STRUGGLING retailers – beware of including your window display in your cutbacks to survive.

It’s an essential marketing tool. The last thing you want in your competitive world is for customers to “walk on by” rather than “walk in and buy”.

That is the urgent message from Helen Goodwin, whose York visual display training business, Made You Look! teaches businesses the wisdom and skills of attention seeking.

She says: “First impressions count and that is what our business is all about – turning heads and increasing sales.”

Now Helen is hoping to turn the heads of the judges of The Press Business Awards, having submitted entries in both the Small Business Of The Year and Women In Enterprise categories.

Ever since she formed the company with Kent-based Janet Billings looking after the South while she concentrated on the North, Helen has coped with growing demand for her training sessions which draw on her more than 25 years experience in the heart of London’s West End.

She has grabbed shoppers by the eyelashes and hauled them into the likes of Harrods, Selfridges and DH Evans and later, as a design consultancy, clients have included British Airways, Lladro, Wedgwood, Business Link, the Regional Food Group, ASTL Kick Start and, more locally, Meltons restaurant, Bettys Tearooms, solicitors Ware & Kay, Sahara fashion store in Swinegate, York, and the Blossoms Hotel.

And it works, as testimonials prove on her website at madeyoulookmadeyoustare.co.uk.

Her workshops show delegates the importance of basic display techniques and how they work to attract attention.

She says: “We cover the basic points and principles of display, space, balance, focal points, colour, signage and merchandise styling in a way that is easily affordable.

“However, the most rewarding part for us is to see delegates leave full of inspiration and enthusiasm, desperate to put their ideas into action and looking at their businesses through fresh eyes.”

Her organisation has also helped town centre managers to raise the profile of their high streets and encourage more trade and tourism. Other clients include non-retail businesses who need help with their corporate image.

Having just completed one workshop at the Eco Business Centre in Clifton Moor, another is planned there for July 30. A London workshop is planned for June 8.