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.

​Let us know what you thought of this post, leave a comment below.

It is the desire for every business owner to obtain substantial business growth. Actually, that’s not true. Some businesses were simply set up to fund a lifestyle or to remain small.  Not everyone wants a medium or large size company. However every business owner needs growth in their business. If the business is not growing, it’s shrinking. There is nothing like a stand still. If it’s standing still, it’s like holding your breath. You can’t do that for too long. The inevitable will happen. Every single detail related to the business is of importance. However, in this short blog, I will be touching on 5 key drivers for company growth and management. They are: 

1. People
2. Marketing
3. Finance
4. Systems and 
5. Operations

1. People relates to a productive working person or team. Without someone/people to run the business and people to purchase the products/services, it wouldn’t exist! According to OPOWER CEO and co-founder Dan Yates, the secret formula to small business success is hiring the right people. However, this area can be very difficult to manage especially if the employees/partners views or interest is not aligned with the business. This will interfere with the systems which is the efficiency measure to drive profits and the ultimate goal of any profit making business. What are the key performance indicators for your people? Do you train them or if you are a micro business, do you undergo training yourself.

2. The importance of marketing which does cover a very wide area relates to gaining new customers. It is one area that is often talked about, but not worked on effectively, sometimes due to time or investments required. 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 expand and grow, it needs to have a system of marketing which is geared towards its market. Unlike in ‘the good old days’, there’s no such thing as marketing for all, especially with social media platforms such as 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 (or help you put them together) align with the business goals.

3. Finance is one of the most challenging aspects of any business especially new businesses and start-ups in relation to profitable working. Profit generation is the root function of any worthwhile business as it acts as a source of income, enables reinvestment for the business, acts as a buffer against setbacks and creates wealth for the owners and other stakeholders. 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 simple. 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. The business advisors at RBSS Consulting in Romford, Essex, help companies of all sizes get finance ready.

4. Systems which is also known as efficient working is what keeps your company together, helps it grow and improve profitability. Our Business Valuation, Performance and Health Check Service is designed to help you achieve the performance and value what you would like to see happen by addressing the above key drivers. This key driver can easily be overlooked especially when the business is up and running smoothly and making a profit. However, it is vital as it expresses how effectively time, money and effort are being utilised. This, is very much the case when managed effectively as it aids a business to improve profitability. At RBSS Consulting we use an artificial intelligence business dashboard run by Runagood, an online software used for measuring company metrics to drive performance and value and benchmarks your company within your industry. As a business grows, the ability of the owner/manager to remember, watch, manage and make good decisions deteriorates unless they have the right systems in place. It does become more demanding to monitor the various systems in place and deciding how to move these systems forward. We can help with that.

5. Operations may sound overwhelming for some. However, it relates to retaining customers and is certainly at the heart of any sustainable business. I’ll refer to Operations as the ‘heartbeat of the business. NOT to be overlooked! It keeps the business ticking as it is the backbone of retaining 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 marketing for you for FREE! However, there needs to be a stable balance between maintaining 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.

If you require further insight into these key areas to help your company grow or you just want someone with the required knowledge and experience in this area or any other area of marketing to bounce ideas off of, please feel free to connect with our business advisors at RBSS Consulting Ltd on 0333 355 1696 or drop us am email at info@rbssconsulting.com. We provide real business solutions for startups and existing micro and small businesses.

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Every business whether start-up or existing micro, small, medium or large enterprise, needs expert and valuable business advice. That’s where RBSS steps in. We provide a full diagnostic on areas of your business or field you may not have thought about, but are important. A business consultant can also be an excellent sounding board to help get you out of some very tricky situations. Some business solutions are ways to raising finance, business valuation and health checks, business planning , growth strategies, profitability and efficiency strategies, business modelling etc. These services are available to both start-ups and existing businesses.

In this blog I will focus on 4 key areas a consultant can add value to your business:

1. Finance ready
Finance is the bloodline of businesses. Without finance there is no business! Most business want to grow and profitably too. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) states that up 40% of small and medium businesses fail within the first year and a further 30% within three years.  It’s been proven that part of the reasons for business failures is lack of understanding business finance and business support, amongst other things. Our Business Consultants at RBSS will help you combat the key areas to get financial backing at the best rate and from the best source that suits your business needs.  This may be business loans (which includes Start up loans) or equity funding (whichever funding suits your business best). Help to become finance ready is crucial to put you in the best position possible for funding.

