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Welcome to The Business Bulletin - a monthly magazine - which now includes regular columnists, a business book review, as well as some audio and video content; not forgetting the great collection of articles.
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Disclaimer – no responsibility can be accepted for any actions that you take as a result of the content provided in this magazine. There is no guarantee that implementing any of the advice contained in the articles will definitely ensure your business success or have a positive impact. They are presented as information based on the experience of the authors working with many different types of businesses in their field of expertise and are provided as a choice for you to consider if they will be useful for your business.
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Is employee retention a problem for you? 26 Nicky Buckley
What mistakes are you making on your VAT return? 6 Wendy Tate
Will there be pastries? How to choose a mastermind group that works for you 43 Paul Green
A passwordless society –stronger, better and simpler 34 Bharat Panchal
Happy Sexy Millionaire 54 Mhairi Richardson
Contents
11 ways business finance can help your business 11 Roger Eddowes
12 marketing insights 23 Kathy Bassett
How to select a process for automation 37 David Martin
LinkedIn’s Creator Mode –the good, the bad & the ugly! 20 Eloise Idoine
The Business IssueBulletin21 | 5
Strategy and tactics – building the framework to dominate your industry 40 Adam Payne
How not to make a cold call 14 Alison Edgar MBE
10 tips to improve teamwork and achieve more 45 Mhairi Richardson
Help, I’m over 50 looking for work! 51 Jo Thurman
Spotlight on 30 Emma Matthews
Are you in sales or business development? 17 Robert Isaacson
Squeezing out the profit! 9 Dr Colin Thompson
Man-up has had its day 48 Louise Mercieca
■ Cash Accounting. VAT based on the money you’ve received and paid, so you are not paying the VAT on sales invoices until you have received the money.
Common mistakes made with the flat rate scheme.
What’s a gingerbread man with chocolate trousers got than a plain one hasn’t?
■ Flat Rate Scheme. You raise your invoices and charge your customers at the appropriate rate of VAT, but you simply pay over a reduced percentage, which depends on your industry sector, to HMRC. Importantly with the flat rate scheme you’re unable to reclaim any VAT on your expenses except on some capital equipment.
The first mistake is not comparing VAT schemes, on the face of it, the flat rate scheme delivers cashflow savings and it does simplify your accounting to some extent. However, a costly mistake is not comparing this scheme
Using the wrong flat rate percentage
to the Cash Accounting VAT Scheme. Where a business has a fair chunk of expenses it pays VAT on, it might not be tax efficient to join the flat rate Scheme.Andwhere a business has some exempt income (rental income), extra care needs to be taken when joining the flat rate Scheme because you end up having to pay VAT on income that’s normally exempt.
Firstly, let’s look at the three most common VAT schemes businesses use:
suppliers’ invoices, whether you have paid the bill or not.
■ Accrual VAT. VAT is paid on sales regardless of whether your customers have paid you, you then reclaim VAT from your
FINANCE 6 | Issue 21 The Business Bulletin
What mistakes are you making on your VAT return?
Now you may think this is a silly question, especially when this is about VAT. This is a question that you need to consider if you sell gingerbread men. The answer is 20% VAT, that’s right the plain gingerbread man isn’t considered a luxury item so is zerorated whereas his more exotic cousin with chocolate trousers is vatable.
This is an area where small businesses can easily be caught out because of the “limited cost trader” VAT rule. This rule will essentially increase the flat rate percentage for most service-based businesses. So take extra care and ensure that your flat rate percentage is reviewed to avoid triggering a VAT enquiry and having to pay back-dated VAT.
With the complexity of the VAT laws, it’s understandable that businesses make mistakes on their VAT returns. When VAT was first introduced in the UK way back in 1973, it was hailed as a simple tax. Turns out it isn’t quite so simple after all. So, what are the most common mistakes small businesses make with VAT?
When you first join this scheme, you get a 1% reduction off your industry percentage for the first year only. The reduction expires on the anniversary of your VAT registration and NOT the anniversary of you joining the scheme. Take extra care with this common mistake as this will result in payment of backdated VAT.
Lessons we can all learn from the Prime resignationMinister’s
Normally when an income is exempt from VAT, it means just that. Exempt. You do not include it on your return. But here is one of the quirks of the Flat Rate Scheme. The gross income you enter in Box 6 of the VAT return should also include the value of all exempt and zero-rated supplies.
Mistakes often seen on VAT returns
Exit interviews are very important to discover what’s going on. There must be an upwardflowing reporting structure where your teams can tell you what’s going on. Good pay is the biggest priority for employees, however, it has been known for people to leave for a role with lesser pay when the work-life balance is better or if they’re going to get more respect from their management team.
So, in some cases, you may end up paying more VAT under the Flat Rate Scheme.
Using the 1% reduction beyond its expiration date
When it comes to claiming back VAT, the general rule is simple if you don’t have a VAT receipt, you cannot reclaim the VAT, whilst there are few exceptions to this rule, why take the risk? And where you have a VAT receipt, make sure the item bought does carry VAT.
“We all want an engaged, motivated and satisfied workforce, don’t we?” Unfortunately for the Government, a new Prime Minister means a new direction, new culture and ethos and new laws. Any change in senior management within a business, if handled correctly, is an opportunity for a bit of restructuring. Backbench MPs are calling for a reduced Cabinet in future; could the same apply to your management team? This is where HR comes in again. The bigger the business, the harder this will be.
Although entertaining clients is justifiable to win contracts, VAT on these expenses is normally blocked and cannot be claimed back. There’s a simple solution to avoid mistakes in this area, when setting up your bookkeeping software have a separate category for
With Government, no changes will come quickly as they have the manifesto they were elected on to complete, but in your business, you can make changes quickly. It just needs proper planning, good advice, and correct implementation to ensure your employees are all on board.
Claiming back VAT on business entertainment
“This is the time to put HR to work!”
No satisfactory evidence for VAT reclaims
Following the recent mass resignations from the Government and Boris stepping down, what lessons can we learn to ensure long-term business success? It’s incredibly rare for there to be mass resignations in business, generally, it’s only one person at a time. Losing one employee causes an impact on business functions, but losing them at the rate the Government saw recently grinds the entire business to a halt. It is vitally important to discover the cause and correct it.
Under-stating the flat rate turnover
Roger Eddowes
COLUMNIST – FINANCE Essendon Accounts and Tax 07595 essendonaccounts.co.ukroger.eddowes@essendonaccounts.co.uk021376
Whether your business is new or old it needs efficient accounting services for growth and sustainability, we offer an outsourced accounting solution tailored to your needs. So speak to us about your bookkeeping, payroll, VAT and compliance needs.
more exotic cousin with chocolate trousers is vatable The Business Bulletin
Not claiming VAT on staff entertainment
business entertainment with nil VAT and ensure your bookkeeper knows when any receipts should be allocated here.
When using accrual scheme for your VAT returns and VAT has been recovered on purchases from a supplier, if you do not pay this supplier within six months, you’re required to repay any VAT recovered to HMRC.
This oh so simple and straightforward tax can be anything but so if you’re unsure seek professional advice especially when it comes to complex VAT issues. If you decide to go it alone my advice is to take extra care, use a checklist and don’t assume the software will always get it right.
All modern bookkeeping software has an element of automation that saves time on data entry, which is great, however before you file your return you should look through the summary to ensure everything is correct. Having used cloud software since 2014, I must dismiss the myth that the computer will do it all for you.
FINANCE 8 | Issue 21
Not adding the human element to the automation
Failing to repay VAT on supplier invoices
Similarly, where a customer hasn’t paid you for over six months and you’ve already paid VAT on that invoice, you can claim it back. This is something to watch out when reviewing your return before filing, I’ve not come across any software yet that checks this for you.
Bean Counters is a forward thinking Accountancy practice, specialising in Xero Cloud-Based Software and have been a Xero certified practice since 2014.
The plain gingerbread man isn’t considered
luxury item so is zero-rated whereas
There are many TV adverts claiming to have a VAT checker built in the danger is companies rely on this and fail to carry out basic checks on the
Here’s one exception to the rule that VAT cannot be claimed on entertainment. Where you entertain staff, including directors of their own company, ensure you claim back the VAT on the expenditure, assuming expense carries VAT. Just one of the many quirks in the VAT rules a bit like the gingerbread man scenario.
Wendy Tate Bean Counters
Under the reverse charge rules output VAT, which is the VAT on income, must be declared in Box 1 of the VAT Return. This VAT, subject to the normal rules, is also recovered as input VAT, which is VAT on expenses, in Box 4. The overall effect is nil, If you’re thinking what is the point in that you are not alone, but rules are rules!
07810 wendy@bean-counters.co.uk562295bean-counters.co.uk a his
Not accounting for VAT on services received from overseas suppliers
The reverse charge, in simple terms is where a UK business buys services from an overseas supplier in the EU, the UK business is required to account for VAT on those services on their VAT return, as if they were the supplier.
VAT return before filing. Errors such as automatically coding expenses to wrong account and duplicated bank transactions are really common and lead to costly VAT enquiries. One of the most common mistakes I have come across here occurs when the actual invoices as well as the statements or pro-forma invoices are uploaded to the software and the VAT is then claimed twice, the software will not recognize this as a duplicate as the pro-forma will usually have a different number to the invoice.
Whilst all these are great ways of promoting your business they all cost money! What if I could show you a better and more effective way of marketing your business?
Having identified your top earners, the next step is to focus on how you can get them to buy more frequently. Increasing their ordering frequency may sound a bit simplistic but that’s the beauty of it … it is! The trick works especially well if you are in the retail or supply business. The idea is to catch the customer in advance of them needing your
No doubt you have heard of Pareto’s Law? You may know it better as the 80/20 rule. In a sales context if you examine your sales pattern, you may find that 80% of your profit comes from only 20% of your customers. While the percentages may vary slightly, as a principle it generally holds true. Yes, it may come as a
So how does this work? Let’s take your customer Bodgit Ltd. You go through their purchasing history (from the database you have now set up!) and you see that every 6 weeks or so, they re-order. But some months there are gaps, suggesting that they may go to competitors on
So, let’s look at the steps you can take to tease more profit from your client base.
Ask any business owner to come up with ideas on how to market their business and they will say adverts, brochures, leaflets, direct mail, etc.
In this article, I am going to share with you some key strategies to get more business and ultimately increase your profits.
You don’t? Keeping track of your customer’s dealings with you is essential. Get a database up and running … today! The effort in setting this up and keeping it up to date will be quickly paid back.
Pareto’s Law
Squeezing out the profit!
Issue 21 | 9 The Business Bulletin FINANCE
The biggest mistake businesses make is to focus all their marketing effort and budget on getting new customers. Research has shown that it costs up to 6 times more to get a new customer than to retain or sell to an existing one. And this is the key. Concentrate on selling more to your existing clients. Simple! Squeezing more profit out of your customer base is a costeffective way of increasing your bottom line.
bit of shock to find out that most of your profit comes from a handful of customers, but armed with this information you can now create a plan to earn more profit!
Get them buying more often
product or service and offer it either before they know they require it, or before they go to a competitor.
So, the first step to squeezing out more profit is to identify your top 20% profitable customers. Obviously, to do this you have to have a database, which keeps track of who orders what and how much. What?
Love them!
As well as aiming to get your existing customers to give you more business, why also ask them to introduce you to one of their business contacts? This way you leverage more profit out of them by tapping into another business – all without spending a penny on advertising! Referrals can be very powerful. They carry the stamp of approval for your business from the referrer. This is a great example of squeezing profit out of your customers.
