Last week you would have received an Easter offer - one that 49 people took up.

If you remember I offered the opportunity to share your challenges, and I would provide some thoughts or guidance on what I would suggest - as I would with our clients.

So here is the summary of the key themes:

Staffing Issues: several small businesses are struggling with underperforming team members, but ultimately it came down to a combination of not setting clear objectives and having structured review processes, regularly enough.

Lack of Sales through Emails: too many businesses were sending daily sales emails to their list and this was reducing open rates and click through. Don't be cringey and salesy with your emails - offer value and occasionally ask for the sale.

Profitability Concerns: varied issues, but the general feedback was a lack of pricing increases, mainly through fear or previous issues when implementing before.

and the big one....

Marketing: too much focus on HUGE logos on direct mail (no-one cares about your logo), communication was predominantly about features and not benefits, vague or complicated call to actions and in one case an A4 leaflet that only used one side - leaving an entire side blank!

So a brief email this week but the feedback above is a good starting point that if you are having any of the same challenges, have a look at what we shared with these businesses yourself.

The answers are probably closer than you think.

Speak soon!

Jim