We can turn it around--Or can we?

• Position: Marketing News - Turnaround tips for banks - Brief Article

In today's rapidly changing economy, businesses can run into problems with little advanced warning. Financial services companies are not exempt from this pattern.

When it becomes necessary, an institutional "turnaround" can be painful, according to John R. Graham of Graham Communications, a marketing a public relations consultant in Quincy, Mass. But businesses that successfully overcome an obstacle or hurdle all use similar approaches. Here are the basic rules that they follow:

* Insist on the facts. It isn't what we think customers want that counts. It's only what customers actually want that leads to sales. And that requires constant research.

* Move quickly. This doesn't mean acting precipitously or shooting from the hip. But it does mean taking action with deliberate speed. In today's business environment...