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Archive for small business recession
3 Easy Ways You Can Beat Falling ‘Footfall’
Posted by: | CommentsNow, depending on your type of business and location, you may or may not depend on ‘footfall’ for a large percentage of your business?
And I bet if you are in a local town that your footfall has been falling for about the last year??
Why?
Well…
Figures released by Experian today, show High Street footfall fell by 1.7% last year. Some areas saw falls as high as 7%+. Many local towns are becoming ‘ghost towns’ with empty units and few shoppers.
Businesses that rely soley on ‘footfall’ to generate new clients need to make changes
In good times this is often an adequate way to earn a decent income. But now ‘footfall’ is falling fast, if you want to survive need to use some new strategies.
Here are 3 ways you can take positive action to beat falling ‘footfall’.
- 1. Use Direct Marketing to Attract Affluent Clients - There are plenty of people spending money, plenty of people little affected by recession. By using direct marketing you can target specific affluent demographics with ‘pinpoint’ accuracy and either sell directly to them or use irresistible offers to invite them intoyour business. Direct marketing allows precise measurement of results and thus minimal waste.
- 2. Make More Use of the Internet - While High Street sales are falling, online sales are rising in many categories. ANY business owner can easily use the internet to both sell online (as an additional route to market) and use the internet as part of a coordinated demand generation system for new and old clients.
- 3. Utilise Joint Venture Partnerships - A lot of small business (and large) are feeling the pinch from recession. And while in good times many are happy to ‘keep themselves to themselves’, now is the time to develop partnerships with other local business for mutual gain. For example, you could could approach a local gym and ask to run a marketing campaign to their members. They gym could benefit either through a slice of profits or by a campaign to your clients.
So… While High Street footfall is falling, you really have two simple choices.
Either get very, very busy finding new ways to generate business or ‘roll over’ and ‘give up’.
‘Giving up’ should not be an option…
Dedciated to your success,
Henry.
PS: If you haven’t yet done so, be sure to grab your FREE GIFT.
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What is The Best Response to a Bad Economy?
Posted by: | CommentsThose of you who’ve been around me a while know I spend a lot of time talking about what goes on in the few pounds of fleshy matter sat squarely between your iPod headphones (yes, your brain) and how IT — or better still YOU manifest what happens in your business, your life and happiness through your own thoughts.
Most people find the link between what they think and what happens to them a tenuous, often ’silly’ and in a lot of cases ‘pyscho-babble’ b**lsh*t…
Where you stand on the matter isn’t important.
And nor is whether you agree with me.
But for the next few minutes, ‘let’s agree that you agree with me’.
So…
What is the appropriate and best response to smashed markets, and economies battered so hard they’re nigh on unrecognisable?
A completely understandable, rational response is FEAR, worry, desperation, hiding out and waiting… But, you’ll wait a very, very, very long time before someone shout “Ahoy there!! Come out from under the rock! All is good again!”.
But, if YOU are after SUCCESS then it’s pretty obvious what your response CANNOT be — isn’t it???
Quite simply… What everyone else IS doing!
There is a lot of mileage in solving ‘Mysteries’ - whether it’s Agatha Christie, Morse or Einstein.
But your task of responding to what’s happening in the economy is NO mystery at all…
One of my most admired success coaches is Earl Nightingale (and if you aren’t aware of Earl, which you should be, go get all his books and tapes and absorb them like a sponge). Earl famously said “If you’re can’t decide what to do, look around at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite” (or words to that effect).
And that should be your response. You must NOT do what most are: shrinking; shrinking their thinking, their ambitions, their activities; shrinking the marketplace; shrinking what they offer and deliver.
Rather…You must create BIGGER, better, more exciting, more irresistible reasons for customers to get up off their butts, leave their homes, unlock their wallets and bring them to you, to be willing to spend when their every instinct screams “DON’T”.
You must do MORE, be MORE.
Ok, but what is the answer, or what are the answers to what you should be doing now?
