understanding which will allow you to target customers, sell effectively, and spot new opportunities.

You can also get an idea of general trends by using published market information- from free government statistics and data to paid-for market reports from commercial providers.

You can also conduct field research using surveys and discussions and product tests to investigate your customers’ attitudes and examine questions specific to your business.

Direct Marketing Direct marketing is most probably the most cost-effective form of marketing. It includes direct mail and leaflet drops to telemarketing and email marketing.

It allows you to have contact with your customer with greater accuracy than any other method but must be thoughtfully prepared for best response.

The Telegraph Business Club- Leadership

According to the blurb on the back of the book,“ one of the most important issues for successful SMEs is leadership”. Leadership is something that we rarely get taught at school, college or university, unless studying the proverbial business, the MBA.

I found Leadership a fairly straightforward read. Defining leadership as“ creating environments in which [ a ] company and its employees can realise their individual and collective potential”, the book is divided into four main areas: thinking, influencing, achieving and leading, all containing stories( as opposed to rhetoric) that readers can easily dip in and out on an as-and-when needed basis.

Following every“ story” is a checklist of questions designed to get potential leaders thinking about developing their own individual leadership style and learning simultaneously bringing others along with them. Eventually, the penny dropped – leadership and management are not the same! Furthermore, the two aren’ t as interchangeable as easily thought and this book pretty much nails it.

Author: James B Rieley Publisher: Hodder Arnold ISBN: 0-340-91397-5 Price: £ 14.99

The Telegraph Business Club – Strategy & Performance

“ Strategy is one of the principal areas that can make your company more successful and profitable than your competitors,” states this book. Offering practical advice on weighing up business options, negotiating common pitfalls and guidance on creating an action plan that works, Strategy & Performance is a much tougher read than its sister book Leadership.

Divided into two main parts, Strategy & Performance is a detailed discourse into some of the reasons why promising companies will sometimes hit the rocks.

Much of the book focuses on vision, one of the key aspects of running a business. It also has several diagrams which readers will undoubtedly find useful, to help them devise and maintain a strategy to increase their performance and of course, profits- once they can find the time to actually do so- but admittedly these may take a while to kick in.

A tough-talking book to go through but it might be worth the effort if the aim of running a business is to make it as stress-free as possible without hitting too many rocks en route.

Author: James B Rieley Publisher: Hodder Arnold ISBN: 0-340-91397-5 Price: £ 14.99

A Guide to Promoting your Business

- the ultimate workbook for business owners

If you’ re new to public relations( the main definition of the initials PR), this is one of the most straightforward guides I’ ve come across and read in my time. An easy-to-use guide, it is packed with tasks that will enable any entrepreneur to understand what is required in doing your own PR, such as writing press releases( the other definition of PR), creating a database of media contacts, and creating a promotional plan( to keep of all those PR activities you’ ve carried out over 12 months for example). It also has many websites from which other resources can be accessed.

Described as“ ideal for entrepreneurs”, Promoting Your Business does as it says which is to provide you with the skills you need to do your own PR and grow your business.

Alongside this book is an accompanying website www. prbasics. co. uk which has enough resources from the book to download and keep permanently on your computer.

Author: Antonia Chitty Publisher: ACPR ISBN: 978-0-9555345-0-8 Price: £ 15.00