One reality all business owners need to face, in some form or shape, is the impact of the predicted economic slowdown on your business. It’s either going to impact directly, because of the sector or industry you are in, or indirectly, through the customers or clients that buy from you.

Some clients of mine have said they have done pretty well during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, but are now feeling the impact because now their client’s clients have less disposable income.  Be it B2B or B2C the story is the same. The guidance given here is about how to pull through such situations as best as possible.

The question is, how do you deal with any economic uncertainty and the changes it brings? More specifically, how do you recover from the changes COVID-19 has brought?  How do you adapt to the 'new normal' imposed on the world, businesses and individuals? This is how to recover. You go through 3 stages.  The response, the recovery and the reconstruction. These phases overlap.  We have been through phase 1 and that’s coming to an end.  Phase 2 is recovery and these are some points to consider:

STEP ONE
So, what has worked well during the response stage? In your immediate response to the epidemic, what has worked well for you? Have you accelerated those plans to digitise some of your services now that you have no choice, or have you been able to cut costs by having some of your staff work from home whilst managing social distancing?

Have there been products or services you have been producing more efficiently during this time? It could simply have been that you have streamlined some of the processes in such a way you may not have thought about before the pandemic hit. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. You need to take account of these things that have all of a sudden worked well for you during this time that you can continue with.

Have you birthed a new idea as a result of this that has become one of the new services or products that require development, but when developed can be your ticket to recovery. It will help immensely in the recovery process.  There are some good financial packages out there like the Bounce Back Loan, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Self Employment Income Scheme, Furlough and many more.  Whilst some of these are winding down, use them to leverage your current position as much as you can.​

STEP TWO
Showing leadership.  As an entrepreneur of a micro, small or medium size company, panicking could mean drowning, but strong leadership on the other hand, can be the key to your success.  So far, the British public has generally remained calm and pulled together. This is a huge positive! It is very easy to panic when it looks like there is no way through this and other people are looking up to you for their livelihood and state of mind, especially when you own a business with employees that may have families to feed.

The British government has also played a huge role in helping business with loans and grants, in spite of the fact that a lot of people have also fallen through the net. However, your reaction in the midst of the storm will contribute to the welfare of your business, members of staff mentally and physically too. This is where your true leadership qualities will come to light and should structure your decision making process.

Remaining calm does not mean faking it, but rather being transparent. It would probably appear more realistic if you let your workers know you are concerned yourself without losing control than making light of it and therefore burying your head in the sand, or displaying an attitude of unconcern. It’s better to take the attitude that this change is happening with me, rather than to me.  

This should help improve business performance at a time when staff morale could be at an all-time low if the situation is not handled professionally and a show of empathy and communication is not displayed appropriately. Strong leadership displaying confidence yet transparency is key. 

STEP THREE
Business Health Check. This is a good time to have a business reality check and take stock of where your business is at the moment. How does pandemic affect your business in the current situation and future going forward? And most importantly, where do you want it to be in the future? A business Valuation, Performance and Health Check carried out by one of our Business Advisors is designed to help you shed light and get you to achieve the performance and value that you want.

These sessions will also offer suggestions for business improvement and modelling, or re-modelling. It is also an opportunity to see if your business goals align with your business objectives. If this is not the case, you may even find out that you need to manoeuvre your business in a different direction or bring about a change in your products or services.

The sooner you come to terms with it and bring about the changes, the better for your business. You do need to ask the question about the relevance of your product or service in the short to long term.  You may even pivot to something temporary based on your current core competency.  

A typical example is Rolls-Royce and BAE making ventilators. These changes need to be communicated with facts, sensitivity and focus on the solutions as much as possible with clarity, purpose, and direction especially with those who will be most affected. 

STEP FOUR
Help customers gain regain trust and confidence in your product or service. Simple things like observing social distancing, observing good hygiene practice and things that the client or customer can see and acknowledge that you take them and their health serious is important. If you are a retail outlet or restaurant or in the hospitality industry, customers need to be confident to use your service.

For example, some shops like Aldi have a red and green light in front of their shops indicating when you can come in or not.  They have obvious hygiene points with sanitisers and kitchen towels available to customers, etc.  In a subtle way, they are showing they care for the client, building confidence in the venue and the brand. In the same way, your staff, clients, customers and visitors must know that they are safe in your work environment. 

