Double Dip Recession - land of new opportunities

The headlines screamed out this week that the UK economy had re-entered recession after two negative quarters back to back.There are many of us who believe the economy has been in recession constantly since early 2008.

It does however, throw up marvellous opportunities for those of us with large databases of customers and contacts built over previous years. So here are a few ideas to help you grow your business, and I am happy to chew over others as and when.

The key to any business success is keeping ahead of the game, Networking in Surrey certainly helps, since Keith Grover keeps his ears open for extra places you can meet and network, plus the obligatory expos that turn up from time to time, further NiS lists people who want to be successful .......... and now Networker Plus has been launched too - there is a graphic to the right, why not click through and take a look?

Also why not consider Joint Ventures? There are plenty of non-competing businesses out there who would like to do so. Or how about adding an income stream by selling new services or products to your database of clients.

They already ..... Know, Like and Trust You, so why go through the hassle of finding new customers, when you already have them?

Many experts talk about re-inventing yourself and your business as a marketing ploy - you do not have to go that far, certainly freshen up your image, and keep your website (& blogs) updated, use all the tools to hand including twitter and other social media, plus regularly produce a newsletter, both as a thank you for customers and as a way of opening up new dialogue.

And even better, why not ask your customers, what they want to buy, and then source it for them? A simple survey via say surveymonkey will do the trick.

Both Jonathan Jay and Robert Craven promote this as a profitable way forward. What have you got to lose by trying this out at minimal risk?

Of course your systems are in place already to ensure you can handle the extra business. They are, aren't they? If not, please address this issue, which is often the real cause of failure before progressing.

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Laurence Lowne runs Combyne Group, and is based in Sutton, Surrey - blog and contact details can be found here: Combyne Blog  Laurence also directly supports business owners through running the NABO Networking group in Croydon.