News

It is becoming more important to ensure that your business acts responsibly and you fully understand the impact it has on society, the environment and the economy.  

Whilst you may already be doing something there are opportunities to allow you to stand out from your competition and working with Charities can ensure that you make a positive difference.

All of a sudden it’s 2023 is just around the corner! Where did this year go?

Look through the articles in our blog section here and you’ll see that there is a common theme to a lot of them:

“Put a plan together, and then monitor progress against it regularly. If progress isn’t in line with the plan, you get early warning and time to solve the problem before it’s all too late.”

So, you’ve finally decided you need to recruit someone. You might be a one man band looking to hire your first employee, or you might already have staff but need to increase the size of the team because the business has outgrown its current staff resources. So, how do you go about it?

Getting your financial planning right is essential to achieve your business plans and here's how....

Smart Support was involved with the Covid19 Response Task Force with the Kent and Medway Growth Hub right from the beginning. Our role was to help businesses through those exceptional times. Here is the story of one of the businesses we supported.

All of a sudden it’s 2022! Where did last year go?

Our journey supporting businesses with the Kent and Medway Growth Hub through the Covid 19 pandemic

We are all too aware that 2020 was a very tough year for many business owners and that, although the vaccine is giving some light at the end of the tunnel, things are far from over.

There is no doubt that Covid-19 has changed our world both today and for the foreseeable future. On so many levels we are facing situations and events we have never prepared for. The lockdown of large parts of society means we now have to look at how we conduct our lives in new ways.

More than that, as we prepare for our businesses to rise like phoenix from the ashes of lockdown, there are so many things to think about; where to start?

There is no doubt that Covid-19 has changed our world both today and for the foreseeable future. On so many levels we are facing situations and events we have never prepared for. The lockdown of large parts of society means we now have to look at how we conduct our lives in new ways.

More than that, as we prepare for our businesses to rise like phoenix from the ashes of lockdown, there are so many things to think about; where to start?

With the current Coronavirus crisis we want to offer practical help to our fellow local businesses.  Having supported our own clients, we realise there are a great number of businesses who may feel isolated and don’t know where to get advice and support. We want to help and have produced an overview of the key steps you can take in order to put your business in the best place to cope with the current crisis which you can access here.

 

We are in this together and need to pool our resources for everyone’s benefit and the support and help available is changing rapidly, so we will also be looking at other support we can provide online and will post about on these when we can and welcome any suggestions or ideas.

A retail greengrocer, coffee bar, market outlet and delivered greengrocer’s business.

A family run property Maintenance Company specialising in repairs, cleaning, grounds care and caretaking.

Established in 1995 Pierce Hill Project Services are a multi-disciplinary professional construction consultancy providing project management, architectural and structural design, contract administration, building surveying and Principal Designer (CDM) services.

I was talking to a business owner recently who was telling me how he had recently increased his marketing and as a result his  turnover had increased dramatically. As a result he was extremely busy. When I asked him if he had any plans to bring some new staff into the business in order that he could cope better, his response was that he couldn’t afford  do that. It turns out that although turnover was up, that didn’t translate into more cash in the bank; in fact quite the reverse. When I asked him why did he think that was, he replied, “You know, I’m not really sure….”

How is it that some businesses manage to flourish and become financially successful, and yet many do not?

How do they accomplish what seems to be magical success? It is a matter of viewing cash flow management with a bit of a different viewpoint, learning that the old tools, while useful for certain things, are not adequate by themselves, and not making the fatal mistakes that many business owners make in managing their company’s money....

A Step-by-Step Guide to Effective Delegation

Do you want more time in your day to do the things only you can do?
Do you want some time to do the work that you know (if only you had the time!) would get you some great results? You know the type of thing – talking to clients, planning, building stronger relationships with your employees, thinking, getting a life!

Click on the cover to buy the book

So many of we business owners really hate the idea of the summer, because of the holiday season.

Staff want to take holidays, which reduces the workforce across the company. Lack of staff disrupts production and puts more pressure on the remaining staff to get the work done. You as the business owner can’t go away yourself because if you do everything will stop dead while you’re away.

