No Nonsense Marketing From Doug Prentice

I don’t admitting that isn’t the first (or even second) recession that I’ve lived through. What did I learn from them?

Well, I guess the biggest lesson was that the easiest and most obvious solution is not always the best one. Last recession I was running a small plastics company employing a few people. The easiest solution even with current employment laws was to amalgamate say, three jobs into two, make one job redundant, lose a salary and reduce your costs.

However this is not always the best first course of action. Other than anything else the threat of redundancies brings a black cloud over your business and all the people working within it. Your employees spend more time worrying about their jobs and speculating about it endlessly with their colleagues rather than trying help the company improve its position.

What I learned is that best first course of action is to look at all your other costs. In fact get everyone to look at all the other costs. There are so many areas in every business where lack of attention or complacency during the good times allows costs to creep up. Every employee has within their own area of responsibility opportunities to make savings however small. This helps involve everyone in trying to help the company and creates a feeling of unity through adversity.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a one man band trying to make a living on the internet and thinking “What has any of this to do with me?” eBay fees keep increasing, selling prices are falling – I’ve only myself to make redundant.

Think of all the costs in your business and where you can choose your supplier. We’re all used to being bombarded with advice about changing our suppliers of gas or electricity to get the best deal which is OK. But tell me when was the last time you checked your broadband deal? We tend to sign up for the mandatory 12 months and then can’t be bothered to change.

Hey, but here’s the secret – you don’t even need to change to possibly get a better deal. Recently I was bringing my books up to date, on my broadband provider’s site, printing off the last 3 months invoices when I stumbled by accident into the product section. What I saw there was the same deal as I was on PLUS free line rental. Digging quickly through my records I saw that I had been out of contract for some time and with just one phone call I was saving £11.00 per month. Not a lot you might say but it’s £132.00 per year for half an hour’s work. £264.00 per hour – wish I had more hours at that rate!

And I got a new wireless router/ modem!

That’s just one example without even having to change your supplier. Go to one of the broadband comaprison sites such as www.broadband.co.uk/ and check the sites of the various providers to find the best deal for you.

You may be surprised what you find.

Hi, again and sorry for the big gap between this and my last posting. Why the gap?

First it was handling sales in the run up to Christmas. Then comes January with 2 sets of tax returns (I know I should start earlier) and VAT returns and by the end of the month total exhaustion.There’s enough material in there for another posting on the importance of time planning. But that’s for another day!

Do you feel defeated by the prospect of increasing your sales in the current environment of economic gloom and doom?

Do you start every day wondering what new disaster will befall you?

Well, with a bit of planning and positive attitude there’s no reason why you should.  Out there in customer land there are still lots of potential customers. One way of looking at them is to divide them up into 3 categories:

1) Those who will remain totally unaffected by the current recession – you know who you are.

2) Those who will probably remain unaffected but are worried that they might be – usually the majority of us.

3) Those who will be/are already affected and will suffer financially.

One thing they all have in common is that they have (some ) money to spend. It’s a matter of moulding your offer to suit their needs/wants/pockets. If you take the people in category 2) they will still have reasonable disposable income to spend but need to be tempted to spend it. For example, you might have read that the take away food sector is enjoying a growth in sales as people trade down from eating out. So the restaurant chains hit back with a deluge of 2 for 1 or heavily discounted offers. Check out the restaurant chains in your area. If it’s anything like mine they’re pretty busy. My wife struggled to find a table last Tuesday night in our local centre. By the way if you haven’t done it already you should sign up for Martyn Lewis’s newsletter and get all the info every week of cheap restaurant deals (and much much more).

Similarly people will be holding back on major spending but will still want little treats. So no new flat screen TV but a new top or shirt, that’s a different matter. Again tailoring the offer to suit the customer’s pocket.

Another thought. People will try to save money by doing jobs themselves that previously they paid others to do. For example, people who are between jobs may be money poor but will be time rich. If you’re unemployed are you going to pay £30.00 for someone to clean your windows when you’ve already got a squeegee, bucket, chamois cloth and the time. But you might part with £10.00 for the extendable pole to wash the upstairs windows!

Lots of opportunities there to sell “How To” books. How to grow your own vegetables, how to sell your spare items and so on. Go to your local markets and see what the traders there are selling well. Do your analysis on eBay to check what’s selling well in your chosen sector.

Above all remain positive. Try and avoid reading too much of the negative stuff (though it’s pretty hard to avoid it all these days). Remember how happy you were before Robert Peston became a household name. Keep up to date with all your favourite positive blogs on the net.

The sun’s going to rise again tomorrow morning bringing a whole new host of opportunities.

Good luck!