E95 | Running A Business In A Recession with Shannon Byrne Susko
You’ve probably shifted your thinking from ‘how to survive the pandemic’ to ‘how to survive the upcoming recession’. In which case, you don’t want to miss this episode with Shannon Byrne Susko, CEO of Metronome United, serial entrepreneur, author and speaker.
You may be familiar with Shannon as this isn’t her first time on The Melting Pot; we’ve had her on the podcast before (you can find a link to her previous episode in the links section).
We’ve invited Shannon back to discuss what she’s learned over the last few months, to share with our audience what she thinks the future looks like and to find out what she is seeing with the businesses she is currently working with in the US and Canada. And what in particular they’re doing to ensure they’re not just surviving, but thriving.
“So the number one thing I learned is that a repeatable growth system works in good times and bad times. The same fundamentals, the same things that we want to put in place to grow a company also works when there’s a huge crisis in the market.”
And that’s what Dom and Shannon discuss today. The topic of conversation has quickly moved beyond ‘how to run a business during lockdown’ to thinking longer-term, to making it through the upcoming recession.
Because running a business in a recession is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before unless of course, you’ve run a business in a recession.
This is a really great conversation with lots of actionable insight, we hope you enjoy as much as we did.
On today’s podcast:
- Adaptability of people’s minds
- Repeatable growth system
- The changing needs of your core customer
- Metronomics
- The coach cascade system
- The importance of language in an organisation
- Metronome growth system software
Links:
Surviving a Recession with Shannon Byrne Susko
You’ve probably been thinking lately that you need to shift your thinking from ‘how to survive the pandemic’ to ‘how to survive the upcoming recession’. Because if you haven’t run a business in a recession before, now is the time to get planning.
And to help you, Dom is joined once again on the podcast by the inimitable Shannon Byrne Susko, CEO of Metronome United, serial entrepreneur, author and speaker.
Shannon has more than 20 years of experience building and leading high-growth technology companies in the financial services industry. She co-founded, served as Chief Executive Officer, and led the sale of two companies in less than six years: Subserveo, Inc. and Paradata Systems Inc.
Shannon is an expert in strategy and execution. She is well known for her ability to lead and execute with her team in implementing a repeatable Strategic Execution System. She now coaches CEOs and leadership teams around the world who want to see the same success in their business, using her system.
So if you’re wondering how to ensure your business doesn’t just survive the recession but thrives, Shannon is someone all leaders can learn from.
Repeatable growth system
“So the number one thing I learned is that a repeatable growth system works in good times and bad times. The same fundamentals, the same things that we want to put in place to grow a company also works when there’s a huge crisis in the market.”
This is key.
Implementing a repeatable growth system gives you a framework that can be followed at any time. And companies that have this framework in place can react faster to changing market conditions, adapting their approach to ensure their longevity.
But Shannon’s noticed it’s taken a crisis for companies to actually double down and really get things done, and she reckons this is because people are more willing to give up on the baggage they’ve been clinging to because the certainties have gone away.
Plan for the worst
The best thing that a business can do is hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Shannon says the businesses that come out of this on top will be the ones with leaders who instead of burying their heads in the sand and hoping it’ll get better, are actually taking action.
Growth is possible during a recession, but the sad truth is that only 9% of companies will be bigger after 5 years.
The most important way to ensure your survival, says Shannon, is to have cash in the bank.
“I’m a crazy cash fanatic and everybody should be, you know, forecast cash first, know your cash, every one of my clients can tell you how many days of cash they have, it makes me smile. Because if you don’t know your days of cash, you don’t know how long your runway is, good times or bad times.”
You’ve got to have cash in the bank.
The changing needs of your core customer
Throughout the pandemic and into the recession, your core customer is still your core customer. What will have changed are their needs. So if you want to keep serving them, understand what their changing needs are and figure out how you can still provide value to them. Prioritising the needs of a core customer is golden.
“We’ve heard of stories over this time where people kept their messages the same and continued to call their customers and their customers are irate that they didn’t understand what their needs were today.”
So understand their needs and then reposition to offer that value proposition.
What businesses can learn from athletes
“When you play with a team you practice about 90% of the time, and you get to execute about 10% of the time, playing the games and all that. In business, we’re executing like 99% of the time. And then it’s like, we practice about 1% of the time.”
If you want to be prepared to grow and be successful, you have to put the practice in with your team, in order to execute efficiently.