Business networking was put on hold for a short while at the Buxton 4Networking group last week as a £540 cheque was presented to Help For Heroes.

Local hero, Jon Hilton, who himself served in Iraq and now runs a business called Pulse Rate Training, accepted the cheque on behalf of Help For Heroes at 4Networking’s business meeting at Buxton & High Peak’s golf club.

The cash was raised at their Christmas party held on 2^nd July. Yes, you did hear correctly, it was a Christmas party, after the real one was cancelled in December because of heavy snow. The late Christmas party gave business members a chance to relax and have some fun, as well as raising funds for their chosen charity. 4Networking Group Leader, Jan McSkimming said, “It was a fantastic night, with people travelling from all across the Peak District, including Staffordshire,Cheshire,Manchester andSheffield. Our Operations Assistant, Nigel Collins brought his popular band, Twisted Lick to entertain us. But what was so heartwarming, was the generosity of so many businesses in these difficult economic times. They provided all of the fantastic auction and raffle prizes, as well as dipping into their pockets to win them as well! Amazing!”

Pete Clowes, Area Leader for the 4Networking network said, “This is an example of how 4Networking works. We encourage business members to support each other by working and collaborating together.

Jon, who served in the forces before starting his own business, Pulse Rate Training, inspired the group by talking about his experiences “From Bullets to Business”, and how 4Networking has helped turn his life around. As well as running his own business Jon supports charities to help ex soldiers, particularly those with injuries integrate back into normal life.

OK, there’s a bit of  déjà vu going on here, we seem to be drawing 2010 to a close the way we started it, with snow blizzards and disruptions to business. If it hasn’t been the weather, there’s been elections, economic spending reviews, ash clouds…need I go on? All of them extremely disruptive and inconvenient to everyone, but there’s also been a lot of ‘waiting to see what happens’ type of behaviour. “We won’t make a decision until we know what our budgets are…” “We can’t spend any money until after the spending review…” And of course even before the snow started, for some reason, you hear…”we’re not making any decisions now until after Christmas” Why? Why does Christmas have to stop business? Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year. I actually don’t mind the decorations going up, it’s cheery to see in the dark nights, but do we have to stop making decisions and stop work? Even taking Christmas shopping and parties into account, what else is there to stop decisions being made?

It’s driving me to distraction! We’ve got important meetings booked right up until the week before Christmas and expect to be busy with proposals and preparation work for companies who want to hit the ground running in 2011. Surely, if your business does quieten down during December it is an ideal time to plan for the year ahead, finalising your marketing plans, refocusing your message and marketing materials and updating your website. Those companies that waited ‘until after Christmas’ in 2009 found themselves at the back of the queue when the bad weather hit early in 2010. If you are not prepared, you can be sure your competitors will be. Stay ahead of the game and take action now. Don’t leave it until it’s too late.

If you are retail or are relying on people coming through your front door then the snow is going to have a big impact on sales, so now is the time to think how else to bring in business. Retailers who also sell online will be fairing much better, especially as we are coming into the biggest online spending weeks of the year. And it looks like they are predicting record sales in 2010. Is your business going to be one of those reaping the rewards? If not, get your products online now. You may argue you haven’t got the money because sales are down, but unfortunately it is still true that you have to speculate to accumulate. If it’s going to bring in sales then it’s an investment and not a cost to the business. Act now. Get selling online. You might miss the Christmas period but if you sort it now you can be selling online for the January sales. In the long run it will reduce your cost of sale – something we will all have to think about when VAT goes up in January.

I firmly believe small businesses have an advantage in this economic climate to be flexible and react quickly to very changing markets. And it really is like quick sand out there, changing all of the time. We get people asking us why things they have always done do not work any more. And it’s true, it’s a very difficult market. What we have to do is really understand our customers, what is happening in their lives right now and what’s important to them. If you can respond quickly and tell them you have an answer to their problems you are going to be a winner. We’ve been offering a free hour marketing consultancy with some of our clients to help them determine what’s happening in their markets and how best to respond. It’s not always obvious. It’s a time to hold your nerve, to stay motivated and above all stay active with your marketing, to make sure your customers know you are there.

We work with many companies and some are flying, really taking advantage of their market conditions whilst many more are struggling because their traditional market is just not spending any more. Whichever position you find yourself in, marketing should be a big part of your business activity. If you are interested in talking to us to see if we can help your business give us a call on 01457 857111 or take a look at our website to see how we have helped other companies www.firstimpression.co.uk