Offering a client the opportunity to have an online meeting with you where possible, instead of in person is a sign of building trust.  In all of these acts, it’s important that the perceived value of what you do for them remains the same or better. You can get more info on this from the government’s guides on reopening businesses.

STEP FIVE
As a business, you also need to look within and see where you may need help yourself. Be it from the government or other sources if you are struggling. Business mentoring and coaching or sitting down with a business advisor could be a good idea. Entrepreneurs often take care of everyone else but themselves. Take care of your mental health. If you collapse and you are a micro business, the business collapses. The same is true of some small businesses where a lot depends on the owner.  Working from home is not the same as taking a break. 

If you are not sure or in doubt about making your business sustainable in these uncertain times, seek professional business advice, which is what our Business Advisors are for. Ignore the fake news going around which is often the case in uncertainty. Go for objective and professional advice. 

If you can identify with any of the 5 tips and require further insight into key areas to help your company through this challenging economic time please feel free to call and speak to an RBSS Business Advisor on 033 33 55 1696 or drop us an email on the link below. We provide real business solutions for start-ups and existing micro and small businesses.

After 3 months of COVID-19 and during this response phase to the attack, how have some of the finance packages the government put in place been responded to by businesses in the UK.  Apart from the premises business rate related grants and the job retention scheme, some of the other popular funding support schemes that businesses have responded positively to are:

1. Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme - CBILS
2. Bounce Back Loan - BBL
3. Self-Employment Income Support – SEIS
4. Future Fund and Innovation financial support  - £1.25b

 
Has this been a load of hype or have they been accessible real solutions. How have they done so far?

1. CBIL Scheme - Loan The overall approval rate for the CBIL Scheme remains at 50%. That means 50% failure rate so far.  Its also means that those that applied and were not able to access it may need other forms of support.  Don’t assume that failure means they are not viable businesses, absolutely not. The government needs to be thinking of other solutions for this large group of businesses as they have an impact on local economies and employment and if they run out of cash, they won’t be going down because they are not profitable or credible businesses, but because they have not had the right bridging finance to get them through this torrid time.

The average CBIL loan size has been £194,000 since the commencement of the Scheme. In more recent weeks after the initial rush, the volume of applications has reduced significantly.  This may be due to the bad press and the decline rate of this scheme. Nevertheless, the repayment terms and rates are extremely attractive and between 2.5% and 9.8% depending on individual business circumstances.

2. BBL  Scheme - Loan The average Bounce Back Loan amount remains at the £30k level – One cannot assume that every borrower is applying for the maximum 25% of turnover, however, the anecdotal evidence is that the scheme is helping the micro and SME market. Some sole traders have had problems, especially when they don’t have business accounts or if they do not bank with one of the approved providers.  Sterling and Tide have been a life saver for some micro and sole trader businesses, but others have not had such luck, even when producing all the required documents.

The 80% approval rate and the £20bn+ total lending via the scheme is a huge injection of capital into SMEs and should help with the local economies of where they are based.  It should also help with their long term sustainability. The interest and repayment terms are extremely attractive, that applying for it is nearly a no brainer.

3. SEIS Scheme - Grant This scheme has so far seen 2.3 million claims worth £6.8 billion since it opened for claiming in April. The scheme will be extended - with those eligible able to claim a second and final grant capped at £6,570.  Unlike the original claim of 80% of average monthly trading profits, this extended grant will be worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single installment covering three months’ worth of profits and capped at £6,570 in total. This has been of immense importance to self-employed business people who have struggled over this tough time.

Individuals can continue to apply for the first SEIS grant until 13 July. Under this first grant, eligible individuals can claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single installment covering three months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total.  

4. Future Fund and Innovation – Grant and Loan This funding targets some of the most dynamic sectors of the UK economy – ranging from tech to life sciences. The government has committed an initial £250 million in funding towards the scheme, which will initially be open until the end of September 2020. The scale of the fund will be kept under review. The £750 million of targeted support for the most R&D intensive small and medium size firms will be available through Innovate UK’s grants and loan scheme. The Future Fund will provide convertible government loans to UK-based companies ranging from £125,000 to £5 million, subject to at least equal match funding from private investors. There have been some challenges with the eligibility criteria for some tech companies as match funding is partly a requirement for some of the loan and also a minimum investment of £250k needs to have been made in the company in the last 5 years.

