Business Connect Magazine - August/September 2015 by BusinessConnectPublishing

GREATER MANCHESTER’S FASTEST GROWING BUSINESS TO BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Celebrating the Northern Powerhouse in Trafford Lord Jim O’Neill, Tony Lloyd, Sir Richard Leese - architects and exponents of devolution and the Northern Powerhouse speak at the Greater Manchester Chamber annual dinner at The Point, Emirates Old Trafford - full review inside.

Connectworking Charity Lunch

Further details of high profile charity lunch at Hotel Football on September 11. Full details on inside cover.

GM business leaders meet Special policy event hosted by the FSB. Interviews inside.

Trafford Business Expo 2015 Four page feature from The Point, Emirates Old Trafford.

pro-manchester new chairman

Tim Grogan steps up at the Midland Hotel.

Apprenticeships

Reviews from Trafford and Salford City Colleges.

GM Biz Expo 2015 Review of the City centre Expo from The Hilton, Deansgate.

Lord Jim O’Neill, newly appointed Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, talks about devolution and the Northern Powerhouse.

CONNECTING BUSINESSES ACROSS GREATER MANCHESTER

Organised by

in association with

TRAFFORD BUSINESS

connect B 2 B

M A G A Z I N E

B U S I N E S S CHARITY LUNCH

Friday 11th September 2015 Kick off 12noon - 3.00pm

Hotel Football, 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0SZ

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Trafford Business Connect magazine are pleased to be able to invite Manchester’s business community together for a very special networking charity lunch supporting three fantastic Manchester charities:

Forever Manchester • Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity • The Alex Hulme Foundation The event will kick off at 12noon. This is a chance to network on the rooftop pitch with reception drinks at one of Manchester’s newest landmarks featuring stunning skyline views across Manchester. We will then go down to the Stadium Suite to enjoy a special set menu of a two course lunch with coffee, after which we’ll enjoy an after dinner speech from Phil Jones, Managing Director of Brother UK. Our compare will be Manchester Economist John Ashcroft. There will be prize draws and raffles, including a chance to bid on two flights to either New York, Barbados or Orlando provided by Virgin Atlantic, plus the chance to meet and network at the table with many of Manchester’s leading businesses. A full bar service is available throughout the afternoon. Tickets are only £40+VAT per person. Dress code: Lounge Suit. Tables of 8 are available @ £320+VAT (spaces are limited - book early to avoid disappointment).

JOHN ASHCROFT ECONOMIST AND CEO PRO-MANCHESTER.

PHIL JONES MANAGING DIRECTOR BROTHER UK.

To book your place email: booking@businessconnectpublishing.co.uk or contact Paul Mirage on 07708 987518 for further information.

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

contents 4 news

TRAFFORD BUSINESS

From Manchester and beyond.

connect

16 features

Northern Powerhouse GM Chamber’s annual dinner. GM business leaders meet Special policy event hosted by the FSB. GM Biz Expo 2015 Review of the Expo. CSR in the clouds Forever Manchester’s corporate partner’s lunch. T-Shirts, suits, and change management Latest K-Club event in Salford. Trafford Business Expo 2015 Four-page feature review of the event. pro-manchester’s new Chairman Review of official handover at member’s lunch at the Midland. Apprenticeships Salford City and Trafford College feature article. Trafford Park Networking Full report on Trafford Park Connect and Trafford Park Business Network.

Subscription is easy. Simply visit www.gmbusinessconnect.co.uk and click through to subscribe, where you can register your details to receive an electronic link to the magazine as soon as it is published.

8 12

editorial Here at GM Business Connect we are on the lookout for both news articles relating to business activity within Greater Manchester, or educational articles that can help businesses at any level. If you regularly send out press releases, or if you are looking for press coverage of a newsworthy event, please get in touch either by phone or send an email to editorial@ gmbusinessconnect.co.uk

18 adver tise

34 social media

We offer a fantastic range of advertising opportunities, from full pages through to eighth pages that offer advertising at extremely reasonable rates.

Introduction to Periscope.

lead generation Running successful events.

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36 branding

For more information please download a copy of our media pack found on our website: www.gmbusinessconnect.co.uk or alternatively please email: advertising@gmbusiness connect.co.uk or phone:

When is a logo not a logo?

37 finance The Summer Budget.

38 absenteeism

Are Brits a bunch of skivers?

Paul Mirage

• 07708 987518

digital marketing Keyword research.

40 wellbeing Too busy for a holiday?

41 debt mediation Thinking and acting differently.

welcome

Business networking events over the coming months.

BUSINESS the fastest growing business to business forum in Greater Manchester. P U B L I S H I N G

GM Business Connect is a dynamic business to business bi-monthly magazine that is crammed full of local and regional news, articles, interviews and regular columnists.

42 diary dates places to meet List of venues and facilities supporting businesses.

to the latest edition of GM Business Connect and join

The magazine connects businesses across Greater Manchester, and is completely free. PUBLISHED BY

Business Connect Publishing Ltd, 8 Eastway, Sale, M33 4DX Tel: 0161 969 8632 Email: enquiries@businessconnectpublishing.co.uk www.gmbusinessconnect.co.uk

DESIGNED, EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY Jon Cheetham, Paul Mirage.

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS Alex Peterson (PixelAir Web Design). Photography by Tobias Pearson.

Jon Cheetham

• 07971 575977 Office • 0161 969 8632 DISCLAIMER Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained within this magazine, we give no warranty and make no representation regarding the accuracy or the completeness of the content of this information. Consequently we accept no liability for any losses or damage (whether direct, indirect, special, consequential or otherwise) arising out of errors or omissions contained in this magazine. Views expressed in GM Business Connect in editorial or advertising content are not necessarily those of it’s publisher Business Connect Publishing Limited. The publisher cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies supplied to us in editorial or advertising material.

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

news

GDP up in second quarter

Syngenta expands UK presence with new global operations centre in Manchester Syngenta today announced the establishment of a new Global Operations Centre in Didsbury, Manchester. The new centre, which will open on August 3, 2015, will focus on operational activities associated with procurement, supply, IT and program services in Syngenta. The new office will also create 200 new jobs with approximately 140 of those jobs recruited from the Manchester area which benefits from a well-qualified and experienced talent pool. The establishment of the Global Operations Centre expands Syngenta’s activities in the UK, which is already home to the company’s largest global research and development facility in Berkshire and two major production facilities in Yorkshire and Scotland. Syngenta currently has close to 2,000 employees in the UK focused on research and development,

commercial sales, production and supply, and now, global operations. Colin Hardy, Program Lead for the Global Operations Centre at Syngenta said, “We are delighted to be able to base Syngenta’s new Global Operations Centre in Manchester which was chosen following an extensive assessment of possible European locations and increases our investment in the UK economy. Importantly, the location provides access to a skilled workforce and enables us to take advantage of Manchester’s position in the UK’s emerging ‘northern powerhouse’.” George Freeman, Minister for Life Sciences, said that: “The establishment of Syngenta’s Global Operations Centre in Didsbury is fantastic news for Manchester and for the UK’s Northern Powerhouse. We want Britain to be the location of choice for life sciences investment and Syngenta’s further commitment

to the UK through this major investment in the North West is strong evidence that we are achieving that goal.” Tim Newns, Chief Executive of Manchester Investment Development Agency Service (MIDAS) said: “It’s great news that a company of the scale and prestige of Syngenta has chosen the region as a base for their new Global Operations Centre. “Manchester is continuing to go from strength to strength as a city of innovation, ideas and delivery and should prove to be a very effective location for the company. The concept of having highly connected urban science parks linked with academia, the NHS and excellent connectivity is enabling the city to gain increasing recognition as a top location for companies and we look forward to supporting Syngenta as they build their presence here.”

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that GDP this year is estimated to have increased by 0.7% in Quarter 2 (April to June). This compares to actual growth in Quarter 1 (January to March) of 0.4%. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is considered the main indicator of economic growth. Output increased in this period, with Services increasing by 0.7% and Production by 1%. However, Construction was flat and by contrast Agriculture decreased by 0.7%. GDP was actually 2.6% higher in Quarter 2 this year compared to the same Quarter one year ago, and when compared to the last peak before the current economic downturn in Quarter 1 of 2008, the difference is a 5.2% increase in GDP over this period. To show how this relates to the UK’s economic performance since 2008, the trough experienced in Quarter 2 of 2009 saw the economy shrink by 6% compared to the previous peak in Q1 of 2008.

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GM BUSINESS connect

Informed Solutions awarded major Scottish digital transformation contract

Russells starts Manchester’s second Motel One

Registers of Scotland (RoS) has appointed Altrincham based global IT consultancy Informed Solutions as its new supplier to help deliver its digital transformation programme. Informed will assist RoS over the next two years in providing all its services digitally as the first option. This move from paper to digital is possible following the introduction of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012, which came into force at the end of last year. Janet Egdell, operations director at RoS, said: “This is an exciting time for Registers of Scotland as we begin making use of the digital provisions set out in the 2012 Act. Not only is this better for the environment, but it will deliver real business benefits, both for our customers and for RoS. This will include digital access to all

Preparatory works have begun at the site of Manchester’s newest hotel scheme. Russells Construction has erected scaffolding and started demolition works at the Commercial Buildings, 11-15 Cross Street, home of Manchester’s second Motel One development. The 19th century Victorian façade will be retained with the 1980s office block behind demolished to make way for a new seven-storey, 298-bedroom hotel. The scaffold forms part of the work to enable demolition at the rear, and in order to maintain pedestrian access along Cross Street and the existing retail units contained within the development. Controlled demolition has recently commenced and construction of the new superstructure is due to begin in the autumn. The project is scheduled to complete autumn 2017 when it will be handed over to Motel One, the budget design hotel chain, for final furnishings and staff training ahead of operational completion. Russells has also been working on Manchester’s first Motel One on London Road opposite Piccadilly train station. The 330-bed hotel is being developed by Livia Ltd, part of the Olympian group of companies.

our registers and the wealth of land and property information held within the registers. “Informed Solutions will support RoS with improving our mapping and case management systems and help us transform our business, so that it is ‘digital by default’.” John Alderson, Chair of Informed Solutions, said: “Informed Solutions are delighted to be continuing our work with Registers of Scotland. We already have joint successes behind us with projects like the Crofting Register and very much look forward to building on this excellent working relationship. The digital transformation planned will bring huge benefits both to the people of Scotland and to RoS. It will place RoS at the forefront of government bodies delivering their services online.”

Trafford Council’s new website for business Trafford Council recently launched its new www.investintrafford.com website, providing a range of information targeted at local businesses and potential inward investors. The new website is designed to promote Trafford as a location to do business, drawing on its position as the ‘economic powerhouse’ of Greater Manchester. Some of the key attributes highlighted include Trafford’s strong and established business base, access to a skilled

and talented workforce, excellent transport connectivity and a range of fantastic development opportunities. It also provides a ‘one-stop shop’ for existing Trafford businesses, with a full directory of business support and funding opportunities, a business events calendar, and regular news updates. Other features of the site include an online property search facility for businesses looking for new premises in the borough, and a live twitter feed (@TraffordBiz).

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

news Webmarking proposal Key transport bodies join forces for Greater Manchester to register design rights five-year budget of over £11 billion to invest in England’s motorways and major A roads. The new joint document aims to support economic growth in the region over the next 20 years. L-R Jon Lamonte, Chief Executive of TfGM, Graham Dalton, Chief Executive of Highways England

Two of the North West’s key transport organisations are joining forces to create a world-class road network for Greater Manchester. Highways England and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ which will see the two bodies work in partnership to develop shared priorities and a longterm vision for motorways and key roads across the city-region. The move follows the formation of Highways England earlier this year, a government-owned company with a

Graham Dalton, Chief Executive of Highways England, and Jon Lamonte, Chief Executive of TfGM, put pen to paper at an official signing in London in May. Graham Dalton said: “Greater Manchester is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the country so it’s vital that we work together to ensure it has a world-class road network to support the economy. “Over £200 million is already being invested on creating a smart motorway on a section on the M60 and M62, and we need to make sure that the work taking place there complements other improvements on local roads.”

UK designers will no longer have to include a design number on products to be confident they can recover damages for infringement under new proposals announced in July. Providing notice of registered intellectual property (IP) rights by marking a product is optional but allows the rights holder to highlight that the design is registered. This means that infringers cannot claim that they could not have known that the design was protected. The government is seeking views on proposals to help designers enforce these rights. The proposed measures will enable designers to mark their products with a web link, instead of having to stamp the product or attach a label with the registered design numbers. The web link would notify third parties of the relevant registered design rights and keep information up-to-date as IP rights change.

Making a false claim that a design is registered can result in a fine, so this proposed change would simplify the system for design owners and users. The proposal was announced by Intellectual Property Minister, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, on a trip to the headquarters of British technology company, Dyson. Baroness Neville-Rolfe, said: ”We are confident that virtual marking for registered designs will be very warmly welcomed by UK companies for whom design is key to their success. Dyson is rightly famous for its innovative designs. The company recognises that it would be a simpler way of providing notice for those rights owners who wish to make use of this option.” Sir James Dyson commented: ”Virtual marking will propel intellectual property into the digital age. Next, we need to uphold a culture where inventors resolutely protect their ideas and where the ideas of others are firmly respected.”

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

news

Charity says cheers to new partnership with Hydes plenty of exciting fundraising ventures lined up which will be revealed in the coming months as each pub is encouraged to organise their own events, one of which is the launch of their new children’s menu where 50p off each meal will go to the charity in the month of September.

Hydes recently visited Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital see for themselves how the hospital, Charity have recently announced their and its poorly patients, will benefit new charity partnership with local from their fundraising. On their tour brewer, Hydes. Funds raised by their the group of 5 representatives from 30 pubs and head office in Manchester the company, which employs 530 will go towards supporting excellence staff, visited the recently redeveloped in treatment, research and care at the radiology department, an example of largest single-site children’s hospital in a space enhanced thanks to charitable the country. ds_LCCC:Aug_Sept_15 07/07/2015 08:49 funds. PageOnce 1 clinical and stark looking, the department now boasts an The partnership is to span a number of impressive space theme, with each years as Hydes and pubs from Chester of the rooms decorated to look like a to Bury will all have the charity’s vibrant different planet. green collection tins on the bar for patrons to donate any spare change. As well as this the company have

The group also caught the sun on the hospital’s purpose-built roof garden

their success and wish the Hydes team which benefits the young patients by all the best in their fundraising efforts.” letting them play outdoors, whilst still keeping them safe in a hospital setting. Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity raises funds to ensure Hydes managing director Chris continued excellence in treatment, Hopkins, said: “We are very excited about our new partnership with Royal care and research at the hospital – Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity. improving the lives of thousands of children each year across the North We have been extremely impressed West and beyond. with the work the charity undertakes and know our managers will unite behind this very worthy cause. We have a great tradition in Hydes of raising money for local charities and the reach of the hospital means that many of our customers too, will have benefited from the charity’s work.”

