Andy Wilkinson, managing director of Oakley Wilkinson Bryan and non-executive director of Business Link in the West Midlands, shows light amid the credit crunch driven gloom.

Article from the Birmingham Post, August 2008 - Click >

Positivity, Positivity, Positivity. This can be the only way forward at the moment for the creative, marketing and communications sector. As a business owner you owe it to yourself and, critically, to your team to show resilience in the face of tough market conditions.
A magazine I read recently pointed out that to stay hip, one mustn’t mention the ‘last recession’.

Well I’m sure I was in one and, whilst it isn’t something I chat about over a pint, I came through it unscathed. With so much doom and gloom, it is easy to become entrenched in negativity but I believe there are many encouraging signs, especially for courageous businesses that see the opportunity to communicate with their customers and prospects in new ways.

An unstable market can often be the catalyst for change, and the advent of businesses trialling new routes to market is hugely encouraging for our sector.

You only have to look at some recent marketing events held by Business Link in the West Midlands to see that the appetite is there, with nearly 250 people attending and making the five events a complete ‘sell-out’.
Perhaps the old adage that the marketing budget is the first thing to go is losing strength.

Either way, there is no doubt businesses who take themselves seriously and are confident in their product, the price and their infrastructure continue to invest. And they invest wisely.

A positive approach with your customers and prospects will make people look at your business differently.

Talk to customers and test previously untried methods to interact with them, change the conventions of your advertising messages, trial innovative direct marketing, invest in customer service as a differentiator, run exciting informative events, change the way your brand speaks…a positive approach will create positive feedback and growth.

Within a business, a positive approach towards your team will also pay dividends. Having worked in different organisations, some small, some big, I’ve learnt that a clear outlook with regards to trading conditions and new business that everyone shares is critical.

We have recently had our yearly work experience placement and I want that person to leave fuelled up with great images of “work” as a diverse and exciting landscape (although I hear 2009 will see the introduction of CRB checks for all employees at a cost to the company, per employee – the death of work experience!).

If, however we believe what we are hearing daily, they might as well give up now. There are five quick fixes that you can undertake today:

1.A board of positivity – simply write all of the positive things that have happened within your business on a flipchart and update it daily

2.Challenge what you do as a business and how people see you – if you’ve always done it ‘like that’ do something different

3.Reward staff for going the extra mile for customers

4.Tell your people how it is, the challenges ahead and get them on-board

5.Be positive yourself…don’t be downhearted, be upbeat, it can be infectious within a business environment

If the opening of the next meeting you go into starts with “how are things for you at the moment?” don’t fall into the pit of recessionism.

Eulogise on how encouraged you are by the future, believe me it works.
I know that people want to work with driven businesses. They want a supplier to come in and show them that a difficult economic environment is a great opportunity for the well-prepared business to excel and exploit opportunities over its competitors.

So buck the trend, face the challenge head-on and get ready for the ride ahead!

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