Simple SMB Tariff Playbook

With tariffs in the headlines in a major way, small and medium-sized businesses need to move beyond the political noise and take practical steps to protect margins, supply chains, and pricing strategies. Whether you import directly, or are several steps removed from affected goods, you will feel the ripple effects.

Here's how to stay ahead with a tool, chatGPT prompt, and tip you can use at every step for easy actionining.

Step 1: Identify Your Exposure

• Who: CFO, Procurement Lead, or Operations Manager

• What: Audit your products, platforms, and suppliers for tariff-sensitive materials or components—especially those linked to China, Mexico, and high-risk categories like electronics, metals, and machinery.

• Why: Tariffs may increase your costs or delay inputs—even if you don't import directly. Many “safe” vendors rely on global supply chains. A visibility map gives you time to adjust.

✅ Take Action

Step 2: Run Profitability & Pricing Scenarios

• Who: CFO or Financial Analyst

• What: Model 3 scenarios—no impact, moderate (5–10%) increase, and major (15–20%) increase in input or service costs. Then assess pricing flexibility and margins.

• Why: You need clear thresholds for when to absorb vs. pass along costs. Proactive modeling helps avoid panicked decisions when tariffs hit the bottom line.

✅ Take Action

Step 3: Talk to Customers and Clients Early

• Who: CEO, Head of Sales, Client Success Lead

• What: Communicate your monitoring efforts and explain your stability strategy. For service firms, check in on how your clients are being affected.

• Why: Building trust before things change avoids surprises. Clients want to know you’re proactive. This is also an opportunity to frontload sales, or upsell any counter-cyclical services.

✅ Take Action

Step 4: Adjust Sourcing, Offers, or Delivery Models (non-services)

• Who: Procurement Lead, Product Team, Service Design Lead

• What: Investigate nearshoring, alternative vendors, and opportunities to repackage your offerings. For services, look at trimming or re-bundling high-cost elements.

• Why: Agile businesses that adapt quickly can protect profitability and even gain market share while competitors react slowly or raise prices too much.

✅ Take Action

Step 5: Communicate Internally and Externally

• Who: CEO, Head of Communications, Frontline Managers

• What: Draft and share a clear message to both employees and customers about how you’re navigating the situation. Prepare talking points for anyone customer-facing.

• Why: Confusion creates anxiety. Your team and customers will trust you more if they know you’re tracking the issue and taking steps to control outcomes.

✅ Take Action

Step 6: Monitor, But Don’t Panic

• Who: Designate one team member (Ops, Exec Assistant, or Strategy Lead)

• What: Assign responsibility for checking updates from USTR, WSJ, Bloomberg, and key industry associations weekly.

• Why: You can’t manage what you don’t monitor. Delegating this prevents last-minute surprises and keeps the leadership team focused on action, not noise.

✅ Take Action

Bonus: Use Tariffs as a Strategic Pivot Point

• Who: CEO, Head of Marketing, BizDev

• What: Look for ways to turn chaos into opportunity: new “Made in USA” product lines, client advisory services, or partnerships with resilient vendors.

• Why: Tariffs create chaos—but chaos is market opportunity. Fast movers with clear positioning can win trust and share while others stall.

Play: “We’ve launched a new US-sourced option for enterprise clients concerned about global risk.”“Ask us how we’re helping businesses prepare for tariff-linked disruptions.”

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Quick Tariff Action Checklist

Step	Owner	Action
Identify Exposure	Ops / Finance	Audit suppliers & vendors
Model Scenarios	Finance	Run 3-tiered impact forecast
Talk to Clients	CEO / Sales	Proactive outreach & education
Adjust Offers	Product / Services	Simplify, repackage, nearshore
Communicate	CEO / Comms	Train team, prep messaging
Monitor	Designated Owner	Weekly briefing, alert updates