Well, the quality of the answers YOU get entirely depends on the quality of the questions you ask.
This is certainly true of my consulting work with clients; some ask far better questions than others, and get better answers.
There ARE answers - right now - to how you can more effectively attract more affluent customer’s - right now - to prosper while the majority aren’t - right now. Getting to those answers depends on the questions you ask yourself, including those you aks yourself about what you’ve read here…
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
PS: If you haven’t yet accepted my FREE GIFT then what are you waiting for? Sometimes something comes along that can really make a difference to your life. Just one decision can change everything. Accepting my FREE GIFT could be that decision. I’ll certainly do my best to ensure it is… Click Here to Accept Your FREE GIFT
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5 Ways Recession Spells Opportunity for YOU!
Posted by: | CommentsHundreds of small businesses disappeared in 2008, thousands will die this year. The bloodbath will continue. But for the ‘brave’ small business owner, this spells huge opportunity.
The Darwinian principal of ’survival of the fittest’ is always good news for smarter, stronger survivors. And, the onset of recession has accelerated that process amongst small business across the UK.
Here are 5 reasons this spells opportunity for business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches and authors like YOU:
1. Opportunities for astute, aggressive local businesses who will step up and provide exceptional service are all around. Opportunities for online merchants able to offer expansive selection and great service are huge.
2. This earthquake-change and epic opportunity is mirrored (or soon will be) in virtually every industry, business, profession and sales career.
3. The disappearance of hundreds to possibly thousands of car dealerships and with them thousands of car salesmen provides exciting opportunity for the smart, surviving sales pro to go after all those orphaned customers, step up to solve their service problems, form relationships, build a bulging book of clients.
4. The huge reduction in the population of mortgage brokers, of estate agents is a very good thing for the smart, aggressive ones who remain
5. In business to business, the number of marketers and sales professional in virtually every product or service category actively prospecting, reaching out to new clients, exhibiting at trade shows, making presentations is diminishing by day, as the easily discouraged fade away - so it’s a terrific time to be showing up!
Yes, you may temporarily be side-stepping pools of blood and occasionally getting your shoes sticky with it, having to hold your nose when stepping over rotting corpses, brushing aside cobwebs while walking past empty space after empty space in the shopping centre.
But the magnitude of the opportunity laid out in front of you far eclipses the ugliness.
Supply and demand is tilting in the favour of the surviving business; lots and lots of customers to be had and far fewer competitors going after them…and a better supply of potential employees to choose from, finally giving you the chance of staffing to deliver extraordinary customer experiences, to demand it - there are plenty of replacements waiting.
The question is…
Are YOU grabbing ALL the opportunities in front of you?
Grab your FREE GIFT and let me help you => Click Here
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
PS: Hope you, your Mum, Gran, Wife, Husband, Sister, Girfirend had a great Mother’s Day!
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6 Ways to Kick Recession Into Touch
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s now 2 minutes to 5pm on Saturday and I’m sat here watching England play Scotland in the 6 nations.
Right now we’re 18-9 up.
Who knows how the game will end…
Plus, we’ve got the Ireland, Wales game in a bit which should be a ‘cracker’.
Anyway, as I was sat here watching the rugby, it struck me that beating recession is a little like a close fought battle on the rugby pitch.
I don’t know if you are rugby fan and it doesn’t matter.
But, if you remember England’s campaign in the last World Cup then you’ll remember the dogged, ‘bloody’ determination and ‘never, ever give up’ attitude our team displayed on their way to the finals.
We didn’t win but my word what a fight we put up.
And, if you’re being hit by recession it is that kind of ‘brutal’, ‘take no prisoners’, ‘I CAN win this’ attitude you need and need to keep firm.
But there’s more to it than that. You also need to be thinking, planning and implementing ideas FAST.