The support of the Charity means that the hospital can provide additional resources that make life easier for patients and their families who use the hospital. The Charity has three main areas of work:

Joel Oxberry, Corporate Fundraising • To support research projects to Manager for the Charity added: “Royal improve their understanding of Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity children’s illnesses. is proud to have secured the long• To help to create an environment term support of Hydes Brewery; with that’s more child-friendly. a deep-rooted history in Manchester, we serve the same community and • To provide state-of-the-art share the same values of ‘striving for equipment for diagnosis excellence’. We are excited to share in and treatment.

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

news

Creating young entrepreneurs Altrincham-based social enterprise, Stepping into Business, is looking for businesses in the north west to help inspire future generations of young entrepreneurs through an innovative education programme in schools. Stepping into Business has already worked with schools across the UK and is seeing future entrepreneurs and business leaders develop in front of their eyes. The programme ticks all the right boxes for CSR schemes, and sees interested organisations working as business angels and mentors advising school children on different areas of running a business, including: innovation, marketing, finance and production. Director of Stepping into Business, Dinah Turner, explains: “Enterprise, business and life skills are vital, but aren’t covered on the national curriculum. The programme we have developed really put the child in control of their own experience and they are free to try, fail and learn from mistakes. We’re already working with organisations from the financial industry and we’re eager to involve other sectors. For a small sponsorship investment of around £1,000, businesses can support and nurture future generations of entrepreneurs in schools.” Two schools in the region that have already benefitted from the scheme are Bowdon Church Primary School, Cheshire and Wilmslow Grange, Wilmslow. The programme sees the children working in groups to produce a business plan to promote and sell the product they have created. They then pitch their ideas to the business angels asking for financial backing. The teams are judged on their presentation skills, teamwork, pricing and marketing. After getting positive feedback and the requested investment, the children set about producing, promoting and selling their products ready for market day. “The work we do goes beyond inspiring more “little Sir Alan Sugars,” concludes Dinah, “It’s about having fun whilst developing resilience and self-reliance, and helping children find something that they really enjoy and can excel at. We’ve seen several occasions where pupils who were thought to be disengaged make massive leaps and bounds. We’re eager to speak to interested businesses.” For further info visit: www.steppingintobusiness.org

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

Trafford Business Connect become media sponsors of the North West Business Expo 2015 the amount of free supporting events taking place on the day.

expos organised by Great British Expos Ltd who have enjoyed great success in many regions so far.

Following on from the successful involvement with both the Trafford Business Expo and the GM Biz Expo Trafford Business Connect have announced their media sponsorship of the North West Business Expo 2015 taking place at The Point, Emirates Old Trafford on 26 November this year. The North West Business Expo covers the entire Greater Manchester region and beyond, offering opportunities for businesses across the entire Northwest region. It is one of a selection of regional SME business

The unique selling point for this expo are the valuable supporting features of the event. Like the Trafford Business Expo and the GM Biz Expo, entry is free for all visitors. Also, on arrival they will receive a valuable goody bag containing not just a free copy of Trafford Business Connect, but many other promotional offers worth over £100. Car parking will also be free at the event, as will access to free wi-fi. Exhibitors are expected to run to 80 businesses, with an estimated 900 visitors. The added features on this expo are

Speakers confirmed so far are: Brad Burton, Jackie Chapelle, Neil Clough, Debbie Huxton, Warren Cass, Michelle Mills-Porter and Steve Clarke. There are also a series of regular speed networking and general networking events taking place throughout the day, plus up to 7 workshops. Confirmed workshops so far are: LinkedIn 101, IPO, Email Marketing 101, How to sell without selling. Alec Jones-Hall, Organiser and Director of Great British Expos Ltd commented: “Following the successes of our 2014 events we

DON’T MISS THE Thursday 26 November - The Point, Emirates Old Trafford We are delighted to announce the launch of The North West Expo on Thursday 26 November, 9am - 3pm. This is a FREE event open to all businesses across Greater Manchester and beyond. To register FREE as a visitor, or to enquire about exhibiting (spaces are going fast) visit:

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feel confident that our Expos have the winning format for a hugely successful event within their regions. Now that we have the reputation within the industry as providers of highly successful regional SME business expo’s across the UK, our main focus is the launch of this year’s North West Business Expo. “We aim to develop an event that genuinely benefits the business community across the region and we’re overwhelmed at how that community have welcomed us. We are looking forward to celebrating the triumph with yourselves on the 26th November.”

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Strictly come Kelloggs!

1 in 5 start ups begin as second jobs Wannabe entrepreneurs mitigate the risk of going it alone by launching their new venture while still in employment according to alldayPA. A survey of 500 small businesses found 21% of start-ups launched in the last 12 months began this way.

Tess Daly delighted hundreds of staff at Kellogg’s Manchester HQ by signing boxes of her very own new cereal. The Strictly Come Dancing presenter has been announced as the first celebrity ambassador for Special K. In Trafford for the cereal’s launch, Tess posed on stage next to a spectacular edible ingredients dress made by Lady GaGa designer Petra Storrs before gamely letting everyone take a selfie. The choice of Stockport-born Tess Daly as an ambassador comes as Special K moves away from the iconic image of a brunette in a red swimsuit.

August/September 2015

This mirrors a growing trend for UK workers having second jobs to boost income. HMRC reports 1.2 million have official second jobs, up from 1.05 million in 2007. Of these, 450,000 are self-employed second jobbers running their own business on the side - an increase of 40% from 2006. Ambitious entrepreneurs use technologies like smart phones with multiple email accounts or cloud hosting to enable them to subtly send emails and carry out basic tasks while at their main job. alldayPA reports increasing demand for call answering services from double-jobbers, with new accounts

up 32% in the last year. Reuben Singh, chief executive officer, said, “Many double job start-ups want to ensure customers are dealt with immediately, and are provided with answers to common questions, or emailed basic information. “Our PAs handle such tasks and pass on enquiries to clients via email or text, flagging urgent requests, so clients working a day job can call back when available. “It means, despite being a part-time business, you can offer a full-time service to customers.” The study revealed the most common double job entrepreneurs are men between 25 and 34 years old. The typical sectors where people launch businesses are Digital Services, e.g. website design, search engine marketing (18% of double job start-ups), PR and Marketing (12%), Design (11%) and HR (5%).

Profile Club lunch at the commons

Members of theProfileClub and guests recently enjoyed a VIP Summer Lunch at the House of Commons. The summer lunch was hosted by Graham Brady MP. The Leader of Trafford Council, Sean Anstee, was also in attendance. Commenting on the day, Barbara Hallwood said, “We aim to offer our members bespoke VIP events creating top business introductions. The House of Commons undoubtedly exceeded all expectations. The Summer lunch proved to be a huge success.” theProfileClub was set up in 2011 by Barbara Hallwood, Director of Marketing Profile, a PR, Marketing and Events company based in Hale. The business club attracts senior executives and captains of industry from across the Northwest. Members range from representatives of professional services to high profile brands.

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August/September 2015

SAS Daniels builds property team

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SAS Daniels, who are headquartered in Stockport but has branches across the Northwest, has appointed Roger Allsup to establish its new Construction and Engineering practice, an extension of the firm’s growing property team.

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Roger Allsup

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August/September 2015

review The Northern Powerhouse The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce host their annual dinner It’s certainly looking like business is growing in Greater Manchester. Indeed, the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner that took place on 25 June in Old Trafford seemed not just an occasion to air off the gladrags, but seemed much more a celebration of the progress of ‘Devo Manc’ - from the initial rumblings not so long ago, to the seminal appointment of our very own Greater Manchester Mayor (albeit designate). This year’s annual dinner was presented and hosted by Alexander Armstrong – co-presenter of BBC’s ‘Pointless’ quiz show, one half of celebrity comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, plus most frequent guest presenter on ‘Have I Got News For You’. Alexander ensured the evening progressed at a brisk pace, and was keen to share his own thoughts on the progression that Manchester had taken over the recent years. Sponsors for the evening were JMC,

Manchester College, Slater+Gordon, United Airlines, Centrica, Capita and Bird Consultancy. Once the 700 guests had taken their places, the evening started with an address by Clive Memmott, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Chamber. He welcomed the guests and said: “The theme of tonight’s event will be devolution, and the guest speakers will reflect this. It is now nearly a year since Chancellor George Osborne gave his speech at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry during which the phrase ‘Northern Powerhouse’ was first aired. Since then, and following the general election, many opinions on devolution and what needs doing to deliver the Northern Powerhouse have been presented. Tonight our speakers will offer their own uniquely qualified perspectives. “Devolution for Greater Manchester allows us to grow by making better decisions for ourselves. The Northern Powerhouse is about working very closely and smartly with other northern cities to create a single labour market which will give us the combined power to better balance our economy and have more clout Globally. “Greater Manchester has been working at devolution for years – it’s natural in Manchester to have the confidence to think we can do things better locally.” Next to take to the rostrum was keynote speaker Jim O’Neill (Lord O’Neill of Gatley), making his first speech since being appointed as Commercial Secretary to the Treasury. Jim quickly tackled the newly developing role of

Manchester as central key to the Northern Powerhouse: “I can’t think of a better place to make my first speech in my new role. Looking back into Manchester’s history it’s estimated that between 1972 and 1982 the city lost over 200,000 jobs in manufacturing. This was symptomatic with all the great Northern cities at the time. “I guess that was in the heart of one of my colleagues in the House of Lords – Lord Heseltine. Along with local leaders, Michael Heseltine was a pioneer in doing something about the North. He famously stated “We should not accept managed decline”, and to this day is a very important advisor to the ongoing process of turning the concept of the Northern Powerhouse into something real. “14 years ago, I came up with the phrase BRIC, referring to the potential power in the future of Brazil, Russia, India and China. What became more and more clear to me as I became more experienced about the rapidly changing nature of the world, was the importance of urban cities and big metro areas in driving those countries’ economic growth. This was absolutely front and centre. “Fast forward to just less than two years ago, when I was invited to chair the independent commission looking at the growth of cities outside of London. Right from the start my approach was that we were dealing with issues going back decades. We needed to recognise and tackle those problems about powerful forces relating to relative and absolute decline over the decades in some parts of urban Britain. However, we needed to turn that into an encouragement for ourselves to consider bold ideas that were possibly crazy, but given enough momentum might actually achieve something positive. “At the core of this is the view that in the UK we have only one city and metro area that is important in a Global context which is London. That is a reality that we needed to reflect on. So – back to the Northern

Powerhouse. It’s interesting to see the way we viewed this. We needed to take ourselves out of our comfort zone, and one of the greatest experiences about the Cities Growth Commission was trying to encourage everybody to do just that, to lead to something that would make a real difference. “If you think about the three cities within 40 miles of Manchester - Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool, if you think of all the people in those four cities as economically one agent, then you’re not far off the size of Greater London. Add in the other great northern cities spreading across the northeast and northwest and The Northern Powerhouse becomes a reality. If we not so much administer those places together as one unit, but instead undertake policies that enable, allow and encourage people from those places to think about moving around a lot more freely and easily as they currently do, then that is the core of how I think about the Northern Powerhouse. “Let me also add, this is not at the expense of London. Indeed, the agglomeration of so many people doing ‘stuff’ in London is something that needs to be brought to life between all these rich, different cultural areas of the North in order to make it real. “If someone asked me what the Northern Powerhouse means I would sum it up in two parts – investment and devolution. Importantly, a lot of people just associate it with devolution, which is indeed a huge part of it. However, investment is only possible by private investors if they have sufficient excitement and confidence in the concept.” Jim then went into detail about the current plans for travel infrastructure in the North, and also painted a positive picture on the

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

changes up a gear

Lord Jim O’Neill, Commercial Secretary to the treasury

at The Point, Emirates Old Trafford Sir Richard Leese Leader of Manchester City Council

Tony Lloyd, Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester

strong investments already made in skills and centres of excellence across the region. He then went on to describe devolution in more detail and specifically a Mayoral role for Greater Manchester: “Firstly, I’d like to say that devolution is on the table for those people who want to take proper responsibility, and with it the accountability that should go with it. Importantly, for so many people here from Greater Manchester, and other combined authorities in the North who are thinking about it today, it’s important to excite people and let them know this is a game-changer. These are the people that will be voting in a couple of years. This is important – unless there will be an elected Mayor, or something comparable, Greater Manchester will not be able to persuade central policymakers that giving powers to a local leadership can do better for that region than Whitehall. You’ve got to give the accountability that goes with the desire for that responsibility.” Greater Manchester Chamber President Neil Smith MBE then addressed the room with a resumé of Chamber events both past and future, followed by Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council. Richard gave a structured address looking at the recent history leading to devolution in Greater Manchester. He then observed: “In order to ensure that everybody in Greater Manchester benefits from the stronger economy that devolution will bring, and ultimately contribute to that strong economy, we need to strengthen the governance of Greater Manchester. We’re talking about an elected Mayor that is part of the combined authority. The 11th member of that authority that

along with the existing ten borough leaders will bring real powers covering planning, housing and transport. “What is the prize at the end of that? A better performing economy, both here and nationally, plus our fiscal deficit being eliminated, so that we’re no longer dependent on subsidies - more people benefiting and less dependency making Greater Manchester healthier and wealthier, and a wonderful place to live.” Also giving a short speech was Wayne Jones, Head of Global Aftersales, MAN Diesel, and Chamber Vice President. Wayne talked about the importance of youth opportunities within the workplace. Finally to speak in his inaugural role as Greater Manchester Interim Mayor Designate was Tony Lloyd. Tony is also the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, but has accepted his interim Mayoral role after an extremely close-run vote by the 10 borough leaders. Tony started by reflecting on the history of the region: “I remember the decline of the industrial base in Greater Manchester in the 70’s and 80’s. That was tragic to see in human terms, and the cost is still enormous. We have a workforce that is still underskilled, and the skills gap is one of the challenges we face. As a city region we know there are genuine issues around poverty. It’s a fact that a significant number of the working population are still reliant on government support of

one form or another. “These are things that have to change. Not just for the regional and national economy, but for the people for whom we can change attitudes and opportunities, and indeed the capacity to dream. This is after all a city that at the end of the 19th Century saw a challenge from Liverpool merchants, and as a result of that built the Manchester Ship Canal. This was an astonishing feat of engineering that made Manchester into one of the great ports that lasted throughout the 20th Century. The ability to dream and change means we are not the same city as we were 20 years ago. Greater Manchester is now a conurbation in vivid colour, somewhere that does not simply have amazing potential but enjoys an amazing reality.

