Tailored Time

Plus de 60% des Britanniques supportent David Cameron

2011-12-12T17:18:00.000Z

Les derniers sondages effectués en Grande Bretagne montrent que plus de 60% des britanniques supportent la décision de David Cameron d’utiliser son veto lors du sommet de Bruxelles la semaine dernière.

Outre toutes les questions qui se posent, suite à cette prise de position, au sein des 26 autres membres de la communauté, ceci relance le débat interne au Royaume Uni du « rester ou sortir » de la Communauté Européenne, et renforce ainsi le clan des eurosceptiques au sein du parti conservateur. Le débat à la chambre des communes cette après midi à fait rage entre le premier ministre et Ed Miliban, leader de l’opposition, avec l’absence très remarquée de Nick Clegg, le « deputy Prime mininster », leader des Sociaux démocrates, normalement assit sur le banc du gouvernement cote à cote avec le premier mininstre.

Le Financial Time écrivait ce week end que la décision du Premier Ministre a donnée l’avantage aux positions du Président Sarkosy contre celles de l’Allemagne. Mais surtout, elle permet au gouvernement de Londres d’éviter un referendum perdu d’avance dont l’issue aurait probablement forcée la Grande Bretagne à sortir de l’Europe. Est-ce la la seule et unique motivation de Mr Cameron ?

D’une façon générale la presse rapporte une incompréhension totale des demandes britanniques (essentiellement liées à protéger l’industrie financière de la City) de la part des dirigeants des autres pays Européens. Ceux-ci étant présent pour discuter des moyens d’enrayer la crise de l’Euro, et non pas des plans de reforme de l’industrie financière à l’étude au sein de la commission.

David Cameron se serait-il trompé de rendez-vous ? Les pressions internes et divergentes qu’il subit (pression des back benchers conservateurs et le besoin de satisfaire ses partenaires Démocrates Libéraux du gouvernement de coalition) ne lui permettaient pas une marge de manœuvre suffisante dans une quelconque négociation. En effet, les positions prises par le premier ministre, avant son départ pour Bruxelles, étaient de reprendre certains des pouvoirs détenus par la commission et non lui en donner plus. Perdre une partie du contrôle de sa politique fiscale et économique à terme, n’était donc pas envisageable.

La population britannique - qui n’est pas majoritairement en faveur de l’Europe, tout en appréciant la libre circulation des personnes, les bienfaits du marche unique (l’Europe est de loin le premier client du Royaume Uni) et de l’absence de barrières douanières - se verrait tres bien en dehors de l’Europe, tout en conservant ses avantages les plus visibles.

Le premier ministre insiste que son attitude dans la nuit de Jeudi à Vendredi dernier ne remet pas en cause l’engagement du Royaume dans l’Europe et refuse l’argument de l’isolation. Une chose est sure, il n’est pas possible de lui reprocher un manque d’engagement dans la défense, l’élargissement de l’Europe, et bien d’autres sujet d’importance au sein de la communauté.

Il est bien trop tôt pour se prononcer sur les conséquences (ou non) futures de l’événement de la semaine dernière. Sommes nous de retour a une ère plutôt Thatchérienne de la politique Européenne Britannique ?

Combien de fois par ans arrivez-vous à voir vos distributeurs ?

2011-10-11T17:49:00.000+01:00

Ayant passe une bonne partie de ma carrière à développer des distributeurs et revendeurs en Europe, l’un des principaux problèmes auquel j’ai eu a me confronter est tout simplement le temps.

Le temps d’être suffisamment présent avec mes distributeurs pour les aider à développer la vente de mes produits. A être présent pour qu’ils donnent la priorité de leur propre temps et moyens au développement de leur activité sur mes produits.

Une équipe de vente en local, même à temps très partage aurait souvent bien aide à développer une meilleure connaissance sur les produits, identifier les problèmes ou limitations éventuelles du distributeur, créer une plus grande confiance et un plus grand dynamisme. A acquérir ce que les Anglos saxons appellent « share of mind » le fait de garder présent à l’esprit vos produits en permanence.

Partagez vous la même expérience ?

Les Anglais dépensent £9 Milliards de livres sterling par an en remboursement de dettes.

2011-09-20T21:44:00.000+01:00

Le Financial Time rapporte une étude du site monneysupermarket.com montrant que les Anglais dépensent plus de 40% de leur salaire mensuel en remboursement pour payer des dettes hors emprunts immobilier (cartes de crédit, prêts a court terme, etc.). Cette étude montre que les payements de cartes de crédits a elles seules représentent £322 par personne, soit 25% du revenu mensuel moyen qui est de £1288 par mois.

A cultural difference?

2011-08-25T19:35:00.000+01:00

There cannot be two more extreme ways to tackle the same issue, of the budget deficit and controling spending versus revenu of the state. France just anoucnced new mesures to reduce the budget deficit by € 11bn in 2012. The solution, increase taxes!!!! Isn't there some ways to save money on government spending instead?

At the opposit spectrum, the UK tackle the same issue by essentially... slashing spend on social services, reducing staff , and cutting where ever possible. Taxes remained vastly unchanged in comparison.

Both are extreme in their own ways. France is obviously not ready to give up some of the lavish lifestyle it is accustomed to, but how long can the country afford it?

For the UK, I will keep my mouth shut, having been a host of this country for the past 20 years.....

The new French measures:

Additional tax on high income: Taxpayers with an overall taxable income in excess of €500,000 will pay an additional tax of 3% avove this threshold.

Social contributions on income from capital increases from 12.3% to 13.5%

Capital Gains Tax on properties, the 5% a year of ownership rebate after the 5th year has been removed, and CGT increased from 31.3% to 32.5%

Corporation tax, losses can only be carried back one year, with a limit of 60% of the profit for profits in excess of € 1M.

Private health insurance premium currently taxed at 3.5% or 7%, will be increased to 7% and 9% respectively.

Tax loopholes will be progressively closed, amonf the first one is the rebates for investment in unlisted companies .

Mastering the art of staying on top... of your finances

2010-04-19T14:02:00.005+01:00

We are always on the hunt for ways to make the entrepreneur's life easier. Our mind has been on how to make accounting easier for the SME as not everyone was born a natural with figures. And we think we may have found it.

When we talk to some accountants and book keepers, they rave about SAGE. It certainly has it plus points but speaking from experience, it really is designed with an accountant in mind... regardless of what the marketing blurb says.

The biggest challenge for an SME who is keeping things virtual is how to get a business snap shot without having to ask for it. We were introduced to www.freeagentcentral.com and think that it solves lots of these challenges. It doesn't do the inputting for you (that is where we come in!) but it is just wonderful to be able to see you figures in real time, be able to generate invoices on the fly, send out reminders... oh the list is endless.

The frustrating things are having to reinput all the historical data but you can easily negate this by opting just to use the new system going forward. Simple.

