A typical week could include pitching your product or service to prospects, meeting with existing clients, researching and forecasting industry trends, troubleshooting, seeking out new markets via social media platforms, scrutinising the financials with your FD, hiring, firing and mentoring employees, networking, attending exhibitions – and keeping abreast of the incessant stream of emails.

If you are currently what I call an ‘activity junkie’ who is lurching from task to task, then you are not doing yourself – or your company – any favours. Working haphazardly loses time shifting your brain into the right gear for the next item on your to-do list, and precious minutes are wasted on logistics. Just think of the unproductive hours you’ve spent driving back to the office after an errand or digging out the research you need to answer a question.

It’s therefore no wonder that achieving a work/life balance seems an elusive goal for many bosses whose working hours and stress levels are increasing as opposed to diminishing – and whose families are fed up with their prolonged absences.

I recommend a great solution to minimise the time lost switching between different work modes which I picked up from the New York Times Small Business Summit and which offers the following simple but powerful suggestion:

• Organise your calendar into “In” days and “Out” days.
• An “In” day is one when you get behind your desk and focus on your paperwork, make phone calls and don’t leave the premises.
• An “Out” day is one where you book meetings for breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee, you schedule client visits, and run errands. It’s a day when you’re completely out of the office.
• This technique of batching similar tasks together allows you to not only reduce the time you spend running around town – but also helps you to get you in the right mind-set for the day and keep it there.

Following this fruitful formula will hopefully reap dividends – for example, by preventing you losing time waiting for your brain to settle down after a lively lunch meeting or networking event so you can concentrate on your numbers.

It will also stop you interrupting yourself when in full flow of processing paperwork to realise it’s time to leave for a client meeting that you are not in the mood for.

Just think of how you can enhance your work/life balance with the time you save. You could power up your energy levels by going to the gym or going for a walk to give yourself some ‘thinking time’, catch up with friends, make up some missed time with the family or take up a new hobby.

While you are receptive to change and to working more productively and effectively, now is a good time to examine your work/life balance. Be brutally honest with yourself and take action to achieve powerful and productive outcomes.

The post ‘In’ days & ‘Out’ days can boost bosses’ performance giving greater work/life balance appeared first on Business Matters.

But that’s not what the latest science actually says, learning expert and author Annie Murphy Paul recently explained in a speech is far more complicated than that…..

Situation. They can be the physical conditions that learners experience by way of how much stress they’re under and how much sleep and exercise they get, and the mental conditions learners create for themselves by the levels of expertise and attention and motivation they’re able to achieve. Situational intelligence, in other words, is the only kind of intelligence there is.

Beliefs. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck distinguishes two types of mindsets: the fixed mindset, or the belief that ability is fixed and unchanging, and the growth mindset, or the belief that abilities can be developed through learning and practice. These beliefs matter because they influence how think about our own abilities, how we perceive the world around us, and how we act when faced with a challenge or with adversity.

Expertise. Experts don’t just know more, they know differently, in ways that allow them to think and act especially intelligently within their domain of expertise… Expertise takes a long time to develop, of course, but it’s never too early–or too late–go deep in a subject area that interests us.

Attention. There are information-processing bottlenecks in the brain–everybody’s brain–that prevent us from paying attention to two things at the same time. The state of focused attention is a very important internal situation that we must cultivate in order to fully express our intelligence.

Emotions. When we’re in a positive mood, for example, we tend to think more expansively and creatively. When we feel anxious–for instance, when we’re about to take a dreaded math test–that anxiety uses up some of the working memory capacity we need to solve problems, leaving us, literally, with less intelligence.

Technology. The problem is that our devices so often make us dumber instead of smarter… In order for tech to make ourselves smarter and not dumber, we need understand when to take full advantage of our devices, and when to put them away.

Our bodies. All the things that make the heart work better–good nutrition, adequate sleep, regular exercise, moderate stress–make the brain work better too.

Relationships. If you have a spouse or significant other: it’s likely that one of you is “in charge” of remembering when the car needs to go in for inspection, while the other is “in charge” of remembering relatives’ birthdays. This is called transactive memory, and it’s just one of the ways that relationships with others can make us smarter than we would be on our own… a feeling of belonging is critical to the full expression of our ability.

The post 8 ways to be smarter appeared first on Business Matters.

So it’ll be all eyes on Q2 and Q3 lending figures soon enough, and if we get to Q3 and there’s hasn’t been a change, it’s likely there’ll be eyebrows raised as it’ll surely be the beginning of the end for the credibility of the government’s Funding for Lending project.
Also in the BDRC research is evidence many firms are actually happy non-seekers of finance. This effectively means firms don’t want cash, or are accessing it from sources other than mainstream lenders.

This means any recovery people are expecting this summer – if there is one – is largely going to come from firms splashing their own stockpiled cash reserves which there’s been a lot about. This isn’t sustainable in the long term though – these happy non-seekers of finance will one day require the services of a lender.

The BDRC data also reveals that younger firms, seen as the more risky, were still less likely to get a yes from their bank manager. Of first time applicants 62% were refused overdraft facilities, and 59% loan applications. Those aren’t good odds.

Our members frequently report this kind of behaviour too. Established firms quite often appear to see no issues accessing bank credit, it’s the start-ups and the fledgling firms the ones with issue here. This BDRC data confirms what we’ve been hearing ourselves anecdotally, and that is alarming seen as the government’s plans for the economy hinge on new businesses.

The post Bank lending still in decline appeared first on Business Matters.

I suggested Myles and Neil were ones to watch last week and I’m pleased to report that this week both proved me right – sadly though Myles to watch and cringe at his over enthusiastic ‘we love it’ smiley Myley manner, and happily Neil because he took on the task of being Project Manager for Evolve and actually did a darn good job. He provided direction, was decisive, engaging and modest – even when the affable Jason managed to make the first sale, which hit Neil’s ‘man pride’, he took it with humility pleased that his team had achieved the sale.

Kurt became the Project Manager for Endeavour and his whole approach could be summed up as over casual, unengaged and borderline miserable. He himself said he took a gamble to be project manager and on this occasion that gamble did not pay off.

Both teams failed to a greater and lesser degree to recognise the task was about the customer and what the customer wanted. They did not read their audience nor did they engage with them terribly well – well except Jason, and more of him later.

Endeavour bought what they would like – a retro camper van appealing to a 35-45 year old market, rather than sticking with what their market research indicated; the over 50 year old market. Well when I say market research I mean looking at all the caravans and guessing age of the person who was driving the vehicle whilst motoring up the M6 to Birmingham – yes really!

Neil went through the same thought process as Endeavour to understand target age group and in the end chose the fold out trailer/come tent as he felt that was more in keeping with the customer target, than the camper van he personally preferred, and that one choice won his team the task. They sold three of these high end products at a total of £30,491. Mind you even if they hadn’t they would have won on the accessory sales alone when their children’s camping box and electric bike sold for a total of £3116 against Endeavours Boat/Car box and folding chair with a roof of which they only managed to sell £1479 worth and no retro vans; not one, none, zip, nada! It wasn’t a loss but an annihilation as Lord Sugar said.

Why? The products were already there, they just had to pick the right one, the audience and customers were there, they didn’t have to drum up support, they only had to match the two and they failed. Myles sales technique was missing an initial qualifying question to save time. One simple question would have saved his time and effort on time wasters – ‘do you intend to buy today’. Even dragging Leah over to add ‘eye candy’ as Kurt called it, whilst engaged a potential buyer, it did little to close a sale.

So Endeavour’s failure meant Kurt brought Natalie into the Board room for a fourth time – a tactical move that both Lord Sugar and she spotted, and Alex’s eyebrows, oops I mean Alex, for being involved in selecting the wrong product. After the usual ding dong fight and slanging match that followed Kurt was fired for ultimately choosing the wrong product and for playing tactics. Off he popped leaving Natalie and Alex trying to catch their breath only to have Lord Sugar state that tactics or not, Natalie had been warned and as she didn’t make any efforts she too was a ‘gonna’! Alex was the last man standing and off he trotted back to the house.

So that was this week’s task – a dismal failure on the sales side again, and a demonstration that selecting your product and matching it to your customer is key. I can’t leave you this week though without mentioning the other shining star. Who? Well Jason of course, who managed to step out of Neil’s shadow when partnered selling their folded trailer product. His flamboyant arm waving, flowery words, endearing smile and bumbling charm worked a treat on the target audience. As Karen Brady said ‘the more mature person seemed to like it’. So much so Lord Sugar called him back into the board room to congratulate him – altogether now… ‘aaahhh’. Finally Jason well done.