So it is that many business owners take the path of least resistance and stay at home, while their workforce go away and come back tanned and relaxed two weeks later.

But what if things were different?

Process improvement is all about making things work better, whether this is because a process is deemed to be broken or because we know it could be better. When you use your business’ information to create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that help you to drive the right kinds of improvement then the rate of change can be so much faster.

In my time I get to talk to a lot of business owners, and it isn’t unusual for them to say that they can’t tell whether their business is doing well or not, and they don’t know what they have to do to improve it. Quite often, my first question is to ask what KPIs they have in place? What numbers do they have about how their business is performing? And quite often they don’t have any.....

The Secret of Selling Anything is not about clichés, empty slogans, the “right” answers, positive thinking, or other ridiculous ideas that coerce the reader into a cookie-cutter mold you must fit into in order to be a better salesman. The author debunks all of those fallacies and describes the proper way to actually get things done and deliver exactly what it is that the customer wants. As an introvert, the book was a breath of fresh air, assuaging the angst that comes with the assumption that all successful salespeople must be inherently energetic, aggressive, and talkative.

“He’s a born salesman; he could sell ice to an eskimo”

 “I’ve never been able to sell; I’m not aggressive enough…..”

“This product is brilliant - if only I knew how to sell I could be a millionaire”

There is no doubt that there are natural salespeople, those who don’t have to think too hard about it, but are just very persuasive and always end up landing the deal. But for a lot of us, selling can be daunting, and we find that our sales results never quite match up to our expectations. We struggle to get in front of prospects and then, when we do, we fail to convert them into customers!

So, Selling – What’s the secret?

Let’s face it, none of us like paying tax.

It seems unfair sometimes, doesn’t it, that a Government who is put in place to govern the country and sometimes imposes upon us policies, rules and restrictions, is allowed to force us to pay for those policies which we don‘t personally agree with or like?

But to quote Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing is certain, except death and taxes”.

So how can we turn something which we can do very little about into a tool to help us in our business?

Effective planning of your tax affairs to help your business save money Every profitable business in the UK has to pay tax, but some small businesses pay more tax than is necessary. This book examines the tax liabilities that the owners or managers of small businesses need to bear in mind and explains how to manage these tax requirements in the best possible way.......

Business Advisor, Hythe, Kent

M 07816 257042  |  Email

Philip Pilgrim MCIPS, is an experienced senior manager and consultant.

In the course of thirty years in industry, he has gained extensive commercial experience which culminated in heading up the boards of a number of different companies. In these roles he..... 

Business Advisor, Wickford, Essex   

T 01268 457814;   M 07768 636606  |  Email

Chris is a business advisor based at Wickford in Essex.

Chris began life working in IT in the motor industry before moving on to an international company as a project manager. His business acumen quickly saw him rising through the organisation to head up.....

We are all leaders whether we like it or not.

But here’s a question: Are leaders born or made?  Is leadership a function of nature, or nurture? Can leadership be learned?

Leadership isn’t complicated – keep it simple and make it count. This new edition of Steve Radcliffe’s uniquely powerful, successful and practical framework will show you how to develop faster as a more confident and capable leader.

 

This compact, instantly-applicable guide to developing leadership skills contains practical insights, straightforward actions and plain guidelines to accelerate your growth as a leader.

The choices we make, the words we say, and the actions we take not only impact our lives, but also the lives of those around us. When you aim to improve yourself, remember that your changes will inevitably inspire others to improve.

“I need to make more money from my business! I need more customers! If I double my marketing spend everything will be great.”

But will it? With grand financial gestures comes greater financial risk; If we spend a great deal on marketing there is no guarantee it will bring in more business and if it doesn’t work we may have sunk a great deal of money into it for no gain; if it does work we create a need for more working capital to service the sales!

So what has this got to do with small change?

 

It’s that time of year again, the one we always look forward to; the summer holidays.

Kids have finished school, the bags are packed, tickets, passports, sun cream………plus for a lot of business owners, mobile phone, laptop or tablet. “Just so that I can keep an eye on the business while we’re away”.

