Why Is It So Difficult to Sell a Rescue?

During the last recession, I set out to test whether I had learned enough through my career, education and wider experience to go out and save businesses that were going under.

At this point, I had:

• grown up surrounded by the realities of my parents' business
• I'd worked in banking operations with a lot of customer contact
• run the operations and finances of several businesses
• been responsible for creating and leading customer service and sales teams for a market-leading business
• successfully started and exited my own first business
• I'd then gone on to create amazing opportunities while working for a technology engineering company
• worked for a leading training provider to sharpen my skills
• tested my performance improvement and coaching skills with a multi-disciplinary outsourcing provider where I provided sales leadership, training, mentoring and strategy to 5 of their divisions.

Then the credit crunch really bit hard on small businesses.

Empowered by my knowledge and driven by the horror of seeing businesses being wiped out by situations that were far outside of their control, I went looking for people I knew I could help.

I was under no illusions that it would be easy, but I believed that it was possible to rescue struggling businesses from completely going under. Possible was enough for me and I wanted to give it a try and help at least one business owner.

I met a lot of amazing business owners running impressive businesses. It was an ideal time to really test myself and connect with people who deserved a chance for their businesses to survive.

I Didn't Expect This

I would phone companies that were in disastrously affected industries. I’d pop into business as I was passing and I would search for interesting businesses to help. I'd phone people just to ask about the conditions that they were experiencing.

In the process of doing this, I found a fascinating mix of responses to my offers of help.

Owners of shops would tell me that their business was great and doing fine. I would see it closed a few weeks later.

Businesses that I’d phoned and been told that I was mistaken, in fact, they were in great shape, would not have a working phone line the next time I called them. 

They too had gone, along with the opportunity to avoid this outcome.

Confused? Me too.

Am I the only person that is left scratching my head and wondering why they wouldn’t accept an offer of help when they had so much to lose?

This was more confusing than any of the business challenges people were struggling with.

Other people were thankfully far more open. In fact, the first company that I helped told me “I don’t know who you are. I’ve never heard of your company, but you may as well have a go because we won’t be here next month”.  

I’m proud to say that they are still going strong today.

It plays on my mind that despite the fact that I can clearly see a business that is suffering, in an industry that is experiencing severe adverse conditions, some people are still tuned to reject offers of help. 

I know what the failure of the business will do to the owner, their finances and their family and yet the will to survive by any means possible seems to be absent. They were giving up before it was really over.

Companies are still struggling and failing. The pandemic, energy crisis, inflation and higher interest rates have resulted in further increased pressures on businesses.

Failure is Not Unique

Around 60% of startups fail each year. Each year that a business remains in operation, its chances of survival continue to shrink, so failure is far from unique. I have unfortunately found that there is still a lot of shame and guilt felt by owners of struggling businesses. I have been one myself.

It's not a completely hopeless situation, so the shame and guilt are misplaced as long as you're still willing to find ways to save your business.

Please don't give up.

There's No Judgement

I don’t approach a business owner from a position of judgement, far from it. I approach from a position of understanding and a genuine wish to help. 

The first part comes from the lessons I have sought out and some that I hadn't. The second part is an inescapable part of my character. I have long since found peace with this particular realisation.  I have as much of a need to help someone that I can clearly see needs it, as the business owner needs someone to help them. It’s a partnership and has helped to shape my approach into one with close to zero downsides for my clients.

How Do You React To Offers Of Help?

Be honest, if your business was on the brink of failure and a stranger offered to help, how would you react?

A: Would you deny the obvious, while knowing how close you are to closing the doors forever?

B: Would you be curious about how you could save your business, but still wouldn’t allow yourself to be open enough to accept a stranger’s help?

C: Or would you go all in, lay your cards on the table and challenge me to deliver what I say I can do for you?

Keep Chasing Success

There’s little pride to be found in failure. That’s why we chase success. Keep chasing it, even if it means accepting help. Be proud of making the right choices, even in the toughest of circumstances.

You’ll sleep better at night knowing that you accepted help and managed to turn around a situation that looked hopeless, than if you gave up and let a difficult situation progress into the complete failure of your business.

Turning your business around isn't something that can be done for you, it still involves your active participation and effort. I'll provide guidance and the benefit of the wonderful experts that I work with. It's everything you need to save your business and work towards producing income at your business's higher level of potential.

What should success look like?

Success means making more money than the business costs to run. So the business survives. That in itself is only sufficient in the very short term.

Real success means the business making enough money to pay all of your bills, give you a wider range of choices, the lifestyle that you want and still have enough left over to ensure that you can build a comfortable worry-free retirement. 

That’s the prize I help people to win.  Is it big enough to let down your defences for a relaxed and candid chat?

Get in touch with me to see what makes me so effective at helping businesses to go from struggling to succeeding.