For more details on any of these click on any of the links above.
If you want some help for your company with regards to the above or you just want someone with the required knowledge and experience in business to guide you on other related matters, please connect with our business advisers at RBSS Consulting Ltd in Romford on 0333 355 1696 or direct on 07796 800 187 or drop us an email. We provide real business solutions for start-ups and existing micro and small businesses in east London and Essex.

You have probably been bombarded with information on the above measures that the Government has taken to support and protect businesses of all kinds against the impact of the COVID 19 virus in the UK. There is a lot of information going out to businesses and employees at the moment. The information isn't static but evolving daily.  I have received many calls and I understand your frustration and concerns. After several conversations with senior staff in Financial Institutions, Trade Body Associations and Funding Associations and reading subsequent follow up documents from the government, things are much clearer. The operational mechanisms for delivery and implementation are still being worked on in some cases.

As you now know, money will not come directly from the government to businesses.  It's a wholesale process and it’s the British Business Bank that will be liaising with selected banks.
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Key highlights however are:
1. The CBILS is being disbursed through the banks and even this is evolving with time
2. The schemes are taking time to set up HMRC and have said they will be ready for April 2020. However, banks are already taking loan applications through their EFG
3. Some of the information is changing rapidly
4. No matter how big or small you are the government is saying schemes will become available, ranging from Universal Credit for the Self Employed to Grants and Loans for SME's
5. Look at your insurance policy under the business interruption section to ensure that any business interruption by viruses is not covered already. The Government will not double fund what is already covered in your insurance.  Some policies have fixed diseases they will cover and some don’t
6. Government will pay 80% of the salaries of staff who are kept (where it can be proven that these staff were about to be let go by their employers due to the virus crisis) covering wages of up to £2,500 a month – Part of the Job Retention Scheme
7. Please note that GRANTS only relate to business rates and you will be contacted directly by the local authority and not vice versa if you are entitled to this
8. Relief for Statutory Sick Pay
9. Mortgage Holidays even for Buy to Let properties
10. IR35 tax reforms postponed for a year
11. VAT and income tax deferments
12. Reclaims for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19.
13. Support for the Self Employed – Please click here for more details 
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For full details regarding CBILS, please click here
 
The key thing to note is grants are all rate related and will be dealt with by your local council. Loans will be through banks, mostly likely through the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) Scheme already in place, but with 80% government backed guarantees. Job retention will be through HMRC as they manage the payroll program and it is all linked to your reference numbers and UTR. Self Employment support will be through HMRC. Finance terms are from three months up to ten years for term loans and asset finance and up to three years for revolving facilities and invoice finance.

Facing Cash flow problems now, then please feel free to contact us and we will help broker and facilitate access at no cost to you.  We will also offer guidance around eligibility and possibilities for raising finance.
 
If you want some help for your company with regards to the above or you just want someone with the required knowledge and experience in business to guide you on other related matters, please connect with our business advisers at RBSS Consulting Ltd on 0333 355 1696 or direct on 07796 800 187 or drop us an email. We provide real business solutions for start-ups and existing micro and small businesses.

As you would have heard numerous times, we live in a fast moving world especially where business is concerned. New today, obsolete tomorrow. Selling your product/service is more about reaching out to your customers unlike when, it used to be the other way round. This however, could be very challenging when you are stretched and have limited resources or at least not unlimited. There’s a never ending list of tips on what every small business owner should know. However, I’d like to focus on 5 tips which is a good place to start. Please note this is practical advice for real results from feedback from businesses we have worked with.

1. Know your Market
2. Hire the right staff
3. Know your finance options
4. Understand your own product or service
5. Understand your competition

1. Know your market (Have an online presence). Retain your current customers or clients with the most efficient form of marketing. A smooth operation leads to smoother growth. If your clients or customers are happy, you will be their first go-to and they will be more than happy to recommend you without realizing they are actually advertising your business for you.  However, there needs to be a stable balance between gaining new customers (via marketing) and retaining current customers (via operations). To gain further insight into this area, have a look at our quick guide on how to develop your business performance strategies.  

