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A New Year
A New Year
Hello ...
Well that was a hectic Christmas period for us and we sincerely hope we managed to deliver what you needed at the right time.
We have now completed our first trade show of the year - The International Spring Fair at the NEC. This is Europe's largest Gift Fair and the carpet layers told me that if you walk every aisle of every hall you would walk over 16 miles!
We struggled to get their as a result of the snow that hit the UK and the first day saw visitor numbers down as a result of the travel problems, but overall we had our best-ever show and were blown away with the feedback and positive comments about all of our new products.
We chatted to customers - new and existing - and almost without exception everyone said that business was OK. Admittedly few said they were really booming, however it was obvious that by people managing the right things they had managed to maintain a level of business that they were pleased with. It always amazes me that these positive stories do not seem to hit the press. The BBC seems to focus on the dramatic 'huge losses' or 'major job cut' stories that serve to reinforce the nervousness of our country and culture, rather than the stories of normal folk managing tight ships and actually growing or as a minimum preserving their small businesses.
So on a positive note, as we like to focus on those things, do have a look at our new products that are now appearing on our website and in a shop near you. Let us have your views - and we do hope you like them as much as we do.
We have lots of exciting plans for this year ...
- more new products
- expansion into new countries
- expansion into new languages
- looking at new-media alternative versions of our products
- listening to our customers
- growing our business and our employees
Do tell us what you would like to see us doing ...
So here's to a great 2012 - a year to celebrate here in the UK for many reasons including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and, of course, the Olympics in London. I know for sure i will be watching every bit I can in the corner of my computer screen while I am at work having sadly failed to get any of the tickets I applied for. If you are competing - good luck - and if you are an armchair athlete - good luck with striving for your own gold medals in whatever area you want to succeed.
Thanks for reading
Neil
life matters ... pass it on
Well that was a hectic Christmas period for us and we sincerely hope we managed to deliver what you needed at the right time.
We have now completed our first trade show of the year - The International Spring Fair at the NEC. This is Europe's largest Gift Fair and the carpet layers told me that if you walk every aisle of every hall you would walk over 16 miles!
We struggled to get their as a result of the snow that hit the UK and the first day saw visitor numbers down as a result of the travel problems, but overall we had our best-ever show and were blown away with the feedback and positive comments about all of our new products.
We chatted to customers - new and existing - and almost without exception everyone said that business was OK. Admittedly few said they were really booming, however it was obvious that by people managing the right things they had managed to maintain a level of business that they were pleased with. It always amazes me that these positive stories do not seem to hit the press. The BBC seems to focus on the dramatic 'huge losses' or 'major job cut' stories that serve to reinforce the nervousness of our country and culture, rather than the stories of normal folk managing tight ships and actually growing or as a minimum preserving their small businesses.
So on a positive note, as we like to focus on those things, do have a look at our new products that are now appearing on our website and in a shop near you. Let us have your views - and we do hope you like them as much as we do.
We have lots of exciting plans for this year ...
- more new products
- expansion into new countries
- expansion into new languages
- looking at new-media alternative versions of our products
- listening to our customers
- growing our business and our employees
Do tell us what you would like to see us doing ...
So here's to a great 2012 - a year to celebrate here in the UK for many reasons including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and, of course, the Olympics in London. I know for sure i will be watching every bit I can in the corner of my computer screen while I am at work having sadly failed to get any of the tickets I applied for. If you are competing - good luck - and if you are an armchair athlete - good luck with striving for your own gold medals in whatever area you want to succeed.
Thanks for reading
Neil
life matters ... pass it on