We would love to hear your thoughts and whether you have found other great online account systems too.

What ingredients make a successful e shot?

2010-03-19T14:12:00.000Z

Our clients often ask this question so I thought it might be a good opportunity to open it to see what you think.

Make it relevant - know your market and know what turns them on
Beware of putting ?!£$ in your subject line as this sometimes means that they will get caught in the spam box
Images - if you want to use them make sure they are relevant
Bold - beware those of you who like to go crazy with the bold as this can also get picked up by spam filters
Ensure that you include a call to action
Keep it Simple - sometimes we can get carried away with all thing things we want to tell our audience, it is best to keep it simple, coherent and straight forward
Use a reliable service - there are many around but it is worth doing some research before striking out especially if you are building opt in lists.

What do you think?

What ingredients make a successful newsletter?

2010-02-19T14:25:00.001Z

Having spent lots of time writing newsletters for Tailored Time and our other clients, we know that it is important to start out with a goal in mind. This could be building your brand, building your marketing list or selling products directly from the newsletter. Whatever you choose it is important to keep this in mind when you put pen to paper.

These are some of our must haves for a successful newsletter:

Scanable copy - we don't have time to read everything that comes into our inbox but often do have time to scan it. If it is interesting, readers often save it for later
Call to action - if you do want to sell directly from your newsletter, make sure you include your call to action and contact details
Images - having an attractively designed newsletter makes it all the more readable
Subject line & sub titles - think about your audience as some will like to see consistency however for other industries/businesses it may pay to change them each time and make them eye catching
Content - as always, think what your audience want to read. Don't just write your newsletter for the sake of it, give your audience value
Voice - give your newsletter a voice, make it personal

What do you think?

Booster packs for sales and marketing initiatives in 2010

2009-12-08T10:39:00.005Z

Are you struggling to keep up with actioning your marketing plan whilst balancing the demands of running your business? Did you know that we can help and what's more we are offering a tasty 10% off our packages if you book before the end of 2009.

Newsletter and Autoresponder package: Been meaning to write your newsletter for ages or set up your autoresponders and just not got round to it, not sure what packages to use or maybe you just don't have time to do it anymore? Get it sorted from £60 per issue sent.

Copy editing and proofreading: Get your sales letters, blogs, email blasts and reports written in a compelling way from £60 per draft.

Virtual Sales & Marketing Support Package: From £500 per month your business will have a minimum of 2 days a month undivided attention from an experienced professional to plan and carry out your sales and marketing plans to make your business boom.

Telemarketing package: We can get your sales pitch perfected, and weedle out those pain points which is why your customers hammer your door down for more. We will get on the phones and drive your business development forward from £250 per day.

Get 2010 off to a great start by calling us today on 0845 075 1044 or email Sarah to discuss your requirements and claim your 10% discount.

Going to hell in a handcart

2009-11-24T10:38:00.005Z

At some point in your business life, you will realise the restrictions of your particular business model. Whether it is down to your IT system not handling enough emails or not having enough back up staff, it will feel painful. Some business owners are great at planning ahead and are able to track, plot and manage for all eventualities, others like to live life by the seat of their pants. We think that when you are starting and running your own business, its not possible to plan for every eventuality. The fear of getting things going wrong would mean you would never get out of bed in the morning.

Even if you are a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of entrepreneur, it is possible to put aside a bit of planning time to think... 'where are my back up files kept'....'how quickly could I access my documents if it all went to hell in a handcart?'. These are quite dark musings for a Tuesday morning but Tailored Time has had our fair share of these and that is why we know that back ups.. human or technological are v.v. important if you are going to sleep well at night.

These are our top tips to help you sleep well at night:

1. Use a remote back up as well as /instead of your extra hard disk that you just keep forgetting to back up each week. Check out companies like www.carbonite.com or www.datasafehaven.co.uk - there are millions of companies out there and we think the most important things to consider are a) where are there servers located b) how quickly can you download the data c) how slow will your computer run when it is backing up d)cost

2. Have a remote call handling company to cover your phones if everyone is out of the office. There is nothing worse than an answer machine and call handling is so affordable and efficient there are no excuses

3. Use a bit of cloud computing technology that is currently reaching dizzying heights of functionality and accessability. This means that if you office disappears tomorrow (or you just want to work from home) your key documents are there, ready to use. We are liking www.officelive.com at the moment because it just looks so much nicer to use than googledocs.com (sorry google!)

4. Ensure all passwords are kept in a secure document somewhere - I can only imagine how much time I waste forgetting what password was used where despite best intentions and then I have to try and explain how to find them to a new hire

5. Ensure that all your procedural documents are up to date - this can be time consuming but if you have different people working on different accounts and projects and they have the most knowledge you need to make time to get that knowledge out of their heads on a regular basis

What are your most important contingency plans - we would love to hear from you!

Balancing the cost of hiring staff to grow your business

2009-09-24T15:23:00.003+01:00

Finally, you are living your entrepreneurial dream and have launched your own business, sales are coming in, clients are happy but the reality of the dream is that you are working a 70 hour week, you no longer have your weekends to yourself, your in tray is overflowing and you haven’t even started work on your VAT return which is due tomorrow.

Okay, so you may be familiar with the story. You have a few choices at this point – either hire a full time member of staff, persuade your partner to help with the admin (a common starting choice) or outsource to a virtual assistant… or of course continue to do it all. Before embarking on hiring someone full time, let’s just check out whether the figures stack up for you.

Assume a minimum of £10 per hour at 40 hours per week which means that over the course of a year you're spending £20,800 on salary alone. Add in the cost of NI, taxes, office/desk space, supplies, fringe benefits etc. at approximately 60% of salary and you're spending about £33,280 annually for your full time, in-house employee.

Don't forget the less obvious, and difficult to quantify, expenses such as overhead related to time and money spent filling and training your position, the cost of lunch hours, sick and holiday pay, and numerous wasted, non-productive hours on the clock.

Now, lets look at how it stacks up using a virtual assistant....

Rates average from £15.00 to £35.00 for a good VA, and depending on what tasks are being fulfilled. Therefore, assume a minimum spend of £22.00 per hour for your Virtual PA (vs £19.00 per hour for a full time member of staff) but with this model you are paying for the time that you need for the tasks you need to achieve on.

Many see their virtual assistant as a full time partner that has a vested interest in the growth of your business that will work in collaboration with you towards the success of your company - sometimes this is a very lucky work ethic to find in an employee. A virtual assistant is much more focused on the task in hand - your money isn't spent on gossiping with colleagues or extra long lunch hours.... after all, time is money.

Other than the money element, you are saving time on training, payments made to NI and HMRC, administrative costs, recruitment, base salary, benefits, office space and furnishings, equipment....

But then again, of course, you could continue to do the work yourself....

Would love to hear your opinions on this! Agree, disagree, what have your experiences been?

