The Small Business Optimism Index recently rose to its highest level since December of 2007. This survey finding by the National Federation of Independent Businesses revealed that small business owners are more confident they’ll experience an increase in sales over the next few months.
Interestingly this same Baltimore Business Journal article that reported the above ray of light also cast a shadow of doubt stating that only 3% of small business owners plan on increasing their workforce in the next three months.
So what does this tell a sales growth consulting company like entreQuest? That small businesses are on the cusp of confidence but they need reassurance before taking action and reinvesting their capital into hiring the right people again.
This type of behavior is not surprising at all with the current state of the economy. In fact, the optimistic but cautious attitude of most small business owners is completely appropriate. That said, if your self-assurance is stepping up, why are you sitting still?
There is a better exit strategy from the recession than remaining in a hiring freeze especially when conditions are warming up for a brighter business outlook. What is it? Well that depends on the nature of your particular business and the mission of your particular company. One theme runs central, however, and that is that if no business can be too big to fail than no business can be too small to succeed.
entreQuest knows this to be a fact because we just spent the entire recession watching our client companies grow. They were hiring while most businesses were firing. They were ramping up their strategies while most businesses were shutting down part s of their operations. They were up-selling their offerings while most businesses were downsizing their divisions.
As an outside source of corporate growth solutions, entreQuest can assess every aspect of your organization and determine the best strategy for your team to act on your intuition and actually increase sales in the next few months. Maybe hiring is the right move to make now, maybe it’s not. Maybe outsourcing your sales management roles is a better course to take now, maybe it’s not. Maybe your company’s story is the best piece to create now, maybe it’s not.
Whatever we may discover alongside you and your team about the present state of your organization and its future potential for growth, you’ll have the confidence to do more than just hope and wait. Like our current partners, your optimism will turn into action which will turn into growth over the next three months and long after that.
Kristen Zatina is a writing specialist at entreQuest who scours worldwide business news for corporate inspiration.
(Information Source: "Feeling Optimistic? Many Small Businesses Say They are in 2001" by Kent Hoover. Baltimore Business Journal. Friday 11 February 2011.)
