You can't move for the predictions of a tough year ahead for business and there is no doubt we will all feel it in our turnover and our margins. Nonetheless, as small business owners we are not ones to back down from a challenge. Resilience rather than resignation is called for and whatever is happening out there, the fundamentals of doing good business remain as important now as they ever did.

Buy well and protect your bottom line

Buying well has always been as important as selling well; and in today's market there is always scope to review your costs, asking for more reward in exchange for continued loyalty. Scouting the market for better deals on your utilities, your IT support, your broadband provider and your financial and insurance services. Saving £10 a month may seem inconsequential but find that saving in 10 different areas of your business and £1200 a year straight to your bottom line is worth having.

Go the 'extra mile' for your customers

Making every customer want to come back to you rather than go elsewhere is the quickest route to improved sales. Repeat business and referrals are incredibly inexpensive ways of driving up turnover but it doesn't just happen. I am still amazed at how expensive marketing campaigns and well designed websites and leaflets can be negated by poor service, unwelcoming attitudes and no one wanting to go the extra mile.

The customer is king may be an old fashioned and hackneyed expression but my word, if for the cost of a welcoming smile and a service that makes someone feel special, a customer not only buys from you but tells all their friends about how great you are then isn't it worth making sure that is happening every time a customer makes contact?

Talking about going the extra mile, such demanding times often bring out clever ways of attracting and keeping customers. A second hand bookshop in London has a box of reading glasses of every strength on their counter so their customers can borrow them to help them choose the books they want.

A ladies clothes shop in Ontario has put phones in every changing room so that customers don't have to get dressed again if they want to try a different size. They just pick up the phone and ask a shop assistant to bring them one.

I heard about a restaurant owner in Nottingham who opened up a restaurant with no marketing budget to promote it. So he went to every hairdressing salon in the area and invited them all for a free meal. He treated them like royalty and simply asked that if they enjoyed themselves they tell people about it. After all hairdressers spend all day talking to their customers and after that night they told all their customers about how wonderful the restaurant was and told them all that they would get a free glass of wine if they booked a table and mentioned the hairdressers name.... the restaurant was as full as the owner could have hoped and because he treated EVERY customer like royalty they told their friends and they told their friends etc, etc.

Make sure you are working 'on' your business

Finally, taking time away from working 'in' the business in order to work 'on' the business will pay dividends. Take a step back and look at your business with fresh eyes, perhaps talk to your staff about how they see the business, get hold of e-factor and ask them to work with you to do a Business Health Check. It costs nothing but time and may uncover some opportunities that you hadn't seen before.

2012 will be a challenge for us all and whilst just 'being positive' won't cut it, this is a rotten time for mediocrity and a great time to reawaken that spirit that drove us to be in business in the first place.

Good luck to everyone and here is to an exciting and prosperous year ahead.

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