Tough Times Never Last, But Strong Relationships Do!

I have seen two major global economic crises, the dot-com crisis from 2001 and the global financial crisis from 2008.  During difficult times, cash conservation becomes a priority and customers stop spending. Discretionary projects are canceled, and other projects are also put on hold. Customers delay payments creating cash crunch and uncertainty. 

As I see ourselves in the midst of a potential crisis, I recall a conversation I had in 2001 with my friend and mentor Ravi Venkatesan. I was very stressed as some of our customers had stopped working with us and it was hard to find new customers. I can vividly remember Ravi’s comment, “Anand, hard times will pass but people will remember how you treat them during these difficult times.” This statement made me change my approach.  Instead of chasing new customers, I decided to focus on individuals in existing customers.  Even though many companies did not survive the 2001 crisis, most of these individuals landed well and I was able to go back to them for more work.

We did this more systematically in 2008. We made a list of the people we work with and as a team explicitly reached out and met with all the individuals and with their help we also met with the senior executives to reassure them of Persistent’s support in hard times. Most of these individuals are still good friends! For Persistent, periods following the year of the crisis were the best growth years for the Company.

To summarize, people remember those who treat them well during difficult times. Reach out and reassure your stakeholders – your customers, your employees, and your vendors.  They will remember you forever!