2. Understanding your competition 
Let’s imagine that you want to open a pub in Romford. After doing your research you realise that there are 20 pubs within a five-mile radius. How are you going to make your pub stand out? What niche markets do the other bars feature? Some will target millennials, whilst others rely on entertainment etc to thrive. Our researchers at RBSS will help you research your local competition.

We will do more than check out their websites. We will invite you to 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. You can then mitigate the threats and leverage the opportunities. These pointers will stand out more with our thorough Business Valuation and Health Checks.

3. Personal visits
Being a consultant is about giving practical information, advice and guidance based on facts and figures. Nowadays, clients expect a bit more and would like a Business Consultant to make it more personal. At RBSS our Business Consultants will visit and get a one-to-one, hands-on sense of how your business is running where feasible. This way, we can see beyond the surface and be able to advise and help beyond what you may deem as the challenges.  We will be happy to revisit or have you visit us, whether it be in person, telephone or Skype etc. to ensure you are where you want to be and staying on top.

4. Problem solving and business strategy
Business Consultants also possess great problem-solving skills to provide solutions and recommendations that will increase profitability and efficiency, which is the backbone to any business. Strategy can be over-emphasised, but a lack of it can also be bad news for any business.  You can only stumble around in the dark for so long. At some point, sooner rather than later if you have managed to survive, your business will need a clear strategy. 

Business consultants can help you with strategies that achieve your goals. Be that growth, profitability or operational improvements. 

These are all areas that will add to your businesses bottom line. So if you can resonate with any of the areas covered above or any other business related issues at all, get in touch.

For more insight on the services our experienced and professional Business Consultants In Romford provide, please feel free to call, skype or complete the form below:

Whether you are a start-up business or a 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. But asking for money isn’t that simple. Any money lender will want to see a thorough business case and financial projections, to help them decide if investing in your idea is going to be a profitable one, or not. The business advisors at RBSS Consulting in Romford, Essex, help companies of all sizes get finance ready. Here is our four-step process that we will take you through.

1. Business Goals and Mission Statement
You’ve decided to take the plunge and begin the rewarding journey of entrepreneurship. Self-employment or starting your own business is a noble calling and is not for everyone. Do you want to sell products, services or both? What are your business goals? Do you have a mission statement? If you don’t have answers to these questions, not to worry. RBSS will help you define your business goals and mission statement. This is a necessary and vital step in creating a business plan. When networking or attending a social event, when people ask you, ‘What do you do?’ you will have a clearly defined answer formulated. ​

2. Brainstorming
Entrepreneurs often work in solitude without having anyone to bounce ideas off of. Our business consultants are here to help you flesh out your concepts. It’s one thing to repeat your objectives to yourself or even write them down on paper. It’s a completely different ball game when you communicate your thoughts out loud to someone who can give you feedback. A mundane scheme can become revolutionary. You may be leaving money on the table by not considering other ways to diversify your product or service offerings. By diversifying, you increase your market share. A larger market share is usually indicative of more revenue and what business owner doesn’t want more revenue! ​

3. Research Demographic and Competition​
Who is your demographic? Where are they located? How will you reach them? What are their spending habits? These are just a few of the questions we will ask you so that you can eventually build a profitable enterprise. Many novice entrepreneurs make the mistake of asking these questions after they’ve had their soft opening. If the right questions are posed and answered before opening, businesses would last longer and be of greater good to society. Are there other businesses like yours in the area you plan to serve? Do these businesses serve the same target group? Our expert business consultants will help you pinpoint your digital and brick and mortar competition.

4. Business Plan​
Perhaps your parents will lend you money without a business plan, but a bank won’t. An investor, whether a bank, angel or venture capitalist worth their salt will need to see a clearly defined and well-executed business plan before they will even consider your solution and give you access to finance. All of the research results and questions answered will go into your business plan. This plan will be clearly formatted with every ‘i’ dotted and every ‘t’ crossed, complete with graphics, tables and examples. If you’re not a finance person, we have a consultant on staff that can generate your financial statements. This business plan will be the key in your success towards acquiring financing. 
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5. Due Diligence
There are the mundane but necessary things to make sure you have in place and up to date.  They are the more legal requirements that we have to make sure you have in place.  They relate more to the directors or owners of the company.  This is in order to comply with the Anti Money Lending and Know Your Customer rules.  They are the proof of identification, proof of address, a few months’ business bank statements and sometimes a CV for the directors. In some cases you may be asked  for a credit report.  We do this to make sure that these things don’t end up being the stumbling blocks after all the hard work has been done.  Again, don’t worry about a thing. An RBSS Business Advisor will help you make sense of all this on a one to one basis.

