Call me cynical, but isn't it strange that the Government releases its response to the 'Simplifying Business Support' consultation on 20th December just as we all break up for the Christmas break - will anyone read it...? will it get reported in the papers...? does anyone care...?
And I thought that the small/independent business community was high up their agenda!!!
The paper can be seen at:
Simplifying business support: Government response to consultation (359KB)
but what does it mean...? It is pretty much indecipherable although ironically it does say:
'Government’s aim for publicly-funded business support in 2010, set out in the ‘simplifying business support’ consultation, is to reduce the number of publicly-funded business support schemes in England to no more than 100 by 2010, to ensure publicly-funded support is:
• Simple for business to understand and access;
• Good value for money; and
• has a substantial, measurable impact on public policy goals.'
Not long to wait then!!
RELEVANT LINKS
Initial response to the consultation on simplifying business support to accompany the pre-budget report (162KB)
Additional information on the business support announced in the Pre-Budget Report
Simplifying business support: Government response to consultation (359KB)
Business support simplification programme: impact assessment (332KB)
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Fifteen Ways To Raise A Million
Business XL Magazine has a great article named ‘Fifteen Ways To Raise A Million’ by Marc Barber.
And here’s the list – it’s all stuff we know already but sometimes people seem to miss out one or two:
1 Venture Capital
2 Invoice Discounting/Factoring
3 PLUS Markets
4 Venture Capital Trusts
5 AIM
6 Business Angels
7 Corporate Venturing
8 Cash Shells
9 Network Like Crazy
10 Regional Venture Capital Funds
11 Debt
12 Your Own Pocket
13 Commercial Finance
14 The Personal Touch
15 Enterprise Capital Fund
And here’s the list – it’s all stuff we know already but sometimes people seem to miss out one or two:
1 Venture Capital
2 Invoice Discounting/Factoring
3 PLUS Markets
4 Venture Capital Trusts
5 AIM
6 Business Angels
7 Corporate Venturing
8 Cash Shells
9 Network Like Crazy
10 Regional Venture Capital Funds
11 Debt
12 Your Own Pocket
13 Commercial Finance
14 The Personal Touch
15 Enterprise Capital Fund
For more information go to BERR’s website http://www.berr.gov.uk/ or read the full article in the magazine..
Monday, 24 December 2007
FOCUS!
With the New Year upon us it is time to FOCUS. Here we have two recent articles on this very subject!Time to Focus on Brighter Marketing - If you want to succeed, you've got to be smart in today's competitive age. That means not just being better than the rest - but also being different (Better Business, December 2007/January 2008).
Get Your Focus Right - Businesses had better watch out. Customers do not feel in charge and they do not feel delighted, despite what the rhetoric might say (Better Business, November 2007).
RELEVANT POSTS
Time to Focus on Brighter Marketing - Better Business, December 2007/January 2008.
Get Your Focus Right - Better Business, November 2007.
Get Your Focus Right - Better Business, November 2007.
Also...
How Good Is Your Marketing? - Forget your marketing expenditure for a minute - its all about delivering... (Growing Business Mag, Sept 2007).
Sunday, 23 December 2007
How To Energise Your Business In 2008
2008 is already here!
Start your Business has just published this article which seems like a pretty good place to start - How to energise your business
RELEVANT ARTICLES
How To Energise Your Business In 2008 - Feel like your business has lost its direction? Working hard but not getting the results you deserve? Robert Craven, entrepreneur guru leads the way! (Start Your Business Magazine, December 2007).
A Bunch of Fives - Robert Craven's New Year's Resolutions for 2006(?) - print it off and pop it on your wall. (First published in Daily Telegraph Business Club, December 2005. Also in Dealer Support and USP Magazines Jan 2006 - and on the USP Magazine website).
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Audio Logo, Elevator Pitch and so forth
Here’s a quickie – a new article of mine in 'Start Your Business' Magazine – just 200 words – How To Write An Elevator Pitch - it is a very brief summary but the other links/blogs will give you some more meat to put on the bones!
RELEVANT ARTICLES
How To Write An Elevator Pitch - Marketing guru, Robert Craven, shares his top tips (Start Your Business Magazine, December, 2007).
Elevator Pitch - 30 seconds to introduce yourself - Women in Rural Enterprise blog (July 2007).
Elevator Pitch discussed in a blog on Ecademy (Nov 2006).
What Would You Say To Sir Alan? - A full-length article on the 30-second pitch. Robert Craven (Better Business Magazine, March 2006).
.
RELEVANT ARTICLES
How To Write An Elevator Pitch - Marketing guru, Robert Craven, shares his top tips (Start Your Business Magazine, December, 2007).
Elevator Pitch - 30 seconds to introduce yourself - Women in Rural Enterprise blog (July 2007).
Elevator Pitch discussed in a blog on Ecademy (Nov 2006).
What Would You Say To Sir Alan? - A full-length article on the 30-second pitch. Robert Craven (Better Business Magazine, March 2006).
.
Monday, 17 December 2007
The Law Of Diminishing Customer returns
In Wikipedia diminishing returns is also called diminishing marginal returns or the law of diminishing returns.
When applied to marketing and sales we get an interesting (and true proposition)…
The larger your customer database… then you will find that the average value of additional customers reduces…
I will put this another way… as you grow the sales of a particular offering then additional customers are probably worth less!!!
The average new customer is more price sensitive and less valuable than earlier ones...
The newer customer also tends to be less loyal than the existing customers... Typically your earlier customers are the one ones that find your offering the most valuable and may even pay more for it…
Why am I pointing this out?
