如今，从信贷紧缩到日益上涨的医疗保健开支，似乎一切都不尽如人意;在这种萧条的经济环境中，美国大部分小企业主不再坐等政府的救市措施，而是积极开展自救，探索增加企业收入和保持利润增长的好办法。
发掘“抗经济衰退型”客户
眼下经济低迷，这个时候进军服装业可不是什么明智之举。而对两位没有任何经验的前金融服务专家而言，更是如此。然而，查理•罗斯和欧文•斯科内普这两位老友却成功地在芝加哥开办了Salmon Cove服装公司，主要经营男、女式马球衫及其他休闲服饰。公司的客户主要来自乡村俱乐部。
成立于2010年的Salmon Cove计划在未来一年内实现销售额突破100万美元的目标。究其原因，一方面，Salmon Cove与资深设计师合作，其服装的盈利空间较大;另一方面，该公司抛弃了传统的百货商店式销售模式，采用了更加多元化的方式，其销售渠道包括网络、近40个美国顶级乡村俱乐部专卖店以及生活水平相对较高的乡镇高档服装精品店等。斯科内普称，“这部分人经济宽裕，生活方式积极活跃。”当很多消费者因经济不景气而缩减服装开支时，乡村俱乐部里的人们却不会这样做，仍然照常消费。
Go after recession-resistant clients
Launching a clothing line in the middle of the downturn might not seem like a smart move for two former financial services industry professionals without any fashion experience. But longtime friends Charlie Roth and Owen Schnaper have done it successfully at Chicago-based Salmon Cove, a retailer and wholesaler of men's and women's polos and other casual clothes aimed at the country club set.
Founded in 2010, the company already projects more than $1 million in sales for the next 12 months. They've done it by bypassing department stores and selling their profitable line -- for which they've worked with experienced designers -- on their website and through the pro shops of about 40 of the nation's leading country clubs, as well as upscale local clothing boutiques in well-off towns. "The demographics are affluent with an active lifestyle," says Schnaper. And, while many consumers have cut back on clothes shopping since the downturn, the country club set is still spending.
马格纳斯•贺格兰(左)和马吕斯•迈兰德
免费+增值服务模式
Law360是一家提供法律行业新闻及其他资源的在线出版商，出版物包括《私募股权法360》(Private Equity Law 360)等。这家在线出版商利用“免费+增值”模式，打破由Westlaw法律信息平台和律商联讯(LexisNexis)等实力派的垄断局面，成功从中分得一杯羹。该公司主要通过电子邮件营销策略，为高收入法律事务所的律师个人提供免费阅读Law360出版物的权限。
Law360联合创始人马吕斯•迈兰德表示，要想让潜在客户订阅出版物，上述策略是必须的。他将Law360描述为“法律界的‘彭博社’(Bloomberg)”。据悉，该公司出版物的全国统一订阅价划分为不同的类别，横跨从不足1,000美元的个人订阅价格到超过10万美元的大型公司订阅价格。他还表示，“我们认为，销售出版物的最佳方式就是让用户亲自体验我们的产品。因为，我们不能空口无凭地告诉客户，我们的出版物有多么出色，这是行不通的。”
都说干律师这行的人不好对付，但这家以律师为客户的公司却实现了可观的盈利。该公司成立于2003年，2009年销售额就达650万美元;而到2010年，这一数字迅速攀升至1,000万美元。贺格兰预计本年度总收入将升至1,300万美元到1,400万美元之间。
Use valuable freebies to hook customers
Law360, an online publisher of news and other information for the legal industry, with publications such as "Private Equity Law 360," used the "freemium" model to break into a niche dominated by players like Westlaw and LexisNexis. It offers individual lawyers in high-revenue firms free trials of the publications through email marketing.
That's essential to getting them to commit to subscriptions, which cost anywhere from under $1,000 annually for a sole practitioner to more than $100,000 for large firms, says co-founder Magnus Hoglund, who describes Law360 as being "like a Bloomberg for lawyers." "We think the best way to sell content is for people to experience it," he says. "You can't just tell people a publication is good."
