Completed online in about 5 minutes - Free to a limited number of Business Owners Pondering on whether things will ever return to normal is a waste of time. Businesses must rethink their future. Our online toolkit is a great place to start, as it provides a framework that encourages you to think about different aspects of your business. It is quick and simple, and the output is a free, personalised report focused on the areas of your business in need of attention. Developed to help companies prioritise how best to manage recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, the report will include recommendations of how you can make positive changes to the way your business operates. The world around us has changed and smart business owners know they need to adapt in response - we hope this toolkit can help you with that process. Access the toolkit by clicking the green button below and answer a series of questions in order to download a personalised strategic insights report for your … [Read more...]
Is the economy running out of road?
With the approaching General Election due on May 7th we are being presented with a blizzard of facts and figures to prove almost any point the politicians care to dream up. In fact in many cases the figures cited, frequently taken out of context, are often used to prove opposite sides of the same point. However a recent report from the Chief Economist of RBS throws new light on the economy and begs the question is the economic growth we have been experiencing coming to an end? So what are the details? Firstly the UK economy grew by 2.8% last year making our economy one of the fastest growing in the developed world. Inflation was down to 0.6% at the end of 2014 when we exclude oiland has since dropped 0%. Many economists fear that we will be experiencing deflation for the first time since 1948 holding out the prospect of slowing growth. The ‘feel good’ factor seems to have kicked in during 2014 with business investment increasing by 7.5%. However despite this and the fact that … [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...]
Social Networking for Small Businesses
Social Networking is the term given to a variety of new techniques for communication with clients, customers, prospects and other interested parties. As with other marketing techniques it needs careful planning to ensure that the right message gets through to the right (target) audience. Whilst using social networking and media can be a blunt, scatter gun approach, with careful planning and dedicated application it can, like a rifle, be accurate, well targeted and can be useful in developing relationships with the target audience. What it is. Social networking is the name given to a variety of tools that can be used to develop relationships with customers. Of particular importance is the fact that the use of these tools will help to drive traffic to a website or blog and ultimately help search engine optimisation of the website. For businesses these tools can be used for reputation management, test marketing and feedback from customers on existing or proposed new products. It can … [Read more...]
UKBA response to Government mentoring programme
As one of the UK’s leading advisors to SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises), UK Business Advisors (UKBA) initially expected to register and become a core part of the new government initiative for mentoring to small business owners. Whilst it is expected that some of UKBA’s mentoring specialists will join the scheme individually, having carried out a full investigation of the government’s proposals, UKBA as an organisation has decided not to become part of the initiative for two main reasons. The first is that the terms of the mentoring programme are all about mentoring and specifically excludes giving any actual business advice to a business owner. Whilst non-specific personal mentoring may be of help to some business owners, in the experience of the over 100 UKBA advisors, actual practical hands–on help specific to that business is far more valuable. UKBA feels that preventing advisors providing advice is not in the best interests of businesses. The second reason for not … [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...]