Getting to task with your Virtual Assistant

2009-09-15T17:29:00.006+01:00

Here at Tailored Time Towers, we live and breath in our virtual world. It sounds bizare but still some folks out there don't get working virtually. Face to face is good but sometimes it can just get in the way of getting on with the job. With that in mind, for those readers out there who might be thinking 'what could I get a virtual assistant to do for me' we give you our top 13 most requested jobs:

1. Telephone answering & diary management - having your VA answer your phone, manage calls and co-ordinate important meetings and appointments

2. Newsletters - the right VA will know about what package to use, can sort out the design and even work on the copy with you

3. Mail forwarding - if you travel a lot or are based out of the country for most of the year then you can get your VA to organise, scan the mail and deal with it in your absence

4. Research - got a new business idea but dont have the time to look into it right now?

5. Spreadsheet and mail shot management - timing and accuracy is very important so who better to get your VA to handle it

6. Co-ordinating suppliers and colleagues - when you are in meeting, holding events or juggling all the business balls in the air, your VA can be on the front line co-ordinating everything else

7. Event organisation - sending out emails campaigns, handling replies, liaising with venues and suppliers

8. Travel co-ordination - finding the best price, booking complicated arrangements, it all takes time

9. Transcribing meeting minutes and notes - qualified VAs can be demon typist with an ear and an eye for accuracy

10. Copywriting - your VA can be an experienced writer or editor so this would easily be within remit

11. Proof reading - if you have poured over the copy you can get your VA to proof read for any final mistakes before you publish it to the world

12. Website maintenance - need a new one designing or an existing one updating, well there are VAs with the experience to do this

13. Book keeping - sending out those dratted invoices that keep the world going round, chasing up payments and getting those expenses inputted in time for the VAT return and end of year accounts

We would love to hear from you so do drop us a line with your thoughts!

how much is too much?

2009-08-04T11:41:00.003+01:00

I'm often asked how often should you chase a sales lead if they arent responding? It's a strange thing, as a business owner, when you receive a web enquiry and you respond and return their call. Sometimes they are very engaging and you get the impression that they really want your services so badly it hurts. And then they disappear. You are then in the position of wanting to convert the lead but sometimes not wanting to come across like you are stalking them.

My rule of thumb in cases like this is that you do have to draw the line somewhere. My line tends to be three calls, one voicemail message and then move on if you aren't getting any response. There are other ways to gently remind them that you are still there by dropping them an email every couple of months with some update on your service.

Then there are the cases when you have knuckled down to your weekly cold calls, it may be painful but you have set your targets and are getting on with it. But some people are hardly ever there - what do you do? Keep calling and keep leaving phone messages. My advice is in most cases, if you have never talked to the person, do not leave a phone message the first time - they don't know you, why would they call you back? If you do feel the urgent need to leave a message make sure it is clever and compelling enough for them to ring back, but also think about what you are going to say when they do ring back. I have had cases where a 'hard to reach' director has rung me back and Ive been in the middle of doing something completely unrelated (like getting a sandwich at the shop) and on the move and that doesnt give a good impression either.

The other issue that tends to come up from time to time that I get asked about is what to do with the leads that you have managed to talk to but you feel like you are always being fobbed off.. e.g. they are always saying 'send me an email' or 'call me back'. I say EMPOWER them to say No - a no is much better than a maybe... you cant buil your business on maybe... it might as well be a No in my book.

So, to summarise:

1. Warm leads - Three calls and then move on, you have better things to do with your time
2. Cold calls - In most cases don't leave a phone message unless you have already talked to them before
3. Cold calls - if you do get through to your caller and they keep saying 'send me an email, call me back' and you feel like it is a 'no' in disguise then empower them to say No; make it easy for them... because ultimately hearing a No means that you are going to hear a Yes sooner rather than later.

Was this helpful - what are your thoughts...?

Little Fluffy Clouds

2009-06-30T10:09:00.003+01:00

As our minds turn towards holidays, we might be considering how we could work remotely more effectively. A term that has been around for a while now is 'cloud computing' and Tailored Time has been exploring what this means, what is out there and the pros and cons of working this way for the entrepreneur/business owner.

According to the big dictionary in the sky ' Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet'. You may already be doing it... we all use remote mail servers, hosted webspace, google mail, hotmail, survey monkey, constant contacts, salesforce.com... we have embraced it and it means that it is easy to work with colleagues who are no longer sitting in your office. However, along with the highs that we experience on working this way, there are also some downsides to consider...

Some highs

you can access them anywhere you have internet access
you can share documents easily
it is often free (hooray!)

Some lows

If your connection is slow, working on your cloud will be slooooowww... very frustrating with things like salesforce.com if you are used to working on a CRM hosted on your machine
You are dependent on someone else for your technology and just like we have learnt to hate Microsoft, we could soon feel the same about the likes of Google....
With google applications and others that are free it is very tempting but beware... you can get hooked and though it may be free now, we are sure it won't be free for long...

Some apps that are tried and tested by us:
www.surveymonkey.com - surveys online
www.google.com - document sharing and lots of other functionality
www.salesforce.com - CRM system
www.freecrm.com - CRM system
www.officelive.com - document sharing and lots of other functionality
www.ymlp.com - newsletter software
www.constantcontact.com - newsletter software

We would love to know your thoughts, good applications to use and useful stuff like that so get commenting!

What ingredients do you need for a successful telemarketing project?

2009-06-25T16:08:00.004+01:00

Telemarketing gets a bad rap. We have all had experience of someone calling, uninvited, reading from a script, hammering through until finally you get a change to say NOOOOOOO Im not interested... even if you might have been considering changing your current gas supplier or whatever. We just don't like to be sold to that way. We are approaching market saturation, we are being overloaded with advertising and BUY BUY BUY messages and enough is enough.

Not all telemarketing campaigns have to be that way though. We have had a pow wow and have come up with a short list of must do's to consider before you embark on your own telemarketing campaign:

Targeted list
This is crucial to the success of the calls. Make sure it is TPS checked too (telephone preference service) for more info http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/. Even if your service might be suitable for everyone, narrow it down otherwise you wont be able to judge whether your campaign has been a success.

Specific messaging
Get working on that pitch and make it perfect. If you work with an outsource company they can often help you put together a killer pitch but remember it is often a work in progress and will need to be adjusted according to the feedback you get from each caller. Are you turning them off or turning them on. And also, remember don't immediately bang on about your features and benefits... think what pains are you solving... think why your customers will buy from you. We buy emotionally and then back it up intellectually, not the other way round.

Clear objectives
Set out with the end in mind. Think about what you want from this campaign - how many appointments, how many cleaned leads, how many hot leads, how many confirmed attendees at an event. It is quite clear to see whether your campaign is working when you specify your results. And make sure you share them with your team too!

