The reality behind this recession and the new economy to emerge is that customers have alterd. The point is, are you ready for this new customer? Have you adapted enough during this recession period to meet the new needs and demands of customers and prepared for the new economy to come?

A Shifting Paradigm

The new type of customer that is rising is the guiding force behind the new economy to emerge from this long recession. The new customer has different wants and demands. In fact, the new customer expects more, faster and better. Here are some key areas to keep in mind as you develop your post recession  Funding Business Plans.

• The customer has all the power, so your products, services, customer service and business must be reinforced around the customer. This includes your social media strategy.
• Money is tight and being spent in a much more conservative way, so your business must meet up with expectations, to include:
  • Value based offers. Savings are good, but how much value is built in?
  • Excellent market reputation
  • Great customer service
  • Extraordinary products, services, customer service, savings, value, etc. Remember, extraordinary means beyond the call of duty, going the extra mile. It means really caring about the customer.
  • Are you trustworthy?
  • Can you stand extra scrutiny?
  • Are you well positioned in the social media networks?
  • Do you have a positive vibe in the social media networks?
• Think about very specialized, even customized, products and services. These need to fit with specific customer niche wants and needs. Customization and specialization is the name of the game. A product or service just for them. Highly targeted niche products and services that closely meet the needs of customers will be winners.
• Customers will be less tolerant of companies who can not closely satisfy their needs. The new customer is quite demanding and expects nothing less than perfection from a company.

Good Business 101, with a Twist

The new customer will not be hard to deal with and attract if you are running a solid business. Many of the above paradigm shift characteristics aren’t a surprise to well run businesses. Highly targeted niche marketing has always been the mantra of successful businesses, as well as, great customer service and customized solutions for customers. What is different is you will less room to mess up. Customers will be much more impatient and walk down the street if their needs aren’t closely met and, particularly, if they don’t feel important. If you run a good, tight business, which is customer oriented and niche targeted, as well as, has a great social network presence and reputation, then you will be well positioned for the new economy to emerge. If not, then now is the time to get to work because you will proceed to lose customers, not just because of the recession but because the customer has changed and left you behind. This is an excellent time to consider hiring a  Business Turnaround Consultant to help ensure you are well positioned for the new economy to emerge and the new customer that is pushing it along.

This article is written by Frank Goley, Business Plan Writer for ABC Business Consulting. Frank has also written articles on  How to Write a Loan Package.