How management can effectively rid themselves of ‘monkeys’ – other people’s responsibilities that cling to them and prevent them managing efficiently.

This book explains in simple-minded if abstract terms how to achieve a balance between supervision and delegation for reduced tension and improved productivity in the workplace.

‘There is a high correlation between self-reliance and morale,’ stress the authors. With humour and logic they describe the delicate business of assigning monkeys to the right masters and keeping them healthy, i.e., fed and cared for: ‘… if monkeys are managed properly, you don't have to manage people so much.’

The 50 Secrets of Trade Show Success:

Everything you need to know to succeed at your next trade show, from maximizing lead generation, through choosing the best giveaways to measuring accurate ROI

The Business Growth Service and Smart Marketing Support are excited to offer this free seminar workshop

So, you have the appointment to see a prospect. All you have to do now is to close the deal, yes? So why is it that you walk away empty-handed? Do you find selling really, really difficult? If you are, you’re not alone. It isn’t unusual to find that business owners find it hard to sell their product or service even when there is a perfect fit for the needs of the prospect. Why is this?

Increase your sales faster and easier than you ever thought possible. The purpose of this book is to give you a series of ideas, methods, strategies, and techniques.....

Listening to coverage of the pre-election budget has got me thinking about tax.

As you know, there has been a great deal of publicity in the media about individuals and organisations using loopholes to avoid paying tax. I didn’t want to jump on the moral bandwagon, there are enough people doing that, but in one discussion I heard recently on the radio, a participant tried to justify why a certain major coffee beverage provider was not paying corporation tax in this country by saying that they were creating  jobs which pay tax and NI, buying and selling products which pay tax and supporting the UK economy through this diverse chain and that the corporation tax was only a tiny element and that they had contributed significantly to the UK economy.

“I need to do some marketing. So I’ll get that bloke I know to run a social media campaign for me, because social media is free marketing isn’t it? I’ll get some flyers printed up and post them through the doors on the local industrial estate and wait for them to call. I’ll get my website revamped; I’ve had an offer from that bloke I met at the networking meeting who said he could do it for £5,000. I’ll put an quarter page ad in the local freebie magazine which goes into 7,500 homes locally.”

“That should do it. I can sit back now and wait for the phone to ring……..”

Except it doesn’t.

This book is written for you if you want to get to grips with your marketing but you need a helping hand. It's packed with powerful tips, proven tools and many real-life examples and case studies. If you're looking for commonsense marketing advice that you can implement immediately, you'll find it on every page. You'll learn how to: plan and review your marketing activities, write brilliant copy that generates sales, write sales letters that sells, effectively troubleshoot when your marketing is not delivering, make your website a magnet for visitors and loads more!

This book contains proven steps and strategies for maximizing productivity for your business and professional life, starting with why you need to set goals and how to go about doing it.

In this book, you will find numerous, easy-to-follow ‘Business Habits’ that maximize the likelihood of your business’ success, especially in the long run. Outlined in each chapter are fundamental lessons to help you achieve the greatest productivity and get real results!

So you've decided it's time for change. You have a vision of what you want to achieve, but where do you go next?

What is the Christmas Curse, and what has it got to do with you as a business owner?

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a manager, The Financial Times Essential Guide to Developing a Business Strategy gives you the tools you need to build a powerful strategy and take your business to the next level.

 

By using its simple framework, you can achieve success without having to rely on external advisors or consultants. The innovative nine-step strategy process will help you turn your business goals into reality, whilst the lively anecdotes provide illuminating examples of strategy in action.

Most business owners started their company because they wanted more freedom—to work on their own schedules, make the kind of money they deserve, and eventually retire on the fruits of their labours.

Unfortunately, according to John Warrillow, most owners find that stepping out of the picture is extremely difficult because their business relies too heavily on their personal involvement. Without them, their company—no matter how big or profitable—is essentially worthless.

This book explains how to separate yourself from your business, and insodoing make it more valuable

Stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in!

People are now increasingly turning to Google, social media, and blogs to find products and services. Inbound Marketing helps you take advantage of this change by showing you how to get found by customers online. Inbound Marketing is a how–to guide to getting found via Google, the blogosphere, and social media sites.  