Here are 6 critical things you should be doing:
Recession Slayer #1: Account for Every Single lead, Prospect or Enquiry. I’m willing to bet that you lose anything between 5% and 50% of the business you could generate through ’slippage’. Telephone enquiries that don’t get followed up, emails that get forgotten, proposals that aren’t closed etc, etc. In tough times the cost of new client acquisition goes up. In many cases there are less new clients around (not all) and you need to do more to attract them. A world class lead generation system will help you keep costs down and free up resources. Secrets to making your client acquisition more efficient:
1. Track response from all your advertising and marketing. Identify which get the responses and which don’t. Do more of the ones that do and less of the ones that don’t.
2. Perfect your sales process. Whether that’s face to face in a shop or office, online, offline or whatever. Spend MORE here.
Recession Slayer #3: Get Some Friends: Recession hits all business and those in your area, industry and outside are looking for help too. Now is a very good time to develop mutually beneficial partnerships. In simple terms you offer your products/services to another companies’ customers and they do the same in return. Many benefits arise - you both gain clients, you both gain easy profit, your customer win because they get added value from you both!
Recession Slayer #4: Keep Your Mouth Firmly Closed. Back in my deep dark days as a corporate ’superstar’ there was nothing which would draw my inspiration, creativity and motivation to a stop faster than hearing from a boss or colleague that the company was in trouble. Wham! The shutters went down. You can and will have the same affect on the people in your business. The moment they get a sniff of despair it’ll run riot. Remember - the market for what you sell still exists. People ARE still spending money (and more of it than either I or you could ever comfortably suck up). Be the opportunistic entrepreneur - don’t ‘throw in the towel’. Excite your own and your employee’s imagination with opportunity and creativity.
Recession Slayer #5: Specialise and Raise Your Prices. Focusing on a defined, niche group of prospects and customers allows you to charge premium prices and beat generic competitors. The very best way to recession proof your business is to change WHO you are targeting. Remember, your best clients will be those affected least and last by recession. Who are they? You got it… The affluent…
Recession Slayer #6: Mine for Gold. Earl Nightingale and ‘Acres of Diamonds’ keeps ringing in my ears. It is way, way easier and cheaper to extract additional business from your existing clients that it is to go find new ones. It astonishes me that so many small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors don’t have a rock solid system in place to sell additional stuff to their customers and clients. To get more from your base you must communicate with them more. Send a newsletter at least once a month and do not be shy to offer products and service that will be of value to them.
Above all, keep your chin up and keep thinking, keep creating, keep going. There’s ample, abundant opportunity out there for you. Grab your share.
And don’t forget to take me up on my FREE GIFT — It is packed full of recession beating ideas.
Click Here to Grab Your FREE GIFT
Have a fantastic weekend,
Henry.
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16 Fast Ways to Recession Proof Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsThere ARE signs consumer confidence is UP!!!
High Street sales are up 1.5% on last year.
Woopeee sh*t (excuse me)!
That is UNIMPORTANT.
What is IMPORTANT is what YOU are doing in YOUR world to go get a BIG slice of the spend in YOUR area, industry, specialisation.
What it does confirm is what I’ve said all along (I hate being right) - people ARE spending.
And they are spending a LOT.
All ya gotta do is find where the money is changing hands and sit in the middle with something of value and open hands.
To do that you MUST employ as MANY customer/client gathering strategies as you can get your hot little hands on.
NOTE: The fastest way to dramatic business growth even in recession is to do as many things as possible to increase your success. You SHOULD look to improve your performance in ALL these areas:
1. How many new customer/clients you generate.
2. How many times your existing customers/client return.
3. How much they spend on each visit.
4. How many people they refer.
When I talk my new clients and member through this the reaction is often:
“Derrr…Yeah…Of course…tell me something I didn’t know.”
And that’s not a slight - it is seemingly obvious.
What’s not obvious is when you break each are down and look at what’s actually being done - really being done in
each area to make it as effective as possible.
Let’s just look at number 1.
What tools, strategies and techniques do you use to generate new clients?