So I told you to watch Neil and I would encourage you to so again next week, only I would add Louisa to the list, much as that pains me as her ‘girly’ manner and ways irritate me so very much, but this week she managed to keep calm and deliver. So who would you watch? Come share your thoughts and opinions with us at @BizMattersmag or follow us on twitter @3domSolutions

The post The Apprentice – week seven appeared first on Business Matters.

Mistake Number 1 – Being Desperate and Lying

Now I know we’re in sales, or have to do sales as part of our role, and sometimes we may have to bend the truth a little on occasion, but I’m not sure that outright lying helps our cause as a professional, trying to build profitable business relationships.

An example of a call I heard made earlier this month went like this: “Hello Mr X, we spoke 3 months ago and you asked me to call back today to make an appointment with you”.

Why was this so bad? Not only because the potential client hadn’t said anything of the sort, but also because the salesperson had never even spoken to the client before!

What could that potentially do to your credibility in the eyes of the potential client, and, if you’re speaking to a decision maker with any level of authority, expect to be challenged on it quite strongly with something like “No we did not” or “I don’t remember that” – leading to either an argument or a rapid climb-down on your part – and probably the end of the call.

Now whilst the above statement by the salesperson is quite unusual, it does have a similar, more common cousin – the “Hi we spoke 3 months ago and you asked me to call you back today”. Usually said by salespeople who are desperate and don’t have a better opening statement or in their misguided belief that lying will help get them rapport with the decision maker – not likely!

Mistake Number 2 – Talking About Literature or Emails

The biggest mistake I see most people make when they follow up literature or an email is when they say something like: “Hi Andy, it’s Fred from XYZ company, we recently sent you some literature. I’m just calling up to make sure you received it.”

Let’s think about this for a minute. What are the two most likely responses from a decision maker that you don’t have that much rapport with? Something like “No I didn’t, would you please go through the same rigmarole again, just for my amusement?” Or how about the other option: “Yes I did, and I’ve got all the information I need right now, thank you”.

Where on earth are you going to take the call now?

Even if you’ve sent literature and been lucky enough to get the decision maker to take the call you run the risk of the call being very short, with another call back scheduled for a later point in time, but without having moved forwards with the prospect in any way.

Mistake Number 3 – Having Endless Call-Backs

This is another big mistake that many people make without even realising it. Far too many salespeople either end their previous call badly or without a defined outcome. What kind of impact do you think that has on the potential success of their next call?

How do you think this affects your attitude when the call comes up in your call back list? Might the fact you got nothing from the first call and the person won’t even remember you in some cases play on your mind a little?

If you’re like most people, of course you have! One of the reasons for this cherry-picking is that you know you got nothing from the call last time and you’re worried that the same will happen this time and you’ll ruin the prospect.

Also, because your attitude has been affected, might that affect your confidence in making the follow up call a little? Perhaps less likely to handle objections well and give up too easily? You bet!

Therefore, most follow up calls start something like this: “Hello Mr X, we spoke about 3 months ago about you xyz and I was just calling to see how things are going for you at the moment”.

Awful! Let’s imagine you were the senior decision maker you were trying to reach with that statement. What would you think of a call like that, that interrupted you doing whatever you were doing to take the call? That it has real importance and value for your business? Or that it’s pretty much a waste of your time, exactly like most of the other calls you receive on a day-to-day basis? My guess is for the second one.

Is it any wonder that the response decision makers give to that sort of opening is something like “Things are fine. What do you want?” Now we’re under even more pressure, aren’t we, and it’s pretty hard to rescue the call from here.

So, if you’re about to do a follow up call session, or try and reach people you’ve spoken to in the past, make sure you don’t make any of the mistakes shown above and you’ll have far greater successes with your calls!

The post 3 Classic Follow Up Mistakes Most People Make With Their Sales Calls appeared first on Business Matters.

Given the pace of change, it is vitally important that we all keep up. It will become increasingly difficult to stay in touch and respond to customers’ needs without using the latest technology. The public has come to expect an immediacy in customer service as a result of both online trading and social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

With this in mind, two years ago, Leaderboard Golf decided to embrace the latest technology in order to place the business ahead of the competition, and to reach out to a larger audience in the golfing world.

The first step was to introduce a brand new website (www.leaderboardgolf.co.uk) to serve the UK and international golfing community, and combine state-of-the-art social media and interactive functionality. The site is linked to Leaderboard’s own YouTube channel that features golf instruction videos as well as product reviews, and has now nearly 500,000 views – an excellent result in just over two years.

In addition, each of the five Leaderboard Golf venues have their own Twitter and Facebook accounts, which facilitates an instant and more accessible way to interact with customers, who are able to keep up-to-date with the latest offers and information about the company, as well as express any concerns or suggestions directly to the staff. All of the above tools help the business in marketing itself to a much wider audience in a cost effective way.

Such technology can also be extremely useful for building new industry links, as well as for communicating with clients. Recently, Leaderboard launched www.leaderboardteetimes.com, a site that offers golf clubs the opportunity to advertise their tee times at a discounted price for free. There simply isn’t another company on the internet that offers this service, and as a result the site is growing steadily within the industry.

Apps and other creative technology can also be incredibly useful to SMEs, as they offer a unique service that will engage customers, as well as generate publicity.

Leaderboard has taken a stake in Nearest2thePin (www.nearest2thepin.com), an app that connects golfers around the world, as well as setting up a partnership up with the successful SwingReader app to offer free professional tips to users from our coaches. Both initiatives are proving to be a positive tool in terms of the services we can offer customers, as well as increasing brand awareness within our industry as a whole.

With all the options that are available in this fast and changing technical world, embracing the internet and the technology that accompanies it has enabled Leaderboard to transform its profile within the golfing world, whilst maintaining its reputation as the owner of some of the UK’s finest courses.

My advice to companies is to embrace the latest in technology no matter what size your business is; the big boys have done much of the experimenting and ground work in the field, and as I have always said, “Hey if it’s good enough for them…Then it must be good enough for me.

The post It is not to late to jump on the Internet bandwagon for SMEs appeared first on Business Matters.

Similarly, a Midlands-based small printer was recently seeking around £15,000 to upgrade his computers. He was prepared to put up his £150,000 printing machine as collateral against the loan – a not insignificant proposal on his part as this is his business’s single most valuable asset.

But the bank told him it was unable to accept the printer as the asset for an asset-backed finance scheme and so couldn’t help. ‘But’, it said, ‘we can lend you up to £20,000 for a car up to eight years old if you fancy that instead.’

Whether this was a tacit way of saying they would lend against the business owner’s Jaguar instead is still out for debate, but the key point was missed by the business owner: if the loan was called in against the printer, not only was the printer a tricky piece of kit to realise its asset value, it also meant the business was no longer viable and so all other loans were likely to fall over as well.

Access to finance
The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is one of the most varied and important, but it is also one of the most fragile. Lacking the critical mass and resources of some of their larger peers, SMEs can be more susceptible to economic changes. SMEs highlight economic uncertainty, lack of consumer demand, and fuel costs as three of the four areas of concern for the future. The fourth barrier SMEs cite is access to finance.

My vision for the future of banking is one where businesses can get efficient access to finance and the help offered to them by myriad government schemes. Banks will, of course, try to help businesses understand their requirements to secure loans and advances, and business organisations also provide some help on this point. But, SMEs are a key driver of growth in the UK and their efficient funding is vital to the sector supporting economic recovery. To achieve this we need a banking system which understands business and a business world that is not put off looking for finance.

Currently, the picture on SME lending is unclear. Whilst (in its Voice of Small Business Index Q1 2013) the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) highlights business loan rates coming down, just 41% of those surveyed were successful in applying for a loan with another 17% waiting for a decision. Indeed, just 20% of those surveyed had made an application for credit. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA), however, reports that typically around 9% of SMEs will have made an application for a loan in the last year.

However, whilst the FSB indicates that nearly half of SMEs applying for credit are unsuccessful, the BBA claims that 71% of businesses are successful in new or renewed loan applications. Indeed, bank chiefs, when asked, will claim that as many as 85% of loan applications are granted.

The truth is there are a number of factors at play. At the most basic level, an SME owner or manager may see the bad headlines and simply not bother to seek finance in the belief that they will be rejected. This is reinforced by the fact some businesses believe a rejection somehow registers on a credit score for the business. This is further compounded by the fact that banks do not necessarily treat a loan enquiry as a formal application and many no-hopers are rejected before a formal application is made, explaining some of the difference between the FSB and BBA surveys.

