Funding Circle: Planning ahead for success

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Planning ahead for success

A look at the attitudes and trends of small businesses in 2022

Julia Pritchard Copywriter Funding Circle

Funding Circle is passionate about small businesses, and specialises in helping them get the funding they need to go further. That’s why we interviewed a selection of small businesses and pulled together the insights we discovered – to show the attitudes and trends among SMEs, and provide the support they need to thrive in this environment.

Here’s an overview of our findings, which we hope will inspire your clients to go even further this year.

Business is on the up

Of all the business owners we spoke to, an impressive 59% said they were expecting an increase in business activity, and only 10% expected a reduction.

Having made it through the pandemic, it’s clear that business owners feel more confident about dealing with disruption. We’re all adjusting to new ways of living and working, but despite the everchanging environment, more businesses feel they can adapt – and are therefore more likely to start focusing on growth.

Positivity is key

Despite the challenges COVID and Brexit have posed, it’s reassuring to see that business owners are still feeling positive about their working life.

70% of all businesses that we spoke to said they have a good work/life balance, which is a great sign that the economy is recovering. However, businesses who are expecting trade to decrease in the next 12 months are much more likely to experience a poor work/life balance, showing just how important it is to have a finance buffer in place.

These findings show why brokers and loan platforms like us are so important. By helping a business access finance, and by taking the stress out of the process, we could be helping to improve a client’s work/life balance – as well as their financial outlook.

The challenge of recruitment

When it comes to recruitment, we found that different sectors are seeing different results. Traditionally lower pay sectors, such as agricultural businesses, hotel and catering and transport companies, are currently finding recruitment the hardest. Meanwhile retail, financial and public and administration services are finding it much easier.

What's also interesting is that larger businesses are finding it easiest to recruit for open roles – with over half of businesses with more than 100 employees feeding this back. This highlights the importance of supporting smaller businesses with accessing talent, which has traditionally been a pressing need.

“By helping a business access finance, and by taking the stress out of the process, we could be helping to improve a client’s work/life balance – as well as their financial outlook

Thanks to COVID, there’s been a shift in what people are looking for on the job market. Staff wellbeing, flexible working options and job stability have all become much more important to candidates – many of which are more feasible at companies that are in a position to invest in themselves.

Keeping pace with innovation

At Funding Circle, we place huge emphasis on technology – with our innovative customer experience providing instant decisions for 70% of applications. So it was great to see that most businesses we spoke to said they feel technology is important.

However, it’s interesting that over 70% of businesses who are expecting an increase in trading said technology was important, compared to less than 60% among those expecting a decrease. This aligns with the fact that businesses who have invested in technological methods are more likely to be expecting an uptick in trading – showing a clear link between technology and success.

Prioritising innovation seems to be a winning formula for SMEs, who shouldn’t shy away from technology just because of their size. Our report shows that businesses who invest in technology are expecting better trading prospects over the coming 12 months.

It’s all in the preparation

Lastly, we found that contingency planning has become more of a priority for businesses after the impacts of COVID-19.

Half of businesses we interviewed said they carried out risk assessment prior to the pandemic, and only a fifth had not. Unsurprisingly the planning paid off – with 84% of businesses who had done so saying their plans were effective. With risk assessment helping to prepare your business for anything, it’s no wonder that these businesses are expecting their trading prospects to increase.

Now, just over half of all businesses have increased their level of risk assessment, in order to avoid the recent disruption happening again. This means we could see more businesses applying for finance – to help them improve cash flow, or invest in their business operations so they can start focusing on growth.

To find out how Funding Circle can help your clients get the funding they need for the future, email the Introducer team at broker@fundingcircle.com or call 020 3667 2208.