Increase the average order value
As well as taking the time to pick up the phone and ask for more business, why not just call to say hello? A call to check levels of service, and to see if everything is okay, can still reap benefits.
Colin is a former successful Managing Director of a wide range of companies, former Group Chairman of the Academy for Chief Executives, as well as many other prestigious roles. He is also an author/writer for IPEX, Graphic Display World, News USA, Graphic Start, many others globally. His focus is on helping companies raise their `bottom-line` and `increase cash flow`.Plus, helping individuals to be successful in business and life in general. Author of several publications, research reports, guides, business and educational models; as well as over 4000 articles/reports and 35 books published on business and educational subjects worldwide. He is also an internationalcolin@cavendish-mr.org.ukuniversityspeaker/visitingprofessor.07831588310colinthompson.org.uk
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By concentrating on the top 20% of your customer base you could be danger of losing a potential diamond hidden in the other 80%. Set some time aside to develop this part of your business. Go through your database and select a few customers who you think, with a bit of courting, could become a 20% business. Put a plan in place to woo them!
some occasions. Make a note in your diary for one week before you would expect them to order again. When the time comes, pick up the phone and say, “Mr Smith, I imagine you must be getting low on widgets? Would you like me to send your usual amount or do you need more?”
If you spot something in a magazine or newspaper linked to one of your customer’s line of business, cut it out and write a note – “Saw this and thought it may be of interest to you.” A simple thing, yet it shows they are important to you.
Squeezing more profit out of your customers can be done. It takes planning, effort and a little cheek! It’s about building and strengthening the relationship, so they enjoy doing business with you.
“Wow” thinks Mr Smith, “This company is sharp!” Result? One happy customer; an order that may have gone to your competitor comes to you; one extra cheque to bank!
Dr Colin ThompsonCavendish
Have a think about how you can apply this technique to your business. Try it out.
Talk to them
If you have an extensive range of products, you may be surprised to find out that some of your customers are not aware of the full extent of your range. Part of your strategy to squeeze out more profit should be to ensure your customer knows what you sell! When did you last call with your customer with the sole aim of chatting through your range of goods or services? You could be amazed by how little they know!
Referrals
Do not ignore the others
As well as getting your customer to buy more often, why not get them to spend more? They may be buying one product from you, but a complimentary product, which you also supply, from a competitor. Be bold; ask him for a bigger share of the pie! Try to resist cutting your margins to secure a deal but instead, see if you can tailor the product to meet his needs. Can you change your delivery system? Can you provide better after-sales service. Explore all these avenues to see how you can get more business. If you do have to cut your margins, work out how much overall extra profit you will get if the average order value goes up.
FINANCE 10 | Issue 21
Too often the only contact a business has with its clients is when they receive an order. The customer hears nothing until the next order is sent in. To get your profitable customers to do more business, find any excuse you can to talk to them. Make an effort to contact them on a regular basis. Ask them what they want from you? What do you have to do to increase business with them? Would a new addition to your line fit in with what they want? Question, question, question! Even if nothing comes out of your conversations immediately, at least they know you are interested in them. This all builds loyalty to you and your business.
1. You can get what you need when you need it The chicken and egg conundrum of solvedmoneymoneyneedingtomakecanbethrough
Issue 21 | 11 The Business Bulletin FINANCE
Business finance is given bad press at times. Some SME owners only turn to finance when they’re in financial trouble. They resist going down that road until they feel it’s absolutely necessary. However, used wisely, business finance can be a game changer.
11 ways business finance can help your business
4. It enables you to plan
How business finance can make a difference to an SME
finance. Regardless of whether a fabulous opportunity has landed at your feet, or key equipment needs replacing, prior planning can’t always ensure there’s enough in the pot at the time you need it. Borrowing is often a great solution that enables you to respond quickly and agilely to the challenge.
Lenders will often agree an interest rate with an SME in advance of a loan. This then ensures that the monthly payments can be predicted over the term of the loan. Thus, a business knows exactly what
If you think about it, most people starting out in adult life need a mortgage to buy their house. If they don’t want to keep renting, that’s just the way it works. And the big boys most definitely leverage external finance to fund expansion; in fact it’s often their first port of call. So does that mean smaller concerns can benefit too? The answer is, yes, in many ways…
Cash flow is the lifeblood of a business. If it seizes up, the business dies. But managing money within a business isn’t just critical to its survival, it’s also what oils growth and releases the latent potential a business holds.
Using up all your reserves to fund an opportunity isn’t necessarily a good plan. That pot you’re dipping into could be useful as a rainy-day fund for an emergency in the future. Getting a loan for new projects, and spreading the cost of those plans over time, ensures your pot remains intact and enables you to simply pay off the loan as you generate more revenue.
As your business grows, it’s likely that equipment directly related to the volume of sales needs to increase. Borrowing to achieve this expansion enables further potential in your business to be released and future revenue to finance the funding.
2. Protects reserves and spread the costs
3. It fuels expansion
8. Reduces dependency on an overdraft
6. Boosts business credit score
9. Can offer tax advantages
11. Provides constant access to the most up to date equipment
As with personal credit scoring, having a track record of reliably servicing a level of debt makes borrowing much easier when it’s really needed. Making it a policy to maintain a good credit score isn’t just a whim, it brings solid business benefits, and making use of business finance from time to time is one way of achieving this.
Roger trained at Edward Thomas Peirson & Sons in Market Harborough before working at Hartwell & Co, followed by Chancery, as a partner. He started Essendon Accounts & Tax with Helen Beaumont in 2014. Roger loves ‘getting his hands dirty’, working with emerging, small-to-medium and family businesses to ensure they receive the best possible accountancy advice. Using an extensive network of business contacts to leverage the best guidance and practical solutions, he has been called a Business Godparent due to his caring, roger.eddowes@essendonaccounts.co.uk07595approach.hands-on021376essendonaccounts.co.uk
will be going out and when, which provides a valuable sense of certainty for long term business planning.
Different types of funding enable a business to manage an asset in different ways through the accounts. For example, a hire purchase agreement may enable you to claim an annual investment allowance and depreciate the asset on your books. An operating lease agreement, on the other hand, may enable you to deduct the entire monthly payment as a business cost before your corporation tax is calculated. The best thing to do is check with your accountant. They will advise you on the best way to fund new equipment to the benefit of your business and finances.
When they start up in business, many owners finance it from their own wealth. That’s great to begin with but isn’t something you have to do once you’re up and running. With the right advice and financial management, business finance will protect your personal reserves and ensure your business is an independent entity. Great for the future when you might be looking to exit from the business.
There’s no doubt that bank overdrafts can be the saving grace for business cashflow. However, that isn’t necessarily the best way to operate. Overdrafts are fantastic in emergencies, but when they become part of the business modus operandi, something needs to
Roger Eddowes Essendon Accounts & Tax
7. Helps to ringfence a business owner’s personal assets
change. Using business finance to achieve this enables a business to fund its operational costs properly through the business and leaves the overdraft for those rare times you actually need it.
When interest rates are low, it’s a great opportunity for businesses to fund their activities cheaply, whilst retaining their reserves for more tumultuous times. Business finance need not always be the expensive option some business owners think it is.
5. Make hay when the sun shines
Equipment bought at today’s prices through business funding will often be cheaper than if you wait 12 months to ‘save up’ and buy it later. Plus, you have the benefit of using that equipment immediately in your business to increase revenue and grow.
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As equipment and machinery gets older, it tends to need more maintenance. This can start to get expensive but because a business has bought it, an owner is often loath to sell it. Certain types of business financing will enable a business to invest in machinery and update it regularly. This ensures the best machinery is in use to enable the business to flourish and grow.
As you can see, borrowing money to manage the finances and cash
10. Helps to beat inflation
in your business can be a valuable part of a growth strategy. It is not an approach that is purely a last measure for business survival. Quite the opposite. When purposefully planned and employed, it can enable a business to grow faster in a stable and controlled way.
FINANCE 12 | Issue 21
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A few weeks ago, I received an inbound call from Laura, somebody who we didn’t know and who wanted to sell us her branding and printing services. When you make a cold call you have to start to build rapport with the person you are calling fast.
Laura continued to talk about what her company does. So being nice I said, ‘just send me an email with the information and I’ll take a look’.
Cold calls – let’s face it most people don’t like them. They can seem pushy and they’re often inconvenient. In case you’ve been living off the grid and don’t know what we’re talking about… a cold call is a phone call from a company or business you don’t know, who are trying to sell you something. It’s one of the easiest things to get wrong for anyone working in sales. But it’s also not that hard to do it well…if you know how!
Alison’s mission statement “When it’s delivered correctly, sales and customer service are exactly the same thing”, does not come from a textbook, but a combination of my passion and experience of international hotel management and sales for some of the world’s top blue-chip companies. Based on her work with entrepreneurs, Alison is now fortunate enough to work with multinational conglomerates such as Sky, The Discovery Channel, Yell, and The European Commission, to teach their teams to think intrapreneurially which encourages growth mindsets, outside of the box thinking, and ultimately leads to an increase in both company-wide innovation and results. 020 3600 info@smashittraining.com9967smashittraining.com/
It’s not all about you
Most people will send you the information and either not follow up, or follow up without purpose. When Laura sent me the information she still didn’t mention any of the benefits of working with her. It’s probably one of the worst cold calls and follow-ups I’ve ever had. It was like watching somebody drowning and not throwing them a life ring!
Alison Edgar MBE SMASH IT! Training
Laura phoned again with the same tactics as last time – sell, sell, sell and no research! She did not engage with me at all. She did not ask what I thought, what I wanted or what stage I am in my business. It was also obvious that she did not know anything about me or my business. The number one thing I want you to take from this is to do your
How not to make a cold call
My experience of cold calls
Are you selling the benefits?
Laura spent the first 4 minutes talking about her company. She missed the all-important topic of what benefits her company would bring to me.
Do your research!
As a business owner, I believe in business karma – I really try to give out what I want back. If I’m cold calling I want people to be nice to me, so if people cold call me I try to do the same for them. On this call,
14 | Issue 21 The Business Bulletin SALES
research. You need to know who you are talking to! Cold calling isn’t for everyone. It’s tough, often brutal! If you’re putting your neck on the line you should at least know who you are talking to – it’s not 1986! Use Google or LinkedIn to find out more about your prospective customers.
Hit the ground running
3. Look at what is in your pipeline, contact those customers to re-establish contact after the holidays.
When your research turns up a great prospect –for Laura it might be someone whose website isn’t mobile-friendly, or hasn’t been updated for 5 years –you have to find the right way to engage with them. You would never phone a potential client and say ‘your website is rubbish, it’s not mobile-friendly and
Julie Futcher
2. What business do you know you have and what do you need?
4. What business development activity is needed? Book those networking meetings in, prioritise the calls to prospects, touch base with existing
During this stage of making a cold call, do not fall into the trap of giving your opinion!
1. Review your sales plan and goals – what do you want to achieve?
Outbound calls can be effective, but only if you do the research first. If Laura did her research she would’ve known that: I’m a sales trainer and my website had just been rebranded.
Getting back into business after a holiday can be challenging. For whatever reason, it can sometimes take a couple of weeks to “get round” to the dayto-day aspects that are needed to drive revenue. However, it’s imperative that we don’t take this approach. There are only a few months before the Christmas period hits and any delay could have a knock-on effect with the revenue for the last quarter of the year. Here are my top 4 tips to help you get up and running on your first day back into the office:
COLUMNIST – SALES The Sales Ace 01604 thesalesace.co.ukjulie@thesalesace.co.uk532004
Although Laura didn’t know anything about me or my company, she did say ‘We do branding and we think you could do with a rebrand’. I asked her ‘what is it about my website that needs rebranding?’ – she didn’t ask about the history of my brands or when we last updated them. Laura replied ‘well, your brand looks tired and it’s very dated’.
