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Archive for the 'News & Opportunities' Category

100 INSPIRING IDEAS TO MAKE YOU A CHALLENGER

Published by Business Link on 28 January, 2010 in Creative and News & Opportunities • 0 Comments

Inspirational ideas have been gathered from 100 of the South West’s most exciting companies to help you drive your business forward in 2010.

Each of the 100 displays the type of drive, passion and innovative approach that has enabled them to go head-to-head with their market leaders and succeed despite fierce competition.

They are sharing these powerful and motivational ideas through the 100 South West Challenger campaign, which was launched on January 25 by Business Link in partnership with the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency).

Business Link’s advisers will be analysing these lessons and providing practical advice which, as owner-managers, you can use in your own business.

With trading conditions this year likely to remain challenging, you will need to outthink your competitors – and these 100 South West Challengers will show how.

The campaign will give you no-nonsense advice, delivered in easy-to-understand language with tips on essential topics from marketing to innovation, skills and finance.

The 100 South West Business Challengers campaign will run for 100 working days until Friday, 11 June. Each day a new Challenger profile will be uploaded onto the Business Link website.

The campaign is being supported by Northcliffe Publishing, which owns  28 newspapers and numerous websites throughout the South West, as well as BBC radio, television and online across the region.
The campaign will focus on themes including innovation, marketing, people, environment, focus, customer service, international trade, finance and starting in business.

Challenger companies will be interviewed and profiled as part of the campaign. The 100 Challengers will inspire the South West’s 219,000 small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) whose success is crucial to the future of the region.

They employ more than half the workforce – nearly 1.6 million people between them – so they play a vital role in driving the economy forward and contribute greatly to its growth, prosperity and superior quality of life.

The 100 South West Challengers campaign is not about easy solutions. The South West RDA and Business Link are determined to inspire and encourage enterprise among the region’s small and growing firms, building on its proud tradition of innovation and creativity. But this can only be achieved by working in true partnership.

South West RDA Chief Executive, Jane Henderson, said: “We are determined to encourage all companies to succeed, which is why we are delighted to be working with Northcliffe and Business Link in this unique partnership.”

Business Link, as the independent gateway to business support across the South West, is committed to helping small and medium-sized firms through the current challenging economic conditions.

Phil Smith, Business Link Chief Executive said: “Small businesses across the South West need to put innovation and creativity at the core of their operations. We have 100 examples of successful companies of all sizes which have done just that.”

Follow the daily challenger profiles on our website www.businesslink.gov.uk/southwest/challengers or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blsw

What, why, how: Apprenticeships

Published by Business Link on 19 November, 2009 in HR & People Development, News & Opportunities and Strategy & Operations • 0 Comments

Apprenticeships deliver a cost effective and business-relevant way to boost productivity and performance. And they are available to both new and existing employees.

What

“On-the-job training leading to nationally recognised qualifications, developed by industry”.

This definition, from the National Apprenticeships Service, illustrates the win-win nature of apprenticeships: employers benefit from tailored training relevant to their needs, and employees gain nationally recognised qualifications.

Apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds are fully funded by the government; partial funding is available for 19-24 year olds; for over 25s funding is restricted to specific places.

Both new and existing employees can take part, there are over 190 types of apprenticeships, and apprenticeships can take place in the workplace or be provided by educational institutions or specialist providers.

Why

Over 130,000 businesses in the UK have already used apprenticeships as a cost effective way to boost their skills and improve productivity and competitiveness.

A 2009 survey from the Learning and Skills Council found that the majority of respondents felt that apprenticeships were more cost effective compared to employing skilled workers.

The same survey also found that apprenticeships tend to improve business productivity and competitiveness. Because apprenticeships are so closely tailored to the needs of business, they are effective at plugging the right skills gaps, and thus often lead to tangible improvements in business productivity and performance.

In general, training usually fosters a more flexible and competent workforce which is more satisfied and motivated. Employees appreciate training and are satisfied when they see their new skills contributing to business success. And those taking part in apprenticeships seem to be particularly motivated; statistics show that less people drop out of apprenticeships than from academic educational courses.

Apprenticeships represent a cost effective, dynamic and valuable way to improve the skills of existing employees and recruit and develop fresh new talent. And because they are closely tailored and relevant to business needs, companies get maximum value from the process too. So apprenticeships really are a win-win.