Lawyers are biting. The profitable company, launched in 2003, grew from $6.5 million in sales in 2009 to $10 million in 2010. Hoglund projects $1
开拓国际市场
如今，美国物流业或许正处于低迷期，但位于美国华盛顿州伊萨夸市的Red Arrow物流公司CEO莉斯•拉赛特正努力摆脱这种艰难局面带来的负面影响。该物流公司成立于2003年，拥有12名员工，业务主要涉及船舶运输和现代物流管理领域，客户大多是大型消费品企业以及国防部门等，具有很大的盈利空间。通过业务多元化，而非局限于国内运输，该公司2010年销售额达700万美元(与2007年的340万美元相比，有所提升)。据悉，该公司追随大客户进入包括亚洲、非洲以及中东地区在内的新兴市场;并探索出自己的经营策略，在这些地区继续为老客户提供服务。“我想，这很大程度上归功于我们与企业客户建立的伙伴关系。他们非常清楚我们的实力。我们只是问：‘你们准备到哪里去?我们怎样才能通行?’就是这么简单，”这位物流业资深CEO如是说。
拉赛特采取的另一精明策略是：她只与同意30天内付款的客户合作，以避免出现现金流不稳定的局面。
Try international markets
The U.S. logistics industry may be slumping, but CEO Liz Lasater isn't letting tough conditions hurt her Issaquah, Wash. firm Red Arrow Logistics, founded in 2003. The profitable 12-employee company, which manages shipping and logistics for large consumer products companies, the defense sector and other clients, built sales to $7 million in 2010 -- up from $3.4 million in 2007 -- by diversifying beyond domestic transportation. It has done this by following big customers into growth markets like Asia, Africa and the Middle East and finding ways to serve their needs in these new locations. "It's really about building relationships with companies we have proven ourselves with, saying `Where are you going and how can we go there together?'" says the logistics industry veteran.
Another smart strategy: Lasater avoids unstable cash flow by working only with clients who pay her within 30 days.
自筹资金
曾做过美国国际开发署(the U.S. Agency for International Development)业务发展顾问的瑞特•鲍尔和合作伙伴彼得•嘉斯卡的创业路并非一帆风顺。他们曾向银行贷款，发展他们位于南卡罗来纳州美特尔海滩的益智玩具公司Wild Creation，但却遭到拒绝。据悉，这家公司成立于2007年晚些时候。为了筹措资金，他们各自卖掉了第二套房子，抵押现有房屋以获取房屋净值贷款，提取自己的退休储蓄金，最终共筹集到35万美元资金——很显然，他们当时承受了巨大风险。“当年，我们俩都还有幼小的孩子要照顾，”鲍尔说。
对于玩具行业，他们曾是外行。在从零开始研究此行业的同时，他们也在寻找那些为人所忽视的玩具发明家。这些发明家往往需要他人的帮助，才能将想法变成具有市场价值的实物。最终他们通过努力生产并发布了自己的产品，包括为他们赢得殊荣的生态水族馆以及自给生态系统等玩具，里面还配有公司自主研发的“侏儒蛙”。这家盈利能力出众的公司在2009年实现了85万美元的销售额，而到2010年这一数字迅速攀升至530万美元。目前，这对搭档经营的公司资金充裕，而且还成功地将产品打入了玩具反斗店(Toys `R Us)和美国图书零售商巴诺(Barnes & Noble)的门店。
Don't wait around for the banks
Rhett Power and partner Peter Gasca, former business development consultants with the U.S. Agency for International Development, couldn't get a bank loan to grow Wild Creations, their Myrtle Beach, S.C. toy company, founded in late 2007. So they each sold their second homes, borrowed against their home equity and cashed out their 401ks to raise $350,000 -- a substantial risk. "We had very small kids at the time," says Power.