Mismatched expectations
Crucial to much of the problem is a lack of understanding between the bank and the business manager of what each other does and what each other expects.

Banks, at their most basic level, are simple. They are merely a balance sheet with customers attached to both sides. A customer – depositor – lends money to the bank and in so doing appears as a liability. The bank then seeks to gain a return on the money it has borrowed by lending it out at a higher rate than it has paid the depositor, and that loan to a borrower appears as an asset. The simplicity of this example
is important: for a bank to function in any meaningful way as a bank, it has to lend money.

But, the very act of lending money is a risk. The depositor, notwithstanding the government guarantee of £85,000 for deposits, is at risk of the bank being unable to pay back the loan. In order for the bank to be able to secure deposits, it has to demonstrate that it is lending prudently – even more so now that the banking and regulatory reform is keen to ensure the taxpayer will not stand behind the banks in any future crises.

Despite this, in lending to a business, the bank is writing what amounts to a call option. In the event of a successful loan to a business, the bank wins by getting back what it has loaned plus the agreed rate of interest; but the shareholders of the business win the increase in the value of their equity as a result of the successful use of gearing – a significantly higher return than the bank. Should the business fail, the bank loses its loan and its interest.

The business owner loses their equity, of course, but their upside is significantly greater than the bank’s, whilst the downside is the same. So the bank has to align the owner’s risk with the bank’s risk, and assess all the risks to the loan (economic, skills resource of the business, opportunity, etc.). It is at this point that the mismatch of expectations starts to become apparent, as the stories at the start of this essay demonstrate.

Problems faced
There are other problems banks face outside of those influenced by businesses. The reforms after the banking crises put more pressure on banks to shrink their balance sheets and, with one of the crises banks – the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) – holding a significant share of the SME lending market, there is inevitably pressure on the overall picture. Add to that the Basel III requirements, being delivered through CRD IV, that weigh SME lending as the highest level of risk with regard to risk weightings and the pressure is on for SMEs seeking loan financing.

It is no wonder around a third of SMEs do not use formal methods of external financing at all, relying on retained earnings or personal finance to fund investment and growth. The rest, who do seek external
finance, are almost entirely reliant on the banks. Just 2% of SMEs use external equity as a source of finance. The Dragon’s Den, it seems, has not yet sunk into the general psyche of SMEs
.
One of the issues against equity financing, aside from the perception by a business owner that they will be reducing their control of the business, is that the cost of debt financing carries favourable tax benefits. This in itself creates a perverse incentive that could be reversed through alternative methods of tax treatment of the cost of equity finance.

To help counter the headwinds against SME lending, the government has, since 1981, put in place a series of debt-guarantee schemes of various shapes and sizes, from the Small Firms Loans Guarantee
Scheme to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee in 2009. But, irrespective of who guarantees the loan, and therefore the cost to the SME of the loan, the bank still has to process the application. Cheap loans are oft en accompanied by expensive set-up charges.

Possible solutions
There are a number of solutions in place. The current government has provided support for businesses through a number of schemes. But whilst these are admirable in their intention, the sheer number of them (10) can make things confusing: Enterprise Finance Guarantee, Enterprise Capital Funds, Business Angel Co-Investment Fund, Business Finance Partnership, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, National Loan Guarantee Scheme, Community Investment Tax Relief, Tackling Late Payment / Promoting Prompt Payment, National Loan Guarantee Scheme, and the Growth Accelerator offer a bewildering array of opportunities for businesses.

The Local Enterprise Partnerships provide a service for businesses to access advice, but the problem still remains: average business owners find themselves in a very lonely place, more oft en than not unaware of the options available to them largely as a result of not being a member of any professional body, such as the FSB.

Despite an array of alternative providers of finance, such as peer-to peer (P2P) lenders and community investment funds, banks dominate the market place in terms of size and brand recognition and are the first stop for a vast majority of businesses seeking finance. Because of this, some argue banks should be seen as utilities and there is a great deal of support for nationalised banks – RBS especially – to be broken up. This is the right course of action.

It should be broken into two parts with one part providing a depository for bad loans, to clear the banking system of bad forbearance, currently under the radar as a result of cheap financing costs; and the second part providing a state-owned utility bank that is a one-stop shop offering a full range of government and commercially driven initiatives and advice for all businesses, especially SMEs and micro businesses.

But whilst a state-owned bank (run on a commercial basis), within the confines of the proposed ring-fence under the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill, could be a very efficient quick fix solution, for it to be able to develop a better SME support culture, the ‘New RBS’ must be open to significant competition.

It is vital that an efficient banking market opens up for SMEs. The Financial Services Authority started the process of allowing easier access for new entrant banks and this should be continued by its successors – the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority – with their approvals process. It should certainly be the case that it is not prohibitively expensive to merely open the door for negotiations with the regulator. Importantly, greater competition would lead to greater choice, not just with a plethora of banks offering the same product, but with banks offering specialist funding services.

A typical bank seeking to help a local specialist business will still need to go through the process of understanding that customer’s business model: a specialist bank will already understand it, driving down the cost of funding applications for that type of business. We are a maritime nation, yet there is still no specialist marine financer amongst the UK banking sector.

The government runs the risk of trying to solve problems with yet another initiative. This would not be a solution, merely an extra ingredient to confuse the already over-flavoured offering. A business friendly, state-owned utility bank operating in an environment of increased competition through a simpler banking licence approval process and a more lenient regulatory requirement for early start-up banks will drive banks to better utilise their existing strongest asset: their distribution network.

This will allow not just more, transparent banks, but also a wider variety of bank types – including alternative providers such as P2P lenders and community investment schemes.

Finally, education. Education comes in many forms and getting information out to businesses is the simplest. As the government regularly contacts businesses for a wide variety of tax and regulation-related reasons, it seems a simple ask for government to use these opportunities to tell businesses what is available, and to encourage businesses to seek help from professional organizations and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

But there has been a big educational deficit up to now, i.e failing to realise that financial education should be part of the curriculum. That is now changing and that is a good thing, but it will take a generation for our new entrepreneurs to be entirely comfortable with finance and money management as a result.

It is from this basis of education – whether through schools or other routes – that we can, as a society, drive a step change in financing options for businesses: a step change that sees business leaders seeing equity investment as a proper and sensible alternative to debt financing. For a challenger bank, the opportunity to offer equity finance (whether as principal or broker) through its existing distribution network offers, possibly, one of the greatest transformational changes to SME financing for the future.

The post Getting SMEs the finance they need appeared first on Business Matters.

His comments came as he spoke at the Future For Regional Banking event today in Newcastle. “I believe there is a real opportunity for the creation of new banks that can serve the needs of individuals, communities and businesses; I think we will see between 5 and 15 new banks over the next 3 to 5 years.

However, I am unsure that the future lies in regional banks. My belief is that the future lies in banks that are regionally based but, over time, become national in their reach.

“Conversations with local business leaders have convinced me that there is the passion, commitment and resources in the North East to create the first of hopefully many new banks, which will provide more competition, more consumer choice and more credit for SMEs.”

Greg Clark, Financial Secretary to the Treasury – tasked with leading the Government’s response to the financial crisis, and developing a banking sector that serves the needs of the UK economy, also spoke at the event. He said: “This Government wants to see more banks operating and competing in the UK. More banks challenging the big incumbents. If communities or entrepreneurs want to set up a bank, either to serve their local community or to compete nationally, and can do this responsibly, Government or regulators shouldn’t get in the way. More entrepreneurs are needed to help create more banks and more competition, and we are here to ensure this happens. The current number of banks in the UK is unacceptable, we need more.”

He further added that customers are tired of impersonal relationships with the big banks and that smaller local banks would help more people. “In banking a few very large players have come to dominate the market, customers have bridled at what they see as the replacement of local knowledge and relationships with a ‘computer says no’ approach. But I – and the Government believe in the importance of ensuring that regional economies across the country have the support and the policy environment they need to grow and thrive. Local bankers should make local lending decisions based on local knowledge.”

He was joined at the event by fellow speakers Victoria Raffe, Financial Conduct Authority, Guy Opperman, MP for Hexham, Sam Woods, PRA and Anthony Thomson, founder and former Chairman of Metro Bank, the first new bank in more than 100 years.

All debated the topic of the future for regional banks, an issue that has become all the more pertinent given the recent reduction in capital requirements new banks are now required to hold, and the shortening of the authorisation process for new entrants. The change in legislation could lead to a flurry of new regional banks being created.

