4 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Mover</strong> ● <strong>December</strong> <strong>2012</strong> ● www.themover.co.ukLEADERTime for salesto take the leadSteve Jordan, Editor<strong>The</strong> world of moving, in the UK at least, seems tobe on the up. And about time you might say. Mostof the movers I talk to had a pretty good year in<strong>2012</strong>, good by comparison to the last few anyway. I haveheard also today that the UK housing market is lookinga little brighter so that’s a good sign for 2013 too.Business generally seems to be better but prices arestill stretched. <strong>The</strong>re still seems to be plenty of peopleout there prepared to work for peanuts.<strong>The</strong>n again, there always has been. <strong>Mover</strong>s seem tohave a unique ability to compete on price when, in fact,there is so much else that is important to customers ifonly our sales people had worked out how to get themessage across. In a past life I used to lecture on salesfor BAR. It was clear to me then that most sales peopletalked about quality but when you asked them todemonstrate it, they looked at the floor and dribbled. Askthem to differentiate their service from a competitor’sand they would waffle and fail to make any sense.People often said to me that there was little actualdifference between them and a competitor so it was onlyprice they had to sell on. I understand, but the obverseof the coin is that when everyone is the same, beingdifferent (better) should be easy: you don’t need to domuch extra to be extraordinary. So how about askingyourself today, what can you do in the future that’s alittle different from your competition? How can you showyour quality and attention to detail? How can you makeyour customers pay a little more because they get youas part of the package? It’s not easy, I know - I did it forlong enough - but it is possible. What’s more, as themarket begins to recover which, I feel it certainly will in2013, it really is worth making the effort to spend a littlelonger with each customer, be a little more attentive,and work a little harder because the business is comingback. <strong>The</strong> challenge now is to be bold enough to believein your quality, make your customers see it, and makesome real profits again.Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous2013.Steve Jordan● 88% of businesses reported a rise in transport costs.Business costs still risingahead of inflation<strong>The</strong> cost of doing business has continued to rise during <strong>2012</strong>,with energy costs still the most commonly seen increase amongSMEs, research by the Forum of Private Business has indicated.<strong>The</strong> Forum’s latest quarterlyReferendum survey, carriedout among its members,shows firms are still facingan uphill battle to make ends meet.<strong>The</strong> results showed in total 95%of businesses have seen an overallincrease in their business costs. 85%of businesses reported an increasein energy costs, 88% in transportcosts, 82% a rise in marketing costs,and 73% a rise in the cost of rawmaterials/stock.Also of concern, the reportidentified around one in threebusiness owners who admitted tobeing unable to pass rising costsonto customers, forcing them to cuttheir own costs to keep prices static.Alex Jackman, the Forum’s SeniorPolicy Adviser, said: “<strong>The</strong> majorreasons for increases in prices arepredominantly down to VAT andenergy prices rising, coupled withthe weakness of sterling forimporters. Unfortunately, it doesn’tlook as if there is going to be anyrespite from energy hikes any timesoon. Oil prices have started risingagain having dipped in the summer,and now we have the likes of BritishGas raising prices for customerstoo. On the horizon we have a 3p alitre increase in fuel duty scheduledfor January.”While annual inflation has droppedfrom around 5% to 3%, the researchalso found small business inflationrunning at 6.7%. This means priceshave risen far faster for micro, smalland medium-sized businesses thanfor the rest of UK society, althoughthis is less than the 8.3% figurereported by the Forum last year inresearch into business costs,suggesting things have improved,albeit slowly. Wage inflation isaround the same level as underlyinginflation as reducing staff costs hasbeen the only way for somebusinesses to continue trading.“<strong>The</strong> major reasons forincreases in prices arepredominantly downto VAT and energyprices rising ...”Alex Jackman<strong>The</strong> most frequently citedexacerbating factors were customerspaying late (59%) and competitorsoffering products below cost price(55%). Changing payment termshad been a problem for 24% ofbusinesses in dealing with suppliers,and 26% in dealing with customers.This latter issue suggests there ismuch work to be done in encouragingmore firms to subscribe to thePrompt Payment Code, whichaddresses the retrospective changingof payment terms and conditions.● <strong>The</strong> Forum of Private Businessis a proactive business supportorganisation focused on thegrowth and profitability of smallbusinesses. For more informationvisit www.fpb.org.
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