How

Support is available from Business Link. We can work together to define your requirements, source the right training providers to fit your needs, and advise on available funding. Call us on 0845 600 9966 or complete the faxback form below and one of our business advisers will contact you.

Download more information about apprenticeships

Data-driven marketing

Published by Business Link on 20 October, 2009 in IT & eBusiness, News & Opportunities, Sales & Marketing, Starting Up and Strategy & Operations • 0 Comments

Three tips for using data to drive your marketing: get it, manage it, use it.

Get it: obtaining the right data

What sort of data do you need? This decision should be guided by how you intend to use data now and in the future. Today you might simply need customer names and email addresses. But think ahead; in future you may wish you had collected details of people who enquired but did not purchase; or you may regret not collecting information such as birthdays or ‘how heard’ data, so that you could, for example, analyse how different age groups heard about your business and its products or services. For tips see Royal Mail’s What data do you need from your customers?

When planning data requirements there are legal obligations to consider. You must collect data with a purpose, which in essence means having justifiable reason to collect the data; and your data requirements should be relevant and not excessive. Knowing what data you want and why is thus important from both a legal and strategic perspective. Your legal obligations are outlined in the eight data protection principles.

Now you need tactics for acquiring data. Point of purchase is an obvious route to obtaining basic data such as names, addresses and email addresses. But you may need additional approaches to get more detail. Often a key aim of incentives such as vouchers or loyalty cards is to encourage customers to share data. Examine existing points of customer interaction to see how they could be used to acquire data, or devise entirely new ways to obtain it.

Whatever your collection methods, you are legally obliged to tell individuals what you intend to use their information for. Customers are entitled to ‘opt-out’ of receiving marketing communications and must be provided with a means of doing so, and they must ‘opt-in’ before you are allowed to share information with other companies. See Using personal information fairly and lawfully.

In addition to obtaining data from existing contacts, you could purchase data lists of potential new prospects. Subject to the right permissions, such data could be used for postal, email or telephone marketing. Be sure to work to the standards set by the law; see Developing your customer database.

Manage it: storing, cleaning and updating data

As with data collection, getting data storage right is important for both strategy and legal compliance. If you don’t choose the right data storage system you might experience future limitations should you wish to, for example, add new data fields or run custom data analysis and reports. In addition, if you don’t store data securely and for no longer than is necessary you might breach the data protection principles; also see Keeping your systems and data secure.

Out-of-date data carries costs which could outweigh the expense of ongoing quality and cleansing processes. Removing gone-aways, such as contacts who have moved home or changed telephone number, saves expense and waste, and continually working to update data and add missing detail could improve marketing analysis and targeting. Data quality and cleansing could thus be used to both clean up and plug gaps prior to marketing activities.

Use it: turning your data into meaningful marketing activities

You are collecting the right data and trying to keep it up-to-date and comprehensive; now it’s time to turn this intelligence into effective marketing, by using it to profile, segment and communicate.

Analyse your data and profile your audiences by considering questions such as: Who is your typical customer? What’s the profile of your most/least valuable customers? How frequently do customers purchase? How do most customers hear about you? There are many other such questions, and the answers can often lead to more. But fundamentally – try to use data to answer your most pertinent marketing questions.

By getting to grips with your data you could potentially segment customers into different groups. For example, some customers may tend to interact via the web or email, while others interact in person or respond well to direct mail; such insights could allow you to create distinct communications strategies for different customer segments.

Customer data equals customer intelligence. This intelligence could be used when talking to customers one-to-one, or used to segment customers so that you can talk to different groups differently. In general, think about how marketing needs can lead your data demands, and how customer data can inform and lead your marketing.

More info – Guide privacy and data protection in direct marketing  

More info – Guide managing your customer database

Organising your days

Published by Business Link on 20 October, 2009 in HR & People Development, Management & Leadership and News & Opportunities • 3 Comments

Can a daily routine help to increase your personal productivity, satisfaction and success? 

Winston Churchill woke early but worked from bed until late morning. He then rose for a brisk walk and a weak whisky and soda. By early evening he was ready for his siesta, a habit he claimed allowed him to fit one and a half days worth of work into every 24 hours. Charles Darwin, another early riser, worked for most of the morning in his study, but invariably considered 12 noon to be the end of his working day. 

For some individuals there seems to be a link between routine and success. So, can a ritualistic approach to managing time help to get the most from your days?