The post Entrepreneurial banks are needed to create competition & reform in banking appeared first on Business Matters.

But despite figures that purport to show more people took up an apprenticeship last year than started a degree, I don’t think we are out of the woods when it comes to up-skilling the nation just yet.

We must now work harder to create more high quality, apprenticeships. And if more proof of this fact is required let me point to Germany, a country that not only understands to importance of the apprenticeship which is now actively poaching our young workers. This is despite 66 percent of German school leavers becoming apprentices and the country having youth unemployment of 7.5 percent.

It seems they are worried about their own impending skills shortage, and have a put aside 120 million quid to lure our best over there for all-expenses-paid three year apprenticeships, with good wages, German language lessons, and two free trips home a year.

You might say our European cousins want our young talent badly, and they are prepared to pay for it!

So, it’s quite literally becoming a case of use them or lose them. We really do need to realise what the Germans have already clocked and that is that the million young kids we have out of work are a potential asset not a liability.

The writing is on the wall for a skills based economic future in this country and if we’re not careful it will include umlauts, and it will read ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet!’

This can be a disaster or a wake-up call, it’s our choice. The most economically sound European economy has realised we have an asset they could use and have made a play for it.

They have retained more of a manufacturing base than we have over the last 50 years and they are determined to keep it.

We have convinced our young people and their families that taking up an apprenticeship is a great way to build a career now we must deliver on our promise and make them available in the numbers required; otherwise all the hard work raising the social status of vocational qualifications will benefit another country.

And in 50 years we won’t be importing Poles and Latvians to prop up what building and engineering we have left, it will be Germans called Smith, Jones and MacDermot!

The post Ignoring British talent will mean saying ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet’ to our apprentices appeared first on Business Matters.

So how did events unfold? Leah was placed in charge of Endeavour. She opted for a history themed day despite the vote being for the school days one the boys on the team had pumped for. She over ruled them; for once going with her gut, but this was where she started to go wrong from the get go by over ruling the team and alienating them. However at least she had the common sense to see that theme wasn’t going to work when she met with Barclays Retail who asked her to focus on listening skills, communication and improving team work. Out she walked of the meeting and in she walked to an army themed day instead. What the?? How is that any of the above? That’s about shouting, telling, ordering and drilling? Oh well.

They pulled together a series of activities such as blind boules and quoits, marching and sumo wrestlers. All marshalled by Colonel Alex all dressed up in full army regalia and camouflage paint – cringe worthy. The saving grace was Neil and Myles trying, and succeeding, in making every event meet the business objectives brief. They worked out for each task how it ticked the relevant box and made sure it delivered. Well done boys.

Francesca as the other project manager, again appointed rather than volunteered, struggled from the start to engage and specifically to keep Louisa from trouble making. She had to endure Louisa’s speech about how much she disliked ‘corporate world’ and had little time or respect for it; not a great team player to have when it’s a very corporate client of lastminute.com you are working for.

Lastminute.com’s philosophy is to deliver a 5* service for a 3* price and they asked Evolve to follow suit. Sadly Evolve’s school themed day failed to deliver. Whilst it was described as fun it didn’t tick any of the business objectives requested – namely creativity, collaboration and communication. Instead Evolve tried to shoe horn their theme and activities to fit the client’s objectives; such an arrogant approach but indicative of their behaviours to date. This arrogance was further demonstrated by Endeavour’s Leah, who turned up late to meet the CEO of Barclays and failed to apologise!

Why neither of the teams regrouped properly to review the clients requirements and re-task the day after those initial meetings I can only guess at. Francesca stated there was a fine line between cost and quality and yet managed to deliver a shabby do-it-yourself day – it’s a bit like my business partner who hates heights agreeing to teach everyone to skydive. She has never done it, would never do it and so would deliver something so far from what is actually needed or asked, for its laughable.

The motivational piece at the end of each day was delivered in two very different manners, Evolve spending cash on a professional and Endeavour using Neil to deliver the speeches. This was an opportunity for us viewers to see Neil at his best so far. Yes he tried to take over from Leah, but in the end pulled together for the good of the team and delivered a rousing speech that the client went out of their way to commend to Karen Brady. One to watch with interest I think. It was this additional £600 cost though for Evolve that lost them the task and got Rebecca fired for her lack of input and the fact Lord Sugar hadn’t seen anything in her so far.

Louisa managed a lucky escape having been taken back into the board room by Francesca and lambasted for slagging off a corporate world in front of three very corporate judges. And no Louisa, people don’t dislike you because of the way you look, and I cannot believe you actually think that let alone said it out loud! Please!

Talking of looks though the episode had an exciting subplot running through it – the battle off between Francesca’s eyeliner making her evil eyes more evil, Jordan’s childish competitive smirks and Alex’s on-going eyebrow drama, complete with the shared waxing experience.

I’m finally starting to see some potential come through in the dwindling numbers though and can actually feel myself becoming more animated in this search. But in the end I am left with this question – if you were Lord Sugar who would you want to go into business with? Come share your thoughts and opinions with us at @BizMattersmag or follow us on twitter @3domSolutions

The post The Apprentice – week six appeared first on Business Matters.

The latest figures show that, at the end of March, SMEs had £125.9bn on deposit, up from £119.2bn a year earlier – an increase of 5.6 per cent. Smaller businesses have built up their deposits even faster: a 7.8 per cent increase from £56.1bn to £60.5bn over the same period.

The question is whether this is good or bad? In one sense, this is clearly a sign of success. For many small firms, these are genuinely tough times. But the sector as a whole is generating the cash that enables them to save. Companies on the verge of bankruptcy or with cashflow crises don’t generally have big deposits.

But it is also a sign of fear and uncertainty. Many are choosing to hold their spare cash in the bank, rather than invest it in expanding their business, because they are worried about the future. Just like big businesses and households, they are responding to economic gloom by saving up and paying off debts. Personal saving is also rocketing, and people are paying off their mortgages. From their own personal financial point of view, that is no doubt a good thing to do.

One of the consequences, however, is depressed net lending figures. When a person or company pays off a debt – whether a mortgage or a business loan – it reduces net lending figures. Net mortgage lending is down not so much because the amount of new mortgages being taken out has declined, but because capital repayments have been rising. When individuals or companies build up their savings, they are also less likely to take out a loan. When they need money they are more likely to turn to their own reserves, rather than a bank.

So what matters to borrowers is not so much net lending, but whether they are able to access finance when they need it. People paying off their mortgages reduces net mortgage lending figures, but that does not mean first-time buyers are finding it more difficult to get a mortgage to buy their dream home. Likewise, a highly-indebted business may want to reduce its costs by paying off loans, which will reduce net lending figures. But this has no impact on whether other companies that need finance can get access to it.

Availability to finance is better measured by gross lending, where the picture is very different from the declining net lending. Gross lending is stable, with around £40bn new lending going out of the doors of banks and building societies every month. The latest figures show that, in March, gross lending to SMEs by banks rose to £3.9bn, the highest level for well over a year. It is gross lending that matters to SMEs, not whether other SMEs are paying off debts. Banks are doing more to improve access to loans and overdrafts – many of the criticisms were justified. But when it comes to SME finances, it is not all bad news.

The post The real SME lending story isn’t so gloomy as bank balances are actually growing appeared first on Business Matters.

So what is a mentor and how do you find a good one? Well there are various ways you can do this but a good start is at the Business & IP Centre, part of the British Library situated at 96 Euston Road, London.

BRITISH LIBRARY
Many people do not realise the importance the British Library plays in the business life of the nation. Completed in 1996/7 the new building which houses the nation’s literary treasures brought many comments regarding its external appearance, both good and bad, from various quarters including HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

A VERY INTERESTED & ENGAGED PRINCE
I was fortunate enough to have lunch with HRH Prince Philip & HM The Queen when the Royal Couple visited Bristol at the end of Her Majesties Jubilee Tour and was able to explain to a very interested & engaged Prince Philip just how important the British Library is to the well-being of Small to Medium-sized businesses, with a failure rate of those mentored within the Business & IP Centre, where I am Entrepreneur in Residence, amongst the lowest in the Country.

In May 2005 the British Library received a grant of one million pounds from the London Development Agency to change two of its reading rooms into the Business & IP Centre which opened its doors officially in 2006. It holds arguably the most comprehensive collection of business & Intellectual property material in the UK and is the official library of the UK intellectual & Property Office.