Clive Memmott Chief Executive, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Compère Alexander Armstrong

“This is down to partnership, and that means partnership with central government as well as between the 10 boroughs. In the end, this is a system that will deliver. However, it is essential we work in a partnership with central government as well as industry, especially in skills training. This form of partnership can make a real and tangible difference. “I go back if I may to our Victorian forebears. In Manchester, they had a belief that they were building a future that was radically different from before. That sense of ambition, that sense that the world was there to be shaped, was real, was tangible, and was delivered. The challenge for our generation is to have the same sort of ambition, the same kind of belief that the future belongs to us here in Greater Manchester.”

Neil Smith MBE President, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Wayne Jones Vice President, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

interview

Small businesses represented at special Leading figures from across Greater Manchester met with key figures from the Federation of Small Businesses on Tuesday 14 June to discuss the Northern Powerhouse and how the region’s small businesses can fulfil their potential.

The meeting was attended by various stakeholders, including representatives from Manchester’s Growth Hub, the LEP, HS2, the finance sector, local government, and the Skills Funding Agency. The evening – held at Manchester’s Great John Street Hotel - was chaired by the FSB’s National Policy Director, Mike Cherry, who chaired discussions on access to finance, business support, transport infrastructure, apprenticeships, procurement, as well as skills and training. FSB regional Chairman for Manchester & North Cheshire, Simon

Edmondson, also attended the dinner. He commented afterwards: “This event was a fantastic opportunity for the FSB to hear the views of so many key stakeholders in Greater Manchester – the true hub of the Northern Powerhouse – and how small businesses should fit in to the project. “It was fascinating to hear from such a broad mix of people from the various sectors, who will all play crucial roles in delivering the Government’s vision for the North. While there were disagreements on certain issues there was, however, total agreement that all the various stakeholders need to be working more closely and communicating better with business to deliver the best possible outcome for the region.” He added: “There was also recognition that government investment in transport – and not just the major transport initiatives but ‘capillary’ routes as well – was the

published last Friday, and really this all ties in with the annual regional chairman’s policy conference that I arrange. “So we’re doing a whistle-stop tour of the North, pulling all of this together, including events in York, Humberside and Newcastle and the Northeast. This is so we get a full picture of what we can say to central Government to ensure they deliver on what is needed for small business to make this work.”

What’s your view of the re-think announced in Network Rail’s plans for the region? “I think the timing of this wasn’t so good, but I think we need to have delivery, and its up to the Government to decide how they get the message out. Its essential we get HS3 across from Leeds to Manchester, and also electrification of the line from London to Leeds. “However, of major importance to our members is the investment

Trafford Business Connect caught up with Mike Cherry, FSB National Policy Director at the event, and asked him:

What do you hope to get out of this round table tonight? “Clearly we now have a better understanding after all the announcements about the Northern Powerhouse. We had the budget last week, the productivity paper

“The important thing about apprenticeships is not just in the number of them but the quality. It’s heartening to see the higher level apprenticeships contain a degree of leadership and management skills training, all of which will help close that productivity gap.”

What do you think of the living wage announcement, and how will this affect small businesses? “Let’s first put this in context. Over half of our members currently pay their staff at or above current living wage. So, for the majority of members that won’t be an issue. “Where it does impact, equally between large and small businesses, is in those low paid, historical sectors such as retail, hospitality, care homes, etc. In fact care homes, as an example, will have to dig particularly deep anyway looking at diminishing funding and all the budgetary constraints they will have to accept. Richard Jeffery, Director of Business Growth, Business Growth Hub

Mike Cherry, FSB National Policy Director

bedrock of a successful ‘Northern Powerhouse’. To this end, we now need firm commitment from government that this remains a priority.”

particularly using the tried and trusted model of apprenticeships.

into roads.”

As well as connectivity, what are the other main topics of importance for small businesses? “Alongside infrastructure you will have to have broadband. So, following on from our report last year it is essential the Government regards it as the fourth utility. Next to this, skills has to be at the top of everyone’s agenda. For too many years we have skirted at the peripheral of this, but we now seem to be addressing the issue,

“I don’t think everybody have really considered everything on this in relation to the public as well as private sector. The biggest challenge will be in the first and second year. At the moment minimum wage is £6.50 an hour, going up to £6.70, which is something the FSB fully supported. However, the rapid jump from £6.50, to £6.70,to £7.20, all within a 12 month period, will impact on those businesses tied into contracts. This can only lead to increased prices. This will have much more of an impact outside of London and the Southeast, where wages are generally much higher than the North.”

How do you see devolution in the

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

policy event North impacting over the rest of the country? “You’ve got the combined authority up here in Manchester. They are setting the model for other regions now. With the combined authority announced for the West Midlands, plus combined authorities already in the Northeast and West Yorkshire, this will follow the devolution route already seen in Scotland, Wales, and even the semidevolved London with it’s assembly and Mayor.”

You have mentioned the skills gap previously. How important is fixing this to the growth of small businesses? “Small businesses need long term, consistent support, and coming back to that skills debate, skills must be based on business needs. It’s crucial that young people in particular are equipped with the right skillsets. Further education is crucial but good apprenticeships are worth their weight in gold, and we do have to offer those school leavers who prefer the apprenticeship route good quality apprenticeships. It’s also important that education opportunities are kept open within those apprenticeship schemes.” Mike then described the role of the FSB as regards having an influence both currently and in the future: “There’s some really good developments coming

through,there’s also some challenges. As ever, we will be working with local and combined authorities, not just here and across the North but we will equally be pushing politicians in Westminster so we can ensure small businesses get delivered the support that will continue their growth. We need to invest, we need to create jobs – that is what our members are consistently saying in our quarterly economic surveys.” Summing up the evening, Mike added: “Greater Manchester is currently a test bed for devolution, and for small businesses to benefit from this there needs to be joined up thinking. We look forward to working further with stakeholders in the North to put small business needs at the top of the business agenda and their voices at the forefront of the debate. “This event is one of many we are planning in the North of England to ensure that small businesses gain the support they need to grow and help guarantee the success of the Northern Powerhouse.” We also had chance to catch up with Richard Jeffery, Director of Business Growth from the Business Growth Hub located in Manchester.

What would you like to achieve from tonight’s event as regards the Business Growth Hub?

“The FSB is an important partner for us. We work with a range of membership organisations so we see them as a route to market. They have also brought policymakers up from London, and so we see that as a very good opportunity to promote what Greater Manchester’s about, what we are trying to achieve here and also highlight some key sectors like Life Sciences, Digital and Creative, and the broader business community we have. “The fact is, Greater Manchester has a key role to play in the Northern Powerhouse as a gateway to driving that concept forward – this is important.”

to that point we can offer valuable support to businesses that make a real and measurable difference to their success as a business.”

Can you tell us more about the general role of the Business Growth Hub?

What should Greater Manchester be saying and doing about its role in the Northern Powerhouse?

“Since we started we’ve dealt with 24,000 individuals, of those 6,000 in a very in-depth way. We still need to raise our profile further and a key aspect of that is partnerships – the FSB, the Chambers, and now our broader network of 160 partners are critical in helping grow the Growth Hub. It’s something very much of, in, and created by Greater Manchester, so I think there’s an onus on everybody to help promote us for the positive influence we have over the local economy. As far as the service goes it is free up to a point, but up

“I think its getting the message out there that we are doing really well and enjoy key assets and a great infrastructure. We need to be attracting investors from the broader North as well as from London and the Southeast. It can be quite challenging getting the angels to come up from London, however, it can be done. I think getting people excited and talking about the Northern Powerhouse will bring us closer together and means that we can leverage more of that positive attitude.”

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

focus

The GMBiz Expo 2015 Grant Erskine

Jodie Salt

If you regularly read Trafford Business Connect then you’ll realise we are big fans of business expos. So much so we are supporting three this year – the GMBiz Expo, The Trafford Business Expo and the Northwest Business & Community Expo later this year. Expos are to us supercharged networking opportunities. Every one is run differently – depending where they are, what demographic they are targeting and who the organisers are. For the GMBiz Expo we found ourselves pretty near the city centre at the Hilton, Deansgate on 9 June. It’s always nice to be at one of Manchester’s iconic landmarks and

the hospitality extended by the Hotel was it’s usual high standard. 120 exhibitors, upwards of 1,250 visitors - and the day was going to go very quickly indeed. As exhibitors (as well as media supporters) we went through the tricky job of setting up a five foot duck pond with 100 rubber ducks in time for the 10am start. Thanks to the very helpful and attentive Hilton staff this was achieved in excellent time, and as soon as the visitors started coming in it was all hands to the deck. Similar to many other exhibitors we offered a prize draw for a free quarter page advert in this edition of Trafford Business Connect. The winners were Arnold Clark who appear on this page. As well as offering visitors (and fellow exhibitors) the chance to chat and network with 120 exhibiting businesses, there were three seminars laid on during the day, plus a spot of speed networking. First seminar was from Jodie Salt from Salt Executive Coaching and Leadership Development. Jodie’s seminar was entitled “Time Trust is money – 7 behaviours to business success”, and dealt with developing a high trust culture within teams and organisations in order to discover a competitive advantage.

seminar from Mark White – specialist LinkedIn trainer, entitled “LinkedIn as a key part of your sales and marketing activity”. After a second (equally popular) session of speed networking, Grant Erskine – GMBiz Expo organiser and director of Grant Erskine Architects took to the conference room and delivered a seminar entitled “7 things you need to know in business from an Entrepreneur who has nothing to sell.” From an exhibitor’s perspective the

Mark White event was a great opportunity with little expense to reach a large, busy fluid audience. The added bonus of a limitation of two of the same business styles only helped to keep a certain level of exclusivity, and this also made it much more interesting for the visitors.

Next year the GMBiz Expo will take place on 15 March 2016 again at the Hilton, Deansgate. More information is available on www.gmbizexhibition.co.uk

Corporate accounts available for local businesses.

Next on the agenda – the first of two very popular speed networking events. Then we had the second

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

review

CSR in the

clouds

Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the cornerstones of Trafford Business Connect. So when one of our chosen charities, Forever Manchester, announced a corporate partners lunch, it seemed the perfect opportunity to showcase how supporting a culture of CSR within a business can have a real impact not just on the community around that business but within. Forever Manchester host a regular business networking event called first Friday every month which is always a laid back affair. However, this event had a different angle altogether. Hosted by Barclays Wealth and Investment Management at the iconic Cloud 23 in the Hilton, Deansgate, this was a chance to hear from the charity about the real and tangible difference local business was making across the boroughs. The event started with an address by Steve Renfrew, Director of Wealth and Investment Management at

Barclays. Steve went into detail about the importance of getting young people into work. He said “80% of school leavers say the major block on employability is lack of work experience. If every business in this room can offer one young person the opportunity for work experience then a massive and real difference can be made.” Next to speak was Nick Massey, Chief Executive of Forever Manchester: “The reason you’re all here today is that we made a pledge. That was to bring our corporate supporters together to tell you what a difference you are making.” Nick then went on to describe some of the history of Forever Manchester, in particular, the nature of funding and how that was applied: “Before the financial crash 80% of investment was in the form of grants. We were a very different organisation then. We were very successful in attracting about £30million of investment to the Greater Manchester region, but it predominantly came through our success in winning contracts with government offices and local authorities. We were quite simply better at getting money into communities that they were

themselves. We won national awards for our efficiency and excellence in grant-making. But it was restrictive – most investments were subject to a find it, fund it, fix it model. “The difference today is that most of that funding has gone, and we have replaced that with at least 80% of support coming from individuals and businesses like yourselves. “So, have you made a difference? Now we can work directly on the strengths of a community without the restrictions of investment limitations, we can work on what people actually

L-R Phil Jones, President, Al Mackin, Trustee and Nick Massey, Chief Executive

want, not what we think want done to them. That’s the big change, that’s what Forever Manchester is all about. “How has the numbers changed? Well, the old model was about throwing lots of money at projects. Now the new approach is all about people ‘doing stuff’ before you get to the spending. “In 2010, we had £5.9million of funding to give out, helping 949 community projects around Greater Manchester – that was about 170,000 people. This year up to April 2015 we gave £1.5million out, almost £4.5million less than 2010. But we helped 378,000 people. A completely different approach. We are now investing in people, in communities – communities that our businesses belong in and are part of. It’s possible

to say that Forever Manchester has supported a community based project in Greater Manchester within one mile of everyone’s front door!” Nick then went on to introduce Phil Jones, Managing Director of Brother UK and President of Forever Manchester: “Looking out at the iconic views of the city from this wonderful vantage point its not easy to see change, however, in amongst this vibrant city change is happening all around us. Old buildings are coming down, new ones are going up, there’s an awful lot of change. I think this is an amazing metaphor for the workplace that we all live in. “Our landscape in business kind of looks and feels the same as this structurally. We stand here today on a decade of disruption. The biggest change we feel is that work is no longer about remuneration, its about passion, its about purpose – someone feeling inspired to want to work for you. “It’s about the community you create inside your walls, and the community you belong to just outside those walls. That community is where you and your employees belong to, it’s also where your future workforce will come from. “If you are a business in the talent business, that is, you see talent as one of the key factors for corporate success, then talent want to work for purposeful businesses and purposeful leaders. They want passion, heart, and want to believe in something bigger than just simply what you do. They recognise a smarter culture that backs positive involvement within their locality. This, in my opinion, shows how citizenship has been re-set within smart organisations and business. This is why, in my view, enlightened organisations and businesses invest, not donate, their time and resources in their local community – the same community that nurtures current and future talent within that organisation’s workforce. “This is what I think is the flip in thinking in what citizenship is all about. It’s about investing in your communities, for your talent, for wellness and wellbeing, and for your corporate reputation.” For further information about Forever Manchester, please contact: Jean Mills, Head of Business Development on

