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Current Issue

Posted 01.01.2009

Business survival 101

Page 3

He also says that to compete with Wal-Mart and other low-price retailers, his company long ago started importing. "We had to buy at the best price to compete, and those prices were overseas."

Companies that have layoffs sometimes worry about another issue: lawsuits. "In a recession, people sue for smaller amounts of money, but the lawsuit becomes more important," says Stacy A. Carpenter, a shareholder in the law firm Baldwin & Carpenter P.C. "In good times people sue because they want a bigger piece of the pie."

She tells employers to be careful when they lay off workers. "You have to have legal and nondiscriminatory reasons, not because they were over 50 and making more money," she says.

Marketing
Some companies find they need to market more. Spicy Pickle, like many other restaurant companies, introduced a value item to encourage customers not to cut back on their restaurant visits.

Marketing is more complicated for bigger purchases, says James Schwartz, marketing manager for Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based Carma Developers. While other developers use gimmicks — such as prize promotions designed to encourage people to visit a model home — Carma is trying a different approach.

"You can do the diamond ring giveaways all day, and there will be a ton of people," he says. "But those are not people who will buy a home."

Instead, Carma, whose U.S. headquarters is in Englewood, hired a concierge who connects buyers with builders. The company is no longer running print advertising, concentrating instead on customer relationship management.

The future
Schwartz is optimistic the homebuilding sector will recover. "There is pent-up demand in housing," he says. "There are people wanting to buy, but banks are not lending, so once that adjusts, people will be in the market."

Hadzi, of CIBER, says 2009 will be a tough year for all businesses. "The companies that are resilient and have a positive attitude and outlook will find a way to get business, and getting business is going to be taking it from someone else."

Dorfman, of Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, is optimistic too. "People are not packing up and leaving Denver. Revenue is going to be off, and there are some layoffs and rightsizing of space, but Denver is a viable market."

Gonzales, of the Brighton Economic Development Corp., is also hopeful. "We have to stay positive during times like this and take a proactive approach because I do think this time next year we will look at something completely different."

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