starting and growing small business suffolk 06 12 11

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Raising financeuseful life). This is the best way to finance an asset if your businesslacks security, plus there may be tax advantages to doing this.Factoring and invoice discountingIf you want to improve the cashflow of a healthy, growingbusiness then this may be the best route, with a financial advancesecured against the business’ outstanding invoices. Finance isautomatically linked to turnover increasing as sales increase.Venture capital (including Business Angel)Some businesses may be attractive to venture capitalists who willtake a share in your business in return for providing finance (thinkBBC TV’s ‘Dragons’ Den’). Potential investors include venturecapital funds, another business or a private investor (aka BusinessAngel, who will generally provide funds below the normal amountprovided by Venture Capital funds). The main advantages are:• no capital or interest payments;• the investment of new management skills; and• a strengthened balance sheet due to equity investment.The Prince’s TrustThe Prince’s Trust helps young people set up businesses byoffering them advice and finance. The Trust offers:• loans of up to £4,000 for an individual and £5,000 for apartnership, with reasonable repayments;• grants of up to £1,500 in special circumstances; and• market research or test marketing grants up to £250.The Prince’s Trust is particularly keen to get involved withdisadvantaged or unemployed young people, but is not a lenderof first resort, only considering applications from those who areunable to obtain finance from other sources. If you are interestedin applying for a Prince’s Trust grant, you must fall within thefollowing categories:Useful contacts1. Prince’s TrustTel: 01473 228844. www.princes-trust.org.uk2. Shell LiveWIRETel: 0845 757 3252. www.shell-livewire.org3. British Venture Capital AssociationTel: 020 7025 2950. www.bvca.co.uk4. The Asset Based Finance AssociationTel: 020 8332 9955. www.abfa.org.uk5. Finance & Leasing AssociationTel: 020 7836 6511. www.fla.org.uk6. British Business Angels AssociationTel: 020 7089 2305. www.bbaa.org.uk• you must be between 18 and 31 years old;• no partners (if applicable) over 30 years old allowed;• you must be unemployed and underemployed; and• be unable to obtain finance elsewhere.For more information please contact The Prince’s Trust on01473 228844 or visit www.princes-trust.org.uk.CompetitionsIf you are 16 to 30-years old and thinking of starting up inbusiness, LiveWIRE can put you in touch with organisations thatcan help. LiveWIRE publishes free booklets and runs an annualbusiness plan competition with cash prizes and widespreadpublicity. Call 0845 757 3252 or visit www.shell-livewire.org forfurther information.A specialist adviser in access to finance is available at BusinessLink and will give guidance in your funding search. Seminars andworkshops are frequently run to aid customers.Keeping the booksOnce you have raised the money for your business you needto keep track of where it is going - this is called book keeping.Book keeping is a legal requirement for all businesses and willenable you to stay abreast of your income and outgoings and,therefore, keep effective control of your business. Essentially:• every business registered for VAT has to keep its recordsaccording to guidelines laid down by HM Revenue & Customs;• HM Revenue & Customs requires every business to keepproper records for the calculation of tax liabilities and forPAYE. If you fail to do so you could end up paying much moretax than necessary;• records are required for year-end accounts. If you haveborrowings from a bank they will require these to see howyour business is performing; and• you need regular information to ensure that margins aremaintained and profits are on target. Accurate record keepingis essential to provide information for managing the business.There are many computer-based programmes available now tohelp you make light work of book keeping and ensure you keepyour records up to date. Advisers at Business Link or anaccountant can recommend a system that is suitable for yourbusiness and advise on the records you need to maintain on thecomputer and in paper form.“Make sure your figures stack up.Nobody is going to be interested indoing business with you if they can’tsee a financial return.”James Caan, CEO Hamilton Bradshaw and BBC2 Dragon11