Well, most growing businesses think that the early customers are the hard ones to attract and that later on everything will be OK. The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns (which I believe I saw in my restaurant, sound recording studio and management consultancy companies) holds good for specific product sales – earlier customers are keener to pay more than the later ones… Its another variety of the Dip or Death Valley.
In growing, medium-sized businesses we often see:
1) Turnover growing but profit slipping as costs increase disproportionately...
2) The value of new customers often slips as well so you are trying to run up the ‘down’ escalator! (The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns)...
3) For many, what’s really going on is that the cost of acquiring each new customer is rising (see the graph above). (Marginal Cost rise!)
A triple whammy!!
No wonder its hard!
When applied to marketing and sales we get an interesting (and true proposition)…
The larger your customer database… then you will find that the average value of additional customers reduces…
I will put this another way… as you grow the sales of a particular offering then additional customers are probably worth less!!!
The average new customer is more price sensitive and less valuable than earlier ones...
The newer customer also tends to be less loyal than the existing customers... Typically your earlier customers are the one ones that find your offering the most valuable and may even pay more for it…
Why am I pointing this out?
Well, most growing businesses think that the early customers are the hard ones to attract and that later on everything will be OK. The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns (which I believe I saw in my restaurant, sound recording studio and management consultancy companies) holds good for specific product sales – earlier customers are keener to pay more than the later ones… Its another variety of the Dip or Death Valley.
In growing, medium-sized businesses we often see:
1) Turnover growing but profit slipping as costs increase disproportionately...
2) The value of new customers often slips as well so you are trying to run up the ‘down’ escalator! (The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns)...
3) For many, what’s really going on is that the cost of acquiring each new customer is rising (see the graph above). (Marginal Cost rise!)
A triple whammy!!
No wonder its hard!
RELEVANT LINKS
Wikipedia on The Law Of Diminishing Returns
Valley Of Death Article in Growing Business Magazine (Nov 07)
The Valley Of Death - How Many Employees Should You Have? - Will Critchlow, June 07
My Valley Of Death blog article - Robert Craven, July 07
The Valley Of Death - How Many Employees Should You Have? - Will Critchlow, June 07
My Valley Of Death blog article - Robert Craven, July 07
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Green Is The New Black - Tara Struk
An article by Tara Struk for Investopedia, Green Is The New Black, concludes:
"1 As consumer attention begins to shift more toward environmental concerns, companies are increasingly "going green".
2 But despite what their public relations suggest, companies probably don't take the initiative to make these changes to their companies out of goodwill.
3 In fact, as many companies have discovered, there are solid economic incentives for reducing waste and moving toward more sustainable business measures.
4 By "going green" companies have already succeeded in reducing costs and increasing sales.
5 In the future - particularly if the dire predictions about the availability of energy resources bear out - these moves may also ensure that companies maintain market share, avoid legal repercussions for environmental damage and stay in business.
Green products score points with consumers... staying ahead of the curve is good business... going green is better than going to court... green is a flattering colour (in PR)... "
So, what's holding people back? Is it all just a lot of buffalo dust and lip-service or are people serious about going green? In which case, sell the car and cancel the plane trip! Or are people just in love with the idea of going green (or being seen to be going green)?! Or is it just a conspiracy...? Maybe you think it doesn't matter that so many businesses realise that green is licence to charge disproportionately high prices and make disproportionately high profits!? Hmmm!
RELEVANT LINKS:
Is Green The New Black? - Robert Craven explains why going green will not just benefit the environment (Start Your Business, November 2007)
Green Is The New Black article by Tara Struk at investopedia.com
Global Warming - No Problem - Today's London Sunday Times reports on Bjorn Lomborg's latest book, Cool It... 'Do you care about global warming? Yes? Liar.
Whitewash - Greenwash: who cares if your business is green? - It is easy to say you are green, but consumers are skeptical.
Coming Soon - "Let's Talk... Bright Green" - how green credentials can help your business: a new workshop from Robert Craven with Barclays - watch this space and The Directors' Centre homepage.
"1 As consumer attention begins to shift more toward environmental concerns, companies are increasingly "going green".
2 But despite what their public relations suggest, companies probably don't take the initiative to make these changes to their companies out of goodwill.
3 In fact, as many companies have discovered, there are solid economic incentives for reducing waste and moving toward more sustainable business measures.
4 By "going green" companies have already succeeded in reducing costs and increasing sales.
5 In the future - particularly if the dire predictions about the availability of energy resources bear out - these moves may also ensure that companies maintain market share, avoid legal repercussions for environmental damage and stay in business.
Green products score points with consumers... staying ahead of the curve is good business... going green is better than going to court... green is a flattering colour (in PR)... "
So, what's holding people back? Is it all just a lot of buffalo dust and lip-service or are people serious about going green? In which case, sell the car and cancel the plane trip! Or are people just in love with the idea of going green (or being seen to be going green)?! Or is it just a conspiracy...? Maybe you think it doesn't matter that so many businesses realise that green is licence to charge disproportionately high prices and make disproportionately high profits!? Hmmm!
RELEVANT LINKS:
Is Green The New Black? - Robert Craven explains why going green will not just benefit the environment (Start Your Business, November 2007)
Green Is The New Black article by Tara Struk at investopedia.com
Global Warming - No Problem - Today's London Sunday Times reports on Bjorn Lomborg's latest book, Cool It... 'Do you care about global warming? Yes? Liar.
Whitewash - Greenwash: who cares if your business is green? - It is easy to say you are green, but consumers are skeptical.
Coming Soon - "Let's Talk... Bright Green" - how green credentials can help your business: a new workshop from Robert Craven with Barclays - watch this space and The Directors' Centre homepage.
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