businessi.info provides a complementary platform to businesslink.gov.uk/southwest to comment and exchange business advice and tips for businesses in the South West of England. Subscribe to Business Link ealerts and newsletters to receive the latest update and post your comments on this space.

What’s your plan for 2010?

Published by Business Link on 28 January, 2010 in Management & Leadership and Strategy & Operations • 0 Comments

Make plans to survive, grow, innovate and succeed in 2010.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the UK emerged from recession during the last quarter of 2009. And now it’s the New Year, a time to look forward and make plans for the future. So why not ask: What plans can you make today to turn 2010 into a more innovative and successful year?

Plan for different futures

In response to uncertain times some businesses are planning for several different futures.

Plan for the worst case scenario, accounting for factors such as slow sales and restrictive cash flow. Then ponder optimistic plans for growth; this year might offer opportunities to grow faster than anticipated. Also plan for the middle ground – for sustained, steady growth.

Thinking about and anticipating different futures helps to cope with downturns or seize upon opportunities for growth. In either scenario you might, for example, need to secure finance or adjust employee capacity. So planning ahead, even tentatively, could prove useful if or when a particular future arrives.

Review your business environment, from your market size and potential to your customer base and competitive position. Such factors could present opportunities for the year ahead. For example, there may be pent-up demand resulting from the recession, or one of your competitors could be struggling.

Working through different scenarios, and reviewing your business environment, could also help to answer important questions. How are your finances? What are your key strengths and weaknesses? For the year ahead, what are your key opportunities and threats, and ultimately, what are your objectives?

To get started try our ten-minute business plan to quickly plan for best, worst and mid-case scenarios.

Plan for an innovative year

With business plans fresh in mind, and a new year ahead, why not create an innovation plan for 2010?

There are numerous ways to innovate. Often innovation comes from a desire to solve a problem. On a strategic level this could mean working to remove threats identified in your business plan. Beyond this, look for problems faced by customers, or problems in the back-end of your business. The desire to simplify is another great motivator; could you simplify customer or back end processes to make things more effective and efficient? A further innovation opportunity linked with planning is differentiation; have your plans identified specific opportunities to stand above the competition? Innovation is also closely linked to customer need; can you identify customer needs which are ill-served or unmet, and change your products or services to fit them? Or perhaps create entirely new offerings?

Innovation is about more than planning, but research shows that companies which set out an innovation plan tend to innovate more effectively than those that don’t. You can learn about this research and find tips on generating and pursuing innovative ideas by reading our business i innovation series.

You can also get inspired by our 100 South West Business Challengers campaign, which highlights small businesses that are doing something different to be successful. The campaign started this month and lasts for 100 working days, featuring 100 South West businesses that are outthinking and outperforming their competitors in new and exciting ways.

More information – use innovation to grow your business

Training: 3 Questions

Published by Business Link on 28 January, 2010 in HR & People Development • 0 Comments

Three quick questions to get you thinking about your business’s training needs.

1. Review business aims

Before deciding on training requirements it’s crucial to appreciate the strategic aims and needs of the business. Doing so ensures training delivers relevant business benefits.

If your business plan identifies a weakness in customer service, you may work to train customer-facing employees. If ‘online’ has become a strategic goal for the future, you may need to train your web, IT and marketing people, and potentially your management team, who might require training in order to navigate the ever-changing online world.

Ask yourself: Where is your business going, and what additional skills are needed to get there?

2. Review employee needs

Your employees might identify specific training needs which could help to both develop themselves as individuals and push your business forward. In such cases it’s valuable to listen and act.

Reviews may form part of regular performance monitoring and personal development planning. Talk to employees about what skills development they feel would make them better at their jobs, and why. This helps to connect personal development and strategic business need, so that you can make plans for training that create benefits for both the employee and the business.

Ask employees: What additional skills could help to push themselves and your business forward?

3. Review training options

Think about training options within the context of the skills gaps to be filled and the people to be trained.

