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When the economy slows, Wall Street tends focus on cutting costs (of course, they do that in good times, too), but cutting is rarely enough put a company on a strong financial footing—only sales can do that.

And no matter what you’re selling or to whom, sales are far more cost effective when you focus on relationship, because at some point all customers are new. While acquiring a new customer can cost thousands, selling to those you already know or to whom you’re referred costs far less.

This, of course, assumes that your product did what it was supposed to do and your customer service solved any difficulties that arose.

As your sales people start mining your client lists they need to stay hyper-aware for any dissatisfaction, whether overt or covert and address it. In today’s world an unhappy customer is a far different animal than in the last downturn and can sink your sales efforts with a few clicks of his mouse. By the same token, a customer who appreciates your products and services is a far more powerful advocate than ever before.

The relationships you have with your customers are one of your most powerful shields when it comes to the whims of the market.

Before you start grabbing all that great advice and slapping it willy-nilly on your company you need to take stock.

Take a step back and honestly look at your company’s culture and at yourself. This step is critical because you can’t change something of which you aren’t aware or that you don’t understand.

Make no mistake, whatever company culture you find is directly a product of your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™)—whether you actively instigated it or enabled it through neglect.

To form an accurate picture of your culture you can’t just talk to your senior staff—you need a 360 degree vision of it, which means input from all levels of your company. If you’ve allowed yourself to become isolated, basing your decisions on what may be filtered information, you’ve found the first thing you need to change—and you need to accept that it’s not going to be easy.

First, look to yourself.

• Why and how did you allow it to happen?
• How long has it been going on?
• How valid or how filtered is the information you do get?
• Who is standing in your stead at the apex of the culture and what is that person’s MAP?

Next, how healthy is your culture? Indicators Abound.

• Do people feel comfortable sharing bad news or do they expect the messenger to be killed?
• How approachable are you—an open door policy that’s never used is a symptom, not a plus.
• Do the different departments work together or are they jockeying for position?
• In an ‘”us vs. them” world, do your people’s actions confirm their belief that ‘us’ are all their inside colleagues and your vendors and ‘them’ are the competition?

This may seem basic and time consuming, but in a world where it’s innovation and world-class customer service that’s can save your bacon in a downturn you need a strong handle on the basics—no matter how unpalatable they turn out to be.

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