Why Some Local Businesses Thrive While Others Struggle

On a recent edition of Phil In The Morning on Cheshire’s Mix 56, I was joined by Simon Anthony, founder of The Business Hub and a highly experienced local business coach.

Simon has “been starting and building businesses for over 30 years,” having launched his first venture at 16 and later completed a master’s degree in business at 30.

For the last five years, he’s focused on working one-to-one with business owners to help them grow, survive and stand out in tough trading conditions.

A Tougher Year Ahead For Local Businesses

Simon doesn’t sugar-coat the economic climate. “Last year was particularly tough,” he told me, “and my concern is that this year is going to be a little bit tougher in the economy.” With costs rising and competition increasing, he believes only the businesses that are truly exceptional in how they’re run will really thrive.

We talked about everything owners are up against – from global events and political uncertainty to fuel prices and local competition.

But Simon is clear that while the external environment is the same for everyone, the real difference lies in “the habits, the attitudes, the behaviours, and what the business owner focuses on.”

Do You Have A Real Plan – Or Are You Drifting?

Mention “business plan” and many owners immediately picture a 20-page document written once for the bank and then abandoned in a bottom drawer. Simon agrees that old-school plans like that are rarely useful, but he’s adamant that a clear, working plan is essential.

When he works with clients, he focuses on three key elements of a strong plan:

1. Clarity on what the owner really wants
“One is to understand what the business owner really wants for themselves and for the business,” he said, “because often they set off on a path, build a business, and then it’s incongruent with the life that they wanted.”

2. A map and a compass
Once that vision is clear, owners need “a map on how to get there” – and, as Simon puts it, “they need a map and a compass because it’s very easy to go off track.”

3. Driving the business, not drifting
Finally, he sees a critical difference between “either drifting along or driving the business along – and that’s really important.” In his experience, “about 80%” of business owners are effectively drifting, working incredibly hard but often “on the wrong things.

Visibility: Why Some Places Are Packed And Others Are Empty

If you’ve ever walked down a busy high street and wondered why one restaurant is heaving while another, just a few doors down, sits empty, Simon has a clear view.

He shared a recent visit to Chester where he saw exactly that: two good-looking restaurants on the same street, at the same time of day, in the same weather and market conditions – one full, one quiet.

For Simon, one of the big differentiators is visibility.

“Visibility is about staying in front of mind with your clients,” he explained. “Competition is fierce… and [it’s about] giving them reasons constantly why they should choose you.”

It’s not just about paid advertising. Consistent, rhythmic marketing – whether daily or weekly – plays a huge role.

Simon sees a common pattern: businesses do a burst of marketing, get busy, then stop marketing altogether. “It needs to be constantly rhythmic,” he said, because that’s when it has a compounding effect.

And visibility isn’t only digital. We talked about a local restaurant near our studios in Lymm where, despite being very busy, the team went out of their way to find us a table and made us feel genuinely welcome.

That simple “can-do attitude” turned a last-minute lunch into a memorable experience – and made me want to go back and leave them a glowing review.

As Simon said, it’s a shame that level of care “stands out because it’s quite rare.”

Building The Right Team: Hire Slow, Fire Fast

In part two of our conversation, we turned to teams – because, as Simon pointed out, front-of-house, back-of-house and everyone in between will “make or break” a business.

He’s a big believer in the old saying “hire slow, fire quick.” Too many owners spot a gap in the business and “just try and fill it quick with a body, almost like a bum on a seat,” he said, and “that rarely works.”

Instead, he urges business owners to:

● Take their time with hiring.
● Avoid a “tiny bit of training and then full steam ahead.”
● Invest proper time in setting “really clear expectations and standards about what’s acceptable and what’s not.”

Simon also emphasises the importance of values – and not just generic words like “integrity” stuck on a wall.

He often runs workshops with clients and their teams where the team help create the values themselves, because “they’re much more likely then to live them and behave in line with them.” As he puts it, values are “the way things are done around here when nobody’s looking.”

You can often feel those values the moment you walk into a business. “Reception is where it starts,” we agreed, with Simon noting that in great businesses, receptionists are sometimes called “the head of first impressions” – a title that reflects just how crucial that role is.

From Transactional To ‘Wow’: Simon’s Customer Experience Pyramid

Customer experience is a real passion point for Simon. “If there’s one topic that I am obsessed about, it’s the customer experience,” he told me, whether that’s in a coffee shop, a restaurant, a bar or any other kind of business.

To explain what he means, he’s had an actual pyramid model made. Imagine a three-layer pyramid:

1. Transactional (bottom layer)
These are the worst kind of businesses: in-and-out, no engagement, no warmth. “See you, mate. See you, love,” as Simon put it – and that’s it.

2. Service (middle layer)
Here, “they’ve tried, they’ve made some effort,” but you’d probably score them “five out of ten, maximum six.” Sadly, Simon estimates “that’s probably 70% of businesses.”

3. Experience (top layer)
The smallest group – “five or 10% of businesses” – are the ones that consciously work on the experience from start to finish. They’re the places where you walk in, feel “a bit wowed,” and leave wanting to tell other people.

Simon has a neat way of summing it up: “Fine is forgettable.” The goal isn’t to deliver okay or even “nice” service; it’s to create a “magnificent experience” that is both memorable and magnetic – the kind of experience that draws customers back again and again.

That’s why he encourages his clients to over-deliver. “If customers are expecting an eight out of ten, we’ve got to get them a nine or a ten,” he said. “That’s where they get wowed.”

Stand Out: Be Cheapest, Best Or Most Different

With competition more intense than ever, Simon believes every business has to make a conscious choice about how it will stand out.

“You’ve either got to be the cheapest – be the low-cost option, but don’t be second cheapest – or be the best, the absolute best,” he explained. “And if you can’t be either of those two, you’ve got to be the most different.” If you don’t occupy one of those positions, you’re “in the middle” – and in time, customers will drift away to businesses that offer more value, a better experience or a clearer proposition.

Given rising costs, including another increase in the minimum wage, Simon believes this year will be a crucial turning point for many firms.

Those who keep drifting, underinvest in their people and deliver forgettable service may not survive, while those who plan clearly, stay visible, build strong teams and obsess about customer experience have the best chance to grow.

Where To Find Simon

If you’d like to dig deeper into any of these ideas or get help applying them in your own business, Simon’s coaching practice is called The Business Hub.

You can find him on Facebook and Instagram, where he shares more practical advice for business owners.