Hello,

Welcome to the first Quick e-Newsletter of the new tax year for 2007.

I don’t know about any of you but they just come and go for me now, almost a way of life, and I have to say much easier if I just leave all that Tax stuff up to the accountant. After all, that is what you pay them to do, provide you with peace of mind.

This leads me on to a conversation with someone I had this month about how to differentiate himself from his competitors. He was hooked up on price, and that he felt he had to undercut his competition to beat them. As a new business start-up he was almost desperate for the business, almost blinded by the thought that low prices would bring him more business. It took a few moments but in the end I think I managed to get him to see a different perspective.

My view is that when someone visits Curry’s, Comet, or any other electrical retailer to by a new television they are not buying a television, they are buying entertainment. Entertainment is a service not a product, and to back up that service they are also buying Peace of Mind that they will receive the level of entertainment they expect. Despite what anyone says, the shopper will not make their purchase based on price, they will make their purchase based on which retailer will give them the right level of Peace of Mind – and that final decision comes down to which sales person on the shop floor who satisfies that Peace of Mind. The shopper will be buying from the person, people buy people.

So I said to this guy, don’t spend all your energy trying to undercut your competition and ultimately making no profit to pay your mortgage. Instead focus your energy in finding out what it really is that your customers are buying from you not the product you are trying to sell them, and then satisfy that Peace of Mind. Spend a bit of time thinking about your own business, think about what you think you are selling to your customers and compare that to what your customers are actually buying. Are they the same thing? I believe no matter what anyone says, no-one really buys products based on price. They buy a service that provides them with Peace of Mind.

As always, this month we have 3 more excellent articles to help you move your business forward, and if you know anyone who would benefit from the information in this monthly newsletter please forward this on.

The UK Business Forums have been extremely busy this month with lots of new members joining in the debates on a daily basis. Some of the topics being discussed this month include;

These and hundreds of other small business topics are discussed every day at www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk, join in the discussions, offer your advice and ask your own questions at the UK Business Forums.

We also offer a Full Membership on the forums for those who want to increase their profile to other members, larger signature and a business listing in the UK Business Directory For more information on UKBF membership levels please view here

I hope you enjoy this months Quick e-News and look forward to providing you with more support and informative articles next month. Until then,

Kind regards,

Richard Osborne

richard.osborne@Quickformations.com