Learning the toy business from the ground up, they looked for undiscovered toy inventors who needed help in getting their ideas to market, eventually releasing products such as the award-winning EcoAquarium, self-contained ecosystems complete with their own dwarf frogs. Sales at the profitable company grew from $850,000 in 2009 to $5.3 million in 2010. The duo have managed to get their toys on the shelves of Toys `R Us and Barnes & Noble while running the business
留住核心人才
当竞争者纷纷将项目外包给廉价供应商时，利润丰厚的科技咨询公司Fino Consulting却没有这样做;而是反其道而行之，将项目交给公司里具备10至15年相关经验的员工去做，以保证项目完成质量符合标准——而工资也按公司所在地纽约的最高市场价格支付。为了保持客户满意度，该公司鼓励员工运用最好的技术，即使这些技术不同于客户的选择习惯。
公司留住了业内的经营，他们在移动设备领域拥有深厚的知识储备，对iPad以及云计算等都了如指掌，因此获得了许多大客户的亲睐，其中就包括美国阿美拉达赫斯公司(Hess)以及哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS Television)等等。据Fino Consulting预测，该公司2011年的销售额将超越2010年的60万美元，攀升至110万美元。“我们的团队拥有优秀的人才，能够开发出卓越的软件。”该公司总经理布莱恩菲诺•菲诺说。他还透露，“其实我们的客户也一直在试图寻找计时工资更加低廉的合作者，但最终还是选择了我们，因为到最后他们发现我们的价格最公道，产品质量最优秀。”
Invest in talent
While competitors outsourced projects to inexpensive providers, Fino Consulting, a profitable tech advisory firm, kept them in-house, relying on employees with 10 to 15 years of experience -- paid at the high market rates of its home base in New York City -- to ensure that the quality of its work is up to snuff. To keep its developers excited about their jobs, Fino Consulting encourages them to use the best technology, even if it isn't what a client has traditionally chosen.
The company's ability to retain key players with a deep knowledge of mobile devices such as the iPad and cloud computing has enabled the small firm to win big corporate clients such as Hess and CBS Television. Fino Consulting projects that sales will increase from $600,000 in 2010 to a projected $1.1 million in 2011. "We have some talented people on our team who produce exceptional software," says Brian Fino, managing director. "Our clients are finding they can go out and get lower hourly rates but keep coming back to us, because in the end, we are less expensive and we produce a higher quality product."
做业内领跑者
旅游刊物出版商Travalliance创始人马克•墨菲深知，时下广为流传的旅行社将被淘汰的预测并不准确。即使现在大量消费者选择在线旅游预订，但“目前，70%的邮轮旅游、各种旅行及飞机票预定还是由旅行社经手，”马克•墨菲说。但同时他也清楚地认识到，在科技不断进步的今天，旅行社业务正趋于多样化，例如有些旅行社甚至可以在家办公，这让许多跟不上潮流的传统店面式旅行社被迫关闭。
为了迎合旅行社工作模式的不固定性，这位来自新泽西州西塔普顿市的企业家创办了一个新的刊物：Agent@Home杂志。不仅如此，他还据此扩展出众多小众产品，如提供网上课程服务的网站：TravelAgentAcademy.com;为让旅行社及时掌握某特定类型产品的最新情况，开设了众多分众网站，如内河旅游路线销售(Sell River Cruises)等;并提供平台，让旅行社能够廉价且快速地建立自己的网站。同时，他还继续经营名为旅游部落(Travel Tribe)的消费者旅游社区，并把它和其他项目一起进行统筹管理。同时，公司的销售总额也在稳定增长;预计到2011年，销售额将从2009年的950万美元攀升到1,100万美元。
译者：李淑玉/汪皓
Stay ahead of trends
Mark Murphy, founder of Travalliance, a trade publisher in the travel industry, knew that widespread predictions about the death of the travel agent were wrong. Even with many consumers booking travel online, he says, "travel agents still sell about 70% of cruises, tours and airline tickets." At the same time, he knew that some travel agencies based in traditional storefronts were closing, as improving technology made it possible for agents to work from home.
To target these mobile folks, the Westampton, N.J.-based entrepreneur started a new publication: Agent@Home magazine. He also branched out into niche products, such as TravelAgentAcademy.com, a site offering online courses; niche websites to get agents up to speed on particular types of products, such as one called Sell River Cruises; and a platform that lets agents build their own sites quickly and inexpensively. Meanwhile, he continues to grow a consumer travel community, called Travel Tribe, that he brought under the same corporate umbrella, and the company's overall sales are percolating. They grew from $9.5 million in 2009 to a projected $11 million in 2011.
