It’s obvious that some retailers have started to believe the rumour going around that times are tough and customers just aren’t spending any more.

Leastways that’s the impression I gained as I strolled around a heavy density retail area where there were more store staff than potential customers.

And most were doing nothing about their plight. Well, a few were re-arranging stock to attract the attention of the non existent customers.

But most were doing very little… gazing into space praying hopefully for customers, reading a book or on the phone to a friend… anything to wile away the time to closing.

Here are just 5 thoughts on what they could have been doing:

1. Thinking about where their likely customers might be so that they could hand out a “big offer” flyer.

2. Writing a compelling advert for radio, television, the newspaper or flyer to letterbox drop.

3. Sending an email with a great offer to their database (that’s if they bothered to get contact details from customers).

4. Twittering or FaceBooking something special (running a competition) that might excite interest (or using the events tab of Facebook for just that… to stage an event).

5. Sharing databases with other non- competitive retailers to promote special offers to each other’s customers.

In tough times you’ve just got to get out there and tell your story. As one of my favourite authors (Frank Bettger) says, “Show me a person who earnestly and enthusiastically tells their story to just four people every day and I’ll show you a very successful person!”

If times are proving a little tough for you, have you told your story, earnestly and enthusiastically, to four people today?