Focussingcustomers.on these activities will get you back into your business quickly and the revenue rolling. Find out more about how The Sales Ace can help you.
So of course, I asked which brand, as I have two –one of which hasn’t been updated for some time. So she could’ve potentially been right. When Laura said it was Alison Edgar -The Entrepreneur’s Godmother, I was shocked as we’ve only just updated the website. I know for a fact that it isn’t ‘tired’, but her comment itself was extremely blunt.
The holiday period can be really challenging for business owners and salespeople. Your prospects are on holiday, there’s a sense of apathy because people want to make decisions after the holiday, and you might be taking some well-deserved time out yourself. All of these can have an impact on business and, if you’re anything like me, you can’t wait for September, when life gets back to normal.
Watch what you say
What to learn from this experience
It
16 | Issue 21
If you cannot get hold of someone by phone, you can always send an email. It’s less intrusive – they can respond at their convenience. Again, you can use open questioning techniques to see if they are interested in moving forward.
Cold calling doesn’t have to be a negative experience – it can be a great way to connect with new and potential clients. If you think that someone could benefit from your products or services, don’t be scared of contacting them. Just do not contact them without doing your research – knowledge is power and people are more likely to buy from someone that they like, know and trust! probably one of the worst cold calls and follow-ups I’ve ever had. was like
Following up
Most sales are made between the 1st and 12th touchpoint (and they are typically made after the 5th). So, following up is an essential part of the process.Remember, if someone doesn’t get back to you, it doesn’t always mean they aren’t interested, sometimes people are just busy and they haven’t had time to contact you. What you want to do is test intention – are they still interested or are they avoiding you?
See what I did there?
Knowing the name of the person you want to talk to is essential. It is also more likely to persuade the gatekeeper to let you past.
Remember,angle when cold calling it can take up to 12 touch points to make a sale. The purpose of Laura’s calls should be to make an appointment and explain the benefits face to face, not to sell straight away.
‘Hi Jenny, I’ve had a look on LinkedIn and I can see that you have quite a large sales team. The purpose of this call is that I have worked with blue chip companies and also a lot of small businesses and I make a really good impact on sales teams when I do work with them, I just wondered how you currently do your training?’
‘Hi, I’m Alison Edgar – The Entrepreneur’s Godmother and I work with small businesses to help them increase sales and this ultimately helps them to make more money. Which department is it that deals with that? I think it’s Jenny in HR, is that correct?’
it doesn’t represent your brand’. You need the person you’re calling to come to that conclusion on their own without being pressured. Use open questions to understand their needs and mindset. Then you can find the right
When I’m making a call to learn about a potential client I say:
Not only am I giving an introduction about what I do, but I’m also specifically asking Jenny how she currently trains her teams. This helps me ask open questions.
Asking open questions creates room for clients to indicate if they’re interested or not. If they aren’t interested then you can always ask ‘do you mind if I ask your reasons as to why you do not want to progress
any further?’ There can be a variety of reasons for someone to decline your business; time, money or it just might not be right for them – this does not mean that it is a ‘no’ forever and there may be an opportunity for working together in the future. However, it is essential to respect someone’s reasoning. No one will want to be bombarded with phone calls if they are not interested.
It’s
How do I introduce myself?
To wrap it up
aandsomebodywatchingdrowningnotthrowingthemlifering! The Business Bulletin SALES
Are you in sales or business development?
We’ve heard the story that “people buy from people” and “the product sells itself” but there’s a whole lot more to it than that.
Bad habits do creep in, except you don’t have a sales process so how can you measure performance against a process you don’t have? How do you know if you are on track to achieve targets and meet expectations if you don’t have a sales process? Sure, throw enough mud around and some will stick, maybe you will hit your targets but without a process you will find out at the end of the year and wouldn’t you prefer to know now rather than waiting six I’mmonths?notgoing into the details of sales processes in
The most successful sales people have a sales process, initially it will be a conscious system but over time it will become a subconscious or unconscious system where they don’t even realise they are doing it. Ask them how they do it and they won’t actually know, or if they do then they are keeping it to themselves because knowledge is power and while they are bringing in the sales then you are unlikely to question bad habits.
…business development is not business strategy, it’s taking your business strategy to your market place.
this article, it’s far too complex and will be unique to your business. I will though ask you to think about your sales processes and how you manage your sales pipeline.
Let’s start by differentiating sales and business development; sales is what you do today and business development is what you will be doing tomorrow.
Issue 21 | 17 The Business Bulletin SALES
● ● ●
Usernames and passwords are not enough. Thousands of employees require on-demand, 24/7 access to your VPN. Revoking that access is not an option and neither is making the authentication process for complex. A recent Data Breach Investigations Report found that
Securing your business
If your employees rely on usernames and passwords alone, you’re at risk for a VPN security breach. Are you sure your users are who they say they are? Can simple authentication and vigorious security co-exist? Found out in the RSA eBook:
See where you could be exposed and what to do to get protected, if you’ve migrated to, or are considering migrating to Office 365, contact to learn about:
With , administrators can set which authentication methods will be offered to users based on the sensitivity of the application. For example, administrators may decide that SMS authentication is suitable for low assurance applications, but not for those that require a medium or high level of identity assurance. Also, with RSA SecurID Access, users have the flexibility to choose from the allowed authenticators at runtime, which makes a convenient experience for users.
C4 Secure
is a powerful, feature-rich platform that delivers substantial productivity gains and cost savings. However, organisations rushing to adopt Office 365 risk creating holes in their wider security architecture.
■ Customer service and after sales
Instead, we will look at business development as there is much ambiguity on what this means. A quick google search will take you to hundreds of sites, each with its own definition. I am going to refer to the definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary which is “the activity of pursuing strategic opportunities for a particular business or organisation, for example by cultivating partnerships or other commercial relationships, or identifying new markets for its products or services.”
■ Finance ❙ Investment to progress ideas ❙ Investment to streamline efficiencies
❙ Building on existing success ❙ Preparing for new products, applications, markets ❙ Stock requirements for projected growth
Identifying new opportunities doesn’t happen overnight and neither do new relationships however, you will need to look outside your comfort box if you want to really grow your business.
01933 38 46 hello@thebmcc.co.uk47thebmcc.co.uk
■ Market development
❙ What similar markets exist where we are currently not active
■ Marketing ❙ Defining the marketing strategy with the marketing team
Business development requires support from within the whole business, for example:
In its simplest form, business development is reaching new markets, new customers and forming new relationships. Of course, there’s an element of sales, and marketing, but business development is not one or the other of these.
ResearchWhoare our customers
■ Sales ❙ Working with the sales teams to challengesunderstand
❙ Working with sales teams to explore opportunities
The BusinessIssueBulletin21| 19 SALES
❙ What additional solutions or services can we offer ❙ Prioritising actions
Business Mechanisms Coaching & Consulting was created by Robert and Sarah-Louise Isaacson to bring together their expertise, knowledge and skills under one umbrella to ‘minimise business risk – maximise business potential’. Robert completed his MBA (Master of Business Administration) in 2021 whilst employed as a director of a UK SME. Robert’s expertise is focused on strategy, business development, sales and finance including risk management. He has been in sales for 30+ years.
This is not an exhaustive list and it will be unique to your business however, it demonstrates the importance of collaboration, team work and focus. Business development is not short term/huge gains, it will take time.
So you could call it operational strategy, getting into the detail of how to implement your business strategy. For example, Tesla’s business strategy was “to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.”. Next they had to figure out the operational strategy in order to develop the business.
You will note in the above sentence that business development is not business strategy, business development is taking your business strategy to your market place.
■ Product development
What else can we do for our
Robert Isaacson Business Mechanisms Coaching & Consulting
❙ What new relationships should be formed to gain entry
AnalysisNewNewNewcustomersapplicationsmarketssaleschannelsValueProposition
❙ What new opportunities are available with small adjustments to our existing product range ❙ Is the product overengineered for its existing market and could cost reductions be designed in to be more competitive for another market ❙ Does the market require a more robust product ❙ New innovation
Creators who share content on a regular basis (3-5 times per week), can take advantage of the LinkedIn Creator Mode feature to format their content into a more prominent position on their profile.
Creator Mode pushes the activity section towards the top of your page, so that it sits either under your Headline or, under your Featured Section (if you have also made use of thisThisfeature).ismuch better for creators who want their content to be seen and engaged with. It will also mean that visitors to your profile are more likely to see and engage with your content.
Having more followers increases the reach of your content, especially if your followers actively engage with your LinkedIn posts.
20 | Issue 21 The Business Bulletin MARKETING
When LinkedIn announced the launch of Creator Mode back in 2020, there was a rumble of excitement for creators across the platform. With an incremental role out to their users, many users were keen to access the new feature and see how it could benefit them and their business. In this article, we look at the various benefits of turning Creator Mode “On” to help you determine if you too can benefit from using the feature.
By strategically choosing the hashtags you use, you can reach a much wider audience with your content.
Associated hashtags
Therefore, by Creator Mode changing the “Connect” button to a “Follow” button, you can encourage more people to easily follow your content without them having to send a connection request which potentially won’t get accepted.
LinkedIn’s Creator Mode –the good, the bad & the ugly!
More followers
LinkedIn limits users to 30,000 connections, this is something to consider when it comes to the long-term strategy of growing your network. Ideally, you want your connections to either be people who add value to your network, or people who could be prospective clients or partners.
Creator Mode allows you to associate up to five hashtags against your profile which show other users the topics which you most commonly talk or post about. This is a fantastic way to get your profile and content in front of users outside of your direct network. Whenever you post, your content can be seen by users who are following the hashtags you use.
Emphasis on content
Generic content does NOT need to be generic. There are some ideas for social media posts that are always going to be relevant. These are evergreen topics, tips and suggestions that are always of interest. But there are many resources that will prompt your ideas for content! While these are all generic in nature, (national days, funny stories, polls and so on) the trick is to make them relevant to YOU.
Utilisingspeakers.the
Where have you been recently? Were you asked any interesting questions that could spark an idea for a topic? What’s coming up for you?
Finding engaging content for your social media marketing is a constant challenge. Some mornings you’re raring to go! Yet, other mornings, you look at the screen and you have instant brain fog…. recognise that scenario? Well, trust me, it also happens to even the most seasoned of social media experts! It often only takes a little push to get the content flowing…
Don’t listen to the little voice…
LinkedIn Live and Newsletters
This is a useful tool for those who are frequently writing original content and want to share business insights and updates.
Newsletters feature means that you can invite people within your network to subscribe so that anytime you use LinkedIn Publisher to share an article/blog, your subscribers will be notified by LinkedIn.
01604 green-umbrella.bizchristina.robinson@green-umbrella.biz726758 Green Umbrella Marketing
Get 75 more great ideas via this free e-book.
You can only have 30,000 LinkedIn connections, but aren’t restricted on followers. Therefore, switching to Creator Mode and switching your Connect button to a Follow button allows you to be more selective about who you bring into your network!
Check your diary!
The higher the number of followers can be a good indication of how interesting and engaged users are with your LinkedIn posts.
61% of LinkedIn users decide whether or not they want to connect with you based on how your profile appears. For content creators on LinkedIn which a high number of followers, having the number of followers displayed on your profile can be a fantastic way of showing off your credentials…
Christina Robinson
Three easy sources of inspiration for your social media
The people around you are just part of the day, but to anyone outside your world they are new! People love to see behind the scenes, ‘where the magic happens’!
