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It was the first official day back in the office today, and it was a surprisingly brisk start to the new business year!

We had been open at various points during Christmas and New Year, and took some decent quality leads and some sales too. Not bad to say we’re approaching another recession and it was during our quietest time of the year.

Lead levels today for the first day back were pretty good, we all signed up deals and there’s plenty more decent sized orders in the pipeline to come good.

But, I think this little boost to the start of the year may be a symptom of a reserved December. People were quite unwilling to spend during most of the month, most likely holding off until Christmas had passed to start their home improvements.

The positive start to the year is of course welcomed, however it probably won’t be a sustained improvement on 2011. I think that just like last year, business in 2012 will come in fits and starts. The key will be to sell this years contracts with a decent profit margin. People are getting used to things becoming more expensive. Companies should start to use this change in attitude to re-build their profit margins over the course of the year.