Marketing - Winning customersThis section explains how to create a good marketing strategy and plan which can be used as aneffective tool to win customers. It also explains how you can market your product and provides somebest practice advice to attract new customers.Having researched your market thoroughly (see Researching your market section), your attention now needs to turn to the actualmarketing of your company and/or your product to generate work/sales. Marketing is key to the success of any business and involvesunderstanding which customers you will target and how you will reach them. It ensures that you keep existing customers happy butalso helps you decide how you are going to win new customers. And you need to keep reviewing and improving everything you do tostay ahead of the competition.Marketing strategySuccessful marketing is dependent upon the developmentof a marketing strategy - without one, your efforts to attractcustomers are likely to be a bit ‘hit and miss’. The focus of yourstrategy should be about understanding your customers sothat your products and services meet their needs better thanthose of your competitors. It should also help you develop longtermand profitable relationships with your customers, makingyou their preferred supplier. It may also help you identify newmarkets to target.A key element often overlooked is that of monitoring andevaluating how effective your strategy has been. This not onlyhelps you see how the strategy is performing in practice, it canalso help inform your future marketing strategy. A simple device isto ask each new customer how they heard about your business.Marketing plan and activityOnce you have decided on your marketing strategy, draw up amarketing plan to set out how you will execute and evaluate thesuccess of that strategy. The plan should set out clear objectivesbased upon your strengths and weaknesses, and should alwaysfollow the SMART rule, as follows:• Specific: for example, you might set an objective of gettingten new customers or reaching a certain sales target.• Measurable: whatever your objective is, you need to be ableto check whether you have reached it or not when you reviewyour plan.• Achievable: you must have the resources you need toachieve the objective. The key resources are usually peopleand money.• Realistic: whilst you should set targets that stretch you,there is no point in being too ambitious.• Time-bound: you should set a deadline for achieving yourspecific objectives, so you might aim to get your tennew customers or reach that certain sales target within thenext 12 months.Once you have decided what your marketing objectives are, andyour strategy for meeting them, you need to plan how you willmake the strategy a reality. Many businesses find it helpful tothink in terms of the four Ps:• Product: what your product offers - time, creativity or aservice - that your customers value, and whether/how youshould change your product to meet customer needs.• Pricing: for example, you might aim simply to match thecompetition, or charge a premium price for a quality productand service or you might choose either to make relatively fewhigh margin sales, or sell more but with lower unit profits.Remember that some customers may seek a low price tomeet their budgets, whilst others may view a low price as anindication of poor quality levels.• Place: this considers how and where you sell, so you makeit easy for your customers to access your product. This mayinclude using different distribution channels, for exampleselling over the internet or through retailers.• Promotion: using the best opportunities to reach yourexisting and potential customers. For example, you mightuse advertising, PR, direct mail, personal selling and, ofcourse, the internet. Limit your activities to those methodsyou think will work best, which will avoid spreading yourbudget too thinly.If you are selling a service, you can extend the four Ps to sevenPs, taking into account:• People: ensuring that you have the right employees with theright training to hit your sales targets.• Processes: ensuring that the right processes are in place soyou can offer a consistent service that suits your customers.• Physical evidence: making sure the appearance of youremployees and premises gives the right image to yourcustomers. Even the quality of paperwork, such as invoices,makes a difference.Whichever methods you choose, you need to keep up themarketing momentum to retain a regular flow of sales and work.12
Page 1 and 2: SuffolkSmall Business Guide 2010A g
Page 3 and 4: Researching your marketAll successf
Page 5 and 6: The business planThis section sets
Page 7 and 8: Legal requirementsThis section prov
Page 9 and 10: Legal requirementsLicencesCertain b
Page 11: Raising financeThis section explain
Page 15 and 16: Finding suitable premisesChoosing t
Page 17 and 18: Information andcommunication techno
Page 19 and 20: Business supportGetting good qualit
Page 21 and 22: DirectoryPaying employees’ taxand
Page 23 and 24: DirectoryCommunity Development Fina

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