Inhouse or outsource?
If you are thinking about or already have a killer sales team is their time best spent on the phones warming up cold leads or are they best placed closing those leads. It is a different job and requires different skills to do it. Sometimes it works to mix it up a bit - use an outsource solution to trial a campaign and if they do a good job and drum up the revenue you can cost the options to take the team in house. There is also the concern that an external team wont have the 'experience' or the 'knowledge'. However, sometimes it is actually a benefit that the initial call isnt made 'by the expert' as then they won't spill all their knowledge and put the potential customer off. It swings in round abouts.

Open mind
If this is a new project, never been tried, be prepared to tweak the message, tweak the list and treat it as research. Not everything works but if you choose the right team or supplier who has come with good references then you have done everything you can to make the project a success.

These are our top tips of the moment. Do let us know if you have more!

Finding your sweet spot

2009-06-19T17:55:00.007+01:00

Every business has its sweet spot. The questions is. Have you found yours? This is an interest question that we have been musing on and consequently learning all about. You imagine in big companies they have teams devoted to researching and analysing data to find out how to hone their products to a niche market.

But what if you don't have a big team at your disposal? You have to do it yourself. Tailored Time has been investing time (ha ha) into finding and developing our sweet spot (s) and this is our suggestions of how to go about it:

1. Review what you do for your clients - check out your spreadsheets, it may reveal a pattern. If you dont have a main pot of data... sort it out

2. Contact your top clients (the ones that love you and have been with you for a while) - ask them some questions around what service you provide and what they love and what they are possibly missing from your current service/product

3. Check out the competition - check in with your competitors, find out which markets they play to... what are you missing out on?

4. What markets are particularly successful at the moment - check out the stocks and shares, read the business press, ask fellow entrepreneurs......

5. Put your findings together of the above and you should see a pattern starting to emerge, namely a target group who need your product which is the centre of your sweet spot.

These five points make it sound very easy, where as in fact it can be highly frustrating and take a good chunk of time to work it out. But, it will not be time wasted because by going through this process you will become a bit leaner and a bit fitter which is an all important thing in the ever evolving world of business.

mmm yum. we love a sweet spot.

Please share!
As always we’d like to hear from you if you’ve either comments on this blog or tips or advice of your own to share. Post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

Time for some spring cleaning?

2009-05-15T11:26:00.007+01:00

Dunno about you, but here at Tailored Time, we’ve rolled up our sleeves, donned our proverbial rubber gloves and are pretty much up to our eyes in a big old bout of business spring cleaning right now. And while this lacks a certain glamour and excitement, it shouldn’t have you running for the hills just yet. A spot of dusting off the cobwebs now can help make you into the lean mean business machine you need to be if you’re planning on having a long, hot summer. But where to begin?

Check your margins for error…
We’ve started by looking at our margins. If you’re like us, some services, set up to bring in new business at the turn of the year, may well need some revision now. First then, what are your product/ service lines and what are they doing for you? Where do you make the most and the least; and, more importantly, where does your client base sit within this? This is by no means a straight culling exercise; the latter will be key to understanding what you can afford to sustain. Also key to managing your margins will be to take into account the shifting marketplace: it could be that with such a rapidly evolving economic situation this year, some margins could actually be better than you’d realised. For example at TT, we’ve found that some of our catering suppliers’ costs have become more competitive, bringing improved margins on our events work, while demand for other services we offer has dipped meaning the economies of scale we were able to achieve, aren’t what they were. As a starting point, we’ve found this site which can help you with a proper analysis of your numbers. http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11088

Prick up your ears
Gather some feedback: how are your clients finding what you’ve been up to so far this year? What are they looking for, in the months ahead? Send out a short questionnaire, find out what they’ve got to tell you, then use this to revise your business for the next few months.

Revisit your business plan
If you’re anything like us, you probably wrote your business plan at the end of last year, then, mission accomplished, have since left it to gather dust aboard a shelf somewhere at your mum’s. Dust it down and have a good read. If nothing else it will remind you of your macro goals for the year. Aim to tinker with rather than rewrite; it will naturally flag up areas for you to examine to see how they may need to adapt to the market shift since you produced it.

Make sure it’s legal
Is your employment/ health and safety/ tax legislation knowledge up to date? Whatever the nature of your business, don’t get caught out by being out of date. A quick web search should put paid to any oversights.

Weigh up the competition
A bit of desk research should tell you how your competitors are doing and let you know you’re not missing a trick; OR that you’re not the one step ahead you thought you were. Make this your monthly business.

Get yourself a healthcheck
We’ve taken care of our clients’ business MOTs and healthchecks a-plenty this month. Give us a call to find out how a second pair of eyes could help you pull in some loose ends and tighten up your good ship. Contact us today to find out how we can help review your business health, seek out new areas for growth and generally and see some wood for the trees. Contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

So: What kind of recession are you having?

2009-05-01T17:25:00.001+01:00

I knew something must be seriously out of kilter when I realised BBC business editor Robert Peston’s voice was more familiar than my mum’s. And that I know, at any given moment, the latest rise or fall of the Dow Jones index. Or that off the top of my head, I could quote you the UK’s current unemployment figures, the average percentage drop in house prices and the latest turn in Toyota’s redundancies avoidance strategy.

Recession mania
With the help of the media we are becoming a nation of news-hungry recession obsessives. We’ve gone economy mad. We can’t get enough of it. It’s like Diana-fever all over again, only without the flowers and crying. Frankly it’s not healthy and it’s got to stop. So, never mind what you’re reading about, what you’re watching on the TV or having streamed into your ears from the radio as you wake up in the morning; what sort of recession are you actually having?

Whose recession is it anyway?
Chances are you are feeling recession by proxy. Like many other businesses at the moment you may have to pull your belt in a couple of notches, but in reality, unless you’re in a particularly high price ticket or luxury end of the market, your business is unlikely to have to completely grind to a halt. Indeed, where one business finds its customer stream ebbing, somewhere along the line is another that has gained new customers, thanks to some competitive customer service or pricing strategy. Discussions with our clients in recent weeks show that their business is as likely to be the latter as the former; or, more likely, somewhere in between. They may be losing a few accounts, but with lessons learned, some hindsight and planning, they’re gaining a few too. Margins may be slightly tighter but ultimately our clients are weathering the storm.

The Undercover Economist
A recent piece by the FT’s Undercover Economist, Tim Harford, investigates the theme of the personal recession experience. He expounds a theory that unless you are a particularly high earner (in the top 10 per cent), you are unlikely to truly notice much flux in your personal standard of living during a recession. For the majority, in the remaining 90 per cent of earners, studies of previous recessions show there is little or no impact on personal standards of living.
Read the article in full and more, at Mr Harford's website: http://timharford.com/ or check out the Undercover Economist archive at the Financial Times website.

