Why We Are Backing the SaveMOSI Business Campaign

On Tuesday, the Manchester Evening News ran the shocking story that the Science Museums Group, which operates the Science Museum in London, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the National Media Museum in Bradford and the National Railway Museum in York, was planning to close one of the out of London sites in a response to cuts in grant funding by the Government.

We responded within minutes to calls for a campaign to oppose this move as we believe that not only is MOSI a spectacular facility, it is a huge financial and marketing asset to the Greater Manchester economy.

Very quickly an informal group of businesses had been established and within hours of the news breaking we began our contribution by marshalling support via social media by creating and managing a @saveMOSI Twitter account.

With the help of high profile figures such as Alastair Campbell and the Guardian’s Zoe Williams this first step has been very successful, but it is only a first step.

To understand why it is important that the business community puts its shoulder to the SaveMOSI campaign, it is worth looking at what cultural institutions contribute to the economy.

·         The economic benefits of the UK’s major museums and galleries are estimated to be £1.5 billion per annum

·         In 2009 UK museums and art galleries helped to secure £1 billion of inbound visitor spending

·         MOSI itself attracts over 800,000 visitors per year, injecting spend directly into MOSI itself supporting over 100 jobs, but also generating regional, national and international tourism spend in the city

·         More than half the visitors to MOSI are from outside Greater Manchester.

More than the facts and figures there is pride at stake that Manchester could lose a jewel in its crown and that is simply not on.

This is an urgent and substantial task that is only three days old, but we hope that you will sign up at the www.savemosi.org website and as the campaign plan develops in detail in the coming days -  hopefully with your support – we can begin in earnest to show that the local business community will not stand on the sidelines with the threat of closure hanging over a great asset.

 We’ve all had days when we’ve been a bit more David Brent than Dalai Lama, so it’s useful to remind yourself of the values of a decent boss – we asked our part-time HR director team to investigate.

Any we’ve missed?

1.       Be a Little Bit Boring

Well, maybe not boring, but a consistent, predictable level of performance on the everyday jobs and decisions takes away doubt, friction and delay. Big decisions are too often held back by a log jam of things that look trivial to you but not in the eyes of staff.

2.       Choose Your Problems

Some problems you can’t choose, but the ones that exist because you saw something and didn’t confront it are yours alone and the worse problem of all is for you to have a reputation for avoiding issues.

3.       Be a Model Student

A boss who knows everything is a fool. Showing that you are keen to learn is demonstrating that the future is a better place that you can’t wait to get to.

4.       Are You an Owner or a Steward?

It might be your business but you expect your staff to make prudent decisions that are selfless and in the long term interest. How do your last few decisions stack up against that standard of behaviour? Would your staff understand the thinking behind those decisions?

5.       Be Challenged

The best employees will either move up or move on and moving up means that you have to make room. Are you going to move to one side or do you want to be moved up too by being positively challenged?

6.       Face Facts

 If your staff can’t handle tough news then you have to question what else they can’t cope with. If you can’t handle breaking bad news in a way that is measured and sets the right context then your staff will ask whether YOU can’t cope.

 7.       Pass it On

It’s one thing to develop your own immediate team but how do you encourage them to do the same? Is  peer-to-peer development something you recognise and reward in appraisal programmes?

8.       Learn at the Edges

You are probably expert at your core skill, at the heart of the business, but the changes that will affect you in a year or two are probably taking shape at the edges. How does your market look to your fields sales team, to your customers?

9.       Everyone Sells

Every staff member should be selling, whether they know it or not. Do you take time to test whether everyone understands not just what the company does, but what every product does and what its benefits are?

10. It’s Always Show Time

Every time you walk through the door or send an email, or ring in to the office, you are on show. So even if it’s the last thing in the world you want, right at the top of the unwritten job description you didn’t know you signed when you took on the job, it says “Walk tall”

If you would like support in helping your developing your managers as they develop into leaders a part-time HR director can deliver true value.

Please email Oli Randell oli@localbp.co.uk or call 0161 979 0400

In these tough times it is hard, there are two schools of thought: your people are more motivated simply to have a job with a company they know and the other is that it is harder than ever to reward staff when profits are under pressure like never before.

