Time for small businesses to sell their way out of slump
Oct 20 2009 by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post
Business leaders from the West Midlands attended a round table event at the Birmingham Post to kick off Small Business Week, leading to a lively debate about what is next for the economy. Graeme Brown reports.
Now is the time for business people in the West Midlands to step up and sell their way out of recession.
That was the view of business leaders and lobbyists at yesterday’s round table event, which came hours after a new study showed three out of four small businesses believe the economy will improve next year, with many expecting an upturn by January.
The consensus around the table was that while the West Midlands has been hit harder than most amid months of depressed spending levels, it is within the power of the region’s firms to trade their way out of recession.
Dave Smallwood, of BT Local Business, said while the recession has hit many firms hard, there should be no excuses for struggling firms.
He said: “There seems to be a reluctance to ask for orders.
‘‘This is the time where we have to sell and in order to get customers spending you have to get out there and earn it.
“The world is not going to come to you and say ‘can I have that new system please, or super-fast broadband?’.
“You have to go to them, and we have to sell our way out of this.”
A survey of 7,200 firms by telecoms giant BT published yesterday showed that almost two-thirds were confident about their prospects over the next year, while almost half believed their business operated for the better as a result of the economic downturn.
But the impact of the recession was said to be “raw” for one in five firms which complained of a lasting impact, including lost customers and increased debt. And women aged between 46 and 55 were found to have been most affected by the recession.
The survey was published to mark the start of Small Business Week, aimed at boosting the UK’s 4.7 million smaller enterprises.
David Caro, of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and automotive supplier Qualplast, admitted times were tough.
He said: “When I compare figures that we have for the West Midlands with other parts of the UK it is obvious that the West Midlands is struggling, more so than my colleagues in the South-East of England. The biggest problem in the West Midlands is going to be the spending power of customers because we have seen some of the worst unemployment in the West Midlands. If people are unemployed they are not going to be spending.
“Many businesses suffer when they come out of recession and there will clearly be some very difficult challenges for businesses.”
He added: “If the large businesses aren’t doing well then the small businesses have nothing to feed into.