Effective sales and marketing lies at the heart of any successful business growth and helps to achieve business goals. Your system of marketing will very much depend on your products / services and your target market. Some businesses feel they don’t need a target market. In this day and age, for any business to grow, it needs to have a system of marketing which is geared towards its market. This could mean having an online presence, inbound marketing, social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. An intelligent investment in marketing will ensure stability and growth, if combined with strong customer retention. This will therefore help in making your business sustainable and therefore also compete effectively. Our Business Consultants at RBSS will help ensure your marketing goals align with your business goals.

2. Hire the right staff. This includes knowing your weaknesses and hiring the right staff including professionals to help put the right systems in place. Richard Branson emphasizes on this throughout his business book; ‘Like a virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School’ This could mean outsourcing which will give you more objective ideas from a different prospective (your customer/client’s prospective), including those you and your staff may have never thought of or procrastinated on.

3. Know your finance options. The truth of the matter is that, whether you are a start-up business or an existing business that wants to grow the company to the next level, you may need some form of cash injection to help you on your way, alongside the right plan. But asking for money isn’t often that simple or easy to obtain. This includes knowing what each available option has to offer, such as business angels, equity funding, bank loan etc. Any funder, be it a business loan, equity finance or any other kind of finance will want to see a business plan and financial projections, to help them decide if investing in your idea is going to be a profitable one, or not. Some alternative funders don’t require a business plan, but carry out their assessments in a different manner. The business advisors at RBSS Consulting in Romford, Essex, help companies of all sizes get finance ready. They will also give you various options open to you. Our aim will be to help you get the right business finance, at the right rate and the right time and aim to make it as least daunting as possible.  

4. Understand your product/service. Many experts agree that you need to know your product or service ‘like the back of your hand’. That is so true when people want immediate answers and you have to ‘sell yourself’. This does not pertain to you alone but your staff. There is no use having a sales person on the floor in a restaurant that does not understand what’s on the menu when a customer asks for advice. They may know what’s on the menu but not understand it. You may be the chef who owns the business but be in the kitchen.  In other words you (and your staff) have to prove to be the expert in your field and you can’t afford to get questions wrong either! Knowing and understanding your product/service which is your brand should also determine your purpose, mission and values which should serve as your guide to your decisions and what you hope to accomplish in the future, which also comprises what you stand for; hence your ‘pitch’. You should truly represent your brand, keep learning more about your product/service continuously and improving it along the way by keeping yourself abreast on how to better it and therefore bring more satisfaction to your customers/clients which brings us to my next point.

5. Understand your competitors. There is often a lot of competition regardless of which industry you are in or decide to venture into. Although this again depends on your product/service. Whatever the case may be, the only way you can be ahead of the game is by knowing what your competitors are doing and aiming to deliver beyond them or something different that will bring more satisfaction to your customers/clients. Going on line, visiting your competitors’ shops. Our researchers at RBSS Consulting Ltd will help you research your local competition. We will do more than check out their websites. We will visit your competition in person, book appointments with them and see how they run their businesses. Ask them their challenges and pain-points. This in-depth research will only make your business more viable and ready to start, continue or expand your business with what you need to know as a business owner.  
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If you can identify with any of the 5 tips or more or require further insight into these key areas to help your company start and grow or you just want someone with the required knowledge and experience in business please connect with our business advisers at RBSS Consulting Ltd on 0333 355 1696 or drop us an email on the link below. We provide real business solutions for startups and existing micro and small businesses.

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One of the prominent ways to prevent your business from being stagnant is to stand out from the competition. One of the most common questions business owners need to ask themselves is: ‘Is my business still relevant to the target market I have and am I presenting or packaging it in the best possible way taking in to account the resources available to me?'. One of the catch phrases in businesses today is; beyond expectations or exceeding expectations. The way to achieve the above, would be to look at your business from a constructively critical view. The following 5 tips can help you revive your business:

1. Re-evaluate your market
2. Check your customer acquisition methods
3. Review your business plan
4. Review Your website
5. Review your brand and marketing collateral

 
1. Re-evaluate the market to see your relevance and offer
Experienced, successful business owners and consultants will recommend that at the start of your business you focus on a niche or at least a very clear market. Once you gain traction, you can expand your product and/or service offerings and market share. For existing businesses on the other hand, depending on if it’s a product or service, you will have real time data to use to evaluate the market place.  What lines are moving and what isn’t.  Why they are or not moving. Is demand low due to visibility of the product or service or in actual fact the market has moved on to other products or services that you don’t provide or offer. There is benchmarking software or services you can buy into to compare your performance and marketing with others in the market. Staying relevant may require looking at your whole business model and reviewing it.  Our business consultants will help you with a Business Health Check to address some of the above matters.  This will identify specific key drivers in your business.
 