The British Library was originally part of the British Museum but became an entity in its own right in 1973, moving to its present home in 1997. It is the National Library of the United Kingdom and one of the two largest libraries in the world, the other being the Library of Congress in Washington DC, USA.

Various mentoring programmes are available within the Business & IP Centre including its revered Innovation for Growth programme which attracts many plaudits. If you are a London-based business, have been established for over a year and have an annual turnover of £100,000 the Innovation for Growth programme can help you fulfil your growth ambitions.

By joining this well thought out business support programme you will get bespoke advice to help you make the leap. With business experts and unrivalled research collections the Business & IP Centre can help you develop and implement a sustainable strategy for your business growth.

Whether you want to enter new markets, both home and abroad, expand your business to new outlets or develop your product or service range to reach new customers a visit to the centre is a must.

You can also receive personalised advice on protecting your intellectual property and increasing the power of your brand to give you the opportunity to take advantage of new commercial opportunities.

Other benefits include:

• A dedicated relationship manager & one-to-one mentoring and advice
• Membership of the much revered ‘Growth Club’ with peer-to-peer networking events
• Exclusive access to the British Library Entrepreneur in Residence who just happens to be me!
• Featured in Business & IP Centre media and marketing campaigns with a listing on their official website which will raise your profile and that of your business.
• Complimentary tickets to events with the chance to meet high profile speakers

To find out more visit www.bl.uk/bipc/innovating.html

HEROPRENEURS- Battlefield to Business
There are other mentoring programmes around the country including one for ex-military personal managed by the military charity Heropreneurs with over 20,000 people leaving the military this year alone there is a vital need for more mentors within its programme so if you are an experienced business person why not apply?

As I said at the beginning of this article, new and growing businesses have a much better chance of survival with access to a mentor so seeking out an appropriate programme should be high on the agenda of any person seriously wanting to create a new business, or progress one they already run to the next level.  http://news.bis.gov.uk/Press-Releases/Government-delivers-better-access-to-business-mentors-67c45.aspx   will give more information from the Government on this.

It may also be worth contacting the Princes Trust to see if they have any appropriate schemes which you can join, visit their website for more information http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/?gclid=COKxwdS2s7cCFZQZtAodOAIADQ .

Being in business for your-self is a wonderful thing but to enjoy the benefits you need to survive the early years. Taking a mentor will help you achieve this.

The post The Importance of Mentoring appeared first on Business Matters.

Ever since George Orwell published 1984 society has feared the day they would be living under ‘Big Brother’. TV producers have made millions out of this intrigue into our every waking moment, but technology and its application is creeping into many workers lives and is destroying years of good workplace relations.

How is technology ruining employee engagement?

Hands up who’s got a smartphone? Who cares if geolocation is switched on? This simple device can quickly and easily enable managers to see exactly where their workforce are at the touch of a button. Many employees from a vast range of industries have all complained that their smartphones or iPads have geolocation added as standard, and feel that they’re not trusted to go about their daily business without someone wondering if they had popped to the shops, or picked the kids up when they should have been at a client meeting.

Geolocation can also be tagged to social media posts too, and again, employees have started to feel anxious about how they are being checked-up on. Social media with the introduction of Yammer to the internal communications sector has again heralded a new technological dawn. Again, it offers HR and PR professionals a unique tool to boost internal comms, but social media also has a darker side. We’re all well aware in the recruitment sector about personal social media pages being monitored to see what type of person they’re really getting, but companies have still been very slow in creating strong workplace policies to guide employees on what they can and can’t say about their organisation to friends and family online, which leaves employees wondering what they can and can’t do.

But like with all things technological social media comes with its own language which itself can prove stressful and frustrating. Not everyone knows a tweet from their infographic and their wiki from their app. Of course it favours the young and in an ageing workforce it can be tricky to keep all onboard. Companies need to be aware of their employees’ skillset and encourage a wide dialogue with their staff via a variety of traditional and new media outlets.

Gamification has also been heralded as the latest technique to improve data collection in the field of employee engagement. However the ‘games process’ can be a real turn on for some but a huge turn off for others depending on their skillset and background. We’ve seen some recent push back on this already with some common criticisms including ‘it’s not a real game’ and ‘it’s really only bribery’ and even some feedback that people try to ‘cheat’! Not fantastic from an employee engagement perspective.

The majority of these problems do not stem from organisations going out of their way to introduce baffling new applications or be ‘Big Brother’; it’s more of a bi-product from the introduction of new technologies. I recently heard about an organisation that had fitted new tagging equipment into their field based people’s vehicles. The employer wanted to ensure they knew where their employees were in case they broke down, or to view their location if another job came up nearby – which, in itself seems sensible. As the new technology was rolled out, employees were informed of the changes and why they were being implemented – again, the right thing to do.

However, as the technology evolved it provided the operations team with new services and tools, enabling them to alert each driver if they had been too heavy on the brakes or had driven too fast. The operations team thought that this would be a great way to help save the company money, and to help reduce accidents on the road and there were very strong commercial and responsible reasons for doing this, but all of the drivers with this new technology have become incredibly angry as they feel someone is – ‘checking up on me all the time’. None of the team was informed why the company had made the switch; and to be told by text message that they had driven too fast, or slammed on their brakes had really annoyed a lot of team members.

These are just a few examples of how technology can create frustration and tension in the workplace and erode good levels of employee engagement in weeks. As ever happy employees are ones that feel respected and trusted to do their jobs well. With the onset of more technology being available to companies to help them reduce costs and increase productivity, company’s departments are going to have to work together much more closely to analyse the impact on how new technologies will be accepted by their employees.

Our advice in situations such as those above is simple. Put yourself in the shoes of your people.

Do you offer sufficient training when new technologies are applied into the workplace? Do you assume everyone is fluent with social media?

How would you feel if you received a text message from your employer telling you that that brakes had been used to fiercely? Is that likely to endear your people to your organisation or frustrate, de-motivate and disengage them?

When it comes to employee engagement ‘trust’ is paramount, technology, even when implemented with the best will in the world can erode that trust and very quickly. Technology can certainly help businesses but if the process of implementation is not fully thought out or if it morphs into something more ‘Big Brother’ as the capability of the technology is improved – then you run the risk of greatly undermining employee engagement.

Take some time to review the use of technology within your own organisation. Listen to your employees, is it being used in the way it was intended or are you in or moving towards a situation where technology is undermining the relationship you have with your people?

The post Is technology creating stress and hampering employee engagement appeared first on Business Matters.

“The situation is even worse in Europe, with more than half of young people unemployed in the likes of Spain and Greece. The reasons for this situation are complex. But so too are the means of addressing it.

“A survey by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers late last month found that more than half of manufacturers in the UK (53 per cent) believe young people lack the core skills needed by their business.

“At the same time, there has been a push for interns to receive a full-time salary as a means of bumping up the employment figures and overcoming the unethical practices of some businesses by “employing” interns on an indefinite basis to lower wage costs.

However, such a move ignores the fact that internships generally benefit the intern more than the business –particularly for small export firms, given the costs of supervision and lost productivity. Worse still, enforcing paid internships may prove counter-productive by reducing the number of companies willing to take on interns, denying them valuable industry experience and a means of perfecting their career search.

“The logical solution is for a balanced approach by all relevant parties, backed by strong Government leadership. Reforming education curricula to reflect modern business needs, while encouraging ethical workplace internships to give young people practical experience, would go a long way to addressing an issue which has far too many detrimental effects on our youth and on our nation.”

The post Employing a logical solution to youth in the workforce appeared first on Business Matters.

“Banks aren’t, and haven’t been, lending to businesses and SME’s in particular. It’s a ‘Catch 22′ situation – the banks won’t lend until the situation improves and the situation will not improve until growing businesses can borrow money at sensible rates,” he said.

“It’s vital that government creates a lending stream for business but at the moment there are no schemes which particularly support proven exporters; who are most important to our recovery.”

Business lending fell by nearly 5 per cent last year to £429bn according to the Ernst & Young Item Club – this is the fourth consecutive annual drop.

The Coalition has introduced a series of schemes in an attempt to provide capital for business. The latest was David Cameron’s Supply Chain Finance scheme, which was proceeded by The Regional Growth Fund and Vince Cable’s Business Bank.

The Chase distillery has recognised the importance of exports since it produced its first bottle of international award winning bottle of vodka in 2008.

