At some point your trucking business will go through a rocky patch. This may be caused by factors completely beyond your control or by your own rooky mistakes. Will your business be the one that folds during its first crisis or will you weather the storm and emerge even stronger than before?
If your trucking business is hitting hard times, it’s time to dig deep and put a crisis management plan together. Put these strategies in place and try to save your precious new business.
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Recognise that you have a problem
In an ideal world, you will have had systems in place to make sure that you can recognise that you have a problem early on. However, in reality, it may come as a shock. The easiest approach is to ignore it and hope that it goes away but that is unlikely to happen. Be honest with yourself and everyone who works with you.
Hold a crisis meeting and explain that there is an issue with the business and that you are exploring all ways possible to resolve it. If all of your employees understand the gravity of the situation, they will work with you to find a solution. You will have their co-operation and that is invaluable.
Get an injection of cash
You cannot recover your business if you have large sums of money outstanding. A large injection of cash will stabilise your cash flow situation and allow you to make clever investments. Contact a trucking factoring company and find out how they can help you to obtain outstanding invoices really quickly. If unpaid invoices are part of the problem, then getting that money in will be part of the solution.
Tighten your belt
Cutting your outgoings could make the difference between surviving the hard times and going under. Take a long hard look at all your projects/clients and list them in order of profitability. Cut the bottom 10%. These are the ones that are not making you much money. The time and resources that are freed up can be focussed on the remaining, more profitable, projects. Even the hugely successful businesses, such as Google, utilise this as a business model.
Look at all your expenses, including fuel costs and staff wages. Are there any savings that could be made? Could you use different routes or different equipment that could save money? In extreme circumstances you may need to reduce the hours that your employees work. Staff overheads are a significant out-going in most businesses and savings may have to be made.
Learn from the experience and move on
A trucking business crisis is stressful and difficult but you can try to get something positive from what is a very negative situation. You can use the experience to further your own development as a business person. You will hone your crisis management skills and this will benefit you in the long term. It is also a good way to learn how to guard against similar situations in the future.