By turning Creator Mode “On”, you are also able to access the LinkedIn Live and Newsletters feature.
For people with a large following, this can be a great way to promote your products/services to a live audience and actively involve your network and encourage participation from both attendees and guest
What and who are around you?
Check your inbox
Having a healthy number of followers is likely to instil more confidence and encourage more people to accept your connection requests.
The content you consume as a user is a part of your professional practice! Use your expertise to turn your inbox into snippets of useful information and advice for candidates and clients.
Followers displayed
You know the voice I mean? The naggy little one that tells you that nobody wants to read your posts… being you and being human is all part of a good social media presence. The key to success is not to be perfect, it is to be accessible and real. Human presence is so much more warmly welcomed in the real world, even on social media!!
COLUMNIST – MARKETING
Creator Mode will automatically set new connections as followers too, so focus on being consistent with growing your connections each week!
Followers displayed
Eloise Idoine
For users with a lower number of followers, say less than 3,000, having the number of your followers displayed on your profile could be a negative if you are trying to give the impression of being a creator or leader in your field.
That means you have the potential to organically grow your network by 5,400 connections/followers each year.
Summary
Although Creator Mode can be a fantastic tool for growing your following on LinkedIn, it has also proven to be a divisive feature, with some content creators reverting to the original format of LinkedIn.
Less connections
Therefore, the original format of the LinkedIn profile may be more suited to job seekers as the profile reads in more of a CV format with the “About You” section displayed towards the top of the profile.
Rialto Training
Creator Mode may not be for everyone. There are a few factors to consider before you choose to active this feature on your profile.
Not for job seekers?
Acceptance rates of connection requests will be significantly higher as the individuals have already shown an interest in your profile and your content as they have already decided to follow you.
If you can be consistent with posting on a regular basis, whilst putting effort into creating content which educates, engages, and excites your network, then it’s well worth taking advantage of this LinkedIn feature!Ifyou’re already actively creating content on a regular basis, then it could well be worth taking advantage of LinkedIn’s Creator Mode. Increase your following, promote your content, and reach an audience outside of your current network by turning this feature “On”.
Eloise Idoine has spent the last 12 years working in sales and marketing roles in a variety of different industry sectors. Currently launching her business, Rialto Training, Eloise helps companies and individuals to get the most out of using LinkedIn. Whether it’s generating leads or building your brand, Eloise will give you easy-to-implement tools and knowledge of how to get business success via the LinkedIn eloise@rialto-training.com07522platform.885300Linkedin.com/Eloise
The Business Bulletin MARKETING
Could do better!
healthy number of actual connections.
Take time to set it up properly, be consistent, and have fun whilst making the most of this feature!
All in all, Creator Mode isn’t for everyone…yet!Withonly3% of UK based members sharing content more than once every 30 days, Creator Mode is geared up for users who are creating and sharing posts more than a couple of times a week.
To be honest, I wouldn’t spend too much time concerning yourself with this. Remember, on the free version of LinkedIn, you can send 100 connection requests a week.
For job seekers, having Creator Mode activated may not be so beneficial. When LinkedIn was originally founded in 2003, it was geared more towards recruiters, employers, and job seekers more than for content creators.
Creator Mode encourages another user to “Follow” your profile rather than sending you a connection request. If you have less connections, this can be a negative as you ideally still want to build your network to a
However, to avoid this becoming a negative you should actively review and manage your followers. Take time to occasionally check new followers and then you can decide who could bring value to your network and who you want to send a connection request to.
22 | Issue 21
Issue 21 | 23 The Business Bulletin MARKETING
5. You need quality leads which doesn’t mean quantity, it means quality. Your target being as tight as possible
1. Set up a measuring process before you start so that you have the Return on investment details at your finger tips
4. Need to know your target market so you can decide which strategy is most appropriate – if you haven’t already now’s the time to sit down and map out who your ideal customer is. If you’re already trading look over your existing clients and those you’ve worked with in the past (profitable ones only!). Do they fall into a particular field, do they have particular needs or interests?
3. Remember a person is a lead and enters your sales process only after they have expressed an interest in what you do, before then you are marketing to them
It probably won’t surprise you that many businesses have little or no way of measuring the effectiveness of their marketing activities. If you don’t measure how do you know what’s working and what’s not? Common sense right?
12 marketing insights
I’d like to share with you my 12 top tips to help you with your marketing.
2. Have more than one marketing strategy running at any one time, some may be quick, some may be a longer burn time
means that you appeal to people who you are likely to convert to customers once they leave your marketing arena and enter your sales funnel
6. Where does your ideal customer hang out – this is an important question as it impacts the marketing platforms you use to promote your business. Ask your clients which social media platforms they use, what magazines and trade press they read, do they attend business meetings, are they subscribed to your newsletter, do they read your monthly blog? There’s no point spending time an effort creating content for Facebook business page if your audience is on LinkedIn.
7. Know your competition –again it’s worth spending time doing your competitor analysis. There are likely to be businesses who are obvious competitors in that they offer similar products and services as you. However there may also be other less obvious competitors
8. Create a Unique Selling Proposition – When working on your USP it might help you to understand that there are three different types.
❙ Created USP – this is where you create a difference where no real difference exists. But that you offer something that your competitors don’t. Domino’s Pizza had a great example of this, with their “Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free.” They did actually mostly deliver within 30 mins anyway, they just told everyone they were guaranteeing it.
❙ Perceived USP – This is where the customer perceives a difference or uniqueness in the product or service you offer.
Remember a person is a lead and enters your sales process only after they have expressed an interest in what you do, before then you are marketing to them
❙ Whether in print or online it is important to ensure that you communicate your key messages. This could be through a press article to promote your new product launch, staff appointments, etc.
review the results and then alter accordingly.
The Business Bulletin MARKETING
❙ Actual USP – As you’d imagine this is where there is an actual difference. So the “highest quality”, “exclusivity”.
you’re currently doing, what the costs of each activity are and the results you’re getting (the return on investment).
10. Create a referral programme – referral rewards can be anything from discounts, gifts, invitations to special events, mutual referrals, or exclusive offers. This way you are encouraging your existing customers to spread the word of mouth love for your business and get something in return.
Kathy’s passion is working with owners of successful small to medium sized companies. She can help you to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you really want to be, whether it be to grow your business long term, or to implement an exit actioncoach.co.uk/coaches/kathy-bassettkathybassett@actioncoach.com07952strategy.112432
24 | Issue 21
9. Review your existing marketing activities – this exercise is designed to make you think about all areas of your marketing. List what
11. Who is going to run your marketing campaigns –must be time set aside on a consistent basis, marketing is all about persistency and consistency
Are you taking the time to regularly test, measure and reoptimise your campaigns? If not, why not?! Are you generating new leads from your campaigns?
KathyActionCoachBassett
12. Invest in your PR and marketing – this is an area that should never be skimped on. However it’s vital that you test and measure your activities as you go along. Give a new strategy 3 months,
❙ Online advertising, whether through Facebook or Google can also be a cost effective way of generating new leads for your business.
❙ Social media also plays a key part. Your potential customers will be checking you out on social media and via your website so it is important to ensure you have a good presence.
Join FSB and unlock a range of services for your business *FSB Business Essentials Membership starts from £147 per annum with a £30 registration fee in the first year. This rate is applicable to businesses with no employees. Rates increase depending on your number of employees. Please see the website for full details of subscription rate bands. Registered Office: National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses Limited, Sir Frank Whittle Way, Blackpool Business Park, Blackpool, FY4 2FE. Registered in England No. 1263540. To find out more or join today, call 0808 2020 888 or visit fsb.org.uk/join At FSB our mission is to help smaller businesses achieve their ambitions. We are the UK’s largest grassroots campaigning group promoting and protecting the interests of the self-employed and smaller business owners. How can FSB help your business? Right from the outset, FSB members have access to a range of services, including: • 24/7 legal, tax and employment advice line • Debt recovery service • Range of local and virtual events - open to all • An extensive online legal hub with over 1,300 documents and templates • Easy access to funding • Specialist hubs including our start up hub fsb.org.uk/start
The Business Bulletin OPERATIONS
■ What drives employee retention
How is retentionemployeemeasured?
■ Does training increase retention
Key factors for employee retention
You’ve had a few leavers, it’s difficult to recruit and are concerned other employees will leave.
■ How to measure employee retention
26 | Issue 21
measurements in place by deciding the time period. A 12-month period works well, reviewed quarterly so you can see the amount of knowledge and skills retained, or not, within your business. Use this as part of your HR Metrics in place to review and take appropriate action.
In this article we’ll be looking at:
Remaining headcount ÷ starting headcount x 100 31 (employees at the end of the time period) ÷ 36 (employees at the start of the time period) x 100 = 86.1%.
Before you start to put in place retention plans, get your
Is employee retention a problem for you?
in the industrial sector (Source: REC, Nov ’21 report) it really is time to get your retention strategy right.
You do not include any new hires as the measurement shows you the percentage of employees retained
You know the cost of recruiting a new member of staff to your business, the uncertainty of the candidate actually turning up on their start date or leaving within the first few months. The productivity dip whilst a new employee is learning the new role, additional workloads your existing staff do whilst you recruit all strengthens the case for an employee retention strategy. Taking time to develop a strategic approach to retaining your existing employees has never been so important. With 1 in 2 recruiters (53%) stating retention is a key issue
Recruit the right people
Recent news reports of delays at seaports and airports sound horrendous and having experienced air travel recently I can first hand report that delays are likely.
These recent travel problems seem to have occurred because of a couple of changes that have occurred recently. Firstly, the processing time required to get through the system has increased. Secondly, there seems to be a shortage of people at various points that also slows things down.
part of our value creation for our customers so worth thinking about.
COLUMNIST – OPERATIONS
What drives employee retention
Review your base salaries, holiday, pension scheme, maternity & paternity. Consider wellness programmes, individual development, health care plans, and learning opportunities. Check in with employees to see if what you are offering matches what employees want. An employee recognition scheme is a great initiative to link exceptional performance to your core values and reward employees with a non-monetary gift.
If you’re planning a holiday outside the UK this year, then good luck!
Which got me thinking about my own processes and risk management around what happens when I go on holiday. A lot of my processes rely on me, I must do something to move my clients through my sales, operation and support systems. Some of these areas I’ve either automated or outsourced so it’s helped keep my system flowing.
Russell Parker
So, we can go on holiday and rest up, recharge and come back invigorated. Have a great time!
Know what’s going on at work
Where are your process points? How do they work? Are they a single point of failure?
Evaluate your benefits and perks
Flexible & hybrid working
But how about you?
during the full-time period. You may also want to consider the industry standard to monitor your business against others in your sector.
Not all companies may be able to provide flexible or hybrid opportunities, but take an opportunity to identify what, if anything, can be different, a 9-day fortnight maybe? Train line managers to support hybrid working employees, focus on outputs and results rather than micro-management.
A great way to do this is with engagement surveys, focus groups, 121 programmes, stay interviews. As long as you are providing the opportunity for employees to feedback to you about the culture at work, and you address the issues you are on the starting block.
01327 qrbmc.comenquiries@qrbmc.com630355 QRB Management Consultants
Where are bottlenecks?your
Getting your recruitment practices right has never been so important, with the difficulty in finding new hires and cost implications, you must make sure your new employees know what the expectations of the role are, what their contribution is to the business and how you will develop their skills.