Take control
The fact is, not all people’s personal recession experience is or could possibly be as bad as the news would have us believe. At a personal level for the majority the impact is most likely to be a pay freeze, therefore far from immeasurably impacting your current standards of living. So, while keeping abreast of the news is healthy, don’t get swept away on a tidal wave of gloom. On the contrary, keep your eye on the ball, watch out for new opportunities and take control of your personal recession experience.

Please share!
As always we’d like to hear from you; and in particular if you’ve a recession experience of your own to share. Post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

Getting government business

2009-04-23T14:40:00.011+01:00

What with everything feeling a bit at sea at the moment, it’s good to hear the government is investing to try to kick start the economy. And not just by bailing out banks. Government contracts can be lucrative and importantly are generally a safe bet, being less susceptible to the market ebbs and flows that affect private business. Once recognised as a trusted supplier, this could be your route to some dependable long term business opportunities.

Supplier rosters
For central government contracts you will often need to be on an approved suppliers’ roster. The process for applying varies by department, but is generally a pretty protracted affair. The Department of Health, for example asks new suppliers to register (for free) in the first instance, with Dun and Bradstreet (database of UK businesses) which is in itself a detailed application. There then follow several more involved, procedural hurdles to take your application to its conclusion. And then if you do get approved, there’s the business of pitching, as public spenders are required by law to have several companies pitch for a contract. The application system is character building stuff; at best laborious, not surprisingly, a real turn off for many; but if you’ve the tenacity to stick with it, a single contract can pay some serious dividends. Find out more about supplier rosters by heading to the procurement section of central offices’ websites.

Pitching direct
In the interests of fair business however, central government has pledged to make the tendering process more accessible, and government contracts worth over £100,000 must be advertised via the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC). You can apply for these without being on a roster, though the application process will be no less arduous. An organisation called Tenders Direct extract and publish all advertised contracts published by the OJEC and can keep you in the loop with regular e-updates. You will need to pay a subscription to access Tenders Direct, however. Check out their website and run some free searches to find out whether this is for you: http://www.tendersdirect.co.uk/

Local government
Unfortunately there is no such central location for smaller, local government contracts. The good news about local government though, is that they generally operate a policy to use local business. The bad news is they may advertise their business as and where they wish and like other business, existing suppliers are often favoured. Which pretty much, like other business, makes them a bit of a slog to nail down. So how to find them?

Speak to them
A bit of old fashioned cold calling should help you unearth the best way to reach your local council. Start with their website to find out if you need to target them by individual office or if they have a procurement office, which often acts on behalf of all departments. Find out what’s coming up: are there imminent renewals? Or new business opportunities? Can you join a notification list? When’s the next good juncture to call again?

Get online
Public service spenders use the web to source their suppliers. Make sure your site is what they’re looking for - can you advertise specific deals or discounts for their business? Also, make sure you have a decent search engine profile by including the key words these buyers are seeking in your tags. A quick web search shows there are lots of sites which specifically target public sector buyers. The Buyers’ Guide is a listing site for suppliers to local government. This type of listing may have a fee attached, but it may be worth the investment if it is something regularly trawled by the procurers you want to reach. http://www.buyersguide.co.uk/get-listed.php

Network
Meeting and speaking to buyers at events and exhibitions will help you understand face to face, what they’re looking for. There are heaps of opportunities to network. By registering for free with Local Gov.co.uk, you will be able to look at government events for the year ahead: http://www.localgov.co.uk/Equally this site offers a comprehensive list of public and private sector-facing exhibitions across the UK: http://www.exhibitions.co.uk/

Please share!
As always we’d like to hear from you if you’ve either comments on this blog or tips or advice of your own to share. Post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

Are we a nation of budding entrepreneurs?

2009-04-17T11:35:00.000+01:00

I have been pondering this for a while thinking as I keep coming across articles about Britain being a nation of entrpreneurs. Obviously Dragons Den and old Alan Sugar do their bit to glamourise setting up your own business and making millions (yes millions I say), but what about what is happening at a grass routes level, away from all the cameras and the hoy paloy?

I was asked to be a judge in the HSBC Young Enterprise Innovation Awards (West London finals) in March and can truely say it was the best thing I had said yes to in a long time. Young Enterprise is an initiative that has been running for 40 years inspiring children to get interested in business. The main things that struck me about Young Enterprise is that children who take part are more likely to earn more money, more likely to start up their own businesses and more likely to volunteer, just by taking part.

Children from all backgrounds, all types of schools join in and I was amazed at their effort and energy that they put into their projects; it bought a tear to my eye that they were so motivated and excited and got so much out of it. More schools should take part. I witnessed better business plans and better execution than many trading businesses that I know - amazing!

Juggling the business with other responsibilities, navigating holding meetings, chasing up suppliers and realising that they need to make things happen - these are all things that we take for granted, that we know how to handle as adults and that we have learnt along the way. Just think if you had had that experience and insight to the working world whilst you were still at school. One very excitable young Managing Director said to me 'so is this what you do EVERY day' when you run a business.... yes, I said to him, and I thought to myself that maybe I should get a bit more excited about the day to day business of being in business again.

For more info:

http://www.yelondon.com/ & http://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/

What are the business uses for Twitter we muse....

2009-04-03T11:03:00.003+01:00

The world of Twitter (www.twitter.com) has been in the forefront of our minds at Tailored Time Towers and thus, we have been musing about whether it really does have a use as an everyday business tool for a business to business SME. The short answer is no we dont think, but its a damned fine way of wasting lots of time. However, please read on and we look forward to our dear readers proving us different.

Suddenly Twitter came into the common conciousness in the new year and everyone is talking about it. Schools have started to include it in the syllabus for young children and they have even put together a Masters Degree at Birmingham City University. Hilariously, this degree is offering a £4,400 one-year Masters in Social Media, which covers sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo. Students will learn how to set up blogs and podcasts online and also how to use the sites in communications and marketing. "Virtually all of the content of this course is so basic it can be self-taught," one student said.... you don't say.

Anyway, we dont need any excuses to try out something 'new' so we have got our Tailored Time tweets going and this is what we have found out so far:

The blurring of personal and business uses: think about this when you set up your profile because what you are sharing personally might not be the best thing to share with your business clients. Do you really want people to know what you are doing every second, is it a good idea that they also link up with your staff (remember hideous stories from facebook of people putting up pics of themselves having a wild time at the weekend and getting caught out when pretending to have a sickie)... we arent so sure its such a good idea. These boundaries might not be so defined for the likes of Stephen Fry and Brittany Spears and its all good for their PR but is it really going to work for you, fellow business owner?

Allocate a set amount of time: as with lots of new 'self taught' projects, it can swallow a huge amount of time - you have to educate yourself about it, understand what you want to post (see below) and then keep the momentum going. If you don't keep posting, your listeners are going to loose interest.

Selecting your followers: we signed up and within minutes we had followers (we now have 27 and counting!) but only a handful actually know us. From what we can see its not as easy as Facebook or Linked In to find people from your Outlook, right now you can only scan your hotmail account.