This month, Chase has launched William’s Great British Extra Dry Gin onto the world market. GB Gin is based on spirit of the highest quality: “Our first challenge as distillers was to create the world’s best vodka – Chase Vodka. And now we have used that as the base for the world’s finest dry gin,” said William Chase.

“By increasing exports the UK will create more employment at home and promote British products around the globe,” said Chase. “It’s all about quality of product; the world is ready to buy quality British products.”

“If the government could achieve this and demonstrate more success stories of Great Britain going somewhere then they would be re-elected, and so everybody can be a winner!”

The post Supporting startups is great, but exporters should be first in line for Government Lending appeared first on Business Matters.

Yet getting businesses interested in government measures to deregulate is hard; it’s hardly a sexy topic. Government initiatives aren’t exactly captivatingly titled – take the ‘Red Tape Challenge’ or ‘Focus on Enforcement’ for example, both recent attempts at engaging the business community through web based, crowd sourcing processes. The Government even needed to be talked out of calling one initiative a ‘clipboard challenge.’

But behind the dull exterior is a veritable mine of good will and action.

The principle behind the most recent announcement of One In Two Out (OITO) is simple; for every regulation that comes in, double the costs that regulation imposes must be removed. A cynic might say the Red Tape Challenge has allowed the Government to remove archaic and anachronistic legislation that didn’t impact on day to day running of businesses in order to impose new regulations that do, but that isn’t really the case.

This policy has already reduced net costs on business by almost £1bn since January 2011. For example, construction has been helped by the simplification of guidance on building on contaminated land, while regulation costs have been removed for hundreds of venues to stage live music.

Whilst these are real life examples OITO should be viewed less as an accounting exercise and more of a statement of intent from the Government. In getting Whitehall to think tangibly and holistically about their impact on business a gradual culture change is going on which be for the good of the British economy.

OITO forms part of a wider package of deregulatory measures and in the years to come we hope businesses really begin to feel some difference on the ground.

The post The cost of deregulation appeared first on Business Matters.

The good news, however, is that steps are being taken by government to affect change here in the shape of funding to specifically target this issue. That is funding for ‘studio’ schools to ensure the number of youngsters who leave education lacking job-ready skills and frankly, a decent work ethic, will become less common, and we know small business will support these efforts.

Last month government announced 13 schools nationwide will get money to help them introduce these types of dedicated business skills training. Here in Knutsford, where we are based, Knutsford Academy was among them.
Studio schools allow 14 to 19-year-olds to study academic subjects through practical projects designed and delivered by employers, with pupils combining core GCSEs and vocational qualifications with real work experience. For those aged 16 or over this is up to two days and usually paid. Studio Schools also operate longer days and terms, mirroring the workplace.
We have for some time now been working with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions to promote education and training more relevant to the needs of both the employer and potential employee in this age demographic, so we think this is a really positive development.
Studio schools are a real opportunity to deliver a more work-focused curriculum to meet the skills requirements of local employers, and as our research suggests, it’s what businesses want.

Of course, for these types of projects to be successful, there has to be jobs for people to apply for. This is something our survey suggests might not be happening this year, with the evidence many small businesses are waiting for two things to happen before they look to recruit. These are employment costs to come down and profit margins to go up. Almost one in three (29%) described the former as ‘crucial’ before they would recruit, and 25% for the latter.

This could suggest gloomy news for employment figures over the summer, which could well stagnate into 2014. While the Employment Allowance announcement in the Budget was received positively by small businesses, this research shows firms are holding back on recruitment until after next April when the new measures take effect and NI costs drop.

We say there is clearly a pressing need for government to do more to reduce the cost of employment to incentivise SMEs to employ now. We said after the Budget the Employment Allowance was a great move, but that it was too far off with the economy still in the doldrums. This research seems to suggest we had a point.

Our research also suggests employers are waiting for a marked change in profit levels – and therefore significant economic growth – before they consider taking on more staff. The worry here is that most economists are not forecasting that type of sustained growth in the UK until much later in the year – bear in mind also the lion’s share of ‘forecasts’ over the past few years have ended up revised down.

So put those two concepts together, and the suggestion is that the 2013 job figures are going to remain pretty subdued for some time yet, and quite possibly even in to early next year before there’s any meaningful downward trend in unemployment.

Of course economic growth may well explode this year, but thus far, while there’s a growing consensus that the UK has turned a corner, it doesn’t seem too likely. And then, as ever, there’s the time-bomb that is Europe, and deep recession there will have an anchor effect on growth here.

The post What do you look for in a new recruit? appeared first on Business Matters.

Recent reports have listed parts of Asia, the Middle East and Scandinavia as among the fastest growing regions for trade. The major emerging economies of Brazil, China, Russia and India lie at the heart of this, but smaller countries with solid growth rates, including Thailand, Norway and Australia, are also becoming increasingly attractive destinations for British businesses.

Explains Mr Hasty: “This reduced concentration of exports to the beleaguered Eurozone can only be a positive. As a ‘not-putting-all-your-eggs-in-one-basket’ strategy emerges to exporting, companies will be able to take advantage of stronger growth opportunities in growing markets, while also reducing their risk profile by diversifying their market exposure. Such changes will create more stable, sustainable operations longer term.”

Mr Hasty says the move away from the Eurozone is something Smart Currency has witnessed for several years now, as SMEs seek to reduce their exposure to a volatile Euro and tax-hungry indebted countries, and instead align themselves with more organic growth opportunities elsewhere.

“Long-established SME clients of ours are increasingly looking to trade in US dollars as they expand into both the United States as well as other emerging markets where US dollar-denominated trades take place, such as China.”

Yet while US dollars are the most sought-after currency by UK businesses in terms of the volume of trades, it is the currencies of countries even further afield for which demand is growing most rapidly.

“Many of our clients have successfully begun trading the Chinese renminbi or the Russian rouble since we began trading these currencies in late 2012, including London-based children’s charity ThePromise. We have also seen strong growth in demand for Australian and Canadian dollars, as exporters seek opportunities in developed countries less acutely affected by the economic downturn, while Hong Kong dollars are popular as a means of getting into the Asian market,” says Mr Hasty.

“This is a discernible shift away from the Eurozone, and one we believe will not simply snap back once Europe eventually finds its feet again. These are structural changes with a long-term focus.”

The post The changing face of British exports appeared first on Business Matters.

Interesting, I thought, and settled back into my chair and watched that drama unfold; but more of that later. What happened in this task of negotiation skills vs treasure hunt?

Myles offered to be PM for Evolve. He asked the team for their thoughts on the list of eight items they needed to source in ten hours at the least cost for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Dubai. He seemed to support them throughout the task; he listened, he offered guidance, gave further instruction and then he allowed his team members to make decisions. His failing was to wait for a flag to be made on ’dubai time’, i.e. nearly an hour after they said it would, thus losing valuable moments to go and source something else. Jordan was given a chance to show some leadership and backbone for a change, and Louisa determined an Oud was not a perfume, rather a musical instrument. Something I feel fundamental to them succeeding at the task. Oops I have given away the outcome. Actually that doesn’t matter; yes they won by approximately £90 but it was the dynamics and the issues bubbling within Endeavor that made this episode.

Zeeshaan put himself forward and bulldozed them into accepting him despite Leah’s attempt to put herself forward. He knew Dubai like the back of his hand he said, but was wearing gloves, as Lord Sugar stated, such was his absolute failure in this task. It was bravado and balderdash. His PM’ship was delivered and judged as the cockiest and least popular so far. He was overly direct and allowed a personality clash, if you can call it that, to overshadow the task at hand.

In the business world, as in the real world, personality clashes can be awkward. However in business it is about rising above that and accepting you do not have to be friends, you do not have to agree, but you absolutely must put aside those issues and move forward. Zeeshaan did not do that, and to a degree neither did Leah once the bit was between her teeth. She tried to overrule him but to her detriment backed down when it mattered and that nearly caused her downfall in the boardroom. Neil bought a modern not a traditional Kandura, and Kurt got the flag measurements completely wrong contributing to the teams loss. But did Zeeshaan take them into the board room? No he took the only two women on the team. Natalie for ‘doing nothing’ and Leah for ‘doing something’ just not the something he wanted, or was it as the ladies suggested just because they were the women. It appeared to all watching that the errors lay with the boys.

Allegations of having a problem with women, being unable to cope with women challenging him, being rude to women, never saying please or thank you to them and being chauvinistic were leveled at Zeeshaan in the boardroom, and I would have to say he didn’t defend himself. Instead he remained adamant he had brought them for the right reasons and in his smugness appeared patronising. In the end Lord Sugar drew it to a close stating Zeeshaan’s mouth outran his abilities – what a fabulous turn of phrase, and one I will be pinching for a blog I’m sure, and fired him.

