Author: Kirsty France

What business are you in?  Do you sell something relatively inexpensive that your customers might take gamble on? Or does doing business with you involve more of a leap of faith? Whatever you do, there’s no escaping the fact that trust makes business work.

Do your customers need to trust you?

When I speak to a potential new customer, I know that there’s a lot riding on it for them.  If I’m writing new content for their website or an update that’s going out to clients, that’s creating an impression. They need to trust that I’m going to do it properly without them having to spend too much time going back and forth editing things.  The time cost is just as important as the price.

Your product might require a substantial outlay for your customers.  Builders, kitchen companies and travel agents all come under this heading.  They need to know that you’re not going to take their money, do a botch job and run. When you’re arranging the only holiday a family might get that year, there’s a personal investment too.

Trust is essential if you offer professional advice.  People have become wary of ‘experts’.  Even if your client is looking for someone to pursue an injury claim for them, they might still suspect that you’re an ambulance chaser.

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These days, it’s a given that everyone is on social media.  Except my mum.  The real question is, what are they doing there?  My Facebook friends range from networking contacts, to my friend’s children to – wait for it – actual friends!  You know, the ones that I occasionally see in real life.

I love the fact that social media enables me to keep up with the lives of people that I don’t see all the time.  Some of them live far away.  With others it’s just that the demands of life with small children means that we can’t meet up like we used to.  I can send new baby congratulations to Canada and catch up with other school mums when the kids are in bed.  A dear friend once told me that Facebook had saved her from interminable evenings looking at people’s holiday photos.  I couldn’t possibly comment…

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I know that Corporate Social Responsibility is a bit of a buzzword.  You’d be forgiven for putting your hands over your ears and waiting for it to go away.

If you were to do that, I suspect you’d be making a mistake.  In the current climate, demonstrating a commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility could be the difference between you and the competition.

Increase your local profile

Even if your business is global, you’re part of a local community.  Multinationals can attract impressive national press coverage, SMEs less so.  Positive coverage in the local press will bring you the right kind of attention when it comes to working with local businesses.

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What’s your marketing plan for 2017?  Have you planned out the whole year, a few months or only as far as next week?

You might be reading this thinking that you haven’t got a marketing plan.  Maybe you’re struggling to find something that works.  You might even be starting to feel that the same techniques aren’t working any more.

The good news is that the New Year gives you a whole new start.  You can rethink things and start afresh.

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If you’re an employee, you probably already know what time off you’ve got over Christmas.  If you don’t, you might want to have a word with the boss, it’s getting late!

It’s a bit different when you run your own business.  You could, in theory, spend the whole year working if you wanted to.  If you think that your business will collapse without you, read this and think again.

But what if you’re just itching to keep on working?  I can sympathise.  I wouldn’t have started my own business if I didn’t have a burning desire to do what I do.  It’s a great idea to have your strategy in place so you can hit the ground running in the New Year.

That’s precisely why you need to take a Christmas holiday.

Are you looking forward to a few days off at Christmas?  If you’re running a small business you might feel as if you can’t stop at all.  I’m not going to tell you about the benefits of taking a break – that’s for another time.

If you know that there are things that need to be done over Christmas to keep your business going, that’s fine.  However, if you want to make it through with your family still speaking to you, read on.

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How are you?  No, really.  Are you OK?  I know that Christmas is meant to be a time for celebration but it can all get a bit stressful, can’t it?

You’re trying to run a business or do your job, keep the house going and the kids fed as you normally would.  Then there are Christmas presents to be found, cards to write before you even get to Christmas.  Thankfully the only visitor we’ve got coming this Christmas is my Mum; she does washing up without being asked.

But if you’re wondering how you’re going to get it all done and make it to Christmas Day with your sanity intact, read on.  This is for you.

 

When it comes to Christmas shopping there are three kinds of people.  The ones who have it all done and wrapped up by October, the ones who leave it until Christmas Eve and the rest of us, who are somewhere in between.

If your business sells anything that could be given as a Christmas gift, this is going to be your busiest time of year.  Hopefully the marketing you’ve done throughout the year will have paid dividends, but what else can you do?

Answer: target the last minute shoppers.  They’ll be looking to make a quick decision and you can capitalise on that.  But how do you do it without sounding desperate?  Here’s how.

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Are you taking time off over the Christmas holiday?  I certainly am.  It might be freezing but as long as it isn’t raining I’m happy.  I’m partly Scottish so I partially subscribe to the idea that there is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.  My children may have to be wrapped up until they resemble mini Michelin men but we’ll definitely be going outside.  Then of course we’ll have to have some hot chocolate to warm up again afterwards.  It’s a tough job, but I’ll struggle through.

The thing is, as much as it might pain me to turn work away, I can if I want to.  As far as I know all of my clients are off over Christmas.  (OK, I’m crossing my fingers as I write that.)  I’ve got enough control over my workload that I can do a few extra hours before the holiday to get myself up to date.  I just have to make sure that people know when they can get hold of me.

But what if you have employees?  Maybe you can’t just shut down for the Christmas break.  There might be some tough decisions to be made but good communication should make it easier.

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There’s no getting away from it – we’re well and truly into the office party season.  The great thing about being a freelancer is that I don’t have to go to any work Christmas parties if I don’t want to.  I could hold my own but it would just be me, pulling a cracker, on my own.  Not exactly festive, I think you’ll agree.  Luckily a couple of clients have invited me to theirs – sadly I can only get to one of them but it should be fun.

Of course, I’m mindful of the fact that I’m not an employee so I definitely have to be on my best behaviour.  The last thing any of us want is to build relationships with clients only to have them wrecked because we had one too many sherries at the office do.

So what do you do if it’s your business and you’re the one hosting the Christmas party?

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