Every downturn has a beneficial effect for those who survive the initial shock. It is time to look for the silver lining. Every business we know has responded to the credit crunch by undertaking essential spring cleaning.

Whenever we go on a cash diet in business, we feel leaner, but are we fitter?  Have our survival strategies cut out ugly fat or have lost muscle strength?

Looking ahead we need to assess our capacity to grow our capability when customers return.  Here are a few questions that may help you focus on the future.

• Did your downsizing leave gaps in your productive capacity?
• Have you lost any essential skills? When market demand starts to strain your present capacity, those skills will be in demand by competitors as well.
• Did you cull less productive lines and service offerings? Do you have a strategy to extend again?
• Have you lost or gained market share?
• Have you refined your business processes? Do all staff understand what really matters for the customer?
• Do you measure and track service performance?  How do you rate your competition? Is this rating measured or estimated.
• Does your cash flow budget provide for a capacity and capability expansion scenario?

In health terms, have you just been discharged from intensive care with a lengthy convalescence ahead, or are you ready to start training for the next marathon? If you wait until the event date is announced you will still be in training when the start gun goes off.

Most of the questions focus on "soft" measures rather than on the financial health of the business.  Just because they are soft does not mean they are not critical to your ability to respond when the upturn arrives.

This week's KPI article

If this idea looks useful to you, just click the title to open the full article in a separate window.

How to set up and use Soft KPIs

In this article we will work through a real example of an operational soft KPI that changed the relationship of a business with its customers. After reading it you will be able to apply a similar thought process to your own business.

Setting target levels of service.

The Business:   Specialist auto component repair services. The business had a working KPI model in place.

The Customers:   Auto repair firms dealing with consumers and their insurers.

The service:  Pick up of repair jobs, repair in a dedicated specialist facility, and return to the customer.

The symptom:   Frequent enquiries and constant complaints about delivery date and time.

Read the whole article.

Good luck for the next two weeks, and I hope you have a great idea to share with me,