What type of finance can RBBS Consulting help you get access to?
There are a number of ways for you to raise finance for your business. Here we explore the common avenues:

• Peer to Peer Lenders (P2P)
• Merchant Cash Advances
• Crowdsourcing
• Unsecured loans
• Secured loans
• ​Start-up loans
• ​Invoice factoring and
• Asset Financing

 
​If you want to find out more about these options, they are explained on our Raising Finance page.
What's stopping you? Call the business consultants at RBSS now to help you get your business finance ready.

Statistics vary by +- 5% on the number business failures within the SME community in the UK, however all statistics in the UK agree that up 60% of small and medium businesses fail within the first year and a further 30% within three years.  It’s been proven that part of the reasons for business failures is lack of proper business planning, understanding business finance, cash flow challenges or lack of business support, either prior to the business starting or during the business operation. However, this does not have to be your fate. Benjamin Franklin says, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” 

To avoid such a pitfall, I’ll be sharing five very brief tips to turn your business around or in some cases, how to avoid failure altogether. 

1. Knowing your business objective is key. This is probably the stage at which you have to be true to yourself. You should be asking yourself Soul-searching questions, such as “why am I in this business and what do I seek to achieve”? This will probably lead to other related questions such as, ’Am I in this more for the money than anything else?’’ Do I enjoy this?’ If the answer to the first is ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to the second, you are either in the wrong business or job role or lost your passion for it. Or you may be in the right business, but performing the wrong role within the business.  Who says you have to be the CEO because you started it. Maybe you are better at being the Head Chef. This could be where you are most productive, rather than leading the organisation as a whole and administering the business.  What do you do if this is the case? Business Consultants at RBSS are here to assist you in thinking through and putting systems and procedures in place to achieve your business objectives. Let’s help you with a full business valuation, performance and health check.

2. Take action as soon as possible! When things start to go wrong in a business, the signs are always there.  Sometimes we hope they get better and hold on for too long or take the wrong action when we do take action. The more you procrastinate, the fewer options you leave open to save your business. This could lead you down the path of making decisions out of frustration as opposed to wise and calculated ones. One of the most crucial steps would be to get in touch and be open with your accountant if you have one. You certainly do NOT want a court making the final decision for you! If you are not sure where to start, RBSS is there to give you unbiased advice.

3. If the stumbling block is mainly financial or a cash flow problem and you have the luxury of borrowing money off friends and family, then you can do so. However, the reality is, not everyone has that option. That’s where RBSS can step in. We can help you explore various finance options and secure finance that suits your business circumstances.  We work closely with UK’s leading innovative business finance providers and advice on how to improve profitability and improve margins. We have helped hundreds of clients successfully raise the right kind of finance at the right time for their business. Finance is the blood of any business and the flow of it is crucial but not always available.

4. This next point is often avoided as much as possible even by large well established companies. Always contact or call a meeting with colleagues, staff members or directors including other stakeholders as soon as it is necessary. Whilst you may not be able or need to share all the gloomy information, try as much as possible to share what needs to be shared to put hearts at rest. With the speed at which bad news spreads on social media, you certainly do not want those concerned to hear the news from a third party. The above would apply especially to where there needs to be staff cuts and business needs to continue with as high a moral as possible and manage expectations. Even at this stage, staff could help structure your decision making process.

5. Review Customer Relationships. Another key point is to review your relationship with your customers. In any business, after your staff, your customers are the most important. What is your relationship with your customers like in key areas like; customer service, online presence including social media, advertising etc. With the amount of competition and speed of change and expectation, you need to be consistently reviewing and updating your position on and offline. We at RBSS can help you analyse your position in the marketplace and where you need to be, making your business still sustainable and able to compete effectively.

Notice I haven’t said much about marketing and advertising at this stage. Well there is a reason for that. It’s one step at a time. Let’s address some fundamentals. Don’t wait for things to get bad before you contact us.  Contact us for a full business performance and health check. We will assess the 5 key drivers of your business and give you a health report on them. Furthermore, we will help you with key planning, methods and implementation to turn things around and make things better.  Our mission is to build and fund better and sustainable businesses. 
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Contact our experienced and professional Business Advisors at RBSS on 0333 355 1696. We are at hand to give you unbiased advice, be it at the business planning stage, the implementation stage or the growth stage of your business.