You may think not. Some people are immediately sceptical about the regimented nature of routine, preferring a more flexible approach. But routines can be rigid or flexible, and making even the smallest changes to your days can help to increase productivity, satisfaction and success.

“It’s quite a personal matter”, says writer Simone de Beauvoir. There are no rules; one person’s routine could be entirely incompatible with the next person. For this reason it’s important to undertake some honest self-analysis.

When are you most productive, attentive or creative: mornings, afternoons or evenings? When do you best work alone, and when do you prefer the company of others? Do you attend to detail best with a fresh morning head, or in the evening when there’s fewer distractions? Asking such questions enables you to match specific tasks with specific time slots that suit your behaviours best. For example, if you’re most productive but most antisocial in the mornings, make your routine simple: mornings – personal tasks; afternoons – meetings and team working.

If you begin your days wondering how you’re going to get everything done, you need to think strategically about managing your time. This means prioritising key tasks and putting aside unimportant ones. So why not begin your daily routine by spending five minutes creating a plan for the day ahead? Ask what you can realistically achieve, and importantly, what you must do to make today feel productive and successful. Once you know what important tasks must be done, you can match them with the most suitable times slots, as discussed above.

Having an appreciation of when it’s best to do something allows you to better order the things you need to do, day by day. Beyond this simple framework your routine can be as rigid or flexible as you like. Some people choose to work to hour-long chunks that end on the beep of an alarm and are followed by minute-long ‘review and refocus’ sessions. For the less regimented, simply find a balance between chaos and order.

You may also want to think about how routine can help to manage both work and life. Could you integrate personal tasks into your routine? For instance, if you tend to work late why not break up the days with a walk to do some personal errands; exercise can reduce stress and improve productivity, and getting the chores done is a nice bonus.

However detailed your daily routine becomes is your choice; indeed you may waver towards the more flexible approach. But don’t let such freedom distract you from the point that, often, certain times of the day are better suited to certain tasks. If you can crack this code you can get the right things done at the best times, and as a result become more productive, satisfied and successful – and less stressed.

Simplify

Published by Business Link on 20 October, 2009 in Creative, HR & People Development and News & Opportunities • 0 Comments

Three places to look for opportunities to remove difficulty and create a better business and an easier life.

If you can simplify something without reducing the value it offers, you can win. Win customers, profits, or free time. But how often do you stop to ask the question: Could things be simpler?

The dictionary definition of simple: “easily understood or done; presenting no difficulty”. In most businesses there are numerous opportunities to remove difficulty and thus make things more easily understood or done. To identify opportunities for simplification, try looking across the following three dimensions:

1. Customer
Examine customer interactions, experiences and journeys – such as how consumers learn about your products or services and how they progress through awareness, interest, desire and action. Can you make such experiences easier or more accessible? And could you simplify purchase or after-sales processes such as returns or customer feedback? Also question your products or services; consider how a product’s use or function could be made simpler, or how you could improve a service to make it quicker and easier.

2. Business
Can you make ‘back-end’ business tasks or processes less difficult and thus more efficient and effective? This could mean examining tasks or processes to identify steps which could be removed, shortened or improved. Or you could use technology to make things quicker and easier, for example, by automating data backups or other administrative processes. Opportunities to simplify could exist anywhere in the back-end of your business, from the way you develop and produce products or services to the way you communicate with colleagues or suppliers, or administer your finances, IT systems or payroll. Look everywhere.

3. Personal
You could choose to start more simply by looking at yourself. How could you make your own working life simpler? Look at what you do and challenge the things that present difficulty, those things which are not so easily understood or done. Numerous opportunities might emerge, from training yourself to better understand complex tasks, to simplifying how you organise your days, to more straightforward improvements such as simplifying the way you manage your inbox or meetings. It’s these small opportunities to simplify that can add up to make all the difference. In every case it’s about first identifying points of difficulty and then conjuring up ways to make things simpler and easier.

Protect value

Protecting value is fundamental to successful simplification. If part of a product, service, task or process provides value and you remove, shorten, or mess with it in some way that reduces value, you are not simplifying – you are making things worse. It’s similar to clever cost-cutting, which seeks to cut only those costs which offer no customer or business value, but here we aim to save not just money but time and stress levels.

In essence, simplification is about asking one simple question: Could things be made simpler, without diluting value?

More info – Guide use innovation to grow your business

More info – Guide how to identify new business opportunities