So how do you square the circle and reward good people without it hurting your profits still further? Our part-time HR director team suggests five quick and cheap ways to do it.

1.       Pay With Fresh Air

There are two kinds of money: Money in the business is everything, cash is king. But a few extra quid in the pay packet might have almost no perceived value.

It’s the thought that counts and rewarding good performance with a gift of kindness – the boss’ parking space for a week, a thoughtful write up in the newsletter, or an hour off for the childrens’ school Nativity are memorable in a way that “employee of the month” isn’t. 

2.       Reward With What You’ve Already Paid

People distort their worth. They always quote their gross, not net salary but hardly ever add in their non-salary benefits.

An annual benefits statement reminding them of all the things that get forgotten or are unwritten arrangements is a great way of reminding them of what they have but might have forgotten and therefore don’t value.

Do your research and find out where you are offering benefits over and above your competitors

3.       Pay (With) Attention

They say listening is a gift and they are right in more ways than one. Spending your time with employees, actively listening, free from distractions is valuable to both parties. Committing time to do it regularly and reporting back on what was raised is worth an enormous amount in uncertain times. Schedule the time and find the most appropriate forum to do it and then just do it, don’t make a big sing and dance, just do it and keeping doing it.

4.       Get Fresh

The downside to cash rewards is that they immediately become entitlements and their motivating effect might last less than a month. That’s a poor investment. By using imagination you can refresh rewards each quarter or year, sustaining their value in the minds of employees at no extra cost. Devise a quarterly programme and your investment stretches a lot further.

5.       Blend it Like Beckham

Look for ways to reward staff with items that blend business use with status. Someone might have a borderline reason to have an iPad for their work, so bending the rule a tiny bit might give that person a huge status boost, similarly a new high end smartphone might be a touch expensive but it could be the thing that a gadget freak can’t wait to show off to his or friends.

We have a tonne of other ideas that you can use to motivate and build a high performing team. Call us to talk about how a part-time HR director can help your business on 0161 979 0400

£122bn in Lost Sales Due to Gap Between Marketing Planning and Execution

A study by Pitney Bowes has revealed some shocking figures about the cost of wasted effort on marketing in the small and medium size business sector – because business owners are juggling too many priorities to follow through on plans.

Although the vast majority of business owners say that marketing has a positive impact on sales, the lack of focus in this area adds up to £122bn in lost sales.

The problem lies in the gap between what businesses plan to do and what they actually execute. Only 39% of marketing that is planned is ever carried out. This is despite the same business owners saying that their planned activity would increase sales by an average of 9.2%.

If this increase was applied to all businesses in the SME sector it would equate to £122bn in increased sales.

More than one in 10 of the businesses surveyed by the Centre for Economics and Business Research CEBR admitted that they carried out NONE of the marketing activity they planned.

The main obstacle to achieving their plan was the business owner juggling too many priorities. Business owners identified that they are effectively doing parts of the job of seven different people each day, leaving them little or no time to plan AND execute effectively.

This is the classic conundrum of business owners – how to maintain control of activities without themselves becoming the blockage to activities which contribute to growth.

The juggling of priorities is one of the key challenges for business owners and nowhere is this more acute than in the marketing area where rapidly changing customer behaviour and new types of media and marketing techniques make it difficult for generalists to maintain the right level of expertise.

The solution to squaring the circle between bringing the right level of expertise into the business and not handing over control is a part-time marketing director.

A part-time marketing director who is in the business for a small amount of time each month will ensure two things – that the marketing plan is tailored for the customer’s changing needs and that the plan actually gets executed and the benefits are realised.

“We share the risk with business owners on the effectiveness of  the plan and because we are in the business only for as long as is necessary each month, every hour is put to maximum good use” says Nigel Sarbutts, marketing partner of Local Business Partners.

