A simple idea for immediate impact

It's cold. You're busy. The rules keep changing. It's been a hard year. If we had to list all our moans we could probably come up with a top ten within a few minutes.

Could you manage an equally long list of positives? Some ideas for things to look forward to? Why you think 2021 is likely to be really good? What's exciting you?

Scribble down every positive you can think of, and keep adding to the list whenever you can. 

This isn't just a Pollyanna approach to life: it's good marketing. 

Years ago I worked for a specialist tour operator and incentive house. Every hotelier wanted to sell us their rooms, to convince us to pay top prices for their luxurious places to stay. A steady stream of sales managers came to tell us about their hotels. I remember we were looking forward to meeting the representative of one upmarket hotel chain as we were planning to send a large group to stay with them. It was a rainy day and the sales manager came into the office, shaking off her wet umbrella, moaning about the weather, talking about the terrible traffic. Within five minutes she'd delivered so many downbeat messages, we struggled to show any enthusiasm for the hotel, despite it previously being the forerunner for a lucrative contract. It might have been wrong to judge the hotel by that miserable woman but we couldn't help it - they employed her. 

A couple of hours later - by which time it was raining even harder and there was a puddle outside the office door - in bounced another hotel representative. She grinned as she came into the office, and presented us with a bunch of bright yellow flowers, saying "I thought these looked so lovely and cheerful you might like them in your office". I still remember her name and the name of the hotel she was promoting. It wasn't quite so well-known as the other one, but we all agreed we instinctively felt her hotel would offer better service and gave her the contract. We continued to use that hotel for several other groups too. 

Of course, we all make decisions based on more than just a bunch of yellow flowers. But the fact remains that we all want to feel better. We judged large hotels based on one of their employees. If you run a small business, then inevitably you're responsible for your business 'brand' and how people respond to the business.  

If your social media posts are full of moans about the weather, comments about how glad you are that 2020 is nearly over, what does that tell potential visitors? 

Let's start a list of all the positives we can think of, the reasons why we think 2021 will be brilliant, what we're most looking forward to, why we're excited about the year ahead.

Find images to go with these ideas and include them on your website.

Write a blog and share it widely on social media.

Post upbeat and enthusiastic messages and images on social media.

Send emails full of passion and positivity.

​I promise it will pay off. And you'll feel better. 

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