Plan B is never best planned while plagued by panic and the frenzied fear of Plan A’s imminent failure- though it often is.
Business owners study the market and the competition with a growth mindset. The goal is always to stay ahead of the pack by managing risk and leveraging strengths, but managing risk in a disaster is often where the boys are separated from the men.
Depending on your business model, disasters come in all shapes and sizes, and for a company like Caterpillar, economic downturns and recessions had always hit hard and left them weakened. But in 2011, in an information driven economy, Caterpillar came out of the recession as the strongest performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial average outdoing both tech and pharmaceuticals – inquiring minds wanted to know why.
At Roth&Co they knew the answer, because in their playbook, contingency planning is light years ahead of crisis management and at Roth&Co it’s what they do best! When business is good, a thoughtful look at the business plan and collected data by a creative and experienced business team will provide clarity on the specifics of exceptional risks that could impact the business catastrophically.
Fortunately, exceptional risks don’t happen very often. Unfortunately, that means contingency planning is often at the bottom of a business owner’s ‘to do’ list, leaving companies vulnerable to serious risk when they do- and eventually they do.
A good plan covers numerous components with the goal of maintaining service and functionality and generating cash flow and revenue when usual revenue streams are unavailable.
Identifying predictors, when feasible, is important because rolling out changes as soon as possible minimizes damage and provides a leading edge over competitors who have been caught unprepared.
Trigger warning: The impact of Tax reform brewing in Washington is yet to be determined, and depending on locality will have varied effects. If your business is in a high tax state you could be directly or indirectly impacted by changes coming your way.
Do you have a plan in place?
Are your contingency business objectives clear and prioritized?
Are you and your managers ready to implement changes at first notice?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, at least now, you know who to call.
