One day a wise old German Shepherd starts chasing rabbits and before long, unexpectedly discovers things are not going as he expected as he is lost. But he was not overly concerned because this wise old German Shepherd had been lost before and he had a backup plan.
Wandering about, he notices he is in grave danger as a leopard is heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having him for lunch. The wise old German Shepherd thinks, "Uh, oh!" I'm in deep doo-doo now!
Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the wise old German Shepherd exclaims loudly,
Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder, if there are any more around here?"
Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.
Ah, says the leopard, "That was close. That old German Shepherd nearly had me!"
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard.
So, off he goes, but the wise old German Shepherd sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up.
The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself for protection with the leopard.
The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!
Now, the wise old German Shepherd sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, but is not worried at all, because he has a backup plan.
The wise old German Shepherd sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the wise German Shepherd says
Where's that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!
Hearing this, the leopard turned and hightailed it out of there.
Moral of this story
Business people who survive and prosper in a slow economy are wise enough to have a backup plan when they discover things do not go the way they expect.
You will come out the other side of this current economic slowdown (recession for some) if your back up plan includes becoming more and more aggressive in: Building relationships with your customers
Building relationships with your competitions customers
Selling your unique selling values
Selling the benefits your customers receive from your products
Daring to differentiate yourself and your business from your competition