0161 214 0955

jean@forevermanchester.com Steve Renfrew

Nick Massey

Phil Jones

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

T-Shirts and Suits and

the Practicalities of Change

In our regular visit to K-Club’s regular networking event we are constantly surprised at how excellent and engaging the speakers are. Thursday 9 July saw another great crowd of business leaders meeting at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford. Speaking duties were split between chartered marketer David Parrish and Claire-Marie Boggiano, Director of Lurig Ltd. Kicking off proceedings was David Parrish, who shared with us his views about creativity: “I’d like to start with the metaphor I use called T-Shirts and Suits. This relates to creativity, both in the studio and in the office. The difference between what I call iCreativity and aCreativity. The t-shirt represents traditional creatives, and the suits represent smart business thinking. “A lot of my work is in the creative and digital industries, dealing with designers, musicians, photographers, architects, for example. The problem is that many seem to have an idea of creativity that applies when they’re in the studio, however, when they move into the business office they see the business side of their work as boring. They seem to switch off their creative thoughts when

it comes to marketing or raising finances for example, and go about these processes in the most dull and unimaginative way possible. “Something was bugging me about the word ‘creativity’ at this stage. In English language the word creativity seems to have been hijacked by the artists. In answer to this I have coined two definitions of creativity; aCreativity, meaning artistic creativity – the definition that most people seem to use, and iCreativity, meaning a broader kind of creativity, or ingenuity – thinking laterally and problem solving. This kind of creativity is open to us all, and not just in business but across education, healthcare for example. “So let’s be aware that we are creative in many different ways, and not just as artists.” David then went on to discuss various creative business models, and essentially made the observation that creative thinking can be applied to all areas of a business. Getting this right can grow your business exponentially. T-Shirts and Suits is actually the title of one of David’s published books, and to find out more about this excellent business guide (he very kindly gave me a copy

which makes for a fascinating and informative read) go to www.davidparrish.com Next to speak was Claire-Marie Boggiano, Director of Lurig Ltd which specialises in business change and people development. “What I’ve got for you today is a mini masterclass on looking at change. The leaflet you have in front of you contains information about practical change.” Claire-Marie had presented everyone with a 4-page leaflet – containing questions for us all to complete. Claire-Marie went on to ask: “The first question is to think of a change challenge. Once this is done the second question is what are you seeking? – what you’d like to take away from this session. Then finally the last question in this section is connections – Who’s a good connection for you? They might be someone here – or elsewhere. They might be have a certain skill or ability you need to help make your change. As you think of an answer write it down straightaway. This will free your mind to think of the next connection that could help you.”

leaflet relating to the detailed processes regarding corporate change. The emotional responses, the effect on staff and colleagues. These offered a practical skillset to identify and deal with every ramification of applying change to your business. The session then completed with three more questions to be answered: Key learning points, next steps and other ideas. In terms of a speaker it was really refreshing as an audience member to be part of a practical process of learning, and some of the most interesting things to note were when we as an audience discussed table by table some of the individual responses to a selection of the questions. The need to manage change within the corporate environment became increasingly clear as we all did a bit of self discovery! The next K-Club event in Manchester is on 14 September, again at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford. Tickets are available through EventBrite (K-Club Manchester).

David Parrish

Claire-Marie Boggiano

We then reviewed a set of visual processes presented inside the

For further information please contact Amanda Manson, Communications Director on

07754 069 829

amanda.manson@k-club.co.uk

www.k-club.co.uk

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

review

The Trafford Business stands to the exhibition floor to add further variety for the visitors. This had a knock on effect to the number of visitors attending, with an increase of numbers this year, seeing hundreds of attendees through the exhibition hall. The registration area looked fantastic with RRG Toyota’s cars inside the entrance and provided a wow factor for the attendees on arrival. “We were pleased to receive some excellent feedback from the visitors: “Beautiful day, fab conversations, contacts made, opportunities opened.”

It’s always a bit of a concern that an event which was such a success when it first took place in 2014 can be replicated for the second time. There was nothing to worry about in reality as the Trafford Business Expo 2015 was a great success and was a fantastic day for business. On a beautiful sunny Tuesday on 30 June, hundreds of businesses across Trafford and further afield descended on the Point at the Emirates Old Trafford for a full day of business networking. There were a few details from last year that were very different. Notably the inclusion of Trafford Council’s Meet the Buyer event on the same day co-locating on the floor above. Visitors registered to Meet the Buyer were also registered to attend the Expo, creating a healthy opportunity for even more business exposure for both visitors and exhibitors. Another interesting aspect was the whole floor being opened up to the Expo. Last year three quarters was

sectioned off for the event itself, with the last quarter utilised as seminar room. This time the seminars took place in a separate area. This gave an incredible amount of space over to the exhibitors, and coupled with the fantastic amount of natural light gave a very airy and relaxed feel to the event. The sheer size and roominess of The Point was giving the whole event an easy laid-back feeling which is something unusual with many business expos. Compared to last year, visitors were up by about 20% resulting in towards 500 attendees, and the whole event moved very smoothly and professionally due to the hard work of organisers innov8. James Caldwell, director of innov8 commented: “We were delighted with the success of the Trafford Business Expo this year. The event is designed with the visitors in mind to create a dynamic event to discuss business opportunities. It is really important to us for the Expo to grow each year and were pleased that we were able to introduce additional

“Trafford Business Expo was excellent! Great people and workshops!” “Well done, great event and well attended.” “The exhibitors had made a fantastic effort with their stands and the exhibition hall looked great. It

makes such a difference to the visitors’ experience when the stands are engaging with competitions and displays. We firmly believe the best way to promote your product or service is to put it in front of the visitors and demonstrate exactly what you have to offer, and the exhibitors did exactly that. There were CCTV systems set up displaying on tv screens, products on the stand and video footage of products in action.” James then went on to add: “This year, we were thrilled to provide a best stand award to acknowledge the effort that goes into preparing a stand. We were delighted to present The Best Stand Award to Ease the Spine, who were showcasing and demonstrating their ergonomic furniture. Thank you to Trafford’s Councillor Michael Young, Deputy Leader, Executive Member for Economic Growth and Planning, for presenting the award. “There were some very positive comments from the exhibitors who also had a great

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Expo 2015 Andy Preston

Trafford Business Connect Magazine’s infamous 5’ croc-infested duckpond!

day of business and we received some great feedback, with a number re-booking for stands in 2016: “We had a great day at the 2015 Trafford Business Expo. It is the first event of this kind that we have done and we found everyone very engaging. It was great to network with both people that we may be able to offer services to and there were quite a number of other exhibitors who’s services may be of

Interest to us too, who we would have otherwise not come across or been aware of how they could help us.” “The Trafford Expo 2015 was the best event we attended this year as an exhibitor, the event was organised brilliantly and the team we always on hand to answer any questions we may have. We managed to speak to a huge variety of different visitors from all different

Daniel Nolan

industry sectors and we believe the event was a big success. We look forward to exhibiting again in 2016!”

Seminars “We were thrilled to offer such a high standard of seminars for the delegates, and the quality speakers were a great addition to the exhibition hall. It seemed that those who attended the seminars found them incredibly beneficial and took a lot away with them from the sessions.”

Sharon Robson

The sessions were tailored to share knowledge and inspire attendees with tips to relate and implement in to their business. The seminars were extremely popular with the attendees and were full to capacity for the three sessions. According to Sharon Robson, STaR’s Director of Procurement: “The Trafford Business Expo was a great opportunity for STaR Procurement to meet with a wide range of potential suppliers.”

Sharon’s workshop was designed As part of the programme for the to highlight to local businesses Trafford Business Expo, an exciting line up of industry experts were confirmed Article continues to host free seminars throughout on next page the day for the delegates to attend.

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

review The

Trafford Business Expo 2015

how they can access potential public sector opportunities via ‘The Chest’, not only for Trafford but across a range public agencies in the Northwest. Sharon provided top tips and provided a number of useful links for those interested in further information. Attendees to the seminar described the session as informative, interactive and very well presented. Sharon was complimented on her succinct and

professional delivery and effectively answered everyone’s questions. Daniel Nolan, managing director at the award winning digital marketing agency, theEword, presented their new findings on ‘saying the right things at the right time’. They were excited to share some of the data they had been collecting on the impact of using different types of content across a variety of genres,

at different stages in the buying process. This session was extremely well received and provided useful ideas for attendees to relate to their marketing strategy. Daniel was praised for his informative, yet relaxed and amusing delivery which kept the audience engaged. Andy Preston, a top-selling salesperson in his industry and international expert on selling techniques, has a reputation of delivering quality seminars and did not disappoint. Andy presented

his signature sales seminar on ‘How to have your best sales year ever’, sharing with the audience the importance of differentiating yourself from your competitors with tips on how to convert your leads to sales. This engaging presentation had some incredibly useful content which was informative and extremely beneficial.

Meet the Buyer “We also found the co-location with Trafford Council’s Meet the Buyer complimented the overall event and offered further business opportunities

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August/September 2015

for the attendees.” James said.

Saying the right thing at the right time: content and the customer journey Daniel Nolan from theEword was one of the keynote speakers at the Trafford Business Expo. Here is a portion of his presentation: “I chose to speak at the Trafford Business Expo because not only was it a great opportunity to meet other businesses from the local community, but also to raise awareness of an important trend in digital marketing which has implications for lots of firms. “Content marketing isn’t a new concept, if anything it’s often argued now that we’re bombarded by too much content on a daily basis. So the key today is to stand out from the crowd and ultimately provide the right content at the right time that fits in with your customer’s online journey. “So how do you begin? First and foremost, you need to create engaging and shareable content such as quizzes, lists, infographics and blogs that appear on sites your target audience are likely to visit. We call this ‘Discovery’ content. At this stage of the journey, your prospective clients may not even be aware they want your service or product - the importance of this stage is creating brand awareness. “Secondly, you need to consider ‘Deliberation’ content. At this stage of the journey, your prospective customers know they need a product or service similar to that which you offer. Here you should look to affirm your position as a thought-leader and seek to build trust, so content such as whitepapers are great. You want to continue to build trust and drive prospects to your website for this content. “Finally, you reach ‘Decision’ content. You’ve caught the attention of your prospect, they’re on your website but what next? Ensure you have persuasive product or service pages that continue to tell a story. This is where testimonials and case studies can be most powerful in converting visitors to your website. “Being successful means testing and analysing what you’re doing along the way and therefore improving with every piece of content you produce.”

Trafford Council’s Meet the Buyer event was co-located with the Trafford Business Expo in the floor above. The event provided an opportunity for local businesses to meet with purchasing teams from a selection of large local organisations, who were keen to ensure local SMEs are able to access opportunities in their supply chains. 48 suppliers from across Trafford and the local area attended the Meet The Buyer event, attending pre-arranged Trafford Council’s Meet the Buyer

appointments with buyers from STaR (Stockport, Trafford and Rochdale Councils) Procurement, Amey, Regatta Group, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Procure-Plus. Feedback from suppliers on the day was excellent, with comments including: “Thanks a lot for this great opportunity! I found the event really useful and got lots of new ideas for my business.” “Thank you! It enabled me to gain direct access to three high potential buyers really quickly and really easily, which would have taken me years to get hold of on my own” Trafford Meet The Buyer is expected to become an annual event, with further information about next year’s event to be released in early 2016. For further information about similar events or other support available to businesses in Trafford, contact Trafford Council’s Economic Growth Team at business@trafford.gov.uk or visit www.investintrafford.com

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

review

pro-manchester

welcome their new

It doesn’t seem like any time has passed since Trafford Business Connect reported on the appointment of John Jones from Beever & Struthers as new Chairman for pro-manchester, one of Greater Manchester’s flagship business organisations representing over 240,000 working in the financial and professional sectors across the region. A lot of that has been down to the breakneck pace of business growth we are currently enjoying in the private sector, and the fact that pro-manchester seem to be one of the architects of that growth. On Friday 17 July over a member’s lunch that took place at the Midland Hotel, John formally stepped down as Chairman and warmly welcomed Tim Grogan, Director in the Audit and Equity Capital Markets team at Deloitte, as the new pro-manchester Chairman for the coming year. Tim then gave his inaugural speech: “I’d like to start with a warm welcome Chairman Tim Grogan with CEO John Ashcroft

to everyone. Pro Manchester is a fantastic organisation. I have been involved since 2010, and the last few years have meant that I’ve been able to form some great relationships with Manchester’s financial and professional community. I’ve also been part of some engaging, exciting events that have helped shine the spotlight on a city that continues to build its wider reputation day by day. Manchester is a fantastic place to live as well as work, and we have a unique sense of pride in where we’re from. What excites me at the minute is that we’re now living and working at a time when the rest of the world is starting to catch on to everything we have to offer.” Tim then went on to thank CEO John Ashcroft and John Jones in making the organisation the thriving business community it is today, and then went on to look at some objectives for the organisation over the coming year: “There is an influx of new young professionals starting their career in Manchester that presents some new and interesting challenges for pro-manchester, and for the wider business community.

“We’re now witnessing the modern sectors that previously called London home, setting up camp in our city, bringing innovative new services to Manchester, Salford and the wider boroughs. This means the melting pot that makes Manchester such an important place to be is about to receive a major boost, with more people of different age groups, from different parts of the world, flooding this city and bringing their own unique contribution to our fledgling industries. “I have had direct experience of this.

Only last year I was in India with Deloitte Colleagues, MIDAS and UKTI presenting a series of events in Mumbai and Bangalore with Manchester being marketed as a destination. I have seen first hand the interest in the compelling proposition that Manchester has to offer and my main objectives as chair are how we’re going to drive Manchester forward as a destination and also tap these key industry sectors and make them our own, driving our own membership and engagement along with them. “So while we’re talking about our plans for Manchester’s future, now might be a good time to slip in the soundbite of the moment and give the Northern Powerhouse a mention. You’ll be well aware that we’re now stood at the edge of what is set to be a massive year for Manchester. I say Manchester, though the masterplan is for the Northwest, because we have been appointed the Northern Powerhouse’s champion, with the funding and devolved powers to equip us for the role of regional leader. “This means we have some important decisions to make as to how we address everything from housing to transport to planning, and we get to work fundamentally changing the

‘‘

landscape of our city, as we know it.

