To paraphrase Winston Churchill – in his famous put down of Clement Atlee – the UK economy is modest and has much to be modest about; especially given its recent overall performance.
Indeed, moving through the weeds the Government has faced a number of issues – some of its own making; others not so. A less than sympathetic budget for business from Rachel Reeves certainly falls into the former, as do the various policy U -turns now numbering up to 15. In addition, the catastrophic appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador can similarly be chalked up in this column.
Yet ironically, the military conflagration in the Middle East – which clearly can’t be laid at the Government’s door – may yet prove to be most damaging of all if it proves sustained – even after considering the current two-week truce.
Tough economic times
Factoring in the political uncertainty concerning Sir Kier Starmer’s tenure as leader – especially if Labour gets an expected hammering in the May Council elections – the possibility of ‘who comes next’ is a very real one.
What is clear is that the country is facing some seriously difficult times – be it with the resurgence of the left (hard and soft), politicians economic with the truth or an inept public establishment.
We can’t defend ourselves today, so goodness knows the state we’ll be in without an increased budget for the armed forces.
However, the chances of that happening are between slim and none. And slim has left town.
Looking at the facts
At the end of the day let’s look at the facts – if the UK was a company it would be bankrupt – we have no money; our debt ratio is unmanageable; borrowing continues to increase and recent policies targeted directly at businesses have sought to create not just hurdles but landmines for businesses to navigate.
Once again we’ve been let down by our elected politicians who, by and large, would struggle to run a bath let alone a budget or worse, a country.
Let us not kid ourselves; we’ve been through a tough few years and the level of uncertainty as far as UK plc is concerned is now at a critical level.
It’s not all bad news though!
Interestingly though, in our businesses the evidence from suppliers and from several Franchise Owners and Centre Owners, as well as contacts in other b2b markets, is that there is still a lot of business available.
Certainly, there is evidence of people taking longer to make a decision or commit to buying and on occasion they may be buying less often and in smaller quantities BUT despite all this there remains a healthy flow of enquiries.
This may be time for an old cliché: “when the going gets tough the tough get going”
Don’t wait for business
Business will not simply come to us. We do have to make an effort ourselves.
When times are hard it is those people who are closest to their customers; and who are prepared to make that one extra phone call, knock on one extra door, search one other LinkedIn contact and who constantly, persistently and religiously market their business, who do best.
You know what? It was ever thus.
We know and you know that many competitors who rarely market and rarely see their customers rely solely on previous good times to keep on rolling. Do not fall into the same trap.
Activity = success
If you want your business not simply to be around in 12 months’ time – but to be visibly growing – then my key piece of advice is; be active!
Talk to customers, ring prospects, mail your database, get on social media, update your database, be relevant in all your communication, go networking, ask for referrals.
Be sure your existing customers think of you first!
And remember:
- The more active you are the more people you will see
- The more people you sit in front of the more business you will do
Affect what you can change
You can do nothing about the ineptitude of our politicians, and you can’t teach business to people who are just simply uninterested.
Moreover, you can’t stop wars or solve malnutrition. BUT, what you can do is do the right things for your business.
So, remember: You don’t get business sitting on your backside!
