• About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Podcasts
  • Digital Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Podcasts
  • Digital Magazine
NZBusiness Magazine

Type and hit Enter to search

Linkedin Facebook Instagram Youtube
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
NZBusiness Magazine
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
Education and Development

Why confidence surveys can be bad for your business

Business confidence surveys are bad for business because they scare SME owners into inactivity, warns Auckland business coach and SME commentator, Chris Baker.

Glenn Baker
Glenn Baker
September 25, 2015 3 Mins Read
639
Business confidence surveys are bad for business because they scare SME owners into inactivity, warns Auckland business coach and SME commentator, Chris Baker.
Baker says that reports like the ANZ Bank’s recent business outlook survey – while necessary – tend to make most small business owners want to hunker down.
“It’s easy to dismiss references to ‘talking the economy down’ as quackery, but in my experience with mentoring more than 100 business owners over the last ten years, headlines like: ‘Business confidence drops again’, can have a decidedly negative impact on activity – business owners stop acting pro-actively, and they stop spending.”
Qualified accountant and an award winning Action Business Coach, Baker was prompted to comment after observing the reaction of his clients to the ANZ Bank’s business outlook survey at the end of August.
ANZ Bank's business outlook survey for August found pessimists outnumber optimists in the month, with a net 29 percent of respondents expecting the economy to get worse over the coming year, compared with a net 15 percent expecting a deterioration in the previous month.
“Small and medium business owners, and the self-employed, are not usually pessimistic until they get that that kind of news and, in my experience, that’s not good because the future turns out to be the way we expect it to turn out – simply because we don’t try as hard if we’re not optimistic.
“The irony is that most SME’s (fewer than 15 employees) have only a tiny fraction of a share of their market – usually one per cent market share or less. When the economy is going along normally, that’s 1/100th market share. If the economy contracts 3 percent then they only have to get 1/97th of the market share to stay where they were. For a small business It doesn’t take a lot to maintain equilibrium,” he said.
Essentially this means the percentages are so miniscule an SME could get that much more business, and none of its competitors would even notice.
Positive thinking on its own, however, doesn't change anything, but it does motivate action.
Chris advises small businesses to take the following steps to maintain momentum:
1. Calculate the amount of additional business needed to maintain your current position. You will most probably find it’s not much, and set that (or more) as a target.
2. Revisit first principles. First principles include pro-active steps to identify:
* Identify your target market.
* Analyse what they really want.
* Understand what it is that you are really good at doing.
* Know who your best customers are, and if they know about everything you offer.
3. By all means consider costs, but put more effort into growing sales. Post the recession, most businesses have already cut costs to the bone so reducing expenses is probably not going to make much of an impact.
Core costs, such as rent, telephones and power, usually stay the same, whether sales go up or down. This means a sales increase of just ten per cent can have a tremendous impact on a business. Try to set ambitious targets.
4. Take it as good timing to re-evaluate your business. Understand where you are and where you want to go as a way of moving into proactive mode.
“The first danger of a declining economy is the psychological impact because it leads to a slow down in activity, or action. When people start talking things down, it’s time to step up the activity,” Baker said.
For more information visit www.actioncoach.com/chrisbaker

Share Article

Glenn Baker
Follow Me Written By

Glenn Baker

Glenn is a professional writer/editor with 50-plus years’ experience across radio, television and magazine publishing.

Other Articles

Lightning Lab Female prgramme
Previous

New Zealand’s first ‘Female-Founder’ Accelerator Programme

Richard-Conway
Next

Global Entrepreneur Indicator shows positive growth for Kiwi businesses

Next
Richard-Conway
September 25, 2015

Global Entrepreneur Indicator shows positive growth for Kiwi businesses

Previous
September 25, 2015

New Zealand’s first ‘Female-Founder’ Accelerator Programme

Lightning Lab Female prgramme

Subscribe to our newsletter

NZBusiness Digital Issue – March 2025

READ MORE

The Latest

From redundancy to resilience

May 16, 2025

Episode 16: Bryce Marsden on sustainable impact through education, youth and environment

May 15, 2025

The high cost of leadership neglect

May 14, 2025

Why making Auckland a Tech Hub makes sense

May 14, 2025

Is AI making us happier? Why some Kiwi leaders would trade coffee for Generative AI

May 13, 2025

Step back to move forward – how Kiwi business owners can unlock growth

May 12, 2025

Most Popular

NZBusiness Digital Issue – June 2024
Understanding AI
Navigating economic headwinds: Insights for SME owners
How much AI data is generated every 60 seconds? New report reveals global AI use
Nourishing success: Sam Bridgewater on his entrepreneurship journey with The Pure Food Co

Related Posts

The high cost of leadership neglect

May 14, 2025

Transformative training

March 17, 2025

How to speak the right language of appreciation so your praise doesn’t miss the mark

March 4, 2025

Behind the business of gift giving

February 25, 2025
NZBusiness Magazine

New Zealand’s leading source for business news, training guides and opinion from small businesses to multi-national corporations.

© Pure 360 Limited.
All Rights Reserved.

Quick Links

  • Advertise with us
  • Magazine issues
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy
  • Sitemap

Categories

  • News
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Education & Development
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability

Follow Us

LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability