Adjusting Your Busness to the "New Normal"

After the most hard-hitting financial crisis the United States has seen since the Great Depression - and the seemingly relentless recessions that followed- many surviving decorated apparel shops are left wondering if business ever will return to "normal."

 
Most companies have been doing the bare minimum to survive since the economy took its turn for the worse. They've cut costs as far as they can manage and have removed most non-essential expenditures. This meant also halting investments in research and development, resulting in a better bottom line.

However, this purely maintenance level of business can last only for so long before companies have to invest in their infrastructure, products and development. And when these costs are once again incurred, bottom lines inevitably will take another hit.

What is most concerning about this new economic phase is not knowing how these lowered bottom lines will affect the stock market. Another round of decreasing profits will not look good in the stock holder's eyes and could bring about a dip in the stock market. Due to this new phase the economy will be forced to face, we can assume we'll go through another period of adjustment before we find real financial stability and predictability. So how do you prepare for this next potential dip?  By adapting to the "new normal."

Here are a few things API has seen great results from doing.

1. Doing More For Less: Don't charge less for your products, offer more value for the service. Simply put, work harder to retain your customer's business. Our team of customer service professionals are pleasant, knowledgeable and genuinely interested in making your day. Our sales staff, fulfillment team and other departments all get involved to ensure the accuracy and quality of what you want.



2. Running Lean: Another crucial factor to our survival during the toughest of times is to learn how to run as lean as possible. We cut the fat off so to speak and reinvested in our staff. We are able to produce a higher volume with fewer people because we got good people.



3. Looking to the Future: As we reap the benefits of adapting we will start implementing more changes. We will continue to offer excellent and attentive customer service, top of the line technology and guarantee the quality of our products. We accept the idea that change can be beneficial and if you stay as you are, nothing is going to change. Which to us means, we're not achieving higher levels.