2. Check your customer acquisition methods 
Many businesses are mostly particular about reaching their target.  Such as; sales, services, expansion, acquiring more customers and retaining old ones etc. However, how you acquired your customers in the first place is very important as it gives you the opportunity to utilise your strengths and rectify your weaknesses. If you sell from a store on the high street, do you also need to consider online sales too and which social media platforms would be relevant to your business? Better to do your homework rather than just base it on trial and error. Is the stagnation because even though you are getting new customers, you are also losing existing ones? This could be the reason, so you have to look at balancing getting new customers whilst retaining existing ones. The use of customer evaluation, feedback analysis, user groups set up, etc could be a way forward in this area. Don’t get lost in believing your own hype.
 
3. Reviewing your business plan
Business Modelling and Planning is sometimes seen as old school and rigid. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. It is necessary to serve as a guide, such as keeping on track, identifying a new marketing strategy, planning a customer acquisition campaign, identifying and achieving your business strategies to generate overall success. However, your business plan should be tweaked every now and then strategically to align with customers/clients needs, change in the economy, new business ideas or even getting a business loan which would have to be incorporated into the business plan. No business plan can afford to be rigid, otherwise it becomes obsolete.

Your business model is not a mathematical calculation, it simply describes the rationale of how your business creates, captures and delivers value. Our professional and experienced consultants will work with you on the building blocks to get both your business plan and model right from the start.

4. Reviewing Your website
The excitement of a website seems to waver ever so often. Websites are left to gather dust. People sometimes move from their website to apps, to other social media platforms at the expense of the site.  Website are still very relevant in most businesses and play their crucial part alongside the other online strategies.  The reality is that your website is your storefront. Whether you are selling a product or delivering a service. It is the first thing a potential customer or client sees when they first view your website. First impressions are very crucial at this stage as it can determine if a customer or client stays engaged and continues to be interested in what you have to offer and therefore honour your ‘call to action’ or bounce off straight away onto another competing website. Apart from stepping back to look at your website from the view of a customer/client trying to purchase or look for information, get colleagues, friends and family to do the same. However, this can be very tricky as they may not want to hurt your feelings and therefore give you positive feedback (or even negative feedback in extreme cases, particularly if they do not support your business). You are therefore often better off consulting an independent consultant. As a website or ecommerce expert would also have so much more to give by telling you if your website needs a whole new face over or a few tweaks here and there. Furthermore, one of the leading web design trends for 2019 according to Amber Leigh Turner of Design & Development was; removing non-essential design elements in favor of simplicity. This continues to be the trend. Customers/clients want websites they can easily scan as opposed to just good looking websites.

5. Review your brand. What does your brand say about you?
You, members of staff and of course your website, apps, and social media platforms ‘wear your brand on their sleeve’ so to speak. When people see or meet you, they form an impression of your brand before you get to sell it. If you impress that person, they would like to know more. Therefore, if you are a representative of a company (which doesn’t sell tracksuits) and you turn up at a business event in a tracksuit, there is the likelihood you will not be taken seriously and therefore could lose important business contacts. There is a lot to discuss on branding as part of your marketing strategy, and many little cost effective things you could do that have a real impact in reviving your business.

At RBSS we have real life case studies of turning business performance around and helping them improve profitability and achieve business goals. If you feel your business is becoming or is already stagnant or you may need advice or support in any of the above tips or other business areas such as help to raise finance, start up loans or grow your business etc. You may even just want to bounce ideas off our business advisors, we offer the first consultancy free, so please feel free to connect with our business advisors at RBSS Consulting Ltd on 0333 355 1696 or drop us an email at info@rbssconsulting.com. We provide real business solutions for start-ups and existing micro and small businesses.