18 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Small Business Character

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This week’s Small Business Profile is …

Arctic Spas Cymru

Arctic Spas Cymru is a company that was born from a dream. The dream was to bring affordable luxury whilst melt away stress in lavish warm waters to the good people of North Wales. The hot tub was considered a new brand new concept in the UK, which can still be said today, therefore explaining the beauty behind such a modern ideal was certainly another mountain Arctic Spas Cymru had to climb on top of starting a brand new business, which we all know is a frighteningly exciting time.

This family run company decided to bring a bit of the world renowned Arctic Spas brand over to the stunning North Wales surroundings for a variety of reasons. The facts that Arctic Spas manufacture their hot tubs from the very best materials and parts on the market, builds the tub for the harshest climate and with customer satisfaction always on the forefront of their minds are just a couple of these said reasons. Arctic Spas Cymru only deal in the best quality hot tubs on the market, in order to offer their customers the absolute best.

Gareth, the head technician and owner of the company, has a background in gas engineering and plumbing, giving him the perfect platform to adapt these skills for the hot tub market. Gareth is happiest when he’s able to use a ‘hands on’ approach to work, and with a work ethic that is truly heroic, he always goes the extra mile for his customers to ensure that he delivers world class service and products at local prices. Gareth states:

“If I wanted to sell cheap hot tubs, then there are several companies out there who are more than willing to provide me with some. I respect and value my customers so much more than that, so I am committed to providing a first class hot tub experience at all times.”

With this commendable attitude, Arctic Spas Cymru has grown from strength to strength, with the customer base growing on a daily basis and repeat customers promoting them by word of mouth. Since the appointment of new marketing officer and website guru, Ffion Davies, who has an eye for detail, the website has undergone a transformation, adding a stylish black background to highlight the fresh new products that are available. Ffion states:

“Branding is so important, this is why I’ve decided to give the website a make over. Over the past couple of months I’ve branded our blog, twitter and facebook account as it’s imperative to keep all of our customers up to date, and offer as much advice about different aspects of hot tub ownership as possible. Online presence and business growth is my mission, and I personally put myself into all of my work.”

The future definitely looks bright for this company, with their ideals and work ethic that have enabled the company to flourish over the past 5 years.

For more information, please visit www.arcticspas-cymru.com

What Do Small Businesses Need to Know About CRM?

18 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by in Marketing and CRM

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So you’ve been in business for years, or maybe even just starting out, and quite honestly the acronyms are already proving disturbing. This is why you didn’t want to get into the corporate rat race, or this is why you want out!

You just want to run your business, provide a great product and / or service and not have to worry about CRM, CMS, SEO, SMM and the rest.

Okay so today let’s start with CRM…

What is “CRM”?

What does it stand for?: “Customer Relationship Management”.

Do I need “CRM”?

Do you need it?: Probably, yes.

Why? Well it provides a way of tracking your customers, what they buy, how often etc. Powerful information for you. But also it provides a way of making sure they are handled in a caring way. And when you promise to call them back, they get called back. People care about that stuff these days.

There comes a time when our businesses grow to a level where sticky notes cannot any longer be the main system we have for managing our customer relations.

Let’s face it, winning customers is expensive. Keeping them is a lot cheaper if we do it right and put in a bit of effort. If you run a motor garage for example, how handy is it to know who’s car is due a regular service, and if you send them an email with your 10% off  offer just two weeks before its due that service I think they are more likely to come back to you. That’s powerful information handling.

Are CRM Systems Expensive or Can I Get Free CRM?

No, lots of free CRM systems are available. We recently did a little research into free on-line CRM systems. We tested a few on our own family businesses. My favourite by an absolute mile was ZOHO CRM. They have such a usable, accessible CRM system they are confident it will help you grow your company to the point of upgrading to their paid service. That’s confidence.

I found their system easy to access, to populate with contacts and accounts and to share with remote colleagues.

Try it yourself: https://www.zoho.com/crm/

If you sign up, let us know how you get on. Oh and tell ZOHO The Small Business Gazette sent you.

 

 

RBS Offers Interest Free Short Term Funding to Riot Hit Small Businesses

15 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by in Finance

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RBS today announced it is offering interest- and fee-free loans to small businesses directly affected by the recent riots.

The six-month financing up to £25k will help (viable) small businesses to get back on their feet and bridge the gap until receipt of insurance pay-outs.

After six months the loans will either have to be paid back from insurance or revert to another interest bearing loan offered by RBS.

Small businesses affected are advised to contact their relationship manager or the RBS business hotline: (UK) 0800 092 3087.

Small business vs Big business: Vive la Difference!

15 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by in Small Business Character

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Like many people I’ve done the big business thing. I’ve got up early, put on my suit, stressed over what superiors and colleagues really thought about my latest report. I’m ashamed to say I’ve even worried about the size of my office. I’ve come home late and I’ve worked weekends.

But I’ve also done the small (even micro) business thing. I’ve cleaned and scrubbed- everywhere! I’ve worked 13- and 14- hour, 7 day weeks. I’ve wondered where dinner is coming from. I’ve done the accounts with a toddler on my knee.

At first I wanted my small business to act like a big business… why? Simply because that was my comfort zone, that was where I’d been for nearly 20 years.

I like small businesses. I think that, deep down, most people do. I loved the general store I frequented on holiday in Muskoka Canada as a child. People stopped to chat. Produce was fresh. Service was personal. Everyone knew everyone, people found out about one another’s lives. People cared.

