Whether you operate a payday loan store or any other kind of business, Jeffrey Fox has some wisdom for you.

Consultant, author and business owner Fox writes in his essay ( See : http://www.foxandcompany.com/eNewsletter/Recession%20Essay.pdf) “An Iron-Clad, Titanium-Clad Rule for Getting Business in a Recession: Improve Your Salespeople” that a recession is no time to down on employee training, particularly in sales. Yet that’s exactly what many businesses do, which is counter-intuitive. If you’re cutting sales, you’re cutting the connection between the company and the customer.

During the 2001 recession, Fortune Magazine put it this way: “focus on the quality of your people. We hope it’s no longer necessary to argue that this is increasingly your company’s only source of competitive advantage.” Yet too many companies fail to grasp this; Fox is stupefied by the practice. Blind cost-cutting is, as he puts it, “just dumb.”

Successful companies continue to look for the best people

Think of a sales force as front line troops. If they are not well-trained, they will not only fail, but create a lasting negative impression that can damage your business for years to come. Nobody needs that during a great recession. Fox compares cutting sales training with cutting surgeon’s training, acting rehearsals or pilot simulation lessons. Without preparation, you brew a recipe for disaster.

Dollarize your contribution

When times are tough, your front line troops need the tools to succeed. In business, Fox feels, employees must be able to dollarize the contributions they make, dollarize (give a specific dollar value) the values of their products and services. For a payday loan store, this could mean marketing the product in very real-world terms, such as “By using a no fax payday loan between paydays to pay an overdue utility bill, John Q. saved $60 in reconnect fees.” Another example might involve numbers, but not dollars. Let’s say that “in months when Jane Q. used a cash advance to cover emergency expenses, she was 30 percent more efficient with her budget than in months were she looked to other sources for emergency cash.

Plan well

The key is planning, and it doesn’t just apply to payday loan stores, but to customers. You plan your budget in order to tackle your expected expenses (rent, utilities, credit card bills, etc.), but there will always be those unexpected expenses that life throws your way. Sometimes, your “emergency fund” may cover it, but sometimes it may not. When it doesn’t, you have quick choices to make.

If you do the math and find that your budget will stretch that extra 15 percent with a payday loan, you weigh the cost and decide if it’s right for you. Since a faxless payday loan is quick, convenient and discreet, that 15 percent might just be what  you need to make the “sale” – pushing your budget forward and reaping the reward during a cash crisis. Sell yourself to the benefits, give your budget the infusion to sell your way through to the next payday. Planning that sale is right way to bring yourself the goods that are peace of mind. Not even considering it is “just dumb.”

Related articles

• Why “mountain stage” is a better marketing-planning metaphor than “hunker down” (RexBlog.com)
• Cars crashing (economist.com)