As Karen Brady said ‘Saying it and doing it I’ve found in business are two very different things’. Maybe Zeeshaan, will consider that in his departure whilst Natalie and Leah put it into action next time?

So the lessons this week – mathematics (again) is critical; when you need to buy a flag of a certain size, make sure you pay attention to get it the right size, listening skills; actually listen and don’t talk over them and brow beat them, and finally when you take someone into the board room make sure it’s for the right reasons or it may back fire on you, as it did with Zeeshaan.

So what do you think? Come share your thoughts and opinions with us at @BizMattersmag or follow us on twitter @3domSolutions

The post The Apprentice – episode five appeared first on Business Matters.

Here are some of the most common ways in which businesses are ruining their chances of getting valuable referrals:

Promoting a different business or service every time you meet them
This will lead to no referrals because they are not specialising in one area, which will eventually lead to confusion in professional stance and ultimately it will ruin their credibility with others.

For example, if you wanted to find a leadership trainer, and found a good one with great testimonials, but also promoted themselves as a sales trainer, communication expert, teacher of presentation skills, change management and facilitation, would they really look at you as a credible leadership trainer? After all, how can you expect to be seen as expert in all these areas? The result is no credibility and no referrals.

Delivering a poor service and then not putting it right
I shouldn’t have to mention this one, but sadly it happened to one of my contacts in a networking group. Then what happened? That’s right, he told everybody! This is not the ideal situation when you need people to talk about how good your products and services are. The result was an instant loss of future referrals.

Selling to the group without doing any prior qualification
I always remind people of the following statement: the people in a networking group are your route to market, not your target market. This means that until they are properly qualified they do not require the hard sell. If you do, the result will be people avoiding you.

Publicly asking for help and advice, then arguing with it, or not doing anything about it.
This has two effects on the person you are seeking help from. Firstly, the initial impact on the person that tried to help is “well I won’t bother wasting my time like that again!” But it also might communicate a form of one-upmanship – you don’t need to ask for help if you are only going to ignore the advice given, this will also demonstrate that advice was not needed in the first place, but that you thought you knew better! This doesn’t create a great overall impression does it?

Not giving (but expecting) referrals.
I’m not talking here about “oh, you should really talk to xyz, he might know people that need your help”, but proper referrals – a qualified introduction to someone that needs your help (and is willing to pay for it). Result? People get fed up with your taking attitude and don’t bother with you.

Not connecting with people at a deep enough level.
Until people really understand what it is you do, how can you expect them to give you referrals? Let alone trust you enough to refer you into their biggest client, where their reputation and credibility is on the line? So make sure that you are coming across as the leading expert in your field – and add some confidence in there too!

Are any of these points familiar? Is this you, or someone you know? If so, make sure the above tips are put into place, and watch your sales soar!

I look forward to hearing how you get on!

The post How to ruin your chances of referrals appeared first on Business Matters.

It’s time to rethink Management. But before we do that, let’s take a look in the rear-view mirror and see how we got to where we are today:

1910s-1940s: Management as Science
Management as Science was developed in the early 20th century and focused on increasing productivity and efficiency through standardisation, division of labour, centralisation and hierarchy. A very ‘top down’ management with strict control over people and processes dominated across industries.

1950s-1960s: Functional Organisations
Due to growing and more complex organisations, the 1950’s and 1960’s saw the emergence of functional organisations and the Human Resource (HR) movement.

Managers began to understand the human factor in production and productivity and tools such as goal setting, performance reviews and job descriptions were born.

1970s: Strategic Planning
In the 1970’s we changed our focus from measuring function to resource allocation and tools like Strategic Planning (GE), Growth Share Matrix (BCG) and SWOT were used to formalise strategic planning processes. After several decades of ‘best practice’ and ‘one size fits all’ solutions, academics began to developing contingency theories.

1980s: Competitive Advantage
As the business environment grew increasingly competitive and connected, and with a blooming management consultancy industry, Competitive Advantage became a priority for organisations in the 1980’s. Tools like Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma and Lean were used to measure processes and improve productivity. Employees were more involved by collecting data, but decisions were still made at the top, and goals were used to manage people and maintain control.

1990s: Process Optimisation
Benchmarking and business process reengineering became popular in the 1990’s, and by the middle of the decade, 60% of Fortune 500 companies claimed to have plans for or have already initiated such projects. TQM, Six Sigma and Lean remained popular and a more holistic, organisation-wide approach and strategy implementation took the stage with tools such as Strategy Maps and Balance Scorecards.

2000s: Big Data
Largely driven by the consulting industry under the banner of Big Data, organisations in the 2000’s started to focus on using technology for growth and value creation. Meanwhile, oversaturation of existing market space drove to concepts such as Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation.

It’s 2013. Globalisation, advances in technology and increased diversity have put organisational challenges into hyper drive. Despite the inspirational stories we read about companies like Zappos, Innocent Drinks and Google, the truth is that most of us are using out-dated management practices and failing to get the most out of our people. Not convinced? Consider this: 65% of people are unhappy at work, only 14% understand their company’s strategy, and 75% are seeking jobs as we speak. Now, what do you think that does for your bottom line?

How we lead our people and how we solve problems and innovate, are some of the most important aspects of Management to get right. In our research, we’ve therefore looked specifically at two aspects of Management throughout history, and how these will develop in the future (Figure 1):
1. Management Approach: the style of top management, ranging from:
a. Control (i.e. your boss tells you what to do and how to do it).
b. Set Goals (i.e. your boss sets goals and expectations, but you have more freedom with regards to how you achieve them).
c. Inspire (i.e. your boss gives you scope and freedom to innovate on both the what and the how).

2. Approach to Innovation / Problem Solving: how leaders solve strategic problems and develop new products and services. This ranged from:
a. Top Down (i.e. solutions are created and come from the top)
b. Top Down with Bottom Up Data (i.e. the rest of the organisation contributes information and experiences, but solutions are still created at the top).
c. Participatory (i.e. solutions are created collaboratively, and throughout the organisational levels).

After a century of trying to control people, processes and information, we have come to a point in organisational history where we need to recognise that what worked before just simply isn’t enough anymore. Traditional Management is fine if you want compliance, but if you want innovation and growth, you need to engage your people on a whole new level. Top down control is a thing of the past. Succeeding in today’s environment requires a management style that inspires and is participatory.

Over the next couple of weeks I will discuss the future of organisations, and what it really takes to increase value creation, innovation and employee engagement in today’s business environment.

The post The Evolution of Management appeared first on Business Matters.

For those unfamiliar with Bitcoin, let me explain the principles. The whole concept is based on mathematics. Bitcoins must be “mined” using a mathematical formula which takes a huge amount of computer power. There is a limit to the total number of Bitcoins that can be produced and ownership is anonymous, so you don’t need to know the other party to make payments. The anonymous part makes them like cash, and in their limited supply they are like gold. However, I won’t bore you with the full details, as there are plenty of other places online where you can find out more.

Current acceptance
Bitcoin has found a lot of enthusiastic acceptance in the tech community, and it’s beginning to spread outside. But the biggest ecommerce market that Bitcoins has so far cracked is in buying and selling illegal substances. You can see the advantages of being anonymous here! In contrast, there is a paucity of mainstream ecommerce companies accepting Bitcoin, and that’s probably for the reasons I give below.

The problems
When I was discussing the Bitcoin startup, I identified several big risks.

The first is deflation. Because the amount of currency is finite, this limits the ‘money supply’ in monetarist terms, and this gets worse over time as some people will lose their Bitcoin keys causing supply to fall. Deflation in any economy is generally considered a bad thing; it results in people hoarding money as it will be worth more if they wait. In the same way, if there is Bitcoin deflation, people won’t use it, as hanging on will cause its value to rise.

The second problem is speculation. We’ve already seen some huge swings up and down in Bitcoin values; it makes it very hard for mainstream (and non-digital) companies to accept the currency because they don’t know what’s its value will be from day to day. Pounds and dollars may decline in value, but the swings in the short term are relatively small. When bubbles burst they undermine confidence, making things worse.

Hacking is also a real danger. With no central authority and no one to sue if your Bitcoins go missing, if anyone breaks the code, the whole ecosystem will go up in flames. Some exchanges have already been hit, which illustrates the danger, although the core algorithms have so far proved unbreakable.