You’ve got your calculation, and you want to make sure you keep the knowledge and skills that you’ve paid time and energy into developing stay with your business. Investing in retention gives you the opportunity to build on the skills of your team and ensure productivity is high, and reduces time and productivity of new hires learning the job. Get your retention strategy in place:
Systems these days are subject to these issues, possibly because they are set up to be as lean as possible with little tolerance so that waste is kept to a minimum. It does mean however we must put up with occasional delays when issues arise. Having travelled extensively for business I can vouch for the fact that delays occurred before this year and quite frequently, not as high impact as these recent ones though.
What affects them and what would be the impact if something happens to slow them down and is that something you can accept in your business.It’sanimportant
07973 info@eastmidlandshr.com353498eastmidlandshr.com JB Commercial Finance @jbcommercialfinance James Blacklaws Telephone: 0116 3440 322 Mobile: 07722 432 128 Email: Website:info@jbcommercialfinance.co.ukwww.jbcommercialfinance.co.uk Call JB Commercial Finance for a free initial consultation Does your business need cashflow finance? Are you looking to buy a commercial property and require funding? Has your bank turned your business down for finance? Dont know where to turn for business funding?
Nicky created East Midlands HR to provide professional, affordable HR Services for SME businesses to enable them to have the right advice how and when they need it. Nicky is a Breathe HR partner, providing a cloud based HR System, which reduces paperwork for effective HR Admin, Absence & Holiday Management, compliant to GDPR and more. Nicky is passionate about HR and whilst she delivers on compliance to Employment Law, she really enjoys developing line managers to have the people skills to deliver results through their teams.
Does training increase employee retention?
Nicky Buckley East Midlands HR
Absolutely, according to LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report, having opportunities to learn and grow is now the top driver of great workplace culture. As a small business, you may not be able to offer career progression, but you can develop skills and provide meaningful work that shows the benefit they bring to your business. Invest in your line managers who can support their team to grow, support continuous improvement, productivity improvements, and build your business. Use your data to support workforce planning to ensure you have the skills needed for the future of your business.
In this article we’ve shown you how to measure employee retention and given you ideas to consider when putting your strategy together. Whilst reducing training budgets may be thought of as a way of saving money, use this to keep your employees upskilled and reduce recruitment spend.
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Emma and her partner own a video production company in Northampton called RYG Films. They do a whole variety of different videos, but a lot of the mainstay of the business is doing promotional work for businesses and other types of organisations. Let’s learn a little bit about what makes Emma tick!
Spotlight on MatthewsEmma
The Business Bulletin ON…SPOTLLIGHT 30 | Issue 21
The Business Bulletin ON…SPOTLLIGHT Issue 21 | 31
How did you come to be where you are today? What's your story?
forward a few years we did a promotional video for some friends who had their own businesses. That made us decide to go for it in a formal way. It has been five years in the making since we incorporated the company, and it's been a steady increase in confidence, in skills and in reputation ever since. For us, the business is still growing and evolving. Being in business this long is a small drop in the ocean still, but we’re liking where we’ve reached at the moment.
of those, but also my people skills - I'm a good communicator. I was working with the students who had learning difficulties or disabilities supporting them in their lectures. Being in Northampton really gave us the capabilities of being able to start our business alongside our jobs because our overheads were so low. I'm from London. We purposefully didn't go back there purely because there was just no feasible way that we've been able to do what we did and live.
My partner Michal and I, we met at university and we used to be in theatre, where we made some productions. That was our kind of vocation. However, very quickly after graduating, it wasn't ticking all of our boxes for different reasons. With Michal having a background in photography, having that technical knowledge, it was a kind of natural migration into video.
We were studying in Bedford. I actually stayed on to do a master’s degree. I needed to be somewhere
We loved the freedom that video gave us, as opposed to the bricks and mortar business of theatre. We continued with that and made some really fun videos, did some stop motion, entered some film festivals and had a great time. We actually started to see our strengths and how we might make a living out of doing this - which was always the holy grail for
We had no capital coming out as graduates, so we had to get jobs. I was working at the University of Northampton at the time we started the business. I have some serious keyboard skills and I was making use
…find a way of offloading the stuff you don't like to do, to focus on what you do like to do.
How did you end up in Northamptonshire then if you're from London?
Fastus.
We’re a very modern family in a sense that we are a tag team. We both have our components that we contribute to the business. We made an active choice not to put our daughter in full time childcare, she does go a couple of days a week. She's so young, she's only four. She was conceived the same month that we incorporated the business! It was big changes all at the same time! Being in business has given us the opportunity to make that choice. She's very fortunate, she gets to spend a lot of time with her dad. Some families have to take the childcare route, or they have one parent working and the other parent not. For single parents, I can't even imagine how tough it is – my Mum was a single parent.
that was commutable. One of my family members was in Northampton and she was one of the only ones that would let me stay with the dog! Michal joined me a year later. We’ve started our own family and we started our business and who would ever thought it, but here I am talking about it?
Before I went to university, I made a conscious decision to change my career. That’s what the motivation was. I'd got sick, I actually had a breakdown. I think that breakdown was caused by continuing to be in a lane that I didn't want to be in. I didn't mind my jobs and my career.
I'd worked my way up after leaving school to be in office management and project management. It was a good career, but it just wasn't the career that I wanted. When I did get sick, I was out of action for many months. Now, for me, as tough as it is running your own business – it’s
The Business Bulletin ON…SPOTLLIGHT 32 | Issue 21
It’s always difficult to put this kind of stuff into words. It does come across as a bit woolly. When you break it down, I think that components that Michal and I bring are the technical aspect, which I think a lot of videographers don’t have. Not all by the way. It depends where you come from how you enter videography. Knowing the tools that you work with. Because things can be automated to a degree, anyone can pick up a camera, and they can point it and they can make something. However, my partner Michal, who is the technician of our business, knows the equipment to the point where it drives me bonkers because I'm always lacking and will never be as good as him. Couple that with our training in storytelling having our background in theatre; which
How do you and Michal find juggling a young family with and running a business?
What would you say is your why? What's your driving force?
tougher than I ever imagined it could be. It really is. It also isn’t anywhere near as tough as not being able to brush your teeth in the morning because you just don't have that spark in you anymore. That to me is just a no brainer. I'll just keep trying this, and I'll keep doing this. If this avenue doesn't work, then I'll find another avenue to keep in a creative lane. I think that's what my thing is.
What distinguishes your business from anybody else offering similar services?
We loved the freedom that video gave us, as opposed to the bricks and mortar business of theatre.
Join a networking organisation and join one that has like-minded people in it. Being in a networking group as a start-up business, with not having very many contacts of my own in Northampton, I don't think the business would have survived. Not only were they providing business, but it was more the support and the knowledge and “you can do it” attitude; particularly when I'm not doing the work and crying because it's really hard. We all have those days. That would be my top tip.
product and the service that you offer. Everybody's got to do all the foundational stuff: tax returns, the accounts, and so on.
The biggest challenge for me is learning how to run a business. I've
If you were to give one top tip as one small business owner to another, what would that be?
Watch the interview
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Also marketing - not everybody's comfortable doing marketing with their own business. It's not something that everybody has all the skills in one to be able to do it. If you can’t find a way of offloading the stuff you don't like to do, to focus on what you do like to do - that's got to be a challenge.
been around business owners but it’s more about finding a place where I can do it, that makes me happy. As a small business owner, I'm doing a lot of the wheel turning behind the scenes, and that's not my skill set. As we speak, I’ve got 170 reconciliations in Xero! I just put it off all the time and it hurts. Until we're in a position to be able to bring on some support, I think that's one of the biggest challenges.
What would you say has been the biggest challenge in the five years that you've been in business?
I think it is more the administrative and operational part of a business. Your typical business is doing something that you love; that's the
was how to make productions. We weren't actors. We were making stories to share with people and to entertain them. I think that's the beauty of our collaboration. When we're given the opportunity to bring in all of those elements to a video, that's where they really start to sing and that’s what makes us different.
Increasingly, there has been a lot of hype around passwordless authentication, and for good reason.
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Organisations still face password problems. The amount of time IT departments spend managing and administrating users’ login credentials is increasing. Moreover, passwords pose the single-most opportunity for unscrupulous access to corporate data. Passwords are just not secure. Recent surveys show that 85% of attacks stem from lost or stolen passwords. Added to this, IT departments have to balance user convenience with security to ensure compliance.
A passwordless society –stronger, better and simpler
working by providing a secure means to log in to their workstations: ways that are not only frictionless but also which boost productivity. Passwordless authentication is the answer in this year of identity management, to ensure access to data is from users who are who they purport to be.
After 30 years working in IT, Bharat decided to focus on helping businesses by offering the RSA SecurID® Suite. This uses identity insights, threat intelligence and business context to provide secure access to all their users, across all applications. He delivers peace of mind to end-users and to management. With Bharat’s help firms don’t worry about contravening strict rules on data access and GDPR regulations or about loss of data due to malicious attacks or sales@c4secure.co.ukforgetfulness.plain01604439303c4secure.co.uk
The Business Bulletin RESOURCES
BharatC4PanchalSecure
The pandemic introduced a major shift to remote working, with organisations rushing to meet the new challenges and accelerated moves to the cloud. Many are looking for ways to enable their workforce for permanent remote
A solution that provides multifactor authentication (MFA) to workstation logins leveraging the FIDO2 standard as a robust authenticator meets the high assurance levels required for proving compliance, without impacting user convenience. The three compelling reasons why you should start considering a passwordless solution for your workforce today:
■
■ Make certain to configure other multifactor authentication methods that provide secure authentication mechanisms as fallback options
In today’s world, organisations are being challenged to transform and rapidly evolve in response to increased demand from both their customers and employees. This necessitates having to embrace newer and more agile digital capabilities which themselves carry an additional set of risks.
One of the most consequential risks is related to digital identity due to an expanding attack surface, complex application environments, cloud adoption and growing dynamic user populations. Passwordless authentication helps you manage digital identity risk by protecting critical data and applications from unauthorised access, while providing a convenient user experience for the modern workforce.
■
As a business owner, you want to make sure that your business processes are as efficient as possible. But how can you be sure that your team is meeting your expectation? One way is to look at KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). By understanding which KPIs matter most to your business, you can create bespoke reports that help you track progress and identify areas for improvement.Dataisthenew oil of our generation. In this world where information flows like rivers, data has never been more valuable than now, and businesses can utilise it to fuel their growth by utilising powerful KPIs which will provide them with all types of insights into how they’re doing as well as what needs improvement or changes in order for them continue thriving.
■ It is imperative to phase in passwordless authentication in stages, perhaps by department to allow the organisation to adjust.
■ In addition to supporting FIDO2 in offline mode, options for the user to either use alternatives or replace with a new key in case of stolen/lost keys.
■
FIDO2 security keys are better phishing resistant and prevent Man-in-the Middle (MitM) attacks. Windows login with FIDO2 security key as a strong form factor adds multiple layers of security like FIDO2 security key PIN, which is used to unlock the key itself and user presence by tapping the key to make sure it is a human using the key and not a malware acting on behalf of the user. Other authentication methods are equally plausible.
Ashish Kumar
Stronger: More than “something you know”
■
so much data, it is worth considering how software might be able to help to reduce administration, save you time and more importantly present this information in an easily digestible way.
Better: Designed for seamless experience “anytime anywhere”
Simpler: Path to P@$$w0rdless does not need be complex
■
■
How many different types of reports can a business have?
The transition from password-laden infrastructure to a passwordless one is a journey and not an overnight switch:
■ Informational Analytical Operational/structural Product/item Industry/sector Department Staff progress
Do understandyou the KPIs in business?your
COLUMNIST – RESOURCES Web Alliance 0800 677 web-alliance.co.ukashish@web-alliance.co.uk1786
Once you are enrolled for FIDO2 passwordless authentication, users can authenticate whether they are online or offline.