What to post: You need to ask yourself what you want to say to the world; as we have already got a blog we are already 'broadcasting' but really, even the most exciting things can sound mundane and trite with a minimum of 140 characters.... Do you post ' just out to lunch now' or do you show off... 'just landed a brilliant client!'; if you read other more famous people's tweets they are amazingly dull....

Best uses for business so far: the likes of Starbucks are really using Twitter for a good use, increasing brand awareness, telling the world about new products, building a fan base. http://twitter.com/Starbucks Right now, we think that the best way a smaller business could use Twitter would be if they were running a specific event, targetted at a user group - this way you could build interest and ultimately get lots of delegates/attendees coming your way if it is done correctly.

So effectively the jury is out, you can follow us if you want to hear our tweets! https://twitter.com/tailoredtime but whether we can be bother to post information to yet another interface is yet to be seen (more passwords to remember, more places to log into to check out any updates... information overload argh!!!)

As always we would love to hear what you think about this and what you have learnt too so feel free to post and share your thoughts!

Widening your marketing mix

2009-03-19T13:43:00.000Z

We recently had a foray into brandable items for Tailored Time as we were given the opportunity to put some marketing material into some goodie bags which were going to 400 business owners of our target groups. An opportunity which was too good to miss! Even though we are well aware that building brand is a very costly and some say, pointless, way to spend your marketing budget unless you are an already giant brand. Despite this knowledge, we thought we would have a dabble anyway! We set about costing up the operation and working out how best to make the most of the opportunity. From researching around, we feel the best way to approach this excercise is to think of something that would:

be long lasting
stand out from all the usual gubbins you get in a business goodie bag
get the message across to our potential clients about our services

So whether you are choosing items for your next exhibition, to send as a mail shot or to include in a post event goodie bags; we reckon these are the all important ideas to choose from....

Good quality - you must always remember that what you are promoting is your business and if the branded promo item looks cheap that this will reflect on you and your business... Don't be tempted to go for the cheapest and you can always request a sample before you go ahead and order.

Suitable pricing - estimate your budget and stick to it because once you go out shopping there is a whole world of exciting options and if you dont set your budget up from the outset you could find yourself spending a whole lot of money.

Imagination - think about what your target audience actually needs, do they need some more pens even if the pens might be the cheapest option; do they really need another calendar or a mug? Some of the cost effective options that we liked were bottled water from Cooler Water www.coolerwater.co.uk, energy drinks from Fresh Twist, chewing gum and also some rather tasty and cost effective options of delicious tea (Barry O' Dwyer from Brand Reminders was really helpful in our research into single sachet tea bags).

Eventually we opted for bottles of water which means that we definitely satisfied the second two of our three criteria, but maybe not the long lasting one! They were received very well and we got a host of compliments... but whether it has really made a difference to our bottom line, perhaps it is a little too early to tell... or maybe we will never know!

Please share! As always we’d like to hear from you if you’ve either comments on this blog or tips or advice of your own to share. Post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

Negotiating your way to better business

2009-03-16T11:35:00.014Z

We think we’ve spotted a very fine, silver lining around this low economic cloud that’s been mooching our way of late. We’re hearing time and time again from clients that their bargaining muscle for items like venues, catering, rent and insurance has never been stronger than in these challenging times. With the right approach to negotiation, we reckon there are currently some seriously canny business deals to be had. In the light of this we’ve put together a couple of tips that should help smooth your path to better bargaining.

Have clear aims
Ahead of any meeting you know you’re going to need to negotiate in, write down exactly what it is you’d like to gain. Whether it’s a discount for cash, an improvement to your payment terms, or a new sale or return arrangement, it is important to have this clear in your head so that you can articulate this with confidence. Also, list your alternatives. What else would you accept? This takes us neatly on to…

Know your limits
Set yourself a clear threshold and keep this close to your chest. If you’re really serious about getting the deal you’re asking for and this particular supplier really can’t help, it may be time to take your business elsewhere. To do this, it will be especially important then, that you…

Know your market
Half an hour spent on a bit of on-line research could pay some serious dividends in terms of your negotiating power. By exhibiting a knowledge of the market and its current trends and prices, your supplier will sit up and take your proposal all the more seriously.

Consider the right approach for your relationship
Who are you negotiating with? What is your history with them and what exactly is at stake? If it’s a long-standing business contact, diplomatic handling is going to be key to ensure that good business relations won’t be harmed in the process. In fact, the real art to this situation is to…

Where you can, go for win-win
Look for an approach where there are benefits to both parties. For example if you are asking for a sale or return arrangement from a caterer, it may be that you can buy a slightly better, more expensive wine from them.

But if all else fails…
Be prepared to play hardball and take your business elsewhere. If you’ve taken some time to research, you should be confident there are others who will be interested. This hardball approach should be saved as your secret weapon and only used a last resort, especially if dealing with existing suppliers. It may however, be pulled out of the hat a whole lot sooner if you are scoping for a new supplier…

Find out more
If you want to brush up on your negotiation skills, you may want to check out some training. A quick web search threw up the following, which may be of interest…

Reed run a two day workshop aimed at helping you assess your negotiating skills and arm you with some new tactics.

The Negotiation Experts as their name suggests, specialise in negotiation and run a couple of courses, the next of which is in April.

Read all about it
If you don’t want to commit to training proper, you may want to read around your subject with one of these…

Just Ask the Right Questions to Get What You Want by Ian Cooper takes a fearless foray into the questions we often find most difficult to raise.

25 Role Plays for Negotiation Skills by Ira G. Asherman (Author), Sandra Vance Asherman (Author) – check this out if you are thinking of doing your own, in-house training.

Negotiating for Dummies – another of the rather brilliant dummies’ series which help make the most daunting prospects seem simple.

Please share!
As always we’d like to hear from you if you’ve either comments on this blog or tips or advice of your own to share. Post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

Stressed out?

2009-02-27T22:07:00.000Z

Developing a tick? Hives? Sweaty palms? A bit unexpectedly SHOUTY? You, my friend, are probably feeling the pressure…under the kosh…at the end of your tether and toying with trouble, frankly. Call it what you will, it serves little purpose to you, your team or your clients. The sooner you can identify the signs, the sooner you can get rid of the symptoms and restore the semblance of calm and order your organisation knows and loves you for. To this end, it's probably time to do at least one of the following...

Take a rain check
Take a walk. Take a break. Give yourself a day off. If you’re feeling pressured, chances are your sharp business mind is not what it could be and you’re not doing your staff or clients any favours. Take a day away from the office to refresh you batteries, clear your head and give everyone a break. With the benefit of a bit of distance, you will be able to come back tomorrow and tackle yesterday’s crisis with renewed vigour.

