The UK is in recession and it is difficult to see signs of green shoots in the economy. For local SME businesses based in the Gatwick Diamond and surrounding areas, there are opportunities at Gatwick Airport.

We all agree things are tough at the moment for many businesses. The construction industry has been hit hard by the recession and who knows when the economy will improve generally. That is why it is in everyone’s interest that we make good use of all the resources available to us.

Growing a business of any size is about identifying opportunity and being prepared for it. Businesses that want to grow need to have a strategy for growth because growth isn’t realised unless you are prepared. We’ll leave that discussion for another time.

Gatwick Airport was in the news recently. BAA sold the airport to Global Infrastructure Partners, a New York based investment fund, for £1.5 billion. Global Infrastructure Partners have a business strategy for Gatwick Airport that includes re-organising the airport so that it can grow its airline traffic whilst operating only one runway. GIP will invest around £985 million in construction between now and 2013. Who wouldn’t want a fraction of a percentage of that?

Crawley Borough Council, with other local partners, held a joint presentation at the Civic Hall recently to promote opportunities for SME businesses at the airport. The outcome is that on 8 July 2010, the same partners are holding a trade fair with a difference called “Meet The Buyer 2010”. This format has been an annual event for the past 7 years and generated over £8 million revenue for participants.

Looking at the list of buyers attending this event you should consider being there. Winning business won’t be as easy as turning up and will require you to demonstrate your ability to meet high standards, but you may find a niche somewhere in the supply chain.

Let’s face it, even if you don’t win any business this time around, you will obtain access to a network of decision makers that could turn to you at some time in the future to fulfil a particular need, as only a SME business can.

Please contact me at davidb@businessdoctors.co.uk and let me know how you get on.

I have often analysed processes looking for improvement in a variety of businesses, large, medium and small. A tremendous effort is expended to ensure a process is relevant and effective. Businesses invest huge sums in design, implementation and training, advertising and sales to promote and win business. Why then does the sales process fail at the very last hurdle? 

Here are some real life examples where despite all the investment in process, sales were lost: 

1     Not responding

In January, Richard and Angela went out in the snow to buy a car for Angela. Since they had a 10 year old car to trade in they went to dealerships to look for new cars under the recent scrappage scheme. Having identified a likely make and model, they decided to check a local used car dealership to see if there was a competitive used car in stock that would meet their needs. Admittedly it had been snowing, but they called the dealership, left their contact details more than once and expected a response. To this day they have not had a response. Now there could have been a technical reason for the failure, but who knows. If a business can't take calls from a prospective customer and respond, how can it succeed in today's challenging times? 

2     Not following through

Harry applied to a major high street bank for a business bank account and he was correctly passed through to a local provider near his home. He explained, due to his circumstances, that he preferred to meet someone near where he worked since the meeting had to be during working hours. Harry was told he would be re-assigned to someone at another business branch. The follow-up never came.Undeterred, he contacted a different high street bank who promised to send me the application pack by post within 4 days. Would you believe it, it never arrived, even today. Third time lucky, Harry went to see a third high street bank and this time his application was processed within 24 hours. Harry is now up and running with his new business account, so he is happy in the end, but it took him 2 weeks longer than expected.In a competitive environment, people will go elsewhere. If your first contact is a poor experience, you are likely to have negative thoughts about the organisation. 

3     Missed opportunity

It is important to have a well trained sales force, but even more important that they have an awareness of customer need and how much easier it is to sell if the customer has a strong need. For example, John went to a well known high street mobile phone company and told them he had lost his phone, but he would like to keep the telephone number. The assistant went away and after 15 mins, returned and replied that there was nothing they could do.  That was the end of the conversation. John went across the road to a competitor to purchase a new phone. Surely this is the situation a savvy sales person dreams of: a customer in need. "Well we may not be able to help in this way, but can we sell you a new phone?" 

