Hello, its Malcolm Gallagher host of the BizVision.co.uk network of online business channels.

The words worry and uncertainty are looming larger than ever in UK business at the moment.

Yes, there’s a lot of frustration and annoyance but what is concerning is very little action being taken. Inaction causes decay. Coming up are my ten principles of winning at times of uncertainty.

Get the right mindset – times of uncertainty brings an opportunity to build your business. I know I’ve been around long enough and done it.
Don’t assume your business category will behave like all the others. Are you paying attention to the trends and what’s happening in your sector? There’s lots of information out there for you to grab & use.
Run what I call “opportunity scans” to inform & strengthen your win strategy. Too many businesses are too introvert and don’t think laterally enough. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes works wonders in seeing the opportunity.
Raise your game at the Point of Purchase. How are you helping your customer make the decision to buy you? Or let me put it another way, where, or how, are you preventing your customer from buying. You’ll likely need an honest approach to manage this one!
Know who your priority customers or buyers really are and what they are doing, thinking, feeling right now. How important to them is what you make, do or offer? How can you remind them of this importance so that you are NOT downgraded in their purchasing priority?
Watch your competitors even more carefully and act against them decisively. Don’t be soft here as they are likely to be predatory in these uncertain times. I wrote and filmed recently about how to stop them from stealing your customers by using my negativity strategy. Click here for the “stop them stealing your customers” post
Maximise your Marketing Mix – be flexible and experimental. Marketing is constantly changing in its channels and reach. Customers are constantly changing in their behaviour and needs. Don’t just stick to what you have been told is the norm. Make sure that, at the very least, you are measuring your marketing effectiveness with sound KPIs that are focused on the pull through to revenue.
Spend and act smart – make efficiency and effectiveness your watchwords. Allow no waste and no complacency. What’s your conversion rate from enquiry to a customer? Is it slipping or improving? What’s the average spend? How long are sales taking to get through your sales funnel? Make sure you employ my favourite assistant here. She’s called Ruth Less!
Prioritise keeping current customers over getting new ones (unless you can manage both!) Make sure you are ring-fencing existing customers and giving them all the benefits you would give to a new customer. Think creating a community or tribe to draw in their loyalty.
Show leadership (both internally & externally) Show it with your close team, your broader company, your influencers, your customers and especially your suppliers.

I constantly see a lack of leadership in businesses but what I also see is the decay happening to that business and the missed opportunity from inadequate leadership. I’m not blaming those leaders, many of whom may not have ever experienced uncertain times. My grey hair testifies that I’ve lived and survived through a number of them!

So get stuck into the ten principles. Add or subtract as you want but at least do something! Have I missed any or have you got any to add?

Hello from the BizVision Sales Shed. I’m Malcolm Gallagher and I’m feeling positive and optimistic.

I’ve been taking my Brexit Gloom Buster Tablets twice daily and they are working! For example, this last week I developed thrive strategies for 5 businesses I met, mostly in food and drink, developed a win contracts strategy for another, come out with an exciting new brand initiative for us and have initiated a programme for SMEs to access the African market. All in a week……!

I’ve managed to do that, and motivate the businesses involved because I have long been practising what I call “beyond half-full”. I have a mantra of No Problems Only Opportunities and I’ve bored people for years with it!

But it’s true and works!

For instance, research just published by Aberdeen and PJA Marketing clearly shows that buyers actually reach out to vendors or suppliers at the beginning of the buying process.

What’s more, buyers are especially willing to speak to suppliers early in the buying process IF the supplier can actually help them make a buying decision.

Far too many businesses have salespeople who are not making the prospect contact and are coming up with the weak excuse nobody is buying because of “Brexit”. Now, I can understand that excuse existing when you are besieged daily with Brexit gloom. But somewhere the sky is blue. And that’s where I prefer to fly. How about you?

A great answer to finding the blue sky is in my recent interview with Charlotte Foster (see it in Sales Shed TV ) in which she talks about the real need to communicate even more in these challenging or uncertain times. Keep existing and potential customers updated with positive news and great ideas.

One other thing that I’d add is the need to firm up on the communication of your difference from your competitors. Don’t let yourself, or your team, fall into the “similar” trap. As Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle in Funky Business said too many similar businesses, offering similar things, to similar people… you get the idea. Maximise your difference.

With the businesses I work with, I usually go straight in on this at the beginning and ask where they are different. It usually needs a lot of probing to get the answer. Most are too busy getting on with the business that they have forgotten their differentiation which usually means they are missing opportunities.

This last week I also did something I hate doing and have avoided for the past number of years by hiding behind the web and email. I actually went cold calling and I got two new customers! It was hard to do at first, (it’s years since I did it) but then I felt elated after the first call said yes to my proposal. That made me confident for the second one which also proved to be successful. High fives all round!

And, on top of that, I succeeded in getting two other clients, with whom we had been communicating by email but were wavering, fully on board through a face to face visit.

Watch out world next week – I’m planning more personal visits!

What about you- are you still hiding behind the web or are you getting out?

I had to laugh at one web company who were trying to prospect, or sell to me, the other day. They invited me to travel to their place for a coffee and a chat!

It doesn’t work that way does it?!

So many businesses have been seduced by IT slick-talk into thinking that the web can do it all for them. That’s not true and I’ve been walking the walk myself to prove it. The old adage that people buy from people they know like and trust is so important at this time. It’s not just important for surviving but, I believe, vital for thriving.

Don’t get me wrong the web has an important to play in lead generation, customer confidence and service but don’t let your salespeople , or even yourself if you are the salesperson, believe that nobody is buying because of Brexit.

I’m quite excited about the African trading initiative, the new channels for my distillery client, the development with another client of their new home delivered freshly prepared food pack, the new heritage range with my Ceramic artist client around Mayflower 400 which is about the fact that in 2020 it’s 400 years since the Mayflower – think of the American market opportunities around that! Oh, and have I told you about the many Indian companies talking to us about accessing the UK market…. See there are no problems only opportunities. I’ll repeat don’t let your sales team, marketing people or anyone else tell you that “nobody is buying because of Brexit”. There’s a big world out there beyond Brexit and the EU. Tell yourself you are going truffle hunting to sniff out opportunity or reach for the blue sky (select your own analogy!).