Not so long ago, our newly elected Prime Minister had no hesitancy in letting us know that things could not continue the way they had done for the last few years. Whatever your political views, in terms of a
common sense approach, everyone will have agreed with the statement “We are all
in this together”...................

After two years of high petrol prices, big brands on the high street disappearing, the banks costing the tax payer billions and travel companies going under, we all know that things must change to get better. But
are we doing / have you done anything about it?

Put the brakes on your business for a couple of days and have a good look around it. Any pay freeze you may have introduced will obviously stop things from getting worse, but have you looked at ways of making things
better?

To grow your business in a positive way, you must do one (or ideally all!) of the following:

1. Put your prices up! Yes times are tough, but if you have a good product or service and you understand your market and client
base, some of them will accept an increase in the prices you charge.

2. Get new clients. Your new clients may have to be won (initially) on price. But if you have passed on a small % increase to your
current clients, you should have some margin to play with to entice new people
to at least give you a trial. Even at an introductory rate, you can get new
business if you go out and ask for it.

3. Sell more often! To increase profits and grow your business, you must get your customers spending more when they use you or
more often. Special offers, end of lines, seasonal promotions and breakfast /
lunch clubs can lure your regular clients back to you more frequently.

If you own or run a business at the moment, the best thing you can do is work in it or on it every day. Over the last two years, the biggest difference in keeping going is doing more yourself to keep down costs
and finding new business opportunities.

Currently the best way for the SME to keep in business is by networking. Both face to face and on line networking are easy to do. If you have not entertained the idea of networking to win more business, then I urge
you to get on line and use a search engine to find all the ways you can network
immediately.

On line you can get yourself established via Linked in, Twitter, Meet UP and Face book – there are many more but start there. Then find local networking groups in your area. Register and go to as many as you can.
Find the groups that work for you. Some are free, some you pay a subscription
to. Some are breakfast events and some are meeting at the end of the working
day. Local networking events dramatically help the local economy as money spent
locally remains local and is reinvested in your local community many times.

Do this now and see the difference it makes in just a few short weeks. By helping others in your networking groups, recommending them to others you know and buying goods or services from them, it will not be long
before the favour is reciprocated. By all means get a quote from your usual
supplier, but at least give those in your networking group the chance to beat /
match the price.

If all of us to this and take the “We are all in this together” phrase literally then we all stand a chance of surviving. The blue chips, PLC’s and national companies will all still make money as they have the
advertising budget to ensure they continue to exist.

Independent business owners can take the fight to the “big boys” if they stick together and support each other.

To coin a phrase: “If you are not networking, then soon you will be not working!”

When are you next attending a networking event?