Prioritise
OK. You’ve probably got a list as long as your arm of Important Stuff To Do. You've staff constantly rattling your door for advice and in general there seem to be a lot of people breathing down your neck for soemthing or other. But what actually needs doing? Make a list so you can see in cold, hard print what you have on your plate, then prioritise it ruthlessly into ‘necessity’ versus ‘pointless worry’. Then you can...

Chunk it up
Er, chunking up is thankfully nothing like as horrible as it sounds. ‘Chunking up’ should actually be your friend as it's all about sorting your to-do's into manageable chunks. So once you’ve written your giant list and prioritised it ruthlessly, your next step will be to break it into realistic, time-bound chunks and at the same time, take your poor anxiety levels down a few notches.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help
However frazzled you feel with those around you, remember that as well as being someone to take your troubles out on, they might actually be able to help. So this might be about delegating more to your partner or your team. It might be about calling in favours from family or a friend. Whatever it is you need, don’t be afraid to ask; you don’t need to struggle alone.

Some useful links
Stress management courses:
http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/business-skills-training/stress-management/
http://www.stress-counselling.co.uk/
Stress management at work – advice:
http://www.i-resign.com/uk/inwork/copingwithstress.asp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/mental_health/emotion_stress.shtml#work-related_stress

Need a hand cutting your to-do list down to size?
At TT, our very core business is helping SMEs like yours, who all too often can’t see the wood for the trees. The source of business stress is often tricky to spot, especially when it's your own. We can help you to objectively assess and review what you have to do; take some pressure off your shoulders and some weight off your mind. Call Sarah today to find out more on 0845 075 1044.

Please share!
As always we’d like to hear from you if you’ve either comments on this blog or tips or advice of your own to share. Post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

TT

At last: watching telly is good for business!

2009-02-25T11:22:00.015Z

But not just any old telly. Ready Steady Cook may indeed extol the merits of keen time management, but we’re thinking more along the lines of some current, very pertinent TV and radio programming packed with business insight which has been inspiring and exciting TT of late. Importantly, the best thing about this type of ‘business broadcast research’ is that you can legitimately do it from your armchair in your comfy clothes. Keep a look out for some of the following…

Working Lunch – BBC 2
As the name suggests, this programme takes a lunchtime look at the current issues affecting consumers and business across the UK. It offers bang up to date information and insight and if you aren’t able to catch it during the day, it is also available online, via BBC i-player.
http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?tab=all&q=working+lunch

Captains of Industry – BBC Radio Scotland (Sundays, 6am or via BBC i-player)
Host Lesley Campbell talks to Scotland's top business leaders to explore their entrepreneurial spirit and find out how they plan to deal with the current economic situation. The next show goes out on 1 March and will focus on Scotland’s first female head of a clearing bank. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search/?q=captains%20of%20industry

The Bottom Line – Radio 4
The Bottom Line is presented by Evan Davies (he of Dragon’s Den fame) and goes out each Monday at 8.30pm. This show brings in a panel of businesses’ finest to discuss the current big issues affecting organisations like yours and mine. This week their discussion was on the whys and wherefores of negotiating and the commercial property market. Podcast downloads available.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/bottomline/bottomline.shtml

Dragon’s Den – BBC 2/Dave
The nation’s favourite business investors invite spunky/hapless entrepreneurs into their den to pitch for business. The current series is now finished, though you can still catch a Best of… via BBC i-player and there are frequent repeats to be had on the freeview channel, Dave.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/

Panorama – BBC2
The programme that went out this week (and you can currently catch again on i-player) takes a timely look at whether banks and the government are doing enough for small business.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hvty9/Panorama_Credit_Where_Its_Due/

Others to look out for
It would seem that the BBC is responsible for the majority of the good, regular business-focused programming. Shows from other channels which throw up occasional business gems include the Tonight Show on ITV (Fridays 8pm) and Dispatches on Channel 4 (8pm, Mondays).

Please share!
If you’ve recommendations of your own or comments on any of the above, please post these below or contact TT on 0845 075 1044.

TT

Business advice overload?

2009-02-10T09:07:00.011Z

Buy! Sell! Save! Spend! Stand up! Sit down! Ok, we’ll stop there. Although we could go on. There can rarely have been a time when there was quite so much business advice around. Flying in from all corners, this veritable tsunami of tips, hints and advice for SMEs, rather than help, can be utterly confounding if you are trying to take time, under increasing pressure, to make the right decisions for your business.

Two government business support sites have produced some excellent, accessible advice which, if you don’t already know about them, could prove very useful.

1. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) runs the Action for Business programme, the focus of which is to help steer British business through the economic downturn. It has produced a rather helpful summary of the recent government measure around financial and other business support recently announced and helps unpick how these translate into real, accessible support for you and I.

Find out more from their website: http://www.berr.gov.uk/aboutus/corporate/performance/actionforbusiness/index.html

2. Businesslink’s Real Help for Business Now initiative expands on the relevant, sensible help theme and has produced a summary of FAQs in a bid to help tackle some of the $5M questions that many SME owners are chewing over at the moment. Areas addressed include:
• How to save money
• Managing your cashflow
• How to get more time to pay your tax bill
• How to keep staff on and improve productivity
• Alternatives to redundancy

These are easy to read, helpful and importantly, all in one place. Ideal if you need sensible, relevant business advice. Find out more at:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1081750153&type=ONEOFFPAGE&site=0&furlname=realhelp&furlparam=realhelp&ref=http%3A//www.berr.gov.uk/&domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk

[Tailored] Time for your business MOT?
Finally, we have been able to help many of our clients with our own Tailored Time business MOT service, which offers a fresh, independent pair of eyes on your business planning for the year ahead. Contact Sarah on 0845 075 1044 or visit www.tailoredtime.com/newyear2009 to find out more.

Please share!
As always we’re keen to hear from you - either if you’ve some recommendations of your own to share or have feedback on any of the above. We look forward to hearing from you.

TT

Keeping your team motivated

2009-02-06T12:06:00.014Z

It would be fair to say it's not been a hugely upbeat start to the year. Between the snow, the dark mornings and the prevailing economic gloom it's frankly a wonder any of us are making it out of bed of a morning. At times like these, it's important to keep an eye on what's important. Your staff are the engine of your organisation. Taking time to make sure they're ok will help you get the most out of them and ensure they are focused, fulfilled and thinking as a team. Here at TT we've been scouring the web and business press for some simple measures to help keep your team motivated and during what seem to be spectacularly trying times…

Keep your team in the loop
Allocate time to ensure everyone understands the business plans and priorities that lie ahead. These may be changing more than you'd anticipated at the moment; the important thing is to keep your team in the loop, when they do. Factor this in to your weekly team get-togethers to offer a sense of organisational direction for all.

Make time for 1-2-1s
Make time for regular 1-2-1 meetings with each of your team. This is time to revisit goals and refresh focus. It also gives you both the opportunity to discuss workload issues and any other areas they may need your support or reassurance in.

