I’ve set myself a diary note for 1st January 2025. It says “There’s another recession on the way including a slump in the housing market. Don’t hold on. Sell everything this year”.
Here at PPS the recession has had its impact. Like other consultancies, our income is down and we have lost some people. But the biggest affect has been on staff members under 40 who have never experienced anything like this before. Well the message to them is “Get used to it”. You will probably live through two or three during your working life – they come along every 15 to 20 years, they last three to four years but they do end. So here’s a bit of good news – we are almost half way through this one.
The recession will be good for our staff – they will learn more than they ever did in the good times and will probably come out of it a wiser and nicer people. We are encouraging all of them to use this period to get even more professional – to take every opportunity to train; to learn more about our clients’ markets and businesses and to concentrate more than ever on the quality of what they do.
We are also doing our best to resist feeling down and to banish wingeing. We are striving to stay enthusiastic and to support each other and the firm. In short we are trying to live the PPS mantra of treating everyone else as we want to be treated.
I can’t say the recession is good for our business, but there is no doubt that we will come through it (PPS has no debt and plenty of cash in the bank for when times get really hard) and we are busy implementing various changes that will see us set fair for when the good times return.
And those times will return. PPS is a top brand in its market and our monthly client satisfaction surveys tell us we have a fantastic reputation. 60 percent of our traditional market is still there and over the last two or three years we have made huge strides in newer areas insulated from economic hard times.
When those first signs of recovery come – stability in financial markets, easier availability of debt and early increases in corporate earnings, PPS will be ready. And just watch us go then.
Written by Stephen Byfield