Confidence

For many of us connected with the hospitality industry, whether, like me, you're a supplier or running a restaurant or a bar, the big question right now is confidence - am I confident about reopening after the latest lockdown?

I know that I tend to look for the positives in any situation, no matter how bad it seems, and I've noticed that since the end of lockdown was announced that when I'm talking to clients about reopening, that some people have commented on how upbeat I sound which leads me to ask the questions - am I being upbeat, or is it you that's being negative?

The last year has been more challenging than anyone could have imagined, but the end is now in sight. Therefore, why are so many people pessimistic? Is it that three lockdowns in a row have made us question if it's truly over, is that we don't feel in control of our destiny or are we merely doubting that customers will come back to our businesses?

In my case, if I'm honest with myself, I think that it's a bit of all three things. Therefore, I've used the time that the pandemic has made available to me to reimagine our brand. To clarify in my mind what clients want from an agency in a post-Covid world? To be much more explicit about what we can do to provide practical marketing support for our clients and finally, look at how we set about telling people how we can help.

I believe that many hospitality businesses are in a similar position and that we should be taking advantage of this opportunity to 'reset' what we do and how we go about selling our services.

We must ensure that our brand message is engaging and exciting because then we can rebuild our confidence in what we're doing, and this will quickly filter down to the people with whom we work and the customers that we want to welcome back through our doors.

That's why I'm upbeat and confident because I have a clear vision of what we offer to make life better for our clients and how we can help them to get back to where they need to be and put this awful time behind is.