“My work at Deloitte has seen me working particularly closely on matters pertaining to the Northern Powerhouse, with our business acting as a champion of the ‘Super North’. I’m looking forward to continuing this commitment at pro-manchester, with each member and event making a contribution to the sustained efforts of a more ‘super’ and ‘powerful’ business community. The surge in funding we’re about to receive is a huge affirmation of confidence not just in the Northwest as a well-established centre for industry (though that doesn’t hurt), but as a marker of the name we’re making for ourselves as a daring, ambitious city ready to harness the growing sectors that have succeeded overseas. “Whether it’s the runaway success of the advanced materials sector with its Graphene research and development, or the big banglike growth of the technology and media sectors, we’re thinking big when it comes to modern industries, and we’re receiving the investment and responsibility to match the scale of these ambitions. Much of this has been spurred by the incredible ripple effect that MediaCityUK has caused, with the media and creative industries flocking to the region and bringing a host of opportunities, both professional and social, with them. “We’re now seeing global businesses establishing a foothold here, and numerous start-ups making Manchester their base.

We are creating the biggest business development organisation in the Northwest. We’re throwing away the old models and bringing in lots of aggressive business plans to push your business into the region and beyond.

John Ashcroft, Chief Executive, pro-manchester

’’

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

Chairman Tim Grogan with former Chairman John Jones

Chairman The position of Chair at pro-manchester is traditionally rotated every year. After the speeches had finished Trafford Business Connect caught up with John Jones and asked him for his thoughts as he stepped down: “Clearly sad in some ways. Tim will bring energy and enthusiasm to drive the organisation forward, and I look forward to remaining closely involved.”

to develop as a premier business development organisation in what Are you happy you have achieved everything you set out to do since you started has been another challenging year. a year ago? “I think we’ve achieved a lot, however, there are always goals to We have worked hard over the past three years to develop additional reach – that’s the nature of the organisation.” revenue streams following the loss What are your thoughts on pro-manchester’s role in devolution? “These are of regional development agency such exciting times. I think its great for pro-manchester to be right at the funding. 2014/2015 was a further year “2015 has seen the inclusion of Virgin of investment into the organisation. heart of the discussion and the debate about what’s going to happen. These Rail, Etihad, Manchester Central and In 2015/16 our activities will be Living Ventures as corporate members, are fantastic times for Manchester and Greater Manchester as a region.” delivered together as a single offering, and we look forward to welcoming helping us to focus on membership, more as the year progresses. With city centre space still hot property, in the corporate calendar. We have key events, sector groups and the “There was lots of activity from the this means we’re seeing more exciting delivered a wide range of events across development of key corporate Future pro-manchester team led by new destinations crop up all around the programme, and also engaged memberships. Projects that require Chairman Paul McGlone, including Manchester, opening up the potential to longer-term investment will be scaled with key sector events regionally, charity events and the Made in build new communities and create new back to allow pro-manchester to work nationally and internationally, including Manchester Awards. Plus the launch hubs for each respective sector. towards a return to profit in 2015/16.” MIPM, Soccerex, The Manchester of our new event management service Food and Drink Festival, IP Expo 2015. “The key growth sectors extend beyond Tim then finished his speech entitled ‘Events For You’ in July. by thanking all those within those considered relatively new as well, “For me, the Sector Groups are gold “Our Hot Topics programme remains ro-manchester for their support with our historic manufacturing sector stars for our work at pro-manchester, consistently popular, providing over and the lunch drew to a close receiving a reinvigorating lift of late, and and I really can’t recommend the 60 free business focused events every with a few closing words from the proposed plans for high speed rail and programme highly enough to those year, across a wide range of topics. CEO John Ashcroft. improved road links presenting a great who aren’t already involved. By “Our Key events programme will also deal of scope for further development meeting others in your selected continue with the return of The Great over the next decade. Each of these key industry, or getting to know those Manchester Business Conference, The pro-manchester is a corporate growth sectors brings with it a distinctive working in the sectors you find Annual Dinner and our programme of membership organisation representing opportunity to diversify our offering interesting, then you build a network monthly lunches. and elevate Manchester’s status on the that locks into everything that keeps the 240,000 employed in the financial international market. We’re trying new this community as stimulating and “Business Development Products, and professional service community things and excelling in them, inviting motivating as it is.” The SME Club, Social Media Experts, in and around Greater Manchester. some of the UK’s brightest talents to join Financial Director’s Forum and Tim then went on to describe the Boasting more than 300 corporate us up North.” Newsroom are also featured as many other things happening in the member firms, pro-manchester part of our united approach to proTim then went on to describe the work pro-manchester programme: “2015 engages with over 5,000 individuals. manchester activities, and, having seen done by pro-manchester in their sector has seen pro-manchester membership For more details call tremendous growth and development group programme: “The Sector Group extended for the first time beyond 0161 833 0964 or email: in 2015, will continue their journeys as programme continues to be a valuable professional services to include key part of John Ashcroft & Company. admin@pro-manchester.co.uk addition to the professional community, corporates from the city region and and its events continue to be highlights beyond. With an increased desire from “pro-manchester has continued our membership firms to engage with other sectors and areas of business, our key corporate programme is designed to compliment our existing sector group activity, bringing some of the biggest names in business into pro-manchester membership.

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

apprenticeships In George Osborne’s summer budget on 8 July a ‘radical, and frankly long overdue approach’ to the issue of apprenticeships in this country was announced. The Chancellor stated “We are almost the only advanced country in the world where the skills of our 16–24 year olds are no better than our 55-64 year olds.” Already committed to doubling the existing number of schemes to 2 million, the Government have pledged to add an additional 3 million schemes. The problem as seen by the Chancellor is that too many large companies “leave

the training to others and take a free ride on the system”, so in order to fund the additional 3 million apprenticeships the Government will bring in an apprenticeship levy on all large businesses. This will effectively offer those firms who support apprenticeship schemes the opportunity to get more back than they put in. Government grants for apprentices are available, and smaller companies with 50 employees or less may be eligible for grants for each apprentice they recruit. See www.apprenticeships.org.uk for further details. Also contact Salford City College or Trafford College for more information - details below.

Salford City College holds its first ‘Annual Review Event’ Last month Salford City College held its first ever Annual Review event to celebrate its successes since the start of the 2013/14 academic year with its key stakeholders and supporters. The celebration, which was held at FutureSkills at MediaCityUK and hosted by CEO and Principal John Spindler, was also a chance to share news with guests of the College’s exciting plans for development over the next few years.

AAT Accounting student Peter Collier speaks about his experiences of studying at Salford City College

Accounting student Peter Collier also took to the stage to speak about their experiences and highlights whilst studying at Salford City College. “The Annual Review Event was a huge success, and one that will now sit firmly in the College’s events calendar for years to come. It was great to see so many of our stakeholders turning out to

support us to celebrate our recent successes and to hear about our future plans for development,” commented John Spindler, CEO and Principal. “One of the highlights for me was the level of student involvement in the event; from meeting and greeting, to feeding our guests, the students really were at the heart of the whole celebration.”

The students themselves played a huge role in the success of the event, with Musical Theatre Salford City College CEO and Principal John Spindler hosting the Annual Review Event

students from the College’s Walkden Sixth Form Centre. John Spindler, who joined the College as its new CEO and Principal at the start of the summer term, spoke to guests about the plans he has to bring the College forward over the next five years. Deputy Principal Jackie Moores then shared some of the fantastic student success stories that have come out of the college in the past 12 months.

students performing some of their favourite songs from the shows, and Photography students taking photos throughout the afternoon. Guests were also treated to a mouth-watering buffet lunch, which was cooked and served by Hospitality and Culinary Arts

The inspirational stories shared included an A-Level student who has been offered a place to study English at Cambridge University, a Creative Music student who reached the semi-finals of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent, and Sports student who was signed to Hyde FC after moving to Salford from Portugal to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer. Foundation Degree Graphic Design student Lee Thackray and AAT

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August/September 2015

Sam takes the lead in race towards career in Formula 1 Trafford College Engineering Student, Sam Clark is hot on the heels of former student Oliver Skelland in his race towards a career with the Mercedes Formula 1 Team. Sam, 18, from Stretford was crowned ‘Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) Student of the Year’ at the College’s Centre for Science and Technology recently for the second year of the competition, as part of the College’s ongoing partnership with HPP in Northamptonshire. The initiative gives top performing students the opportunity to apply for an Advanced Apprenticeship with HPP, the organisation which designs, develops and manufactures the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 racing engines and hybrid systems. Oliver Skelland (19), a former BTEC L3 Engineering student, was the first student to be chosen as outright winner by his tutors in 2014 in the first year of the competition, and has since gone on to secure a highly sought after apprenticeship programme with ‘Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP).

Following in his footsteps, Sam has now scooped the incredible prize of a guaranteed work placement at an HPP assessment centre, £500 and a signed certificate from Andy Cowell, Managing Director. His hard work and dedication throughout the year, which saw him praised for his attendance, punctuality and performance throughout the programme, has also earned him a guaranteed interview with HPP for a place on their highly sought after Apprenticeship scheme. Stuart Boyer, Employee Development Manager for HPP, commented, “Our apprentice programme continues to be a key element of our people strategy and I’m pleased we’ve been able to build on our already successful relationship with Trafford College. Last year’s winner, Oliver Skelland, will be joining us in September, so it’s clear that the college is enhancing the employability of their students. Based on the feedback I’ve had about this year’s winner, Sam Clark, he has every chance to follow in Oliver’s footsteps and begin

L-R Sam Clark and Stuart Boyer

an exciting engineering career in Formula 1’.” Sir Bill Moorcroft, Principal of Trafford College commented, “Engineering and technology is at the heart of everything we do. As a College it’s important for us to develop relationships with world-

class companies like HPP to give our students the best opportunities to progress into high profile careers.” Steve Jones, Assistant Principal for STEM added, “This has been a great opportunity for the students involved and we are very grateful to HPP for involving us. The prize of £500 plus work experience, and a guaranteed interview, is such a fantastic opportunity for our winning student. It’s not just about the prize though, it’s about the seal of approval that HPP lends to this curriculum area.”

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major benefit.

0161 886 7070 WWW.TRAFFORD.AC.UK

COLIN BAINES, THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

Sam said of his victory, “I’m really happy to have won this award today and I’m really grateful for the support I’ve received. This is such a great opportunity; I’ve always been interested in Motorsport and F1 especially, so I’m really excited about the possibilities.” For more information, please contact: Liz Byrne on 0161 952 4861 or by email on elizabeth. byrne@trafford.ac.uk

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

focus Trafford Park Connect For the past few months Trafford Park Connect has been gaining momentum as a friendly, laid back networking event in the heart of Trafford Park. Excellent hosts Exclusec Security Solutions Ltd have made the extra effort to always ensure everyone gets the very best out of the monthly networking event, including plenty of time to chat and always featuring a great speaker. July 14 though was to be the last time at the Guardian Buildings, as Trafford Business Connect are swapping roles with Exclusec and will be hosting the event going forward at St Antony’s Centre on

Bringing businesses Eleventh Street, still in the heart of Trafford Park. Exclusec will now be sponsors of the monthly event, handing over the host’s reins to our very good selves. The next event will be on Wednesday 12 August, and going forward we will be introducing a small fee to cover costs.

from Trafford’s Trading Standards who introduced us to iBan (Informed Business Alert Network) This follows in the wake of iCan (the consumer version) and is a free to join messaging system to keep rogues at bay and make our business community safer.

Looking back to the last event at the Guardian Buildings, we were fortunate to welcome Julia Bentley

Businesses can now stay one step ahead of rogue traders, scams and cons with this free service which

sends out timely warnings. Trafford iBAN is a service now available to all business in the borough. Members of the scheme can either opt for a pre-recorded phone message or email to inform them about potential rogue traders. For further details call 0161 912 1377 or review a full description of the scheme plus an online application form at www.trafford.gov.uk

MONTHLY NETWORKING IN TRAFFORD PARK

GET YOUR BUSINESS NOTICED! Trafford Park Connect is a monthly business networking lunchtime event recently moved to St Antony’s Centre on Eleventh Street, in the heart of Trafford Park.

Each event, taking place at the beginning of each month, will provide a relaxed networking opportunity between 12noon and 2pm to meet businesses not just from Trafford Park but beyond, and is open to all businesses to attend. There will be a keynote speaker at each event, featuring a great range of respected names from many different businesses. For more info please email Paul Mirage on paul@businessconnectpublishing.co.uk If you would like to attend please register at Eventbrite through:

www.traffordparkconnect.co.uk

Trafford Park Connect is a networking initiative hosted by Trafford Business Connect Magazine and sponsored by Exclusec Security Solutions Limited.

Security Solutions Ltd

FREE parking FREE literature table QUALITY speakers B2B networking TEA/COFFEE and a bite to eat included

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Wednesday 12 August Tuesday 8 September Tuesday 13 October

Trafford Park Connect, St Antony’s Centre (behind NatWest Trafford Park branch), Eleventh Street, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1JF

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

together in

video platform, and the subsequent development of ‘Trafford Park TV’ – an interesting new marketing opportunity for Trafford Park based businesses to promote themselves and their services via video to new audiences and customers. The technology in the development of this facility means that it is available cross-platform, across any device or system.

Trafford Park Liam Potts, IWM North

Chris Fletcher, GM Chamber of Commerce

Trafford Park Business Network There are very few buildings within Trafford Park as iconic as the Imperial War Museum North so it was very apt that the museum hosted the second Trafford Park Business Network event on 9 July. Starting in the main exhibition space, which features a timeline of the conflicts that Britain and the Commonwealth have been involved in since the First World War, the event kicked off with business networking, and the opportunity to listen to Liam Potts from the venue describing

Andrew Turner, Amey LG

Clare Hardeman, Amey LG

the activities of the museum. From there everyone moved into an adjacent meeting area where Chris Fletcher, Chair of Trafford Economic Growth Board and Policy and Marketing Director at GM Chamber welcomed everyone. He commented: “The quality of businesses we have here right on our doorsteps are superb. The more events we can do like this where we get businesses talking to each other, and beginning to trade with each other across Trafford Park are absolutely amazing.” Chris then introduced Andrew

After Nigel finished his presentation Chris Fletcher then selected 5 businesses in attendance to deliver a one minute elevator pitch to the audience, but before they took to the rostrum Katrina Hann and John Steward from New Economy gave an oversight into the work and observations done by the organisation. New Economy delivers policy, strategy and research for Greater Manchester’s economic growth and prosperity. They work

Nigel Collier, Skylab

John Steward, New Economy

Turner from Amey LG who was there to describe the work of Trafford Council’s newly appointed Joint Venture Partner. Andrew went on to describe Amey LG’s social value commitments and the work of the organisation. He then introduced Clare Hardeman who went into detail about the procurement process, particularly as this was the buyer’s slot section of the event. Next to speak in the capacity of the supplier slot was Nigel Collier from Skylab. Nigel went on to describe Skylab’s award winning Medua Tank

Katrina Hann, New Economy

on behalf of the GM Combined Authority and the GM Local Enterprise Partnership, and their principal purpose is to help Greater Manchester grow by strengthening policy developments across the boroughs. As part of the morning’s presentation there was the chance for the audience to vote on several issues and economic options, all of which contribute to the development of new strategy being produced on behalf of the Trafford Economic Growth Board. Trafford Park is the world’s first planned industrial estate and remains one of the largest business parks in Europe. It is home to over 1,300 businesses and 35,000 employees, from a wide range of business sectors including manufacturing, logistics, retail, leisure, digital and creative, office and professional.