So here’s my top 10 great things about small businesses:

  1. People have names not titles
  2. People speak real world, not buzz word
  3. Small businesses are generally friendly
  4. Small businesses recognise the power of helping real people solve real problems
  5. Small business are low on bureaucracy
  6. The best small businesses do not have menu navigating phone answering systems
  7. Someone in your own country who can go off-script can help with your problem
  8. When you patronise a small local business there’s a great chance they’ll recommend yours too
  9. You can make your office a home away from home, or better still, it actually is home
  10. Even today at some small businesses you can get it fixed to today and pay them when you get paid!

The Power of Re-investment

14 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by in Finance

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If there are a few favourite things I love to share with potential entrepreneurs this is near the top of the list. We probably all have some vague remembrance of learning about the power of compound interest, but with interest rates at ‘not worth saving’ levels we don’t feel it’s a very important subject just at the moment.

Well my fellow industry magnates to be, let’s imagine a simple case of the power of re-investment in a self-employment scenario common enough across this great land of ours.

Say a one-man band market trader makes himself £500 a week clear after buying stock, paying his pitch money etc. giving him an income of £25,000 a year, assuming he takes 2 weeks off. He’s 23 and lives with his Mum so he’s ok with that. But next door on pitch B his fellow trader also makes £500 a week but pays himself £400, reinvesting the other £100 in marketing (£50), and on stock (£50) on which, on average, he returns a 20% gross margin.

So, by the end of week two Trader B can re-invest £110 in £50 marketing and £60 in additional stock. Assuming he can sell all his stock at 20% gross margin he is now gradually growing his business by doing with £100 a week less than his mate next door, Trader A.

Well that’s not very exciting is it? An extra tenner. Hardly worth going without £100!

Oh really..? Hello week 26…..

Okay I know our Trader B might not have room for all that stock, might have to take on extra staff, blah blah, blah.

But if you think that putting back an extra few quid a week into your business won’t make any difference, do the sums yourself and you’ll see what I mean. Growth is good.

 

 

Sage One: Cloud Maybe, But Not Cloud 9

13 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by in Reviews

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I like Sage in many ways.

I have fond memories, from a good few years ago, of using Sage WinForecast to compile forecast accounts for spin off companies for the university I worked for at the time. I hadn’t properly shared that I’d bought WinForecast, so everyone thought I was a genius who could work four times as fast as my poor colleagues were managing on clumpy spreadsheets. The presentation was awesome too. Bless them for making me look good as a newly qualified accountant.

So, of course, I want to say lovely things about Sage One. Um. Er. OK, it has a very cheerful screen presence.

I am now an evanpreneur and I would love to be able to tell you that I will be recommending Sage One to my sole trader, white van men, start-up clients who are dismayed at the very thought of having to have receipts, never mind having to keep them. (In the van glove compartment seems to be the favoured place, judging by my boyfriend).

The registration process for the free trial was a trial in itself. Once in though, I tested a few test transactions. On the third item the system hung. And hung. I had to crash out in the end. Frustrating, and it left me feeling a little vulnerable about my data. I would have thought a newbie business person might just wonder how safe their figures were in a hanging, on-line system.

I’m a firm believer in keeping systems, especially financial ones, nice and simple. But Sage One isn’t simple, it is simplistic. Without proper support and guidance the system could easily lead you astray, lull you into a false sense of security. Like, without having entered those receipts resting in the van glove compartment, your profitability might look a bit too good. That’s why we do a frequent bank reconciliation after all. Not just because we like a cosy weekly reconciliation over a nice steamy latte, though sadly, I confess that I do! Sage One doesn’t offer a bank rec. That is just bad and sad.

So for now it will continue to be Quickbooks Simple Start edition, which I use myself, as a fully qualified accountant (well I’m not going to recommend it to you and not use it myself am I?).

Get it here: Intuit.

Get me here: Get Up & Grow

How to Resist Distraction Attraction

13 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by in Work Methods

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There are literally millions of people who are paid, very highly, to distract you from what you are supposed to be doing. Millions. Advertisers, bloggers, social networkers. On top of that there are our own unpaid lovely little distractors. The people we love but who call, text, tweet and message us throughout the day.

We must learn to focus on being productive. I firmly believe that distraction is an enemy that just loves to use a varied armoury of tools to stop us achieving our goals, to keep us unfulfilled, to turn our attention away from being all we can be. So how do we resist this lure?

Here are: 7 Ways to Resist Distraction Attraction Temptation:

  1. Start your day the night before, go to bed at a reasonable time and get a good night’s sleep.
  2. Get up early and get your important grounding tasks done first. I do my study, correspondence and gym before work starts, leaving me feeling focussed, fit, energised and capable.
  3. If you have an important task, set a time to do it and then turn off your mobile (cell) phone for at least hour- long periods. Decide you will switch it on for 15 mins every hour or so and answer all calls and texts in that time-frame and then put it  off and get straight back to the task at hand,
  4. Do NOT leave social media or email running in another window if you are working on your computer. As with your ‘phone check it hourly, or every few hours, but don’t let social media distract you from your work!
  5. Do not click those pop ups! You can turn pop ups off in your browser settings! It’s very unlikely that a free dvd trial is as important as building your business.
  6. If possible, let your land-line go to an answer-phone or forward to someone else to answer while you are attacking important tasks.
  7. Is some-one else’s emergency really your emergency? Ok, of course if its a real family emergency then yes, but if a friend, colleague or customer is just trying to pull you away from your highest priority then quickly empathise, calm them down and schedule a time to speak to them in detail  AFTER you have finished your top task.
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