When Time and Money Get Squeezed in Business

As our business at McKee Wallwork Cleveland, a marketing firm in Albuquerque, has picked up in early 2010, I've noticed something frustrating: Response time from our vendors isn't what it should be. Nor is our own responsiveness, I must confess. Finding a way to quickly and effectively meet customers' needs, in fact, may be the challenge of the year facing most companies.

There are two resources in business, money and time. Over the past two years, most companies have seen their financial margins evaporate, requiring them to trim every ounce of fat they can out of their operations. That means their margins of time are gone as well. Like a shoulderless highway suddenly getting jammed with moving vehicles, there's nowhere for oncoming traffic to go. It's a problem that can only be solved by adding capacity, which isn't always an easy option -- assuming management even has the nerve to do so in a still-uncertain environment.

Last year in my blog I confessed that my second greatest fear (after "how are we going to cope with this mess?") was "what if it all comes back at once?" While the economy isn't exactly booming, it does appear to be showing signs of life. That's a welcome sight, but it presents a whole new challenge to companies recovering from stalled growth.

Life is never dull.