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

social media

Periscope - an introduction to the • Heavily data intensive - so it’s best to stream or view from a good wifi connection rather than your data plan

If you’ve logged into Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook over the past few months, you can’t help but have noticed the words Periscope and Meerkat popping up from marketeers like myself.

• Highly interactive - anyone viewing live from their phone can type comments in whilst you are streaming

Periscope’s tagline is ‘Explore the world through someone else’s eyes’ and Meerkat describes itself as ‘the easiest and most powerful way for spontaneous shared experiences’.

• Replays for 24 hours - which you can choose to keep or delete • Global Audience - but can gain local reach via followers, hashtags and content

In a nutshell what they offer is a live streaming app from your smart phone with a more user-friendly and engaging interface than UStream or Livestream.

How to use periscope for business 1. Education

Since they came to public prominence in March this year, they’ve been involved in a VHS vs Betamax style war for mass adoption with Periscope owned by Twitter and Meerkat buddying up to Facebook.

On Periscope you have some of the great minds in business offering up advice and nuggets for free at the touch of a button, so even if you’re not ready to broadcast - download the app and watch business leaders streams!

Whilst it’s still super early days to declare an outright winner or a dominator in the market, all signs are pointing towards mass adoption of Periscope as the platform of choice.

Sure, you could access some of it via a LinkedIn pulse article or their own website, but the beauty about Periscope is the nuggets that come the human interactions in the comments section of the app

The most recently released figures show there are 70 million users of Periscope ....and that’s in just 4 months!

Like all Social Media platforms Periscope is built for interaction and rarely is a stream a one way monologue to the audience it’s an open channel of 2 way communication where you can access some real strong business advice

Periscope in a nutshell Periscope has been described as ‘Twitter on speed’ and ‘Snapchat for Video’, so here’s the skinny on Periscope for the newbies... • Live Streaming app directly from your Smart Phone • Integrated into Twitter - so building a strong twitter audience is beneficial

So think about what you can give out in the way of education to your audience. Could you repurpose ideas from old

live streaming app blogs for Periscope? Could you give tips on how to deal with changes in your industry? Could you educate people on a breaking news story?

2. Live streaming events Back in April, a few days after Periscope launched, at Sale Business Group I streamed the networking event live to introduce the businesses in the room to the wider public. It was the first networking group in Greater Manchester to do so and hardly anyone had heard of Periscope - but we had four times more people watching live on Periscope than we did in the room. We live in a world where there are so many networking events in one day that you simply can’t make them all, but those core members of your community can still be part of the action live on Periscope for those meetings they can’t attend in person. People will always want to attend events in person - but we are now entering the age where there are multiple ways to connect and Periscope is becoming part of the live event experience both to preview the event (yes and to generate sales), to live stream the event and to offer the service of a 24 hour replay for attendees after the event.

3. Q&As Think about the most insightful parts of business talks at networking meetings or conferences - It’s usually the Q&A section where you really get to delve deep into a subject matter. Periscope is great for hosting Q&As in the same manner with real time interaction from 100’s of viewers around the world.

or what happens on a day to day basis in the business Ultimately the reason for behind the scenes glimpses into a business is to humanise a business and because of the real time nature of periscope this is undiluted, real time and not staged The Behind The Scenes streams is the one area Meerkat is winning on over Periscope - with some real Meerkat stars such as The Funky Fairy and Herbie Merrin the Taxi Driver being heavy Meerkat users. On Periscope it’s the established marketing names such as Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone who are the big hitters.

5. Community I’m a firm believer that a business should be an integral part of the community, and some of my most viewed scopes have been community events. The likes of the Manchester Marathon, Altrincham French Festival and Altrincham Festival being just a few that I’ve been able to stream live to the world. What community events is your business taking part in that can you can stream live from? What is happening in your community that you are part of? What are you doing that isn’t just straight down to business?

What next? Download Periscope from www.periscope.tv - follow local Trafford Businesses such as @traffbizconnect and

@altrinchamhq

Watch and learn, then plan your Periscope broadcasts to build up your audience.

Because Periscope is so fast and it disappears within 24 hours people are open to asking questions they perhaps wouldn’t on twitter or in a face-to-face environment.

4. Behind the scenes

MARTIN HAMBLETON I COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER info@martinhambleton.com

07766 815703

www.commercialphotographynorthwestblog.co.uk

Some of the best Scope’s so far are the voyeuristic behind the scene glimpses into businesses around the world. It’s human and gives real insight to what happens in a business meeting

Alex McCann Altrincham HQ www.altrinchamhq.co.uk

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

lead generation

Running Successful Events - an Art or a Science? We have all been there - turned up to a packed event and you feel inspired. You then feel so glad you made the effort and you end up making new contacts.

to be in balance, this is the science and the flavour is the art.

a women in business event and the school run is in mid flow.

Equally we have all arrived at an event and from the minute it has started we are clock watching thinking ‘I have so much more I could be doing right now than listening to this person drone on!’

Let’s talk about flavour first, this is how attractive the content is to the audience.

Location - Is it easy to get to? Can people park, walk or use local transport?

Would you offer a coffee and cream cake to kids or a chocolate cake?

If you have ever been on the other side and organised an event then you will also know how difficult it is to get people there in the first place, let alone dazzle people with the content.

Content should not be sales focused, this is a by-product of a good event. The content should be engaging, interactive and you should think first and foremost about the takeaways for your attendees - what will they learn? What should they be thinking about when they drive home?

Venue - Make it different. I have been to an event in a car showroom with a test drive afterwards - be creative!

However, when events are ran well they can do a lot to raise the profile of your business, position you as an authority in a particular area, as well as help build a reputable network of people with similar interests that want to share business knowledge.

I am going to share with you some lessons learnt and observations that are perhaps not immediately obvious.

It goes without saying that you should have an engaging presenter that puts the material across well. They should use stories or anecdotes to bring the content alive and they should engage with the room. Great content can fall flat with a bad presenter. So before you put yourself forward test your material or give somebody else an opportunity in your business that may have a hidden talent.

The best way, I have found, to describe running an event is a bit like baking a cake. (The problem is I am not great at baking so bear with me…)

Now, let’s talk about the science of populating a well-crafted event. Things to consider with your audience (ignore them at your peril!)

A good cake is made up of a number of ingredients that need

Timings - don’t run an 8am breakfast seminar if you are doing

So how do you go about achieving this successfully and it not being a flop?

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Marketing - Start 8 weeks before. Agree the hook and messaging have a defined target list of clients that you want to invite and set-up a registration process to handle these automatically. Craft a few EShots with different messages and start sending them out 4-5 weeks before to a decent size population. Follow up your opens and encourage people to join you on the day. Use social media, put it in on your email footer, website, LinkedIn profile and invite your prospects personally.

one or two people they spoke with and the people that left early never got a call. There is a lot to plan so it is of no surprise that clients will often engage with a third party specialist to manage the process so they can focus on the ‘Art of knocking the audience dead’ on the day. Reach Communications helps companies to populate and run successful targeted event. If you want a FREE event consultation to understand how you can maximise results get in touch.

Do a pre-event call to check they will be joining you - this will prevent drop outs. If they are unavailable offer them a 121 at a later date. On the day – have sign-in forms, name badges (sigh…. it does help), introduce people, round tables (cabaret is the best format). Feedback forms will ensure you gauge reaction and agree follow up actions. You will be amazed how many people just follow up

Julie Cook Reach Communications www.reachcommunications.co.uk

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GM BUSINESS connect

branding

When is a logo not a logo?

When it’s a brand.

I’m passionate about branding. A strong and memorable brand is without doubt a basis for business success; brand is the embodiment of the company ethos, its culture, its people, its service levels and of course its products. It is certainly not the company logo! When I talk to people about this there is a realisation that the word brand has been hijacked in recent years and that people mistakenly think that brand and logo are one and the same thing - they could not be further from one another. Successful businesses understand that their brand is not just what people actually buy - it is the entirety of their offering. We believe that an intelligent,

coherent branding programme provides the best foundation on which to build a strong and memorable brand. ‘Start up’ businesses need to start off on the right footing albeit they are still developing their culture, but more importantly existing businesses should take time to step back and look at what they have and what they do – and ask themselves if they could achieve more with a clear company-wide understanding of the brand values of their business. There are many examples of businesses that have really improved their bottom line after going through this process - and many examples of companies that have failed simply because they didn’t.

Whatever your business size, whether you’re a one-man-band, SME or corporate organisation, the core principles that help to build and sustain a strong brand - how you consistently perform and interact with your customers - remain firm and are fundamental to the success of your business.

Alan Russ Director, Bias Manchester Ltd

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

finance The

Summer Budget

The summer 2015 budget has been announced, outlining the tax plans of the new Conservative government, which are to be introduced over the next 5 years. With so many changes on the horizon, from the national living wage to tax credit changes to the annual investment allowance being permanently set at £200,000, multiple questions, especially from business owners, are likely to arise. By gaining a strong understanding of the changes being made and set to be made under the new government, it can help to avoid mistakes or confusion in the long run when it comes to tax.

New ‘national living wage’ and tax credit changes Some may say the most radical announcement made by the Chancellor was a significant reduction in the amount the government plans to spend on tax credits and other state benefits. At the same time, it was announced that the national living wage to be paid by employers will rise to £9 an hour by 2020, in addition to the increase in the personal allowance to £11,000 for 2016/17, ultimately resulting in employees keeping more of what they earn. This significant change means that employers will need to assess its impact on the profitability of their business, whilst also taking into consideration other factors such

as the increase in employment allowance to £3,000 next year and the planned reductions in the corporation tax rate – something that may also be relevant to some businesses.

of £500,000 to just £25,000 from 2016, the Chancellor has bowed to pressure from industry to stop tinkering with this allowance for expenditure on plant and machinery.

Impact of changes to dividend taxation on family companies

He has decided on £200,000 for the new limit, which should result in businesses being able to plan their capital expenditure. In order for businesses to benefit from the current higher allowance, it is recommended that they should consider bringing forward expenditure before January 1st 2016.

Due to there being no national insurance contributions on dividend payments, it is often advised that family company directors/ shareholders extract profits from their company by way of dividends instead of paying themselves a salary. A husband and wife being directors of a company would be able to pay themselves a salary of £11,000 each, in addition to dividends of £5,000 each tax free. However, the next £27,000 of dividends up to the new £43,000 higher rate threshold would then be taxed at 7.5%, resulting in income tax of £2,025 each being payable for 2016/17. Under the current rules, there would be no tax on such dividends up to £42,385. This measure has been introduced to counter tax-motivated incorporation, in order to level the playing field between trading via a company versus an unincorporated business.

Annual investment allowance set permanently at £200,000 Although the annual investment allowance was due to be reduced from the current temporary level

Buy to let landlords – interest relief to be restricted to basic rate The amount of income tax relief landlords can get on residential property finance costs will be restricted to the basic rate of tax, a change which will be phased in gradually over four years in order to give landlords time to adjust. In 2017/18, the deduction will be restricted to 75% of finance costs with 25% being available as a basic rate tax reduction, with the following year changing to 50% finance costs deduction and 50% being given as a basic rate tax reduction. Progressing into 2019/20, it will become 25% finance costs deduction and 75% given as a basic rate tax reduction, and finally resulting in all financing costs incurred by a landlord being given as a basic rate tax reduction in 2020/21.

really know

RED FLAG ALERT is an online business information bureau. 6 million trading entities

The “rent a room” limit will be increased in April 2016, from the current £4,250 up to £7,500, however the relief is only available where individuals rent out a room in their main residence and the allowance includes heating and other services provided to the lodger. Although the current UK corporation tax rate of 20% is the lowest rate in the G20, it has been announced that the rate will be reduced to 19% and then further to 18% in 2020. This appears to make trading via a limited company more attractive, but note that there are significant changes to the taxation of dividends mentioned earlier that could affect this.

Les Leavitt Leavitt Walmsley Associates Chartered Certified Accountants www.lwaltd.com

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

absenteeism

Are Brits are a bunch of skivers?

Almost 60% of Brits have pulled a sickie from work in the past three years despite not being ill, new research has revealed. The survey of 1,000 British employees, carried out by leading workforce management solutions developer, timeware (UK), found that despite the number of employees falsely claiming to be sick in the past three years, almost 90% of those surveyed did not consider absenteeism to be a problem in their workplace. As part of the research which set out to investigate absenteeism and productivity in the UK workplace, employees were asked what the reasons were for their unplanned absences in 2014. While the survey found that sickness is still the number one reason for absenteeism (45%), other reasons why people were off in 2014 included childcare issues (20%) and relationship issues (17%). 11% of people claimed that they didn’t go into

work because they had an interview, 8% stated they had personal problems to deal with and another 8% of respondents wanted to avoid a difficult situation at work. The survey also found that employees are more likely to be absent from work with a hangover (7%) than because they are dissatisfied with their job (3%) or because they had to sort out a family issue (5%). As well as looking into unplanned absence, the research also asked employees the main reasons why they were late for work in 2014. It found that the most common reason was down to transport issues with 43% of respondents having used this excuse in 2014.

had made them late and 4% said they didn’t like their boss. The results also showed that at present employees massively underestimate the problem that absenteeism poses. Despite statistics by ACAS highlighting that absenteeism is costing the economy an average of £17million a year, the timeware report found that only 28% of people surveyed considered absenteeism to be a problem in their workplace.

