Sometimes retail shop owners have the “open and wait” mentality. I put my stuff out, run some ads and wait, right?

Well, that does work for some, but if you’re finding that it doesn’t work well for you or that all this talk about a downturn in the economy is keeping people away, then maybe you need to hit the bricks a bit.

Just today a gift basket shop owner wrote to me and asked what she could do to get more traffic. I advised her to network and go look for strategic partners. (This is really good advice no matter the industry) It probably sounds a little foreign to some retailers, but a little out of the store hustle goes a long way.

So, our gift basket shop owner would approach businesses and show them how to use her product to generate more referrals and create customer loyalty. A flower shop could approach a remodeling contractor and suggest a customer wow program that involved sending a bouquet of flowers thirty days after a project is finished. (Now of course there’s nothing to stop you from reaching out to the florist and suggesting a reciprocation of some manner as well.)

There are literally hundreds of ways to approach this strategy. The key is to frame the partnership around what your potential partner wants. It’s never about you and your business, show them how to use your products and services to get more of what they want.

Keep at this kind of relationship building and your business will be recession proof.