For a more detailed discussion about how a part-time marketing director could get your business from plan to execution, email Nigel@localbp.co.uk or call 07803 851573

Think Who is Reading It

Every business plan is about the numbers, right? Wrong – investors want to see numbers and people working together, that is what builds confidence in the team they are considering. You should own the document, expressing the numbers in a way that expresses your ambition and goals.

Size Matters

If you find yourself writing “see page 35”, STOP! First your plan is already too long and if you need to be guided around it, it’s almost certainly too complex. Investors might read a dozen business plans at a stretch so don’t give them a reason to bin it.

Don’t Be Clever

Investors are smart but they are not as expert as you, so dump the jargon and don’t assume that they know all the little wrinkles of how your industry works.

Summaries Sell

The executive summary is the most important 500 words you may ever write. It’s not an introduction, either it’s a summary of:

• History of business
• Nature of business, its market
• Profit forecasts
• BRIEF backgrounds of key managers
• How much you want and its purpose
• What’s in it for the investor – shareholding, role and exit

The Essential Headings

History – even a start-up has a history – it’s your story about what brought you to the point where investment is the right route to take.

• When did the business start?
• Where is it based?
• What changes of ownership?
• Who owns it now and in what proportions?
• Who runs the business now?
• Where is the business headed?
  

Products/Services – How do you make money?

• What does the business do
• How does it differ from competition
• Patents/licences/intellectual property
• Employee skill levels
• Sub-contracted work?
• Future product/service development?

The Market  – How much more money could you make by responding to market trends?

• Market size
• Growth trends
• Competitors (direct and indirect)
• External influences on market (PEST analysis)
• Marketing

People – Who are the people you trust and who can take the business forward even if you move on? They will be of great interest to an investor. Keep it to the point: what can they deliver to a post money business? (CVs can be put in an appendix)

• Background of all directors/key managers
• Remuneration and incentive schemes
• Unusual service contracts
• Disclosure of convictions/bankruptcies/insolvencies etc

Financial Analysis – Highlight key figures and ratios to date and projected over the coming three years with any key assumptions clearly noted. Give alternatives if appropriate ie if a pending license or distribution deal is signed. Changes in profit curves must be explained.

Can investment be drawn in stages what other investment or mortgages exist? Investors will be alert for any over-optimism so err on the side of caution.

Investment Deal  - State what kind of investment you are seeking. An investor will respond to a clear understanding of the options – equity, debt or mezzanine and what active role the investor will have in decision making, both day to day and strategic.

What will the investor be expected to bring beyond the finance?

What is the exit route for owner and investor?

Can the investor get EIS or Capital Gains relief?

The Appendices

• Profit Projections – monthly for next 24 months, quarterly year 3
• Cash flow Projections – as above
• Balance sheet Projections – include recent version if possible
• Latest Audited Accounts
• CVs of key personnel
• Advisors list – lawyers, accountants etc
• Key Supporting Documents – license agreements, media coverage

That’s it, you are good to go and your potential investor has just put you at the top of his list.

For a deeper discussion of how a part-time director of finance can deliver high performance in your business, email Oli Randell Oli@localbp.co.uk

Make Your Business Plan ‘Pret a Manger’  - Freshly made and containing enough to satisfy but not overwhelm. Too many business plans try to contain every last detail and writing them becomes a chore with the result that an investor gets a confusing, out of date plan that fails to inspire.

Question: Without looking at it, can you accurately summarise your business plan in 30 seconds?

The Right Price – Valuing small businesses is very hard, one or two variables can change the picture completely. Think in thirds: the post investment value to owner, management and investor.

Question: Who will feel the most motivated to drive growth after the deal, you or the management?

Are You Really Unique? – Uniqueness equals value and that makes it easy to over-estimate. Any investor will assess how quickly a competitor can copy your USP? What’s stopping them?

Question: When was the last time you asked 10 customers why they choose to work with you?

Ready for Inspection – Are you ready for due diligence? It’s not only your paperwork that needs to be in order and confidence inspiring, it’s how well prepared you are for searching questions about the weaknesses in your business and your motivations. A part-time director of finanxce can certainly help you prepare for this stage and work with investors in the due diligence stage.

Question: You might know your business back to front, but does your Number Two share your motivations?