Simon Birchall, managing director of timeware, said: “When implementing workforce management solutions for our customers, absence management is a key issue that crops up time and A further 22% of people said they had time again. As such, we decided to overslept and 13% said they were late commission our own research to to work because of a lack of motivation get a better insight into the state of absenteeism in the UK – and the for the job. Whilst 18% said family issues had caused a delay in getting to results have provided some insightful work, 13% suggested childcare issues data! The results from our report

have highlighted that in the UK there appears to be a serious problem with people falsely claiming to be sick when in reality there is another reason for their absence. “These figures really illustrate that more work needs to be done to understand why some people do not feel they are able to disclose the real reasons for their absences - so that employers can better support their employees and to try to reduce avoidable absenteeism in the future.”

Simon Birchall Timeware www.timeware.co.uk

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

digital marketing tuck in Mexico’ and a ‘nose job in Albania’ will help you find your ideal customers across the internet!

How a ‘tummy

Results from a global campaign for the most searched keywords brought about a vital clue as to how to increase your keyword research, click-through rate and ROI from a free Google tool.

predictive program ‘shows what other people are searching for and the content of web pages.’

The program actually shows what people are actively searching for. No Keyword research is a pain guesswork or smoke and mirrors but As the internet becomes more crowded actual real time intelligence on what users really do want. with competition, and PPC costs skyrocket, anything which can give a Whenever you see an insane real marketing edge is invaluable. suggestion in the Autocomplete Thorough keyword research is the best search bar it is because real people starting point to formulate an effective have really typed it in! campaign but can be tedious, and let’s Replace the global example with face it “hit and miss” based on what specific results we think our customers want and what Take this intelligence and apply it they actually are searching for. to your own keyword research and Real search terms can be an PPC marketing. Use the asterisk in eye opener your own campaigns and let Google A recent study by the internet research show you what people actually are company FIXR looked to isolate the searching for. most popular search terms for each Let’s say you are a small business country across the globe. The search advisor looking to reach new clients. string used was “How much does a * Try this search string: cost in [country name]”? The asterisk was left to allow Google to compile the ‘* a small business advisor’ most popular terms country by country. Some of the results from This is where the ‘tummy tuck in autocomplete: Mexico’ and ‘nose job in Albania’ came from! Country trends throw up some hilarious results as a result of this search. Here are some of the more surprising results from different countries:

Here are some more surprising and amusing results for ‘how much does a * cost’… ‘flying a MiG’ Russia ‘in vitro fertilisation’ Australia Monaco ‘mooring a yacht’ ‘a PS3’ Lebanon ‘a camel’ Egypt

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your market is typing in to the search engines and then capitalise on this. Run your PPC campaigns far more cost effectively on pages your competitors are not even aware of and draw new business to you by answering popular search terms with organic, original content.

Can you provide quality content which will establish your credibility, answer concerns, fulfil needs and be quickly indexed by Google as your piece is entirely relevant and has been missed by your competition? Of course you can, and that will establish your authority in your market and generate new business organically.

Keep on searching Start today, use the asterisk in a search string and let Google do the work for a change. See exactly what

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Or what are the long tail search terms for upsells on a product. Try “how to * my trainers”:

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Answer the questions for maximum returns All these terms came from the ‘Google Autocomplete’ tool. A tool which has been questioned by many for the sheer number of wacky selections it returns. But Google assures us the

on your website to answer their questions directly and gain organic Google ranking for even better reach and returns.

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GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

wellbeing Too busy to take a Did you know that 19 million days of annual leave remain untaken in the UK every year? And that figure doesn’t include the sole traders, small businesses and self-employed who regularly forgo holidays, feeling they’re too busy to take a holiday for fear of missing out on sales, business opportunities or are concerned about being unavailable and disappointing their clients. Do you miss out on your annual leave, feel nervous at leaving the office, work increasingly longer hours, perhaps even calling in at work over the weekend? You may not regard yourself as a workaholic yet find yourself regularly working late to finish essential paperwork or feel that you’re not ready to leave work ‘just yet’? Some people define themselves through their job; it’s how they think of themselves. A job title provides status, a sense of what’s expected, and outlines their responsibilities. Life can become more complicated once family, friends and relationships become involved. There isn’t a job description or a set of rules provided for home life. Sometimes it can seem less messy, be the easier option to become immersed in work; after all, there’s always something to be busy with. Also leaving the office for an extended period can require someone else to take charge, become acquainted with what’s going on. This can feel a vulnerable position to be in, as letting go of

the reigns may mean someone discovering errors and omissions, coming up with new, innovative ideas - doing a better job. But working unremittingly and being too busy to take a holiday can bring problems and issues that eventually require attention, not least of which can be stress and burnout. Let’s look at ways to improve your attitude towards work and find a better balance which is positive for all concerned, helping to improve your health and happiness and benefit the life of those around you - to introduce a better perspective and deal with being too busy to take a holiday: Check if family and friends are becoming upset and exasperated because you spend weekends regularly checking your phone and emails ‘just in case’? When you do agree to take a holiday do you spend the first three days stressed and worrying about what’s happening whilst you’re away, and the last three days revving up again? Remember, these are the really important people in your life, the ones who really care about you. Share your work-related concerns with them, let them be supportive, plan to start spending quality time together and learn to relax and have fun. Some people thrive on the adrenalin rush they get from being busy. The sense of urgency from taking on vast quantities of work, having pressurised deadlines, demanding clients who expect immediate results can be exciting and elevate thinking and responses

Holiday? to heightened levels of awareness. Also small businesses are often apprehensive at turning down work for fear of losing clients. But living continually in a state of stress can result in an inability to switch off, cause the mind to constantly race. This can start to impact on health and well-being, causing burnout to occur. Inject some realism into your way of working. Accept that you can only do so much, that you can’t be all things to all men, agree to every demand from your customers or accept every order for work. Saying ‘yes’ can sometimes mean that you commit too much time and energy to something that is not viable. Get to know other businesses with whom you could share the load and effectively out-source work they’d be better suited to.

physical symptoms of stress so start to learn your own warning signs. You may lose your sense of humour, become irritable, stop sleeping well. Some people over-eat for comfort or lose their appetite. Notice if your memory or ability to concentrate starts slipping or you start to experience headaches. These symptoms can alert you to the importance of taking a break or holiday in order to refresh and recover from the pressures you’re experiencing. Being too busy to take a holiday may seem like proof of your success, a sign that you’re doing well, are important, but taking a break gives you time to relax and recharge, spend time with the special people in your life and then return to work energised to do a better job.

Who knows, you may all end up building better, more valuable customer bases through mutual co-operation with those in similar, complementary fields. Work on your confidence, your self-belief and remind yourself that you’re doing the best you can. Keep on top of your CPD so that you feel confident in your skills. It’s important to earn a living and be professional, but accept that you’re human and need to take a holiday sometimes. Ensure there’s work that you enjoy, that gives you satisfaction so that you can enjoy going to the office each day. Build good relationships with clients and customers so that you can help each other in times of crisis. Then if you’re overloaded, experience problems, delays or an occasional error you can discuss it and find the best solution. Communicate with mutual respect and understanding so that you can negotiate and establish honest and meaningful relationships. Be aware of your personal signs of being stressed. There are 360

Susan Leigh MNCH (ACC)

Susan runs Altrincham based Lifestyle Therapy offering a tailor made combination of counselling and hypnotherapy on a one-to-one or group basis. She works with stressed individuals to promote confidence and self belief, with couples experiencing relationship difficulties to improve communications and understanding and with business clients to support the health and motivation levels of individuals and teams. For more articles, information or to make contact please call 0161 928 7880 or visit

www.lifestyletherapy.net

August/September 2015

GM BUSINESS connect

debt mediation

What could we achieve by thinking and acting differently? What do Florence Nightingale, Einstein, Mother Theresa, Dick Fosbury and Steve Jobs have in common? Amongst other attributes, they thought and acted differently – or outside the box. They listened to people. When talking about trees, Hermann Hesse, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946 said “Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.” Apply that sentiment to people and who knows what we could achieve? Seemingly few people today really care to hear about other people’s problems. David Suchet recently revealed that playing Hercule Poirot has made him a far better listener “I listen to what you say but I hear what you mean”. In the field of debt collection would it not be advantageous if all the relevant parties started to do this in respect of paying for goods and services? Would not all businesses benefit from such a culture of mediation, working together to develop interests, rather than taking positions? Partnership and open co-operation between both parties to replace the traditional adversarial culture? Now that would be progressive thinking! How might the culture of mediation apply in debt collection situations? How well do you handle those awkward conversations and situations? You can save considerable time and money by embracing the concepts of mediation. Mediation is where the participants in a dispute, whatever it may be, are actively encouraged to listen to each other to achieve an acceptable solution through aided negotiation and facilitation. What if they tried to listen to and respect each others’ interests – it is surprising what can be discovered. Surely mediation techniques should be part of what Debt Collection Agencies offer to help the participants in a dispute

reach an early amicable resolution themselves that both parties can live with. A solution found this way is longer lasting and much less damaging than conventional methods. When it comes to finding solutions, one size rarely fits all, rather it is about finding the appropriate approach and treating customers fairly. Creating relationships, knowing your customers, engaging with and actively listening to them, is of paramount importance. Understanding the specific circumstances of the customer, with a reasoned approach and having no preconceptions, will more often than not produce favourable results. An innovative and flexible approach should usually find the right solution for each participant.

news to the judiciary. Getting the basics right and establishing a genuine connection with your customers is nothing new but it needs to be reviewed regularly.

saved? And how much personal grief could be avoided? Rather than thinking the concept of mediation is food for thought, why not just apply it?!

Mediation can certainly provide an additional and important tool for Debt Collection Agencies and it will be interesting to see how many forward thinkers there are in the industry. On a much broader note, what if mediation were part of the school curriculum? By introducing this way of thinking at an early stage, future generations could be encouraged to act differently. Who knows how many conflicts might be prevented? Who knows how many millions of people’s lives might be

Robert Smyth Premium Collections Ltd www.premiumcollections.co.uk

Prompt payment codes may be redundant if this different way of working is developed. More small to medium sized companies could survive and even prosper if they didn’t have to spend considerable time and money dealing with disputes. Mediation, however, is not always the right answer, and litigation may be the only avenue left but ignoring mediation overlooks a potential quick and less costly solution. Reluctance to pay comes in many guises, as we are all aware but amicably resolving issues must surely be a ‘win win situation’ for all concerned. Will the application of mediation adversely affect Debt Collection Agencies? Quite the reverse, as payment disputes would be resolved earlier and hopefully any clouds of ill feeling will disappear. How will it affect the legal profession? Contracts will still need to be drawn up and specialist advice is always prudent for complex arrangements. Terms and Conditions will still need to be clearly set out including a mediation clause. Court time, however, will undoubtedly be reduced, which should be welcome

Are you looking to promote your business within Altrincham, Sale and the surrounding area? Then join the Chamber today and start saving £££s Did you know the Chamber can provide you with: • Business Support • Business Mentoring • Unrivalled Networking • Training Sessions • Local Knowledge • Invaluable Database And huge savings across a range of services from telephone costs and accountancy to meeting rooms and video conferencing; VAT checks and printing costs to advertising and radio commercials and much more...

The Chamber really is the ‘One Stop Shop’ to service your business. To enquire about membership contact Paul at the Chamber on; 07708 987518 or call 0161 941 3250 Follow us on Twitter @altichamber paul@altrinchamchamber.co.uk www.altrinchamchamber.co.uk

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

diary dates 4 Networking

Carrington Business Park

City Centre - Fridays Fortnightly - 21 Aug, 4 Sept, 18 Sept... 12noon - 2.00pm Venue Westminster House, 11 Portland St, Manchester M1 3HU Cost £15 Contact Alison Tilzey 07565 948 943 Cheadle - Fridays Fortnightly - 21 Aug, 4 Sept, 18 Sept... 8.00am - 10.00am Venue De Vere Cheadle, Cheadle Royal page Business Park, Cheadle SK8 3FS 2 Cost £12 Contact Ian Lavin 07731 837936 Didsbury - Thursdays Fortnightly - 13 Aug, 27 Aug, 10 Sept... 8.00am - 10.00am Venue The Didsbury, 852 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2SG Cost £12 Contact Jim Frayne 07773 967757 Stockport - Fridays Fortnightly - 14 Aug, 28 Aug, 11 Sept... 8.00am - 10.00am Venue Bamford Arms, Buxton Road, Stockport SK2 6NB Cost £12 Contact Jo Carr 07966 546352 Trafford - Tuesdays Fortnightly - 11 Aug, 25 Aug, 8 Sept... 8.00am - 10.00am Venue Mersey Farm, Carrington Lane, Sale M33 5BL Cost £12 Contact Janine Mitchell 07854 273916 www.4networking.biz

Networking Tuesdays - 15 Sept, 13 Oct, 10 Nov 9.30am - 11.30am Venue Carrington Business Park, Carrington, Manchester, M31 4DD Cost Free Contact Susan Renshaw 0161 776 4000 susan.renshaw@cbpl.co.uk

6 Key Steps in Developing a Great Business Business improvement seminars 29 Sept, 28 Oct, 26 Nov 9.00am - 12noon Venue The LifeCentre, 235 Washway Road, Sale M33 4BP Cost £25+VAT Contact Mark Dyble 07565 948 943 www.markdyble.eventbrite.co.uk

