One of my favourite sayings is ‘Governments are like underwear. They need to be changed often and for the same reason’ – There has never been a better time for a clean sweep.

Which set me thinking as I sat in my office last week staring at the cabinet in the corner jam-packed with books, folders, invoices and heaven knows what else - all the ‘stuff’ I’d accumulated over the last few months thinking “I must do that some time!” It really made me think about the last time I’d done a clean sweep!

Marketing is the key to your businesses success...
You need to:

• Decide which customers to target.
• Work out how you will reach and win new customers
• Make sure that you keep existing customers happy.
• Keep reviewing and improving everything you do to stay ahead of the competition.Marketing is the key to your businesses success...
You need to:

• Decide which customers to target.
• Work out how you will reach and win new customers
• Make sure that you keep existing customers happy.
• Keep reviewing and improving everything you do to stay ahead of the competition.

There I was lying in a hospital bed a few months ago having had a life threatening operation and it got me thinking about my own mindset. One of the areas I cover when ever I talk with clients or prospective clients is that Marketing is not rocket science…most of it is common sense, but the most important thing you can do today is - take action, just do it (now who said that?). Don’t talk about it – do it!

Businesses without a sales and marketing plan are leaving everything to chance – and that could be as many as 45% of small & medium size businesses, according to JCH Communications

“Having no marketing or sales plan in place is a dangerous game to play,” suggests John Hayes of JCH Communications, which carried out the survey among small/medium businesses at the end of last year.

JCH asked *small/medium businesses about their sales and marketing skills, abilities and budgets as part of research to see how best to support them. The results were quite staggering: