This week I’m going to become a bit political, and at the risk of portraying the “grumpy old man” side of me, thought I would leap onto one of my favourite soap boxes.

I have never been a fan of being “European” and trying to morph all the different races with their wonderful, exciting and colourful cultures into one big lump of sameness. The Common Market I can see is a good thing, but to take it any further than that is unnecessary, and as it is beginning to turn out potentially divisive, and possibly even ruinous for many. I never trust people who tell me I “must” do something, or I “can’t afford not to”. Generally what they mean is they need me to do it, or that they can’t afford for me not to be part of it. This is exactly what is going on in the E.U. Of course the politicians, the key movers and shakers in industry, and many of the biggest corporations want to maintain the status quo, or even integrate further, because there is a huge trough of money, which all these people are able to stick their greedy noses into, without any fear of comebacks. I noticed recently that the E.U. accounts have for the 17th year in a row, been left unsigned off by the auditors, presumably because the numbers simply don’t add up.

I’m not an accountant, but I’m guessing that any other business that did not have their accounts signed off for more than a couple of years would be considered highly dodgy, and not one to be associated with.

If we then look at the majority of businesses and individuals, how do they benefit from being part of the E.U? I don’t believe that many small or medium sized businesses gain anything from it, and more likely it generally makes life a lot harder, and increases their costs. Look at the countries in Europe who are currently doing best. Most of the Scandinavian countries, who have never signed up to more than just the free trade within the “Common Market”. Of course there is always more to it than meets the eye, but on the face of it, do we really need to be part of the E.U?

How are things going in your market place at the moment? How are your competitors doing? Have some of them started to drop their prices? If so, how are you going to respond?

The first thing I would advise my clients is not to follow the crowd, fighting for business by dropping prices. Unless you are in a position where you can provide serious volume sales, and can therefore survive the “pile it high, sell ‘em cheap” philosophy, then keep well away from that strategy. If you drop your prices, and then fail to bring in the necessary extra volume you will end up with considerably lower profit margins and run the risk of ending up in the terrifying negative cycle, where you feel you need to drop prices yet further to get the business, and the result is lots of work for little to no profit, and ultimately going bust.

So what can you do to fight off the cheap competition? Don’t panic, and hold your nerve. Analyse what you are selling, ensure it is better and/or different in some ways to the competition, and then see what else you can do to add value. Perhaps the answer is to diversify. I was recently talking with someone, who told me about a window cleaner who was only just keeping his head above water (in every sense!), because he has what is apparently a service which anyone can copy, and therefore price is the only weapon to work with. In reality, however, perhaps he should be looking to diversify, and find other things he could do to make him different – how about gutter clearance for the winter, or a full roof “service”. I also know a fancy dress shop who has recently started renting out ball gowns as a side-line (and successfully too).

So instead of working out how you can save money and reduce your prices, start to think creatively, and see what else you can do to improve your service, and possibly even raise your prices.

It is funny how things always seen to come in clumps, and over the past week I have come across 3 business owners, all with the same issue, and all trying to deal with the problem of not wanting, or being able, to let go.

The thing is that all business owners have very close attachments to their business; after all they planted the seed, nurtured the early growth, and bit by bit created an enterprise that is hopefully thriving.  However, unless they are prepared to take on staff to run it for them, they will always be restricting the size to which it could grow, as there is a limit to the amount any one person can take on, without all the balls they are juggling, crashing to the ground.  The feeling that customers must “work with me”, or they won’t be happy.  The fear of letting your staff see what is happening on the financial side of things, and the classic “nobody does it better than me”, are all reasons why the owner won’t let go.  But for the business to truly flourish you must coach and train your team to do things as well or better than you, you must put systems in place, so that anyone can cover for sickness or holidays, and above all you must employ a team of people who you trust.

Don’t kid yourself that you are not letting go for any other reasons.  Sometimes a feeling of no longer appearing to be important to the business, (a sort of redundancy) can make it very hard to let go, but ultimately, you should see that as having achieved the utopia of all businesses i.e. one that can work without you.

So don’t keep holding on just to keep you feeling important.  Your staff won’t thank you, and your business will never reach its full potential.