INDUSTRY EXPERT REFLECTIONS
SELF PITY, MOANING & RECRIMINATION DON’T ACHIEVE MUCH
When business gets tough, I don’t mean day to day tough but when existential threats surface and all you have worked for looks as though it could easily turn to dust there are two routes open to you. Either you go into denial, think if you ignore everything and just work hard it will sort itself out, it might. Or you prepare, as many of the factors that could have an existential impact on your business aren’t secrets. They are in the newspapers every day, politicians are arguing about them daily. Its not a nice feeling when your business that you have worked hard for is adversely impacted by other people’s decisions, policies, dogma and theories. But that’s life I’m afraid we can only control so much ourselves. Wasting time and energy, two of your most valuable resources on moaning and whinging won’t help. The old saying that anyone can be a great captain in a calm sea is very true. Well, this sea already has a fairly serious swell, but it is likely to get a whole lot rougher. Therefore, its time for clear thinking, realism and planning captain!
ANY PLAN MUST CONSIDER ALL OPTIONS AND THE UNTHINKABLE
Any plan must consider what we know, what we don’t know, what we can control and what is outside of our control. We must also face reality, truthfully and realistically. ‘What if’ scenarios are a useful tool. What is the best outcome? Probably to continue as we are until the sun appears. Most businesses I guess could keep going one way or another until things pick up. What is the worst? Volumes reduce horribly as money is sucked out of the economy, prices can’t be increased as VAT has been inflicted on every fare and drivers desert in droves. How long could most businesses survive in that environment? The time to plan is now, not when things are at a tipping point. So even if some of the latter scenario becomes a reality what would you do? Selling is normally a better option than closing down, if that is the preferred option, its better to plan now as to how bad you will let things get before making a few calls. Retaining value is paramount. But what if the
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scenario is neither a gentle decline or a disaster. Instead there is a ratcheting down in volumes, no price increase opportunities and most drivers stay put, how would that work out for you?
This may be uncharacteristically pessimistic, but I personally see no grounds for short term optimism. We have a growing overhead of regulatory com- pliance, unresolved issues such as worker status and VAT and a declared policy of higher tax and lower benefits. Its hardly the mood music for business people to rediscover optimism is it?
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?
I was told many years ago by one of my bosses: ‘save on the way down, spend on the way up’. That was good advice then and it is now. Preserve cash, look after your customers like you never have before and look after your drivers like never before. Automate where you can, save costs wherever you can.
Think about differentiation – what can you do differently to your competitors. The industry has evolved to be a commodity rather than 15,000 differentiated businesses all offering something a little different. Small things can often mean a lot and don’t have to cost much. Commodity businesses rise and sink with the tide, differentiated services to an extent develop their own following, people use a service because they like it not particularly because it is cheap. And if after all the doom and gloom, things do not end up anywhere as bad as they are looking then your business will be in great shape and will really benefit from the upturn when it eventually comes.
OCTOBER 2024 PHTM
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