Are we finally about to turn the corner? Are things about to start getting better? For those of you who regularly read my blog, you may think here he goes again on one of his optimistic soap boxes. But this time things really do seem brighter.

On the macro scale, unemployment is dropping all the time and quite rapidly. The private sector really is starting to grow and create more new jobs all the time. Inflation is finally down to the target levels as set by the Bank of England (albeit temporarily) and the general consensus is that growth figures in the last quarter will signal the end of the double dip.

On a micro scale, many of my clients are reflecting this also. In fact three of them were complaining last week that they were struggling to keep up with the business coming in. Others who have been fighting to keep their heads above water are finally seeing and feeling change approaching. The things that have seemed to be on hold for so long are finally starting to happen, and more of their customers are starting to commit to buying again. Bad debts are becoming less frequent and debtor days are falling.

From my point of view, I too am beginning to see people who had been wary of spending money due to concerns over cash flow, becoming more confident about the future, and are committing to investment.

Of course we are not out of the woods yet, and recovery is going to be slow, but isn’t it time we all started to latch onto the good news, and see if we can’t make this latest resurgence permanent, and worthy of my optimism.

Keeping in touch with past clients and leads is so important, as you never know when people’s circumstances change, and therefore how a “no” to your services at one point could become a “yes” at another.

This was brought home to me recently, when I was discussing an issue with one of my clients. He had been looking for a container/portacabin for a new office, and had budgeted for quite an outlay to get what he wanted. However, initially he found that what he was looking for was rather more expensive than he had planned, and despite going through websites and doing a lot of research was resigned to having to fork out a large lump sum, putting a considerable pressure on cash flow. Fortunately an acquaintance of his told him of a supplier who they had bought from several years previously, and suggested he go there. So back to the internet, but again with no luck, and it wasn’t until he went through an old yellow pages, that he found some details to contact them. As it turned out they had changed their company name, which was why it had been impossible to find them on the web. In the end my client found exactly what he needed from them, and at about 50% of his budgeted amount, so everyone was happy.

However, had my client not been so persistent, he would never have found them, and he wouldn’t have made his savings, and they wouldn’t have made the sale. If they had simply sent an email or a postcard to all their past customers (a very small investment), just think of the business they could have done. After all who knows how many others who have bought from them in the past can no longer find their details.

The moral of the tale, is keep your database up to date, and keep in regular contact.

A business associate recently rang me because he was worried that his business wasn’t moving forward as expected, and although he had won a number of new customers, and his turnover was on target for the year, he was concerned that he was no longer making profits. It didn’t take long to spot that his cost of sales percentage had risen alarmingly over the previous 9 months, but what was it that had caused this? The answer to this also soon became evident.

Essentially this was a successful company which had grown considerably over the previous 12 months, and had taken the decision to press on forward by setting challenging targets for the next year. However, in doing this, they had sub-consciously allowed themselves the leeway of offering discounts to fuel this growth. In the current economic climate when clients are always asking for better prices, and with new leads tempting you by promising you the business, providing your “price is right”, then we can often succumb to this strategy. “Pile it high and sell it cheap”, but in reality this seldom works unless you really have the clout to buy cheaper, and the volume of stock turn which allows you economies of scale. The result more often than not is that we end up becoming “busy fools”, working twice as hard for the same, or very often, worse returns.

Lots more sales at lower margins can clearly increase your turnover, but your profits will invariably stay the same or worsen. However, more annoying than that, is if your sales do not increase significantly, then your profits will drop significantly, and as in the case above, can drive you into a loss making position.

One other thing to remember on this front is to keep on top of your figures. Had they spotted this 6 months earlier they could have largely avoided this problem altogether, whereas now they have some losses they could probably have avoided. On the plus side, at least they did spot it, and have taken immediate and positive actions to reverse this trend. No doubt they will soon be making good profits once more.

Watching the Ryder Cup over the weekend really brought home to me once again the power of the mind, and what it can do to you both positively and negatively. Depending on each player’s frame of mind, it had a major impact on how they approached each shot. Some of the easiest shots became almost impossible, whilst some impossible ones became easy. As always those who really believed they could do it, did, and those who started doubting themselves started miss-hitting shots.

You could tell by their body language who was confident, and who was not, and of course what they believed would be the outcome of their shot, their individual match, and ultimately the entire team result was exactly what happened. What was also incredibly noticeable was how the players started to affect the crowd and vice versa. As the doubts started to creep in, and the very real possibility that Europe could actually win, the crowd started to get nervous, feeding off the players uncertainty, and in return sapping the confidence of the players.

If you take this sort of scenario to a business, yet again you can find similarities. If the business owner starts to lose confidence in the business, or their ability to make the right decisions, the team starts to expect things to go wrong. And of course they do. The sales team no longer believe they can get new business, and naturally enough their prospects don’t feel the assurance that they are buying the right thing, and go elsewhere.

Times are without doubt still very difficult, but you have to keep on believing that you can keep ahead of the game, and not succumb to the feeling that everything is working against you. If you start to think that “bad luck” is following you, it will. So keep being positive and you will bring your own good luck. If you believe you can, you can.