■
WhenInternalmanaging
As the workforce evolves, with modern authentication methods users can authenticate seamlessly. Identity is your weakest link – As organisations turn on a growing number of on-premises, cloud and mobile applications, their attack surfaces increase, as does the probability that a single compromised identity can lead to a catastrophic data breach.
With a large number of applications to support, and an increasing variety of ways to verify users and measure access risk, organisations need an easy way to pull it all together—a simple way to define their authentication requirements. You’re not going to eliminate passwords overnight, and you may have some systems and applications – both legacy and SaaS –that will continue to require passwords for a time, if only for a small subset of users. Ultimately, though, ending costly large-scale password management, reducing the risk of a credentialsbased breach, improving the user experience and other benefits make moving to a passwordless future well worth the initial effort.
With most attacks relying on compromised identities somewhere in the chain, identity has become the most consequential threat vector that organisations are facing today. Now more than ever, organisations need a high level of assurance that users are who they say they are. But to be effective, and to ensure their businesses stay agile, they also need
the confidence of knowing they are who they say they are.
RESOURCES
a secure access solution that won’t slow users down, but instead provide them with a common and convenient experience to any application, from any device. Most midsize to large organisations have hundreds of applications deployed and in use. It’s not just the number that poses a challenge, but the fact that they have a mix of on-premises, cloud and mobile apps—all of which need protected access.
While employees will always be a main concern, organisations have a growing need to provide thirdparty access. Contractors, partners and customers all need access, for a variety of reasons and scenarios— all with different preferences and requirements. Users need easy and convenient access, while you need
Is Your Business Ready? We live in changing times New business practices Ever changing technologies New and changing markets Is your business ready to face these and other challenges? At QRB we offer a range of training and coaching services for you and your teams to adapt and adopt to your changing environment We help your people plan, monitor and adapt changes to your business to help you achieve better, smarter and more structured ways of working PRINCE2PRINCE2 Agile AgilePM Change Management ITIL4 Service Management Put your teams through a real working simulation so they can practice their new skills in safe environments and embed their new knowledge and learning. All our consultants are experienced practitioners in their field. Bringing real life examples to embellish the core material and facilitate the learning of the group. Contact us today for your free consultation 01327 630355 enquiries@qrbmc.com www.qrbmc.com The Business Bulletin
36 | Issue 21
Both these approaches can provide some guidance, but they will raise the question of whether the processes in your business are actually the same as in other companies. A third approach could be to engage a process consultant to review and document all your processes, asking them to recommend where automation would be appropriate.
A fifth approach would be to use data to provide evidence of processing activity that is suitable for automation. There are some sophisticated “process mining” tools available that are used to deliver that information. Once purchased and installed, they monitor the activity of many
vendors. These contain some broad indications of the processes which have been automated.
How to select a process for automation
Is process “X” suitable for automation?
Introduction
One approach, could be to discover the processes that have been automated by similar businesses or competitors. This might be difficult to achieve as businesses do not publish such information. A second approach would be to look at the case studies published by automation software
Any investment in reviewing and documenting processes will deliver its own benefits. However, it is rare for a “process” expert to also be an “automation” expert. They will rely on experience, checklists and other criteria to identify the processes. With access to checklists and guidance on the factors, would you be able to select suitable processes? Yes, of course you would. This could be the fourth approach.
What are the criteria or factors that can be used for the decision? When you start considering automation, the first challenge is to identify candidate processes that are suitable for automation. The challenge is knowing which processes are the right ones to automate.
Issue 21 | 37 The Business Bulletin
■ Could the process be divided into discrete tasks which could be executed separately?
■ How many staff perform the process?
People factors
■ Could the process be undertaken overnight or at weekends?
■ Are there management reports on the state of the process?
■ How many data items are involved in the process?
■ Is there time pressure to complete the process?
■ Is the process documented?
■ Is the process currently outsourced?
David Martin Ether Solutions
during the early evening. For him, the automation enabled him to get the work done while he was getting home for precious family time.
RESOURCES 38 | Issue 21
The selection factors have been grouped into:
■ Quality
■ Does the process only use digital data as input and only produce digital data as output?
■ Are all the decisions based on rules/criteria using data?
■ Do any decisions require subjectivity/emotion?
■ Does the process involve any data matching or comparisons?
David leads a team specialising in intelligent automation solutions delivering productivity and quality gains for SME, regional and national businesses by using RPA software robots. With a background in large databases, document management and BPM solutions, David’s experience has been a natural progression to automation solutions as the RPA technology has matured. David believes that there is a lot of pride and satisfaction to be gained by everybody involved with the implementation of automation solutions whatever the size of the enquiries@ether-solutions.co.uk0845business.6434410ether-solutions.co.uk
■ Could the tasks be easily given to a new employee?
Quantitative selection factors
■ Do instances of the process ever get paused?
■ Are more than two computer applications involved?
This article aims to provide some knowledge to perform your own candidate process analysis in respect of selection for automation using RPA (Robotic Process Automation).
■ Quantitative
■TherePeopleis no implied order of importance and no weighting between the groups.
■ Are the processes subject to audit reviews and external compliance checks?
Quality factors
■ Is the cost of errors in the processing high?
■ Is there more than one trigger for the process?
users in an environment and look for patterns in the data.
There is no one factor that determinesGenerally,suitability.automation will only be implemented where it offers a cost-effective solution, but there can be exceptions. For example, one manager required a process to be automated as the current activity meant he was working in the office
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■ Are legacy applications used in the process?
■ Are the applications which are used by the process highly available, stable and not subject to frequent change?
■ Is it important who completes the process?
■ Is it tedious to perform the process?
■ If a process is currently undertaken overnight or weekends, what is the constraint driving this time?
■ How many times a day/ month Is the process performed?
Overall considerationsselection
■ How many data files are used in the process?
■ How many variations are there in the process?
■ How many screens/windowscomputercould be seen in the process?
A comparison of the financial case for automation can be conducted and this is likely to set the priority for an automation programme of work.
Once suitable processes have been identified by the selection factors, then consideration can be given to the costs of implementing an automation solution and the benefits that would be delivered. The selection factors may help identify where particular benefits will be realised.
Like what you have seen? Spread the love and share!
Using the selection factors
In my experience, one of the best ways to use the selection factors is to consider them in the context of several candidate processes. This provides a comparison.
When the process to be automated is repetitive, stable, well defined, of reasonable volume, uses multiple applications and the users would benefit from a quick implementation.
In this article no scores or scales have been used, so that the factors can be widely applied. It is generally agreed that automation is about “taking the robotic tasks out of the human activity”.
As experience is gained in using the selection factors, the question about when to use automation (i.e. RPA) can be answered as a rule of thumb:
■ Can the process be reversed?
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■ Is any of the data being processed sensitive?
RESOURCES
STRATEGY
The problem is that the world is changing faster than ever before— and businesses need to change with it. Strategy should be an ongoing process that involves creative thinking, balanced action, flexibility, experimentation, and adaptation.
If we can learn to embrace these feelings instead of running from them, we can create bold, innovative strategies that lead us towards our goals as business owners and as organisations. The only way to do that is by being uncomfortable and
It’s easy to feel like you’re making the right decisions when you’re feeling comfortable. But when you’re looking at your business in the face of change, strategy is all about embracing uncertainty, risk, and discomfort—and if you want an effective strategy, you need all three of those things.
40 | Issue 21
Strategy and tactics –building the framework to dominate your industry
exploring different options—not by trying to minimise those feelings typically supported by detailed spreadsheets that project costs and revenue far into the future (albeit these are a very important parts of the puzzle).
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Creative thinking
Balanced action
Creative thinking is about looking at problems from multiple angles or perspectives instead of just one way – which means thinking freely! It also involves being open-minded: not putting limitations on what you can achieve because you’re too busy sticking with what has worked before rather than trying something new (or different). Creative thinking allows us to take risks, and risk is needed for business growth.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
As an example, here are Google’s core values or, as they call them: “Ten things we know to be true”.
2. Challenging assumptions – challenging the way you and others think things should be done, allowing you to become more open-minded and better able to develop innovative ideas.
buscomm.co.ukpaul@buscomm.co.uk703137
10. Great just isn’t good enough.
Balanced action is the ability to use logic aligned to your creative thinking to enable Innovation, all this without breaking the bank. Think of it like order and chaos, they both go hand-in-hand. We need order to continue to make money, but we need chaos (risk) in order to gain competitive advantage, innovation, and growth. Businesses can fall into trouble if they overthink or over-plan their strategies using too much data and financial analysis. This can lead to a lack of innovation, while too much risk in a strategy can lead to the business losing sight of what it is trying to achieve and ending up with nothing at all.
Sometimes it could be a list of single words e.g. honesty, integrity, accountability, respect, trust or simplicity. Or maybe phrases that encapsulate your values (see Google’s below). They should be specific to your organisation and, in some ways, may help distinguish you from your competition.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
7. There’s always more information out there.
07949
In looking at these key areas we can build the strategy and tactics that dominates our industry.
4. Democracy on the web works.
3. Fast is better than slow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
Creative thinking is a skill that can be learned, but it’s important to remember that it doesn’t mean just coming up with a crazy idea for your business. Instead, you should focus on developing a new perspective, and then applying that perspective to your business.
Paul Green
What are your core values?
COLUMNIST – STRATEGY
The Business Community
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
1. Visualising – practicing visualising all the possibilities in a given situation and identifying alternatives
If your strategy doesn’t scare you then you’re not taking enough risk. Alternatively. if you’re not leveraging the successes you’ve already got, you
We can develop our creative skills in many ways, including:
Once you have them in place, you should publish them so anyone associated with your business is aware of what your guiding principles are. You should consider how these values show up in your workplace because there is no point having them and not running your business in line with them.
So, what’s the solution? Well, it’s simple really; find a balance between these two extremes so that you can have both order and chaos working together in harmony!
Along with your vision and mission statements, do you have (and share) your company core values? It is worth thinking about having some as they can form the foundations of how you go about your day-to-day business dealings; almost a set of rules to guide you, your employees, your stakeholders and your customers.Exploring this and establishing these values help align your company, ensuring that you reach your objectives and these set of beliefs can define how a team works together.
STRATEGY
The strategy process is all about taking the initiative and driving your business forward to success. It’s not a comfort-zone exercise—it’s about being creative and courageous, but also organised and structured. By holding every aspect of your business up against the light and examining how it fits into the bigger picture, you can make your strategy leap off the page and into reality.
42 | Issue 21
adam@newwaygrowth.co.uk0330forward.”3112820newwaygrowth.com
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Experimentation
The most important thing to keep in mind when conducting your experiment is the kind of information you’re trying to gather. Are you trying to learn whether customers prefer one product over another? Or are you trying to find out if a new marketing strategy will work? Once you know what kind of information you’re looking for and what kind of results would be most useful, it’s time to think about how best to measure it.
Adaptation
Summary
adapt but also to understand how they’re adapting and why they’re doing so.
Adaptation is all about making changes to an existing process or product so that it better meets the needs of its users. It often involves developing new solutions based on past experience and data analysis so that you can improve your product or service offerings. Adaptation can be used when introducing new products or services, improving customer satisfaction with existing offerings, or addressing problems with existing processes. Adaptation can also help businesses stay competitive by helping them adapt faster than their competitors do—which is why it’s so important for companies not only to
could be running down a rabbit hole with nothing to show.