Here’s a partial list of the ones you should be using, have tested or if not, get using/testing…
- Direct mail
- Joint Ventures
- Telesales
- Yellow Pages
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Directories
- Pay per click internet advertising
- Search engine marketing
- Blogs
- Press releases
- Articles
- Offline networking
- Online networking
- Speaking
- Books
- Hot lines
- Reports and white papers
- Fax broadcasting
- Voice broadcasting
- Affiliate programs (if your product/service lends itself to such)
- Video marketing
- Viral marketing
- And tons more
Look down that list and tick the ones you use.
I bet it’s not more than a few to a handful?
That’s OK, just realise that by not using the rest you are leaving lots of money on the table.
Sure, some take more time than others and sure some will cost you more to acquire a customer/client than others BUT, IF you do numbers 2, 3 and 4 from the first list well then beating recession, destroying your competition and dominating your market becomes light years easier…
Oh, and it’ll make you a bunch of money in the process.
Happy recession slaying.
Henry Baker.
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Is This the Final Option?
Posted by: | CommentsIS ANYBODY STILL JUST “THROWING MONEY AWAY” IN THIS ECONOMY?
Somewhere between the crash and the hasty government survival plans and the jobs report showing 40,000 jobs evaporated in one month, a 38 year old trader and real estate investor rounded up a group of his buddies and took them on a “buddy trip” by private helicopter and Hummer limos; to VIP accommodation; and a game of ‘extreme adventure paintball” organised by a bunch of entrepreneurs.
He isn’t as weird as he sounds.
In fact, SELLERS TO THE RICH AND SUPER RICH REPORT A “PROFOUND EAGERNESS TO KEEP SPENDING” on the part of those hit by investment losses they wish to view as temporary, as a reinforcement of their personal belief system and status - doing so emphasises their sense of superiority over the masses.
The Times reported on spending for lavish holiday parties in and around London unabated… on a high-end real estate real estate buying boom fuelled by discounting: in 07, few properties priced above £5mill sold, in ‘08 the buyers were out in force… and a number of record prices were achieved at art auctions this year. And one persons thoughts about money being thrown away are another’s idea of justice… The RICH ARE SPENDING (and a lot more than you or I need)…
I’M OFTEN ASKED THE ‘BU HOW DO WE FIND THE RICH?’ QUESTION. My top advertising strategy has always been ‘follow the leader’, follow a successful advertiser who has already found the prospects you want.
Look for magazines, journals, and newspapers where the rich go… It’s not that difficult. What may be more so is YOUR belief that YOU can create enough value from the products and services you offer, enough interest, the right environment for those RICH people to WANT to buy from you.
That’s another discussion - a certain level of transformation - something I will be revealing to those who’ve requested details of my Quantum Leap program (and this is a BIG deal).
Here’s the key. To become magnetically attractive to the RICH and SUPER-RICH (I can’t make the key to recession survival any more obvious! I must have put those words in CAPITALS 10 time) you have to create an EXPERIENCE - something for them to ‘brag’ about.
And don’t forget prices.
Here are some stunning examples of Amazing prices (in use and being snapped up now)… Withers and Co produce bespoke handmade rocking horses, costing at least £3,000. They have some famous customers who seem to appreciate they are paying for craftsmanship and a unique design…Children’s Lifesize luxury playhouses with electric, running water, custom interior that can even replicate your own home: from £10,000 to a LOT more. Sky Caddy GPS loaded with details of hundreds (might be thousands) of golf courses, enabling golfers to accurately measure full depth and shape of the green from an approach, on or off the fairway, and find the nearest bar for a pint afterwards - just £270. And the box of 15 teabags for £5 (http://www.adagio.uk.com/teabags/teabags_english_breakfast.html?SID=f31485c3402b08af055a28df999cabd4)!
HIGH PRICE will work in YOUR favour IF you market to the correct audience in the correct way. Do you think it really cost 10 times as much to make the £5 teabags as it does to make a box of PGTips? Of course not.
There are LOTS of VERY good reasons to sell to the affluent.