Inbound Marketing shows you how to get found by more prospects already looking for what you have to sell.

Smart Support are proud to announce the launch of Smart Marketing - a pragmatic approach to marketing for small businesses.

Do you have responsibility for managing cash flow in a small to medium enterprise or as a manager in a larger organisation but have limited financial experience? Do you worry that lack of attention to this crucial aspect of financial management could lead to disaster for your business? 'Teach Yourself Cash Flow Management', written by two leading financial experts, will help employers, managers and consultants to understand more about how to manage cash flow and how it can impact on their business.

What was your dream when you started your business? How close are you to achieving it? What are you doing to make sure you achieve it? What is stopping you?

Most of us struggle to achieve business success, often prevented from succeeding due to mental blocks we have placed on ourselves. I would like to provide you with a few thoughts that should help you stop prevaricating and start changing your business and achieving your goals:

So, after last month’s article about the need to have a financial plan, and how important it is to know your numbers, a business owner said to me “OK, so it’s all very well saying that I need a financial plan but how is that going to stop me going out of business?”

There are many differences between a good business and a great business, but they aren't beyond a business leader's control. In From Vision to Exit, Guy Rigby candidly explains how entrepreneurs can develop strategies, plans and tactics to get their businesses to the top. With an easy and engaging style, this book is a definitive and practical guide that covers every business area. From strategy to finance, management to marketing, and business planning to exit, Guy leaves no stone unturned. The result is an authoritative and invaluable tool for entrepreneurs seeking to navigate the minefield of successful growth. Find out everything you wanted to know about how to build a great business but never had the opportunity to ask.

Get your head around company finance. Whether you′re a small business owner or a corporate manager with budget responsibilities, having an understanding of your company′s finances is crucial. This user–friendly guide takes you through all the key elements of UK business accounting, covering everything from evaluating profit margins and establishing budgets to controlling cash flow and writing financial reports.

 

Practical Accounts and Bookkeeping provides assistance for anyone unfamiliar to accounts either already in the business world or waiting for that crucial moment to enter it. From understanding accounts and why they are important, the legal documents required to prepare accounts, what happens if accounts are not submitted in time and when accounts need to be sent to authorities, to the more complex scenarios of creating a balance sheet using sales ledgers, purchase ledgers and nominal ledgers, this book shows you how in easy to follow steps.
This book will help you make sense of the 'daunting' accounts world. Maybe you will be the one spotting problems in the accounts and explaining them to others using the correct terminology! You will even understand Double Entry bookkeeping, and its importance, alongside how computer software has been designed to simplify the processes.
This book is certain to help non-accountants understand their businesses finances, assisting in making your company as successful as possible.

TALKING POINT: Can you turn your business into an investment?

Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited should be required reading for anyone thinking about starting a business or for those who have already taken that fateful step. The title refers to the author's belief that entrepreneurs--typically brimming with good but distracting ideas--make poor businesspeople. He establishes an incredibly organised and regimented plan, so that daily details are scripted, freeing the entrepreneur's mind to build the long-term success or failure of the business.

Jeffrey Gitomer′s Sales Bible was listed as one of "The Ten Books Every Salesperson Should Own and Read" by the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage Program. Now completely revised, this book is available for the first time in paperback. The Sales Bible has helped tens of thousands of salespeople all over the world reach their potential and close the big deal. Gitomer gives sales professionals the right answers to the toughest questions:

• How to make sales in any economic environment
• Twenty–five ways to get that most–elusive appointment
• Top–down selling
• How to fill the sales pipeline with prospects ready to buy
• How to use the right questions to make more sales in half the time

Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates

Most people think accountants speak a foreign language. Financial statements, financial analysis and control, break-even analysis, profit improvement, securing the right type of funding and buying and selling a business are all clearly explained and simplified in The Bottom Line.

The blockbuster number one international bestselling phenomenon is back … not that it ever really went away. This easily-read story quickly demonstrates three very practical management techniques: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings and One Minute Reprimands.