Greater Manchester

16 Chamber of Commerce Action for Business Manchester Weds - 19 Aug 7.30am - 9.30am Venue Cloud 23, Hilton Deansgate, Manchester M3 4LQ Cost £15 (members free)Action for Business Manchester Weds - 28 Oct 7.30am - 9.30am Venue National Cycling Centre Connectworking Lunch Manchester Velodrome The best charity lunch of the year hosted by Stuart Street, Manchester M11 4DQ Trafford Business Connect Cost £15 (members free) Friday 11 Sept 12noon - 3.00pm Quarterly Economic Breakfast Venue Hotel Football, 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, 25 Sept 8.00am - 10.00am Manchester M16 0SZ Venue Elliot House, 151 Deansgate Cost £40+VAT per person Manchester M3 3WD £320+VAT per table of 8 Cost Free Contact Paul Mirage 07708 987518 Women in Business Networking booking@businessconnect 22 Oct 5.30pm - 7.30pm publishing.co.uk Venue Elliot House, 151 Deansgate Manchester M3 3WD Dynamic Networking Cost £10 (inc VAT) Free Business Networking Sale - 3rd Tuesday monthly - 18 Aug, 15 Sept, Women in Business Lunch 20 Oct 5.30pm - 7.30pm 8 Sept 12noon - 2.00pm Venue The Boathouse, Sale Water Park, Venue The Albert Square Chop House Rifle Road, Sale M33 2LX Memorial Hall, 14 Albert Square Stockport - 2nd Tuesday monthly - 11 Aug, M2 5PF 8 Sept, 13 Oct 6.00pm - 8.00pm Cost £50+VAT Venue The Old Rectory, 48 Churchgate, Stockport Breakfast Club - 13 Aug, 8 Oct Stockport SK1 1YG 12noon - 2.00pm Wilmslow - 1st Wednesday monthly Venue Alma Lodge Hotel, 149 Buxton Road 5 Aug, 2 Sept, 7 Oct 5.30pm - 7.30pm Stockport SK2 6EL Venue Hallmark Hotel, Stanley Drive, Cost £30+VAT (Members £15+VAT) Wilmslow SK9 3LD Contact events@gmchamber.co.uk Contact Natalie Lewis 0161 393 4343 natalie@dynamicnetworking.biz www.dynamicnetworking.biz

Handbags & Briefcases

Women’s networking - The Big Sounding Board Federation of 18 Small Businesses 23 Sept 10.00am - 3.30pm Venue Message Enterprise Centre, An introduction to apprenticeships - 8 Sept Harper Road, Sharston M22 4RG 6.00pm - 8.00pm Breakfast Matters Networking and breakfast Cost TBC Venue The Apprentice Store, Grand Central Thursdays page Square, Stockport SK1 3TA Contact Jenny Matthews 07984 872325 3 Sept, 1 Oct 8.30 - 10.00am Cost Free chair@handbagsandbriefcases.co.uk 32 Venue Cresta Court Hotel, Church Street, Bring a buddy networking - 21 Sept, 19 Oct page K-Club Manchester Altrincham WA14 4DP 6.00pm - 8.00pm 23 Entrepreneur’s networking breakfast Cost £10 Venue Bizspace, Empress Building, Thurs 17 Sept 7.30am - 10.00am Contact Anne Jardine 0161 941 3250 Chester Road, Stretford M16 9EB anne@altrinchamchamber.co.uk Venue AJ Bell Stadium, Barton-Upon-Irwell, Cost Free Salford M30 7EY Bring a buddy networking - 26 Oct Bowdon Business Group Cost £30.00 6.00pm 8.00pm 3rd Thurs monthly - 20 Aug, 17 Sept 4.00pm - 6.00pm Venue Bizspace, Empress Building, M62 Connections Venue Bowdon Club, South Downs Road, Chester Road, Stretford M16 9EB PAYG Networking Wednesdays Fortnightly Bowdon WA14 3DT Cost Free 12 Aug, 26 Aug, 9 Sept... 9.30am - 11.30am Cost £5 Tory Conference Senior Minister interview Venue The Coach House, Wilderspool Contact David Bellin 0161 883 0308 - 6 Oct 1.00pm - 2.00pm Wood, Trafford Centre M17 8WW Venue Lord Mayor’s Parlour, Bowdon Business Club Cost £10 Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square Weekly every Friday - early networking 19 Aug, 2 Sept, 16 Sept... 9.30am - 11.30am Manchester M60 2LA includes full breakfast 6.45am - 8.30am Venue The Garden Restaurant, The Centre, Cost Free (chantelle.eckersall@fsb.org.uk) Venue Mercure Bowdon Hotel, Birchwood Park, Warrington WA3 6YN Launch of FSB Connect and social media Langham Road, Bowdon WA14 2HT £10 Cost workshop - 28 Sept Cost £10 Contact Bill Dover 07932 044 743 Venue Business Growth Hub, Contact Members@BowdonBusinessClub.co.uk www.m62connections.co.uk Churchgate House, Oxford Street, Business Breakfasts Manchester M1 6EU Rotary Club Altrincham 1st Tuesday monthly Contact Simon Edmondson 07766 493 428 Breakfast and Networking 8.00am - 9.30am Networking, Dinner - Every Monday 7.00pm Simon.Edmondson@fsb.org.uk Venue 47 King Street West, Venue Cresta Court Hotel, Church Street, Manchester M3 2PW Forward Ladies Altrincham WA14 4DP Cost £10 Women’s Networking Cost £12 Contact Barry 0161 839 1929 Power Business Breakfast Club Contact Ken Garrity 0161 929 0142 info@47kingstreetwest.com 1st Wednesday Monthly kengarrity@hotmail.com 2 Sept, 7 Oct 9.30am - 11.00am Business over Breakfast Rotary Club Sale Venue The Alchemist, Networking - Fridays fortnightly 14 Aug, Networking, Dinner - Every Tuesday 7.00pm 3 Hardman Street, Spinningfields, 28 Aug, 11 Sept... 7.00 - 9.00am Venue The Belmore, Brooklands Road, Manchester M3 3HF Venue La Vina, 105/107 Deansgate, Sale M33 3QN Cost £10 Manchester M3 2BQ Contact Peter Munday 0161 969 1391 Cost £15 Contact 0845 64 34 940 Contact Tracey Heatley 07973 663020 enquiries@forwardladies.com Mari Griffin 0161 962 6078

Altrincham & Sale 41 Chamber of Commerce

page

Sale Business Group 1st Weds monthly - 1 Jul 4.00pm - 5.30pm Venue Bianco’s, 1 Hereford Street, Sale, M33 7XN Cost £5 Contact Alex McCann 07806 774279 alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

The Business Network Manchester Business Lunch Thurs 27 August 12noon - 2.00pm Venue The Lowry Hotel, 50 Dearmans Place, Salford, Manchester M3 5LH Cost £39.95 Weds 30 Sept 12noon - 2.00pm Venue The Palace Hotel, Oxford Street Manchester M60 7HA Cost £39.95

The Office Next Door Business Networking at Regus - Last Thursday every month - 27 Aug, 24 Sept 8.30am - 10.30am Venue Manchester Business Park, 3000 Aviator Way, Manchester M22 5TG Cost Free for guests chris@theindependentratingscompany.co.uk

The Talk Working Lunch Networking Thursday 20 Aug 12noon - 2.00pm Venue Gusto Manchester, 4 Lloyd Street (off Deansgate), Manchester M2 5AB Cost £22+VAT office@thetalkofmanchester.co.uk

Timperley & Sale Business Club Weekly Networking every Friday - early networking includes breakfast 6.30 - 8.30am Venue Bean and Brush Café, The Old Sorting Office, 12 Hayfield Walk, Sale M33 7XW Cost £5 for guests Contact Jon Cheetham 07971 575977 Laura Evans 07976 894419

Trafford Park Connect B2B Networking - Open to all businesses Weds 12 Aug, Tues 8 Sept, Tues 13 Oct 12noon - 2.00pm Venue St Antony’s Centre, Eleventh Street Trafford Park M17 1JF Cost £5.95 (pre-registration required) Contact To register visit: www.traffordparkconnect.co.uk

Wellness Wednesday Product Launch, Networking and Wine Tasting - 16 Sept 4.00 - 6.00pm Venue Elliot House, 151 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WD Cost Free (Pre-registration required) Contact Karen Nash karen@karenandrew.co.uk

Women’s 20/20 Women’s networking - second Wednesday each month - 9 Sept, 14 Oct 12.15 - 2.30pm Venue Mercure Bowdon Hotel, Langham Road, Bowdon WA14 2HT Cost £20 for non-members Contact Julie Gray enquiries@2020network.co.uk

Don’t forget your Business Cards! Please note If you plan to visit any of the above events please ensure all details are correct in advance. Whilst every effort has been made to confirm accuracy some details may be subject to change.

GM BUSINESS connect

August/September 2015

places to meet Albert Square Chop House Address Contact Facilities

Memorial Hall, 14 Albert Square, Manchester M2 5PF 0161 834 1866 Function Room, Restaurant, Pub

Bean and Brush Art Café

DeVere Venues Address Contact Facilities

Cheadle House, Cheadle Royal Business Park, Cheadle SK8 3FS 0161 492 100 Conference, Leisure, Restaurant

Eaton Place Business Park

Red Rooms

Runway Visitor Park

Meeting rooms for hire across a range of Bruntwood properties

Address Contact Facilities

Address Station House, Stamford New Road, Altrincham WA14 1EP

Booths Hall, Chelford Road, Knutsford WA16 8QZ

Landmark House, Station Road, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire SK8 7BS

Address Atlantic Street, Altrincham WA14 5NQ Address 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS Contact 0161 926 3600 Contact 0161 834 5797 Facilities Conference Rooms, Café Facilities Meeting Rooms, Conference Venue

111 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 2HY

Centurion House, 129 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WR

Bizspace

City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1 4BT

Lowry House, 17 Marble Street, Manchester, M2 3AW

Manchester One, 53 Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3LD

St James, 61-95 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6FQ

Address 12 Hayfield Walk, Sale M33 7XW Contact 0161 973 2140 Facilities Café, Food, Drink

Address 114 Washway Road, Sale M33 7RF Contact 0161 905 1424 Facilities Meeting Rooms, Offices

Bizspace

Friends’ Meeting House

Address Contact Facilities

Empress Business Centre

380 Chester Road, Manchester M16 9EA 0161 877 5579 Meeting Rooms, Offices

Bossco Address Contact Facilities

Atlantic Business Centre

Business Design Store

13 Stonepail Road, Gatley SK8 4EZ 0161 282 0011 Tea/Coffee, Web Design, Print, Business Support

Bowdon Rooms The Cinnamon Club Address Contact Facilities

The Firs, Bowdon, Altrincham WA14 2TQ 0161 282 0011 Conferences, Boardroom, Live Music

Café Gourmand Address 221 Ashley Road, Hale WA15 9SZ Contact 0161 929 6050 Facilities Coffee and Patisserie Shop

Carrington Business Park Address Contact Facilities

Carrington Lane, Carrington, Manchester M31 4DD 0161 776 4000 Café, Conference Rooms

Costa Coffee Address 75 School Road, Sale M33 7YF Contact 0161 973 2259 Address 33-35 George Street, Altrincham WA14 1RN Contact 0161 929 0382

Gastronomy Address 191 Ashley Road, Hale WA15 9SQ Contact 0161 928 7870 Facilities Deli, Coffee Shop

McGregors Address Contact Facilities

29 Stamford New Road, Altrincham WA14 1EB 0161 928 1487 Natural Organic Food Served

Manchester Airport Marriott Hotel Address Contact Facilities

Hale Road, Hale Barns, Cheshire WA15 8XW 0161 904 0301 Leisure Club, Spa, Conference Centre, Restaurant

Manchester Escalator Address 233 Deansgate, Manchester M3 4EN Contact 07711 556913 Facilities Coffee, Food, Meeting Room

Mercure Bowdon Hotel Address Langham Road, Bowdon WA14 2HT Contact 0161 928 7121 Facilities Hotel and Leisure, Free Parking

Mersey Farm Address Contact Facilities

Carrington Lane, Ashton On Mersey, Sale M33 5BL 0161 962 8113 Restaurant, Hotel, Free Parking

Midland Hotel

Address Century House, Ashley Road, Hale WA15 9SF Contact 0161 926 9913

Address 16 Peter St, Manchester M60 2DS Contact 0161 236 3333 Facilities Function Rooms, Hotel

Address Golden Way, Urmston, Manchester M41 0NA Contact 0161 926 7707

Mr Thomas’s Chop House

Facilities Coffee, Snacks

Cresta Court Hotel Address Contact Facilities

Church Street, Altrincham WA14 4DP 0161 927 7272 Snack, Rest, Hotel, Free Parking

Address 52 Cross Street, Manchester M2 7AR Contact 0161 832 2245 Facilities Restaurant, Pub

On The 7th The Landing Address Contact Facilities

The Blue Tower, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays M50 2ST 0161 686 5500 Bar, Restaurant, Conference Room

Contact 0843 504 4753 Facilities Offices, Meeting Rooms

Regus Meeting rooms for hire across a range of Regus properties Address 82 King St, Manchester M2 4WQ

Pall Mall Court, 61-67 King St, Manchester M2 4PD

Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5AN

10th Floor, 3 Hardman St, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3HF

Digital World Centre, 1 Lowry Plaza, Salford Quays M50 3UB

Adamson House, Towers Business Park, Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2YY

Holdsworth Mill, Reddish, Stockport SK5 6DA

5300 Lakeside, Cheadle Royal Business Park, Cheadle SK8 3GP

Manchester Business Park, 3000 Aviator Way, Manchester M22 5TG

Hilton Hotel, Manchester Airport, Outwood Lane, Manchester M90 4WP

Contact 0845 300 3585 Facilities Offices, Meeting Rooms

Sunbank Lane, Altrincham WA15 8XQ 0161 489 3932 Conference Room, Conference area underneath Concorde, Restaurant, Concorde Experience and Tours, Meeting Rooms

Sam’s Chop House Address Contact Facilities

Back Pool Fold (off Cross Street), Manchester M2 1HN 0161 834 3210 Restaurant, Pub

St Anthony’s Centre Address Contact Facilities

Eleventh Street, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1JF 0161 848 9173 Conference Rooms

San Carlo Fiorentina Address Contact Facilities

Manchester Airport, Marriott Hotel, Hale Road, Hale Barns, Cheshire WA15 8XW 0161 904 5043 Bar & Restaurant

The Coffee House Address Contact Facilities

Warburton House, 14 Eagle Brow, Lymm WA13 0LJ also at 102 School Road, Sale M33 7XB 01925 551797 Coffee, Snacks

The Life Centre Address 235 Washway Road, Sale M33 4BP Contact 0161 850 0770 Facilities Meeting Rooms, Café

The Little Deli Company Address Contact Facilities

42 Stamford Park Road, Hale WA15 9EP 07921 717548 Meeting Rooms, Café

The Mere Golf Resort & Spa Address Contact Facilities

Chester Road, Mere, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6LJ 01565 830 155 Meeting Rooms, Conferences

Victoria Warehouse Event Space and Hotel

Address Contact Facilities

Trafford Wharf Rd, Stretford, Manchester M17 1AB 0161 660 7000 Conference, Leisure, Hotel