However, as per the interview I did with 2CR radio this week, most businesses are slashing as much off their prices as they possibly can in a desperate, futile attempt to boost cash flow and attract shoppers away from competition.
YES, sales can sometimes help and YES they are sometime necessary. BUT, an IDIOT can cut their price in half and see a short term boost in sales (not necessarily a boost in profits).
But MARK MY WORDS, a lot of the shops you bought the reduced priced presents from WILL go the way of Woolworths early next year.
The time has passed for sale, lacklustre customer service, a lack of ideas, poor execution, feeble attempts to do something different.
You CAN position your company to GROW next year.
The question is WILL YOU grab the ‘bull by the horns’ and make it happen?
Most won’t…
For details of my Quantum Leap program and how it can help you position your company for growth next year you MUST be in the queue. Get in line here:
www.recessionslayer.co.uk/quantumleap
And have the most fantastic Christmas…I’m off to wrap some pressies…
Henry.
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Woolworths, Aston Martin and Recession…Yawwnnn…
Posted by: | CommentsWoh…What a week.
Apparently a hands down blockbuster winner for the recession.
Recession 1 - Business 0
Woolworths — woops.
Aston Martin — Ah!
Geez — apocalypse is setting in.
Or is it?
I ran a little laboratory test on myself this week.
If you’ve been around me a while you know I have a passionate objection to watching the news and reading newspapers. But this week I canned that and filled my belly with Sky News, BBC, the FT, Independent and a bunch more.
The effect has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Like sticking an Olympic athlete on diet of cheese burgers and Coke and then asking here to swim a world record 400m medley time — ‘aint gonna happen.
Before I began my news binge I was focused like a laser beam on where I, my businesses and family would be within a year, 2 years, 5 years and beyond.
Last night I was in absolute turmoil.
Fretting, sweating, worrying about our future, our families future, the worlds future and also the recession busting tips and stratgies I help my clients with (I know they work doubt was creaping in).
Plans started to unravel, my laser focus was way off target aiming at thoughts of losing everything, ending up an destitute alcoholic with a beard (a little exagerated).
Ok, what’s the point of this?
You have GOT to FILL your mind with PROSPERITY not poverty.
I’m not advising you not to watch the news or read newspapers — up to you. BUT, I am saying be VERY, VERY careful what you let into your environment — it has a HUGE effect on you.
Constant absorption of negative, recesison filled tales CANNOT help you. However, a constant commitment to associating with positive people, infomation and ideas WILL help you.
And I don’t mean looking in the mirror and chanting “Everything is great”. That will only help IF you have a REASON for everything to be great.
So here’s the key.
Get a reason.
Decide HOW YOU are going to conquer recession and set to work doing it.
If you needs more clients deverop a plan to get them. What’s in the plan?
- - More prospect generating marketing. Identify what’s worked well in the past and do more of it.
- - More referral marketing
- - Identify 100 possible joint venture partners, devise an irresistible offer and contact them all!
If you need a cash boot - put a cash boost plan in place.
- - Identify a need within your current client base.
- - Create something to fill it.
- - Write a bloskbsuter sales letter (or pay me to doi it).
- - Send out the letter.
- - Rake in the cash.
Whatever your challaneges are, there is ALWAYS a way to fix ‘em.
And even if apparently totally insermountable — look for the positive…It WILL be there.
The END.
Well, sort of.
A little different this week I know.
I simply had to share my little experiment.
Chin up.
Henry Baker.
PS: If you’ve only just subscribed to my ramblings, welcome! Hope you enjoy them and they help you.
PPS: If you know anyone else who could benefit from the endless spouting of a marketing genuis who loves to help others grow their businesses then please ask them to subscribe at http://www.recessionslayer.co.uk, forward this mail on or ask them to mail me directly.
PPPS: If you need to add a shot of ‘juice’ into your marketing and want some help — mail me with some specific POSITIVE comments on how my tips have helped you and you’ll get a a free 15 minute consultation worth a whole lot of money. Fair deal?
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