Adam is a business growth mentor and client acquisition specialist. Over the years, he has supported business owners and their teams in achieving their most ambitious goals, focusing on business strategy and planning, sales & marketing, getting and keeping customers; as well as applying the mindset to achieve success. He’s a multiple small business owner, a qualified business mentor and growth coach. He’s also certified in digital marketing, customer acquisition, content and direct response marketing and social media strategy. Adam has been described as “straight talking with superb ability to read situations, a visionary that evaluates by facts, and creates the ideas to move a business
If you’re trying to find out if customers prefer one product over another, for example, try running an experiment where half of the customers see only one type of button and half see another type. Then compare engagement rates between these two groups and see what the difference between them is.
When making changes within your organisation, it’s important to ensure that the changes will benefit your business over time. This is where adaptation comes into play.
Experimentation is an excellent way to evaluate new ideas like new markets or new advertising strategies before investing heavily in them. If something doesn’t work as well as expected, you’ll know not to invest resources there again—and if something does work well, you’ll know where to focus your efforts to grow and scale going forward.
Flexibility
Adam Payne New Way Growth
Businesses must continually adapt to new conditions, which may mean changing their business model or the way they deliver services. It could also mean re-evaluating the products they offer customers.
The world is changing. The economy, the environment and technology are all changing. Your company needs to change with them and that means being flexible in your business strategy. Unfortunately, many companies do not do this well. They have a set strategy, and they stick with it no matter what happens in the world around them. While they may be successful in the short term, they are unlikely to be able to adapt when things change unexpectedly or if there’s a major shift in how consumers behave.
This is why flexibility should be at the top of every business owner’s list when it comes to creating an effective business strategy. A flexible company can adapt to an ever-changing business environment. They’ll have the ability to make necessary adjustments without getting trapped in a rigid mindset that’s unable to respond effectively when things go wrong.
Experimentation can help with everything from product development and marketing to customer service and sales processes. When you want to run experiments, it’s important to know the goal of your experiment up front. If you don’t, it can be hard to design an experiment that will give you meaningful results.
1. Do you have the time? All mastermind groups will meet regularly so for everyone’s sake, pick one that you are
A suggested eight-point decision process.
If you have reached the stage in your business journey where you are ready to take the plunge with a mastermind group, you now need to decide which group is the best for you. So, what criteria should you apply?
Just as valid, it is an important decision for other businesses. When you become part of the collective you are committing to helping everyone, so the decision to join a group takes on additional importance.
Listen to the audio version
Joining a mastermind group is an important decision for your business.
able to commit to in your schedule. One of the most frustrating things for whoeveryoneattends a mastermind and similar groups, is when people drop out or dip in and out on a regular basis. Clearly life will get in the way sometimes and you may need to miss the occasional session but before you commit, make sure you can fully commit. We are all busy, but it will be well worth prioritising your mastermind group in your calendar.
Issue 21 | 43 The Business Bulletin
2. Geography and is it faceto-face, online or a blend? No matter how else the rest of the answers to these questions stack up, it’s no good being in a group that is geographically bad for you. For some an online version may be the only option. Whatever option you choose, embrace it and make sure it is one you can continue to support.
While there are a lot of things to think about, I would suggest an eight-point decision list. You don’t necessarily need to be in a group that is perfect in all eight, but the nearer you get to the ideal group, the better for you.
Will there be pastries? How to choose a mastermind group that works for you
quite important, well OK, important to me because I do love a nice pecan plait. On a serious note though, does the group meet your basic needs and is it comfortable physically? You want to make the most of your group, so it needs to be a place where you are physically comfortable.
44 | Issue 21
7. Who is leading the group, and will there be pastries? The group leader will tell you a lot about how the group will run and dictate the ethos and tone of the meetings. The facilitator is vital to the smooth running and continued success of the group. Whether there are pastries or not is
Paul Green
Oneagenda.thing
I would always suggest is that you arrange a one-to-one meeting with the group facilitator and maybe a couple of the existing members. Ask a few questions about how the group runs and what the benefits will be. It will also give them a chance to get to know you a little. Remember, this is a two-way contract so arranging a couple of one-toones will give you and the facilitator chance ta o get to know each other a little bit.
STRATEGY
07949 paul@buscomm.co.uk703137buscomm.co.uk The Business Bulletin
A good mastermind will help propel your business to new heights and provide support and guidance. Choose the right one and it will serve you well for years to come.
8. How are the meetings run? Formal, informal, strict agenda-driven or open forum? Get the feel of how a meeting will run before you join. If the structure is not readily available online, then just ask the facilitator for an
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3. Who else will be/is in the group? There are several schools of thought on what makes up a good group. Some are ‘seated’ which means once a particular business seat is filled nobody else from that sort of business will be let in. There are open groups with no seat policy (although sometimes there will be a maximum number allowed from one sector) and specific industrybased masterminds such as accountants’ circles or creatives’ forums.
and do a bit of background on the members.
4. Have you done your research on the other people in the group, even if you know most of them already? Link with them on social media where you can
5. Do you like, respect and trust at least most of the other members? While this is a business decision there is no point in committing to sitting in a room with people you personally dislike. One of the benefits of being in a mastermind is that you get to hear different views and opinions. It is much easier to accept those opinions if you respect the person offering them. One odd thing about masterminds is that the most and least important aspect initially is the trust factor. If you don’t know and trust the people in the group, then you need to at least be in a position where they seem people you will like and respect. Hopefully, the trust factor will follow.
The founder of The Business Community is Paul Green, a business owner himself since 2003. He loves working with small businesses; in particular family-run businesses. Having experienced the trials and tribulations that face a small business on that entrepreneurial journey, he is passionate about making sure businesses don’t make the same mistakes that he made en route! He is a big believer in collaboration and encourages businesses to work together to grow their businesses; as well as offering help and support to each other for mutual gain.
6. What are the aims of the group? There is no point in joining a group that doesn’t match the aims of your business but at the same time don’t let this rule out anything that could expand your view or give another perspective. You don’t need to agree with everything that is said at the meetings, but you do need to agree with the overall aims of the group.
Sounds simple but often teams are not clear on the why of what they are doing and this will prevent them from doing their best. Often teams
Be the leader the team needs
■ No access to phones in meetings.
communicatecommunicateCommunicate,andabit more
Issue 21 | 45 The Business Bulletin
Get the team to create the rules
Most businesses are a reflection of their leaders and so it is important that you as a leader understand and promote teamwork within the company and the people. Actively demonstrate key teamwork skills like trust, challenge and reward teamwork as well as achievement.
As with purpose above, it is essential that your communication is clear but more than that we need to consider all channels of communication. How easy is it for the team to communicate with each other, can
10 tips to improve teamwork and achieve more
Be clear on your purpose
■ Always turn up to meetings five minutes early so you are ready to start on time.
■ No-one is expected to send or respond to emails out of work hours.
Rules might sound a bit strict but everybody likes to know what the boundaries are and having them laid out early can prevent a lot of frustration within teams. Simple rules could be:
■ Everyone will be heard.
members cover different functions and maybe clear on their individual purpose but not that of the team or have a clear image of the bigger picture. It is essential that everyone knows what they are working towards and why.
Build on strengths, not weaknesses
46 | Issue 21
Celebrate diversity
The strongest and most capable teams have a variety of skills and diverse backgrounds. As leaders we often surround ourselves with people like us, who seem to think as we do and have similar drivers but this can stifle creative and problem solving.
We all know that these two things help with motivation and help fulfil our basic need to be valued. So do it! Shout about it in company newsletters or emails or give a bonus, extra day off, theatre tickets, match tickets it doesn’t have to be something big but it has to be consistent, once you start you have to keep doing it.
Do stuff together
Mhairi specialises in coaching teams to help them achieve more and improve their wellbeing. Her focus is on building trust within the team and a combination of coaching, mentoring and facilitation and she can tailor the program to the needs of your business. She enjoys working with newly formed teams, established team or teams who just feel they should be achieving more.
mhairi.richardson@tomrom.co.uk002129tomrom.co.uk big meeting a week is not enough
One
Encourage people to be more appreciative of others and their efforts. Simple thanks can go a long way to making people feel more valued. For some reason, we are much less likely to say thank you to our work colleagues than we would our friends and family. You could even make it one of the rules of the team and it is an area where it is important to lead by example too.
you use technology to bring them closer together, using collaboration software or video or phone calls?
Understand that not everyone will agree all the time and sometimes they will annoy each other but encourage the team to acknowledge their differences and see that as a strength of the team.
STRATEGY
Make the environment work for the team
full of barriers like doors, walls and stairs or are your team rarely even in the same county or country? If you do have the team in one building do they have a space where they can work or spend time together, are there opportunities for them to have casual meetings or chats?
Create a culture of gratitude
Mhairi Richardson Tomrom Team Coaching
we are much more likely to be engaged and contribute more to a team. In simple terms let people do more of what they are good at and if this leaves a hole then see if someone else in the team has a strength in that area.
The Business Bulletin
Reward and recognise teamwork
Mhairi is also a coach with a strong SME background, a focus on the detail, a high level of emotional intelligence and a strong desire to develop talent and grow high performing teams. 07970
One big meeting a week is not enough, encourage smaller breakout meetings and casual catch-ups between team members.
If we are allowed to play to our strengths research has shown that
Just take the time to look at the space your team work in or from, does it make teamwork easy or is it
For remote teams do they have a collaboration software they all use, can they work on the same projects at the same time? Trello, the workflow software company, have teams spread across the globe but also some are office-based so they have a rule that when they have video calls, everyone must be on video even if three of them are in the same room, just to make sure the experience is the same for everyone.
Now I am not suggesting that monthly away days are the best solution but it is important to try activities as a team to help build trust and respect for each other and to encourage openness. Some of these activities don’t even have to be team building, it could simply be having coffee together, or the occasional meal out to chat and get to know each other better.
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■ 87% of rough sleepers are men
here again, a trigger warning. The rest of this article will discuss male suicide.
■ Suicide is the biggest cause of death for men, but not just young men – there are almost as many deaths from suicide amongst men over the age of 50 as there are for men under 45
■ Men are three times more likely to die from suicide than women
If you’re a man, you will no doubt, have had this phrase thrown at you in response to a situation where, heaven forbid, you may have wanted to express emotion. You may even have had this since childhood as, sadly many young boys were (perhaps even some still are today) told ‘boys don’t cry’ or ‘don’t be a girl’.
■ Men are nearly three times more likely than women to become alcohol dependent (8.7% of men are alcohol dependent compared to 3.3% of women
Man-up has had its day
■ In the UK today 1 man out of 5 dies before the age of 65
■ 73% of adults who ‘go missing’ are men
The Business Bulletin DEVELOPMENTPERSONAL
■ Men go to the doctors less than women
■ 75% of deaths from suicide were men – with suicide the biggest cause of male death under 50
The Oxford dictionary definition of man-up is this: Be brave or tough enough to deal with a difficult or unpleasant situation.
Man up
■ On average, men die 3.7 years earlier than women
The historical depiction of masculine strength has been to ‘man-up’ hold it all in, shut it all out, carry it all for everyone, never show emotions other than anger, which was deemed acceptable for a male to express. (Not so for a female though or she would be called hysterical, but let’s keep the historical representation of females for another day).
48 | Issue 21
When it is Men’s Health Week, many topics of conversation are opened up and we reflect on how we might change our narrative to encourage a change. But once a year for a week isn’t enough. Throughout this article I will refer to some of the startling statistics around men’s health and with that I must issue a trigger warning that there will be references to male suicide.
■ Men are less likely to access psychological therapies than women.
Well, let’s take a look at where we are with men’s health. Here are some statistics from the UK.
