Leading Australian business coach Winston Marsh is in Tauranga today to share his success tips on how to thrive in tough times.

Winston, who gives a seminar tonight at Baycourt, says recessions are a natural leveller to get rid of less efficient businesses that had survived on the 'low hanging fruit”.

Winston Marsh.

The key to ensuring your business survives and thrives in this environment, he says, is to go back to basics and focus on solving your target market's problems and standing out against the competition.

He says a common failing among business people is to just focus on their target market as potential sales rather than actually 'empathising and connecting” with them.

'The big question is ‘what is it that's keeping them awake at night' then make the jump as to how you can help them solve their problems.”

Winston says the next key to success was being able to make your business clearly stand out from its competitors and appeal to your target customers.

'Most people say ‘we have great service and quality' but you have to go beyond that to find what is unique and special about you.”

He says 60 per cent of businesses fail do not put the effort into differentiating themselves, so are behind the game to begin with.

Event details: www.financialindependence.co.nz