paulbangs/blog

A man had a van by the side of the road and sold fish suppers. He was hard of hearing and had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes so he read no newspapers nor watched much TV. But he sold great fish suppers. He put up a sign on the roadside telling how good they were, he stood side of the road and cried “buy my fish suppers”and people bought. He increased his fish and potato orders, he bought a bigger fryer to supply the increased trade and he got his son back from university to help him. But something happened… His son said “dad haven’t you heard the news there’s a big recession on, unemployment is rising, house prices dropping, fuel and other cost increasing. His dad thought “Well my sons been to university, he reads newspapers, listens to the radio, watches TV so he must know what he’s talking about” so he cut down on his ordering, took down his sign, stopped shouting at the side of the road and sure enough his sales dropped through the floor. “Your right son” he said “we are certainly in the middle of a great recession”

Stop listening to all the doom and gloom and increase your marketing

On 7th June I addressed 75 businessmen at the cafe bar Bar Ha Ha in Bath. What a great experience, whilst I was speaking the staff were serving plates of eggs and bacon, the smell of the bacon was sending my taste buds into overdrive. The response from the men was great and the feedback very satisfying. I shared 10 keys to  in a recession (see previous Blog “Recession, What can we do about it?”)

Since my talk the news and outlook for the business market has become worse. Banks are in difficulties, the housing market is collapsing all around us, retail sector is struggling, cost of fuel and food increasing, redundancies increasing etc. It is looking grim out there and the weather hasn’t been all that great either. So what can we do?

Work a little harder, market a little stronger, give better service than before, look for new markets for existing services/products, offer new services to existing clients/customers,  look to work with others in allied trades, be more innovative, look to cut back further on costs. (I have reduced my car costs by keeping at or below the speed limits and driving more steadily and I’m still getting to appointments on time by leaving a few minutes earlier. The added bonus is that I arrive more relaxed)

The real message is don’t listen to the doom and gloom merchants but do recognise that we are in difficult times and we need to respond in a positive way and not bury our head in the sand of negativity.

One of my clients, we”ll call him Jack for now, has applied to go on the Apprentice. 25,000 people applied and were filtered down at application stage. Then telephone interviews filtered out the next hopefuls. Face to face interviews then took place and 80% of those interviewed were rejected. Jack is still in there so I’ll keep you posted.

The recession is biting so what can we do about it? The first thing is don’t panic and don’t stop what you are good at, but what else can you do? Hopefully the following will help you

1. Attitude is more important than aptitude. Ask yourself, “is my attitude towards my customers, staff, suppliers, family as it should be or have I or am I starting to take some of them for granted?”
2. Good service is vital for the future of your business. “Am I giving the very best service I can to my customers, am I doing all that I can for them?”
3. Time management. “Am I using my time properly, am I getting the most from every day, am I wasting time doing the wrong things?”
4. Goals “When did I last look at my goals, update them and see if I am on track?” A goal that is achievable will only be achieved if there is an action plan behind it, written down and looked at regularly.
5. Family. “Am I giving my family and myself enough time or am I letting my work take over my life?” if you are, then you may end up rich and lonely. It is better to have a more modest income and love your family more than your business.
6. Health. Are you looking after your health properly, you only have one body, if it gives up on you, where are you going to live?
7. Money. Are you looking after your money, spending as little as possible on your business, keeping good records, updating your figures, spending wisely, saving for your tax, put something aside for a rainy day and towards your retirement? Good money management is vital to your future success.
8. Marketing. Are you marketing continually, as we have said many times, without customers you don’t have a business. Market every week for new clients/customers. Look to improve the quality of your customers so that you can earn more without having to work harder
9. Relax. Take time out to relax, time out will recharge your batteries it will increase your energy levels and you will achieve more in the long term
10. Learning. Continually look to learn more, there is a great deal of knowledge out there, on the internet etc and the more you learn, the greater the chance of building a bigger or better business
11. Finally, remember you were born with natural talents and gifts: it is a shame to not use what comes naturally to you. If we are created in God’s image, which is my belief, then lets give Him the credit and use well what he has given us.

Go through the list above and even if you do not share my beliefs in point 11, ask yourself, “how am I doing with the other 10 basics, where is their room for improvement and what am I going to do to make that improvement? You may also have other basics that are important to you, if so how about sharing them with others, please let me know and I will pass them on.

Three of my clients gain major awards as Female Inventors and Innovators of the year. What an amazing achievement for them all? Rhiannon Rowley of Abbaca Organic Beds was a finalist and highly commended in the main invention category for her work creating the first organic mattresses which help people with allergies to sleep more soundly and suffer less.  Yvonne Miller and Amanda Rees of Baby Sign Factory Ltd were highly commended for their development of a unique product to help babies with their language development. Finally, Andrea Linzer scooped top prize in the in the Arts section for her innovation in ceramics.

It’s great when one of your clients achieve a major award but to have three in one year is fantastic and my congratulations go to them all. It only goes to show that hard work, innovation, passion for what you do and having the nerve to take on the world, well OK, the rest of the UK, can bring great rewards