UK Business Advisors Conference: Plan to thrive, not just survive Date: Thursday 11th March 2021Time: 10:00am – 12:30pmLocation: Online More than ever businesses need to be able to adapt and evolve. At our conference, our expert speakers and panel will look at how businesses can reshape and plan for a post-covid world. 2020 has been an incredibly challenging year for everyone, from loss of health to loss of business. As we start the new year, businesses must reshape and plan for a post-covid world. There may be a ‘new normal’ that we have to live and work within, but the need for products and services has not gone away. Now is the time for businesses to focus their efforts on how their business fits into the new normal and strategise for the future, looking at their own business model, their … [Read more...]
UK Business Advisors Conference: Plan to thrive, not just survive
Date: Thursday 11th March 2021Time: 10:00am – 12:30pmLocation: Virtual via ZoomRegister: Closed - see our conference videos below Thanks to all who registered and attended our conference. See the conference videos on YouTube. Please subscribe to our channel. Part 1 - Speakers and Q&A Part 2 - Panel Q&A The need for businesses to be able to adapt and evolve has never been greater. 2020 has been an incredibly challenging year for everyone, from loss of health to loss of business. As we start the new year, businesses must reshape and plan for a post-covid world. There may be a ‘new normal’ that we have to live and work within, but the need for products and services has not gone away. Now is the time for businesses to focus their efforts on how their business fits into the new normal and strategise for the future, looking at their own business model, their stakeholders and business behaviours i.e. plan to thrive. At this conference … [Read more...]
Are you worried about Pension Auto-Enrolment?
The law on workplace pensions has changed. Every employer with at least one member of staff has new duties - enrolling those who are eligible into a workplace pension and to contribute towards it. This is called Auto Enrolment. Auto Enrolment has been introduced by the government so people save for a pension that will eventually top up the state pension. In the past many employees missed out on a valuable pension because their employer didn't offer them a pension, or they didn't apply to join the company pension scheme. Auto Enrolment changes this. It makes it compulsory for employers to automatically enrol their eligible employees into a pension scheme. The employer must also contribute. This also means that employees will be offered a benefit that will hopefully translate to increased employee commitment/motivation and lower staff turnover. Hefty fines apply to those who fail to comply with auto enrolment. Employers with more than 50 employees should already be up and … [Read more...]
UK Business Advisors Ltd is growing
UK Business Advisors (UKBA) is the nationwide network of consultants and business advisors that helps SMEs to achieve their ambitions. All advisors, who have a wide range of experience knowledge and skills have all held senior positions in larger companies. Over the last few years UKBA has helped hundreds of business owners achieve their ambitions through hands on practical help and advice. We are now seeking additional advisors to help our clients in all regions. If you have business experience and want to explore an exciting please see https://ukba.co.uk/career-opportunities/ … [Read more...]
Achieve a good price when you sell your business
Its a sad fact that only 8% of small businesses are sold for a decent price. This is not good news if you are relying on selling your business for your pension, or indeed for any other purpose. However, many more businesses would be saleable for fair value if the owners had planned their exit in good time. Exit strategy Will you transfer your business within your family, or do you want to sell it - to an employee, or to an outside purchaser? How much do you want for it? When? Will you stay with it or move on? You'll need to think this through because your exit strategy will determine how you go about positioning your business for its eventual sale. Positioning your business for sale You’ll start with a valuation and you’ll almost certainly find it is well below what you need. So, then you’ll need an analysis of your business to show you what has to be done to achieve your price. This may include: getting your accounts in shape and audited; some growth, not the least to show … [Read more...]
Four steps to make sure your clients pay on time
We all understand that not collecting payments on time has as a severe impact on your cash flow, but let's not forget also that you are effectively giving your clients, your debtors, interest-free credit, and this also has an impact on your cash flow and your profit. Whatever the size of your business - start-up, sole trader, micro business, small business or SME - the remedies are the same. Follow these four steps and you will reduce the amount of money owed to you: send out the invoice as soon as you ship the goods; call the client the day after you send out the invoice to check the invoice has been received and there are no issues with the goods or services supplied; call the client 5 days later to carry out the same checks, so that there no excuses on that front; and call the client 5 days before you expect to get paid to make sure your invoice has gone into that month's payment run. Pretty obvious really, but it is surprising how many companies are not doing that. DSO - … [Read more...]
Continual Improvement
As a small business owner wanting to grow your business you will be looking at ways to improve your business to generate more profit and cash, to free-up working capital, and to make more effective use of your own time. While there may be one-shot improvements you can make, such as outsourcing an overhead function to make a net saving, there will always be those issues where the benefits are obvious but the means of achieving them are not so clear. Continual Improvement is not just for manufacturing quality Adopting a systematic, continual improvement approach to those issues could be the answer. It used to be thought that continual improvement was about manufacturing quality, but these days, quality is seen as something that should be embedded right across a business. And likewise the continual improvement methodology can be applied to issues, right across a business, in every function, for example: improving the enquiry rate from an existing marketing budget increasing the … [Read more...]
Collecting cancellation fees
People don't like paying cancellation fees even if they are aware of them when they book their appointment, to the extent that charging a fee often results in the client going elsewhere. No easy remedies Apart from asking for a non-refundable deposit, there are no easy remedies. Charging a cancellation fee to their credit card leaves you open to the client disputing the charge and claiming a refund, the excuse being: they did not receive your service, they were not aware of your cancellation policy (even if you did tell them), and they did not authorize the charge. Avoid cancellations in the first place So, by far the best way of reducing lost revenue is to avoid the cancellations in the first place. Send the client a reminder 24 hours before the appointment either by SMS, email or phone and get a confirmation of the appointment; Ensure your staff are well trained to handle objections and secure the appointment; Survey the clients to find out why they cancel and address the … [Read more...]
Is the Government's approach to business mentors the right one?
Over 200 current and former bank managers have signed up to form the core of a national mentoring scheme being rolled out today with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander offering businesses more support on issues like finance, marketing and HR. This comes as a result of the Governments attempts to change the way SMEs receive help with the demise of the RDAs and Business Links in their current form. My question is what do current or even former bank managers know about marketing and HR? At first sight the aim to provide help and advice, mentoring and coaching to business owners is a laudable one. All these mentors are doing it for free- even better for the owners of these businesses. But does this mean that these owners will get the latest and best advice? It is unlikely as many will not be current and others will lack expertise and probably have never run their own business before. Perhaps these bank managers should stick to what they know and … [Read more...]
Is the Government’s approach to business mentors the right one?
Over 200 current and former bank managers have signed up to form the core of a national mentoring scheme being rolled out today with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander offering businesses more support on issues like finance, marketing and HR. This comes as a result of the Governments attempts to change the way SMEs receive help with the demise of the RDAs and Business Links in their current form. My question is what do current or even former bank managers know about marketing and HR? At first sight the aim to provide help and advice, mentoring and coaching to business owners is a laudable one. All these mentors are doing it for free- even better for the owners of these businesses. But does this mean that these owners will get the latest and best advice? It is unlikely as many will not be current and others will lack expertise and probably have never run their own business before. Perhaps these bank managers should stick to what they know and … [Read more...]