Considering how much money companies invest in advertising, a high street presence and a sales force, why is it that you come across these breakdowns in the selling process? Businesses of all sizes can learn from these experiences and it is important to remember that a process is only as strong as the weakest link. It is so important for customer facing staff to understand the importance of their role in the organisation and the processes supporting them. 

Do you have similar experiences? Please send your examples to me David Blackburn (davidb@businessdoctors.co.uk), I will collate the examples and share them. We can learn from such lessons and use the experience if we keep them in mind. 

David Blackburn

Business Doctors Surrey

Business Doctors Surrey including East Surrey, Croydon and the Gatwick Diamond.

Established in 2004, Business Doctors helps small and medium-sized businesses to achieve the next level of growth in turnover and profitability.  Offering expert friendly, practical support with strategy, sales and profit growth and people engagement, Business Doctors also provides implementation and interim support with management, sales, operations, HR, finance, training and development as well as helping businesses access funding and financial support.

Business Doctors' mantra to owners of small and medium sized businesses is, "Achieve your vision".  But this is not simply a marketing slogan, we really believe that understanding your own personal motivation is the key to successful business growth.  Indeed, it's why we, as experienced business people ourselves, become Business Doctors in the first place.  Business Doctors have gained a significant amount of experience in both corporate and SME environments and consistently pushed ourselves beyond our comfort zones to overcome challenges and become more effective and rounded people.  This is typically at the root of your Business Doctor's passionate approach to helping clients to leap over the hurdles they are currently experiencing in their own businesses.

The thinking behind this is simple and has at its heart how the subconscious mind works (see the recent post A powerful way to overcome the barriers to achieving your vision).  Basically, if you believe that something will happen, then your subconscious mind will guide your behaviours and actions towards the desired outcome.

So, my advice would be to give some thought as to why you're in business in the first place.  Think about what it is that you want to achieve.  It could be that you'd like to retire early to the Bahamas or the South of France, it may be that you want to play a significant role in building a better society, like the regeneration of the area you grew up in or making life better for children with cancer, like my friend Colin through his charity Little Heroes, or it may simply be that you want to earn enough to give your own children a better future.  If you hear people talking about 'life goals', that's all they're referring to.

Whatever your own personal vision, your actions will be much more effective if you understand what your vision is.  For a Business Doctor, this is an important part of the process whereby we help you put in place an achievable strategic plan for your business and when we work with our clients, this is very often the starting point.  So if you haven't thought along these lines before, give it a go; it could at the very least liven up your day with a fun and invigorating few minutes' day dreaming!

Now, don't be fooled by the photo - but which one of the above examples do you think best describes my vision?

As UK economic data and other indicators continue to paint a shaky picture of economic growth (according to Gordon Brown's latest warning, not to mention recent data including industrial output, balance of trade and house prices), it may seem like the green shoots of recovery are still some way off (although I'm wondering in an election year, which politician will be the first to overlook Norman Lamont's premature optimism in the early 90's recession and start to over-promise recovery at this time of of economic under-delivery).

An email I received from a contact this morning brought the message home to me - as if it were needed - that many real companies doing real work and employing real people really are struggling in the current climate; it really sounded like a cry for help.

Part of our role as Business Doctors is to provide a link between private sector SMEs and public sector bodies who are responsible for implementing economic policies aimed at stimulating and regenerating businesses - in fact, it's the Business Doctors' mission to help bring companies back to health and I for one believe passionately in that.

So without beating about the bush, the point of this blog is quite simply and unashamedly to make you aware that there's a strong possibility that Yorkshire companies who need help to grow may be able to benefit from a fully funded project worth £3000, which can be delivered by Business Doctors, to provide a full strategic review, implementation planning and support for your business operations.  This really is a fantastic way to get a clear picture of where you're going in business in these difficult times and get some help to make sure projects to deliver change are properly set up.

The funding is provided by Yorkshire Forward, and brokered by Business Link and there are certain criteria which companies should fulfill in order to qualify (namely your company should be based in Yorkshire, have been operating for a few years or so and be looking to grow).

Let us help you get your ideas off the ground - together we can beat the recession!