Leverage the weak Pound to drive export sales

It's tough out there - we all know that. Day after day of depressing news, business failures and more uncertainty.

But in the UK we have a potential upside that is stronger than in many other markets. The weak Pound.

Sterling is more competitive than it's been for years, and despite a relative rally against the Euro at the time of posting this Blog, the UK currently has a great competitive edge in Europe, Asia and the US.

You just have to walk down Oxford Street or go into Selfridges in London's West End to see the hoards of Europeans snapping up items as if it's the first day of the Sales. The UK is clearly a very attractive place to come and buy goods - much in the same way as we all herded over to New York 2 years ago when the Dollar was 2 to the Pound. We now need to step up a gear and and get in front of new customers in new markets overseas.

Of course a cynic will argue that there's not much use trying to build business internationally during a global recession when other markets are in a bad way too, but think again; there will always be a demand for product that is innovative, well designed and priced competitively.

As a nation, we have always been good at the first two, but fallen behind when compared on price. Now we have the advantage of all three, without having to compromise on margin reductions and cost cutting.

In future Blogs, I'll point out where some of the opportunities currently lie and how to tie them down.