Is your Solicitor on Speed Dial? Has your solicitor got experience of negotiating with investors in a business of your size and the due diligence process? A lot if business owners find they have given away control and equity once their shareholding has been diluted.

Question: The level of detail in a deal can surprise, is your solicitor on a fixed fee?

Who’s On Your Bench? Smaller businesses are all about the owner but a long term investor might be more focussed on the team who’ll be running the business next year. Do they see things your way?

Question: What will your key managers say to an investor about their ambitions for the company?

How Much is Enough? If you set your investment level too low you face doing this all over again, sapping investor confidence and professional fees. Too high and ongoing costs will weigh heavy. You must be guided by a single long term aim to get the level right

Question: Are you consistent in identifying your long term goal or does it vary?

Top Secret  - How copyable is your idea? You can’t patent ideas and real investors are more interested in execution than the idea itself but Non-disclosure Agreements make things clear from the outset

Question: Who knows about your ideas right now and what controls apply to them?

Where’s the Exit? No-one cares about your retirement plans so who exactly would buy your business once the investment has delivered the growth you want? It’s a short list: trade sale, listing or MBO.

Question: Who would want you to remain in the business after you’ve sold it?

Don’t Invest in a Criminal Act – Arranging investments is regulated by the FSA and breaking their rules can mean breaking the law. You MUST ensure that the investor is being introduced to you properly and it must be clear in whose interests they are acting.

Question: Has your solicitor got the requisite knowledge to advise on FSA regulations?

For a deeper discussion of financial strategy and how a part-time director of finance can support your bsuiness, email our finance partner Oli Randell Oli@localbp.co.uk

Oli Randell was one of the speakers at the first seminar to be held by Creative ProManchester with an invited audience of creative business owners and professional advisers.

Oli shared the stage with Bryan Adams of PH Creative who has just raised £0.5m in funding for an accelerated growth programme.

Oli was advising creative business owners on the routes to seek external investment and how to make your business investment ready. A copy of our 5 Minute Briefing on the topic is available to download here

Jeremy has the ideal profile for Local Business Partners, combining a background in both finance and marketing for blue chip employers before launching his own practice some years ago.

Jeremy is a Chartered Marketer and in 2009 was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He has served a number of Boards and Committees within the CIM including the North West Regional Board and the Committee of the Levitt Group for senior marketers.

A number of business leaders and the City Council are in favour of HS2 but what of the downside risk that it will drain jobs and skills to London? Will it turn Manchester into Birmingham, too close to London to need the size of professional services industry that it current supports? What of the cost locally? It hasn’t been reported much but the Airport station will only happen if the Airport, owned 55% by Manchester City Council pays for it, along with the other 9 Councils in Greater Manchester.

Above all where is the debate? The Congestion Charge showed that when businesses and the people have a say, they voice opinions very different to what politicians would want.

What do you think?

You might not think your Linkedin profile is that important but in reality, more and more people are sourcing their suppliers through Linkedin! Whether we like it or not, we make judgments on people within the first few seconds of meeting people face to face and that is the same principle on LinkedIn.

Read our five Marketing tips to help make you more proactive, noticeable and successful in securing business using LinkedIn:

1 - Current and Past Positions; ensure you have all relevant information in there. Ensure your job title mirrors what you do as this will help people who use the Advanced Search option to find you.

2 - Under your Summary and Experience include more information. When prospects are checking you out your profile, it might be that real tangible results are what they are looking for. Here’s an idea, instead of writing “I was the sales director for this company” you could write “While I was sales director the company’s sales increased by 21% and as a result grew from the 5^th largest to the 3^rd largest” company”.

3 - Websites; you can list 3 website links so take advantage of them!

4 - Twitter; if you have a Twitter profile you can also link this to your Profile.

5 - Public Profile URL; you can personalize your Profile by using your name in the URL. This will boost your on-line visibility. When someone searches your name your LinkedIn page will appear in the top rankings. The URLs are unique to you, so be the first to have a LinkedIn URL with your name!

Guest blog by Ann Davies from BizWizUK