Before I carry on, I must insert
We could ask ourselves how we, as a society, have come to think less of a gender because they have
feelings? Unfortunately, we have! For decades, centuries even, men have been told to ‘be strong’ and ‘man up’. The historical depiction of emotions has proved detrimental for both genders, women deemed hysterical and men deemed weak should they express emotions but humans have emotions and express them we must. For if we don’t our health suffers. So just what damage have we been doing with this small two-word phrase?
■ Men are nearly 50% more likely than women to be detained and treated compulsorily as psychiatric inpatients
judithhanson.co.ukjudith@judithhanson.co.uk07881620586
Therapies for the mind
■ Men commit 86% of violent crime (and are twice as likely to be victims of violent crime)
Stats from the Men’s Health Forum
I’m sure that you have all heard about the fight/flight response, which is hard wired into our brain to enable us to deal with life threatening situations. Unfortunately it isn’t only triggered by sabre tooth tigers wanting us for lunch! In the developed world we are fortunate not to encounter many life threatening situations but we trigger the response by the threats that we think about. These thoughts may be about something that is actually happening or something we fear may happen in the future. So you may be worrying about the financial health of your business because of the actual state of your bank balance or because you fear that the good times won’t last. Our brain perceives both of these as “sabre tooth tigers” and reacts accordingly.
It can be very stressful running your own business, so we are likely to be in an “activated” flight or fight state for much of the time and this can damage our cardiovascular system no matter how healthy our diet and frequent our exercise. There are also mental effects as well, like struggling to think clearly or make decisions. Both of these can lead to poor sleep and that just makes things worse. However, it is possible to take back control and I’ll start talking about that next time!
■ 72% of male prisoners suffer from two or more mental disorders
■ Boys are performing less well than girls at all levels of education
■ Men are three times as likely to report frequent drug use than women (4.2% and 1.4% respectively) and more than two thirds of drug-related deaths occur in men
I have become somewhat evangelical about this topic…and I am not alone! I firmly believe that managing your mental health is as important as managing your physical health. We are one system and our physical health affects our mental health and vice versa and yet, while there is a lot of advice available about improving your physical health, there is much less information about how to manage your mental health. So I plan to do what I can to rectify that in this regular column, with both information and some tips to help improve your mental health.
■ Men make up 95% of the prison population
The disparities in male and female health of course, do not all point to the phrase ‘man-up’ but the
Judith Hanson
Managing your mental health
■ Boys are around three times more likely to receive a permanent or fixed period exclusion than girls
Now for the boys
COLUMNIST – PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
■ 43% more likely to die from cancer
■ 76% of premature deaths from heart disease
The Business Bulletin
■ Women suffer greater consequences than men when they express their anger
■ 63% of premature deaths from COVID-19
There are lots of resources out there – take a look at the Men’s Health Forum for posters, leaflets and lots of helpful information. You don’t have to be the answer but it’s good to know where to start.
DEVELOPMENTPERSONAL
It’s not just mental health matters that can prevent men from talking. Some physical health symptoms can be deemed embarrassing or ‘not for discussing’. There’s no subject too embarrassing for any doctor in the world. Having a check-up can spot early warning signs of something potentially serious and save lives.
Statistics from the report: Levelling Up Men’s Health: the case for a men’s health strategy
Talking takes strength. There is always someone there.
Louise is an award-winning Nutritional Therapist, award-winning author and presenter on her own Food Channel for Early Years Nutrition. Whilst she is passionate about formative nutrition, she mainly works with adults on preventative nutrition. How can we use food instead of eventually needing medicine!? There are lots of confusing, contradictory and often, misplaced advice in the world of nutrition. Louise aims to make the message clear - food and health are intrinsically linked!
07557 343 louise@thehealthkick.co.uk896thehealthkick.co.uk
Physical health
If we consider all of this and then think that men feel ‘weak’ for talking about health concerns we can see how ‘man-up’ is a problem. Visiting a GP could detect conditions which can save lives. No doctor is embarrassed by health concerns.
■ 43% more likely to die from cancer
I discussed men’s health with Elliot Rae, the founder MusicFootballFatherhood.comof on my podcast – he is striving the get more support for the role of fathers in the workplace following the birth of a child.
feeling of being unable to suppress any emotion other than anger will haveAccordingconsequences.toPsychology Today –anger frequency and intensity does not differ between the sexes. We all get angry but there are differences with the expression of anger.
50 | Issue 21
Need to talk? Samaritans 116 123 There for you samaritans.org24/7
Men are more likely to die from the following conditions
More conversation?
■ 76% of premature deaths from heart disease
■ 66% of alcohol-related deaths
If you are stressed, emotional, carrying a burden but feel contained of course something is going to happen, an angry outburst, a violent act, something out of character or something that fits a pattern, either way humans are not designed to contain emotions and it is dangerous when we do.
■ 26% more likely to have type 2 diabetes and 68.5% of diabetic amputations
■ 26% more likely to have type 2 diabetes and 68.5% of diabetic amputations
In September 2021, the ONS (Office National Statistics) reported the first decline in male life expectancy since theLet’s1980s.read that again – the first decline in male life expectancy since the 1980s.
■ 75% of deaths from suicide – with suicide the biggest cause of male death under 50
Thankfully there are now the beginnings of a change. Giving men the ability to freely express emotions, to stop saying the phrase man-up, to allow small boys to cry so they don’t grow up feeling that they can’t. This then enabling a generation of men to understand their emotions and be able to share them.
Angeroutwardlyneeds to come out in one way or another or it builds up and releases itself, sometimes leaving you feeling out of control.
Support your workforce
Louise Mercieca The Health Kick
■ Men are more likely to express anger outwardly than women
So how do you minimise bias and counter those negative assumptions? Here are our top tips.
You do not need to include either your date of birth or the dates for your educational background.
Facelift your CV
Employers, they feel, make assumptions and generalisations about how expensive they may be to hire, how long they will stay, their fit in a younger team and their level of technology skills.
Create a new email address that you use exclusively for job search and networking; a Googlemail address is very current and beware of including your date of birth within your email address.
Whilst your CV is a historical record of your work history, the challenge for the over 50s is how to showcase your background without coming across as too experienced.
that you keep your CV to the desired two pages and focus on what is relevant and recent.
Play to your strengths
Despite the law protecting against age discrimination, the over 50s can feel overlooked for career opportunities, and find it takes longer to secure a new role.
CV styles change over time so make sure that yours is current in terms of format. Curriculum Vitae or CV as the title for example, will stand out as oldfashioned, as will the wrong choice of typeface. Arial, Calibri or Tahoma are more modern.
If you are applying for positions where your current or past employment has been in an unrelated function it may be beneficial to create a CV with a career profile and skills and achievements section on the first page to signpost your relevance to the employer. The chronological employment history then follows. The key here is focusing on relevant competencies, and where you have added real and recent value to previous employers.
Help, I’m over forlooking50work!
Focus on the last 15 years with detail and dates and add an earlier career section that summarises your other experience briefly. This will ensure
Issue 21 | 51 The Business Bulletin
Be social media savvy
If permanent full-time opportunities are proving hard to come by, perhaps you could exploit your expertise and know-how working as a consultant, a mentor or a non-executive director. Self-employment is proving to be increasingly attractive to the over 50s particularly through franchising which provides the freedom and challenge of business ownership within a proven financial model.
Don’t reinforce stereotypes by not having a LinkedIn profile; not only does this mean that you are invisible to direct employers and recruitment agencies, but it reinforces the generalisation that you are not functioning in today’s professional world. Include a link to your profile on your CV. LinkedIn also allows you to find and research target organisations and contacts to approach, to prepare for interview and to raise your profile in your profession by joining and interacting with others in groups and forums.
07950 108689
Positively embracing age?
jothurman@personalcareermanagement.com personalcareermanagement.com
Use Twitter to follow and interact with thought leaders in your chosen field and keep current on news. Sign up for Twitter job alerts to be one of the first to hear about new opportunities posted by both employers and recruiters.
The Business Bulletin Whilst your CV is a historical record of your work history, the challenge for the over 50s is how to showcase your background without coming across as too experienced.
An increasing number of organisations recognise the value of an age diversified workforce and see benefits with mentoring, knowledge sharing and a strong work ethic. Look out for those organisations that positively embrace an older employee profile and have gone so far as to design flexible hours and employee benefits packages specifically to attract them.
Networking
Consider a different route to employment
DEVELOPMENTPERSONAL 52 | Issue 21
Over your career you will have built up more than 25 years of contacts; school and university alumni, excolleagues, suppliers and customers. Work deep and long in your networking efforts identifying where your contacts are now and do not be afraid to contact someone you last had contact with many years ago.
To get further expert advice specific to your own career situation you may wish to work with a career coach who can be a great help with planning your job search and marketing yourself appropriately.
Jo Thurman Personal Career Management
Jo is a career and outplacement coach with an absolute passion for helping people reach their potential, to have confidence in their employability and to know how to find and secure work that they love. For more than 25 years, she has supported and guided individuals to make good career decisions and achieve career success; from those starting out as new graduates through to board level appointments. She has partnered with startups to multinationals across all major industries and job functions in both the UK and Europe to identify great talent and great cultural fits.
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fulfilment, love and success.
As I said at the beginning, I would recommend this book to everyone aged 16-30 but to be honest anyone who is starting to think about the world and get an understanding of their place in it would benefit. If you have room on your summer reading list then add this to it, it’s a relatively
How great is it to be able to gift those ideas to the young, to allow them to learn the lessons ahead of time? The overall concept of the book is the understanding that happiness is not having many things but appreciating all you have and
a choice you get to make. Having reached high levels of success at a young age Steven realised that it hadn’t made him any happier than he was when he was living hand to mouth, or even stealing to stay alive. But there is much more to it than that, and the majority of it is to help you understand one statement – You are enough – and you always were!
About Steven Bartlett – He is the Co-founder of Social Chain, youngest ever Dragon on Dragon’s Den at just 28 and host of “The Diary Of A CEO” podcast. In 2020 Steven Bartlett –inspiring entrepreneur and dragon took some time out to write this book to help dispel some of the myths around becoming a “happy sexy millionaire”.
I liked this book and so did most of the book club and I personally felt that every single person I know who is aged 16-30 should be made to read it. However, one surprising thing for me is when I came to discuss it at book club and indeed write this book report, I struggled to remember much of the content.
The book also covers the modern world that is full of distractions and ways to combat that. But also how society has sets of expectations of us and that in fact we can go our own way. Who says you have to get married and settle down? Who says you have to find “do what you love” to be happy at work?
Get the book
She enjoys working with newly formed teams, established team or teams who just feel they should be achieving more.
Mhairi is also a coach with a strong SME background, a focus on the detail, a high level of emotional intelligence and a strong desire to develop talent and grow high performing teams.
07970 mhairi.richardson@tomrom.co.uk002129tomrom.co.uk
easy read and works well in chapters. And if you’re not sure then catch an episode of The Diary Of A CEO podcast and see what you think.
Happy MillionaireSexyUnexpectedtruthsabout
Steven also gives some great tips and advice and ways to reframe your thinking to help you become more content in the world. From compound interest to motivation, he shares his thoughts on a number of key life and business topics.
Mhairi Richardson Tomrom Team Coaching
By Steven Bartlett
Mhairi specialises in coaching teams to help them achieve more and improve their wellbeing. Her focus is on building trust within the team and a combination of coaching, mentoring and facilitation and she can tailor the program to the needs of your business.
REVIEWBOOK The Business Bulletin 54 | Issue 21
Now this is not because the content isn’t good but after discussing it with the group, I realised that it was because I agreed with so much of the book! I think Steven has brought a new fresh approach to some ideas that for most of us only appear to develop with age and life experience.
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