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!