your employees where they try to come up with ways of diversifying your product line or services or, better yet, go directly to the source and ask your customer base. You can use your company website or you can toss in a comment card in with every order send out. Find out what the public wants from you and simply follow suit.

Taking that thought process a step farther, if you can find a niche group to market to, you might be permanently recession proof. Many food retailers have faced the prospect of either going under or discovering a niche, so they began making all natural, organic products, and quicker than they could turn around, the money began rolling in. The same has worked for clothing manufacturers who went back to hand sewn, organically grown cotton garments and their business tripled overnight. It is up to you, your staff and even your customer base to come up with a niche product you can make a profit off of, but the possibilities really are limitless.

Concentrate your business online

With gas prices at or near all time highs, fewer and fewer people are headed to the mall to buy the products they need. They are, instead, turning to the Internet and leaving the driving, and gas usage, to the US Postal Service. If your company doesn’t have a website, get one quick. If it does have a website that isn’t pulling in the business it should, check into optimizing your webpage with a redesign and with search engine optimized text. Your web page will rank higher in various search engines and your snappy new redesign will help to rebrand your product, as well. Online shopping has nowhere to go but up. You don’t want to miss that gravy train as it leaves the station.

Redouble your efforts on the service front

If you don’t have the ability to create new products to help diversify your product line, you can make an effort to give better service every step of the way. People will go out of their way to pay more if they feel that they are being treated with respect and dignity by their favorite retailer. You may have to fire and hire new people and you might even have to pay more in salary, but what good is a business if it has a terrible reputation?

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