The One Minute Manager also includes information on several studies in medicine and in the behavioural sciences, which help readers understand why these apparently simple methods work so well with so many people. The book is brief, the language is simple, and best of all … it works.

If you're a newbie to marketing, this book can certainly help you. If you've been at it for some time, this book will remind you of what you already know. A useful read

Read one woman's story of the mistakes she made and the lessons learned when she sold a thriving business. Denise Barnes' honesty draws some salutary lessons for us all.

The owner of an audiovisual cabling company puts the right principles in place to pass the business on within the family

What are you doing to make sure that your exit from your business achieves maximises the return to you?

As we all know recent business conditions have been difficult as we travel through recessions and face uncertain and challenging times both in the general economy and also within our own businesses

        What are you going to do to make this year different from last year?

Just before and just after Christmas we surveyed our database of more than 10,000 business owners to try and understand what they saw as their major challenges and opportunities in the coming year.

What are the key challenges facing smaller businesses and how do we approach them?

 

Business advisors from the network attended the B2B Kent & Medway Exhibition on stand 9 at the Ashford International Hotel on Tuesday 3rd July. The

Last time, we wrote about Vision and the natural follow up for has to be goal setting.A clever man said “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time”Large businesses,...

This Smart Fox Thinks Ahead Welcome to the first of a series of articles where I hope to encourage you to think about what you want from your business, and begin to introduce to you...

Marketing, an essential investment? First of all, let's ask a question: What is marketing?The best definition we have come across is that it is ‘the action or process of promoting and...

The overdraft. The old financing friend of the small business. Provided by the banks to meet short term monthly or seasonal swings in cashflow or in some cases inappropriately used to purchase...

Cash is the lifeblood of every business and no business can survive for long without it. As Mr. Micawber in Charles Dickens' novel, David Copperfield, so succinctly put it:"Annual income twenty...

Smart Support recognises the primacy of positive cash flow and firmly believes that it is vital for business survival and growth. A change in your turnover (even a slight one)An increase in your...

Running a business is much like being the captain of a ship, but too often we don’t have the basic navigation tools so that when we are blown of course we can find our way back.In the case of a...

HOW FIT IS YOUR BUSINESS?If you woke up one morning with a headache and the headache was still there by early evening it’s a fair bet you’d go to the doctor...

If your car started making...

Thinking of starting your own business?Starting your own business can be the most traumatic, yet one of the most exciting things we do in our lives. It’s akin to having a baby and then...

Business Advisor, Ashford, Kent

Harry is an experienced business consultant, and is internationally experienced operating at board level as a trusted financial services entrepreneur. He has a 30-year track record of successfully building his own businesses and assisting....

GOALS: To reverse the loss making trend and to grow the business to better profitability

BUSINESS IN PROFILE: This business is a hair and beauty salon located above a pharmacy just off a High...

GOALS: Helping the business owner plan and manage growth

BUSINESS IN PROFILE: The business owner was really an "employee", working wholly "in" the business with no time to...

 

GOALS: To improve the profitability levels of the Business, thus moving it from loss to...

BUSINESS PROFILE: An importer of arts and crafts products from China for sale into the education sector

GOALS: To solve their continual cashflow crisis which existed despite their books showing a profit, to create an exit strategy for two of the current owners while enabling younger family members...

GOALS: To grow the business significantly whilst reducing the hours worked to more acceptable levels.

BUSINESS IN PROFILE: A Domestic Gardening services business providing, mowing, hedge...

GOALS: To free the business owner from the day to day running of his frenetic business in order to enable it to grow.

BUSINESS IN PROFILE: A recruitment consultant who started up on his own after...

BUSINESS PROFILE: A family run property Maintenance Company specialising in repairs, cleaning, grounds care and caretaking.

GOALS:  To grow the business through diversification of the...

GOALS: To improve the profitability levels of the business to move it from loss making to profit making

BUSINESS IN PROFILE: A retail greengrocers, coffee bar, market outlet and delivered...

GOALS: To increase profitability and reduce the hours worked by the business owner
BUSINESS IN PROFILE: A small construction company doing refurbishments and minor building works, with a strong...