The final problem comes from the inherent anonymity. This encourages the use of Bitcoin for illegal activity and tax avoidance, and this is likely to come under increasing scrutiny. The likely outcome is Government legislation controlling or banning Bitcoin. This will be enacted across multiple countries during popular outrage about the activities that the currency enables.

The future of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a great and ingenious idea, but will it work in the long term? In many ways I would love it to, but I think the troubles I’ve outlined above will actually do for it. I just hope that I prove wrong.

The post The trouble with Bitcoin appeared first on Business Matters.

Call me an old-fashioned ex southerner ‘up north’ but up here a successful farm shop sells meat, fresh vegetables and produce, home baking and the odd bulk buy products with short shelf lives. I have never bought a shake or a soup from a farm shop and nor would I expect to do so.

This weeks task was dominated by a complete lack of understanding of the task at hand, the inability to listen once more and the two project managers demonstrating just how ruddy rude they really could be.

Louisa’s tone was patronising at best, but appropriately ‘bullish’ when trying to guide Evolve through the muddied fields of buffalo meat products, whilst Neil’s direct approach was not ‘watered’, or milked, down at all when he talked over them ignored attempts to engage with him and make alternate suggestions.

Instead he allowed Kurt to highjack the task for his own means – that of showing Lord Sugar his business idea; milkshakes. To say Kurt was focused is an understatement – bombastic and boastful would be better descriptors.

I know I keep banging on about it but yet again maths played apart. No budgets were given to assist the sub teams, and Alex looked like a buffoon (or buffalo) when he failed to calculate the mark up and best price for milk in front of the supplier, even after boasting he was from Wales (like that made a difference?) and he would dress like a scarecrow if needed (each to their own I guess, but not sure how that would have helped? Sadly we didn’t get to see that!)

Instead the only dressing up were the girls pigtails and their extraordinary heels when trying to sell farm produce; because after all that’s realistic right? Killer heels in the farm yard?

When the results were announced Jordan’s ‘get in’ marred his otherwise impressive performance and he was suitably chastised by Lord Sugar for behaving like he was at a football match. His cry was for Evolve’s success with the shop ‘Buffalocal’ who pipped ‘Fruitycow’ to the post by a mere £91. However Louisa’s smug look was wiped off when Lord Sugar told her she was lucky and had she team to thanks for that result. I have to admit I didn’t want either team to win to be honest, I felt neither deserved it as they didn’t fundamentally met the remit – it wasn’t a farm shop as we know it.

So Neil entered the boardroom with Uzma and Kurt after a clear division in the team – half saying he was a good leader and the other half saying he gave no direction or budget, that they sold only half the number of shakes Kurt had said they would and none of the produce itself. Uzma was told she could have been absent for all the contribution she made, for the third week (did they not see how hard she worked at wearing those sky high heels while selling a tray of blackberries?!) and Kurt was told his attempt to pitch his idea to Lord Sugar had miserably failed though the lack of sales he delivered.

He may have put his neck on the line and tried, but sadly he failed; end of.Uzma was dispatched for failing to do… well anything. Stating in the car we hadn’t seen her fire was as great an example of ‘too little too late’ as I have seen for some time.

Neil’s cockiness and Kurt’s over confidence live to see another day, another episode. Isn’t it time we had the girls step up and lose a chap? Surely they can stop bickering and pouting long enough to show us what they are really capable of? Otherwise the final teams will be all men. Women are apparently supposed to be better at listening and engaging on a people/personal level. Let’s try a bit more of that and maybe they will succeed? So what do you think?

Come share your thoughts and opinions with us at @BizMattersmag or follow us on twitter @3domSolutions

The post The Apprentice – episode four appeared first on Business Matters.

Recently I was asked to look back over the previous 20+ years working in the City to recall women I have worked with who showed no pity and were merciless in business. I honestly couldn’t think of one. The only person that kept springing to mind was Miranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada and I don’t know one woman who would aspire to the nature of that character or who wouldn’t have an internal battle about acting in such a manner.

Being ruthless is certainly not a trait I would encourage any of my mentees to use in order to get ahead. From a personal perspective, there were times in my own career when I have adopted a ruthless approach, but it involved business decisions rather than people. Whenever there was a person involved I found I wrestled more with the business decision, because being ruthless is not something that comes naturally to me or to most women.

Women who believe they have to adopt ruthless tactics to get ahead are sorely mistaken. Adopting such behaviour will win you no friends or respect. It is far better to fine-tune other strings in your bow than to spend your time stepping on others to get to the top, or being an individual who cares for nothing but their own progression.

It is unfortunate that women seem to get labelled far more easily that our male counterparts. If we display passion it is perceived as emotional, if we display frustration, it is seen as anger, so if we make a decision that is perceived to be out of line with our normal “caring demeanour”, it wouldn’t be hard to pick up the word ruthless as well!

I truly believe there are more opportunities for women than there has ever been and that we should celebrate the amazing skill sets we have and use what comes naturally to us to get ahead. Taking in the advice of mentors and role models and listening to how other women manager their positions in business are vital to success and longevity.

Slowly but surely there a realisation that the qualities that come naturally to women, such as emotional intelligence, attitude towards risk and organisational management are needed more and more in both times of crisis and at a senior level.

I’ll never forget an article by the Economist back in 2009, which discussed how the financial crisis would have been handled differently if it were Lehman Sisters as opposed to Lehman Brothers. We should celebrate our indifference to our male counterparts and not try to emulate behaviours that don’t come naturally to us as women.

I speak to hundreds of women every month and over the past few years I have started to see a new kind of female emerge. I am pleased to say being ruthless is not part of her make up. She pushes boundaries and has clear expectations about what is acceptable both in terms of behaviour and what to expect in terms of her employers’ and partner’s support.

She knows it is as much about who she knows as what she knows. She is aware that there are support networks where she can gain new skills and expand her peer group outside her normal working environment. She also knows that if she is not getting what she needs from her employer she should move on, set up on her own or get the required flexibility and opportunities elsewhere. She is also aware that her boat may not necessarily come in; there is a good chance she may need to swim out to it.

As women, we will always have our challenges and a different set of constraints to men, but it is up to us to set the playing field for the future and for those in senior positions to encourage and develop the female talent pool and appreciate the professional value and skills we bring as women (as a collective). If the senior leaders in our organisations don’t see the value, we will never grow the gender balanced culture we so desperately need to address some of the pervasive issues we face in business today.

The post Do you have to be ruthless to succeed in business? appeared first on Business Matters.

Little wonder then that celebrity watchers were jolted when The Real Housewives of Atlanta star, Porsha Stewart revealed she was continuing to live with her husband of two years, despite the divorce proceedings he had initiated.

While this particular case was caused largely by the fact that one party was finding it hard to absorb a new reality, it is not unusual for ordinary separating couples to live under the same roof.

Financial pressures – exacerbated by the current economic climate – may lead people to believe that building separate lives whilst sticking it out in the family home is the best and only option. So with the best of intentions one partner moves into the spare room and the couple attempts to live separate lives until house prices rise and the economy improves.

What may appear a practical solution is rarely workable in my experience. In fact, this domestic arrangement can have a detrimental and lasting impact on children.

When both parents feel trapped, children will pick up on any hostility, anger or resentment. A collaborative, non-confrontational approach that puts children first in a divorce is lost in the inevitable enmity. Such an arrangement, which parents may see as pragmatic and ‘grown up’, may also give children false hope that mum and dad are staying together after all.

In the short term, living separate lives under the same roof may save money but the long term emotional cost may be high. If you do have to stay together for just a short time here are some tips to help everyone in the family cope.

• Set yourself a realistic timeframe for one partner moving out.  Consider temporary arrangements whether returning to parents or renting a flat
• If you are struggling to sell your home take advice from your estate agent. Should you drop the price for a quick sale – and what are the financial implications?
• Sort out your finances and take professional advice – what does each party need to live an independent life and to ensure that children are provided for?
• Agree arrangements for how you will live together under one roof – set some ground rules about sharing space, who minds the children and how you divide bills
• Aim to keep the peace and avoid arguments in front of the children
• If one partner is in a new relationship it can be particularly challenging for a couple to live together in the marital home. Be sensitive to the feelings of your partner and children and avoid bringing your new romance into their lives
• Take legal advice so that both parties know the options available for divorcing as amicably as possible.  Family lawyers will also be able to help with referrals to family therapists and counsellors if you need extra support in particularly challenging circumstances.

The post If you live in a war zone who gets caught in the crossfire? appeared first on Business Matters.