  • Workshops – Training groups of employees together, led by an expert trainer/facilitator.
  • Seminars – Employees attend in-house or external seminars organised by training specialists.
  • Job shadowing – One employee observing or working with another whilst they do their job.
  • e-Learning - Learning online using written, audio or video content and interactive tools or tests.
  • Distance learning – Educational training courses suited to training at home or work.
  • Study leave – Allowing employees leave to undertake training fully or partly funded by business.
  • Out-of-hours – Evening or weekend classes undertaken by employee, funded by business.
  • Coaching and mentoring - Close relationship between trainer and trainee to get the best from both.

Ask: What training method can best deliver the skills your business needs, and best suit your people?

For more comprehensive guidance on training read Fit the training to your needs.

More information – Improve business performance through training

More information – Skills and training for better business performance

Continuity planning

Published by Business Link on 28 January, 2010 in Strategy & Operations • 0 Comments

Problems caused by snow and ice underline importance of business continuity planning.

The repercussions of a crisis such as that caused by the recent snow and ice – the worst seen for nearly 30 years – on your business can be far-reaching, as employment issues, supply chain difficulties and the threat of further disruption become harsh realities.

The Business Link website features a guide that will help businesses identify potential risks, make preparations for emergencies and test how their business is likely to cope in a disaster, such as heavy snowfall or flooding. Visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/southwest/continuityplanning

Here are Business Link’s top tips for employers to help them plan for a crisis:

  • Plan thoroughly – failure to plan could be disastrous. At best you risk losing customers while you’re getting your business back on its feet. At worst your business may never recover and may ultimately cease trading altogether.
  • Identify any threats – every business is different, and every business will have its own set of potential threats to its continuity, including the weather, theft or vandalism, fuel shortages, IT systems failures, loss of key staff and supply chain problems.
  • Assess impact – once you’ve identified your threats, try to think of some worst-case scenarios and their impact on your operation.
  • Minimise impact – draw up the necessary steps you will need to take to protect your business functions from your worst case scenarios.
  • Plan how you will deal with a crisis – draw up a business continuity plan setting out in writing how you will cope if a crisis occurs. It should detail the key business functions you need to get operating as quickly as possible (and the resources you will need to do so) and outline the roles of individuals in an emergency.

Read our guide, Crisis management and business continuity planning

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

Credit checking

Published by Business Link on 19 November, 2009 in Starting Up and Strategy & Operations • 0 Comments

When was the last time you checked the financial health of your customers, suppliers, and your own business?

You may credit check new customers in order to decide whether to offer them credit and upon what terms. In addition, periodic checks on existing customers could help to monitor changes, allowing you to review credit limits and terms if a customer’s financial health deteriorates; something especially important for high value customers.

Checking the financial health of suppliers may also be important for maintaining reliable and uninterrupted supplies of the goods and services you need to run your business. Again, periodic checking allows you to spot changes in the financial health of suppliers so that you can make alternative or backup supply arrangements if necessary.

Just as you may choose to credit check others, your customers or suppliers might decide to assess your business’s financial health. Proactively checking your own credit worthiness therefore allows you to see how your business may be perceived by others, so that you can work towards becoming more credit worthy should you need to.

Credit checking services

Credit checking services are available from banks, financial institutions and specialist credit checking companies. Specific features of credit checking services vary but typically they may include:

  • Checking whether a business is genuine, i.e. not a fraudulently set up company
  • Overall credit ratings and detailed credit reports
  • Automatic alerts of changes in credit status
  • Information on how good a business is at paying invoices
  • Information on whether any county court judgements have been made against
  • a company
  • Assessment of risk of company bankruptcy
  • Debt recovery services such as legal advice or debt recovery letter writing

For small businesses with a handful of customers, basic credit services might be obtainable for free. Charges usually apply for companies with more than a few customers, or for more comprehensive services.

Three useful watchwords

Credit checking services assist in the prevention of late payments and bad debts, and are also geared towards monitoring changes in credit worthiness over time, so that you can review credit limits and terms with customers or source new suppliers. Some services also help to resolve disputes through assistance with debt-recovery letters and legal action. So, keep in mind the following three watchwords:

  1. Prevent. Use credit checking to identify high-risks and either avoid them or enforce tighter payment terms.
  2. Monitor. Use credit checking to spot and react to changes in credit worthiness over time.
  3. Resolve. Use credit checking services to help chase late payments before they become bad debts.

Guide to Preventing late payment