Reward and recognition
If your team are doing well, make sure you recognise this and let others know. This could be as simple as a handwritten note to say thanks. It could be a cross-team e-mail, something which will encourage others to try hard too. In the absence of a hard cash bonus, you may offer a half day holiday, surely something that could incentivise the most demotivated of staff…

Team building events
Mercifully gone are the days when this necessarily meant a bungee jump or abseiling. (Though if that's what floats your boat, we're sure you can still find it.) Team-building events span a world of choice, so why not involve your team from the start, by canvassing their opinion and making sure you book something that will really make them tick.

There's loads out there to choose from - we found these for starters, which may inspire some interesting ideas:
http://www.teambuildevents.co.uk/?g07v5&gclid=CPjHxszJx5gCFRaA3godjizM1A

http://www.outside-adventure.co.uk

http://www.phoenixleisure.co.uk/

http://www.teambuilding.co.uk/team-building-event-list.html

Show 'em a good time
Taking your team out every now and then can make a world of difference to morale. And given we're only just through Christmas, this doesn't need to be a full private hire of the London Eye with an exclusive personal appearance from Cher. It can be a late lunch down your local or an early finish on a Friday: whatever it is, why not delegate the event organisation to a team member? If there's something burning you'd like to discuss, pre-allocate some time to say what you have to say, then leave the rest to socialising. Essential for team bonding and reminding people just how much you value them.

Please share!
As always, we'd love to hear from you – please post your comments below or contact our team on 0845 075 1044.

Does your business need an angel?

2009-01-31T10:33:00.001Z

You wouldn’t be on your own if your business was feeling a bit cash-strapped at the moment. Government measures to encourage the banks to assist small business with cashflow issues may be a help to some, but frankly this may not be quite the panacea we were hoping for. We’ve been reading about business angels which may just be the answer to your prayers…

What are business angels?
Business angels are private investors on the hunt for a good return for their money. Business angels are often skilled, senior business players themselves, operating in networks locally, nationally and online. Not unlike the premise for Dragon's Den, they invite registered members to send solid business plans, which they will then review and potentially, buy into, in exchange for a share of the business on the table.

Feeling brave?
Angel’s Den is one particular network of business angels who also organise speed-pitching events, the next of which is on 2 February in central London. If you’ve seen Dragon’s Den, then you’ll understand how this may operate, however we are assured it is with none of the usual accompanying humiliation…

Angel’s Den is overseen by the official body, the British Business Angels Association. There is a fee to register and a further fee to submitting a business plan. There is no fee, however, for taking a look at their site, which offers lots of useful advice on planning, as well as testimonials, case studies and more:
http://www.angelsden.co.uk/

Find the British Business Angels Association
Angel’s Den is just one of a number of angels networks operating across the UK. Go to the British Business Angels Association website to see a full list and find out more about opportunities which may work for you:
http://www.bbaa.org.uk/

Please share!
As always we are keen to hear about your experiences – with business angels or otherwise. Please post your comments below or contact the TT team on 0845 075 1044.

TT

Online boosts small business by 20 per cent

2009-01-29T14:56:00.002Z

More people are online than ever before. Internet advertising revenues are continuing to grow at a pace completely out of kilter with most other sectors, and now accounts for a whopping 19 per cent of the market, which is only 0.6 per cent behind total press display advertising and 3 per cent behind TV.

But what does this mean to the SME?
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) conducted recent research which indicates that businesses that use internet advertising smartly can expect to grow their revenues by around 20 per cent. The FSB’s annual survey of its 8,700 members showed 43 per cent of respondents reporting notably positive sales increases by internet-related advertising.

So how can I make it work for me?
Internet advertising solutions can be cheap and simple. In its simplest form you can start by reviewing and improving your website and making sure you get smart with tagging and blogging (see TT blog, 20/01/09). Beyond this, you should be thinking about getting your web links added to as many relevant websites as you can – speak to suppliers, business colleagues, networking associates. And ultimately if you can demonstrate decent footfall figures for your site, you can take this to the next level and sell space on your site to other advertisers. Equally if you want to place ads on other sites, when compared to other media, online is very competitive both in the costs and the increasingly large numbers it reaches.

Right I’m going to move all my marketing budget to online…
Not so fast. It’s worth bearing mind, that what is a very attractive marketplace today could be very crowded in the not too distant future. At TT we try to keep ahead of the game by combining our online advertising with offline and by allocating our advertising budgets across a few options, to maintain an effective business profile to a variety of audiences. Additionally we try to keep abreast of developments in digital/online media by looking out for courses and seminars to keep our online work smart. To this end we found a great site, http://www.netimperative.com which offers tips, predictions, news, courses and much more for internet advertisers.

Please share!
As always we’d be interested to hear what you have to say, please get in touch or post your comments below.

TT

Time you got out more?

2009-01-23T14:49:00.000Z

While all else may seem to be on the decline, there are thankfully networking events a-plenty for small business owners. So in these dark winter months, we reckon the time to get out and about, make contact and share ideas with some like-minded souls, is now.

A couple of recommendations in the London area:

BNI business breakfasts are the stuff of networking legend. TT has been going along for many years because we find them quite simply, to be a brilliant way to meet other businesses. Join us and some 400 other members as they launch International Networking Week at the Lords cricket ground on 5th February, 7-8.30 am. Find out more about BNI at: http//www.bni.com/

Business Junction is a London/South-East independent business referral network. Their monthly networking events pull in SME owners from far and wide. February’s lunch event is at The Ebury restaurant in Pimlico on Tuesday 3rd February. This month’s guest speaker will be London Mayor, Boris Johnson. Go to www.businessjunction.co.uk to find out more about registration.

We Have No Office Party is a new networking event, offering the self-employed an informal chance to meet, network and generally shoot some business breeze. This event will be in full swing from 6.30 at the Kings Arms, Roupell St, Waterloo: http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub1006.html Contact the TT team on 0845 075 1044 to find out more.

Networking across the UK
The examples above are just the tip of the networking iceberg and wherever you are there will be something going on. Check online for other local or virtual business groups such as Sistersnog, Anthena, The Room Upstairs, BRE, The Millionaire's Club, ecadamy and many, many more. We use this website which can put you in touch with events to meet like-minded business contacts right across the UK: http://www.findnetworkingevents.com

Please share!
If you know of any events you either need support with or you’d simply like to share, please do so by adding your comments below or contact the TT team on 0845 075 1044.

TT

Boost your blog and website traffic today

2009-01-20T11:30:00.004Z

If you have a website, chances are you bought it, set it up and have since given it very little thought, save to add the occasional blog or news update. We have found that by smartening up our blogging we've managed to make a big difference to the potential clients who have been searching for something we can provide.

For starters...
• Use the right keywords – think about what your audience will be searching for
• Chose the right title – no more than 10 words, keep it short and to the point
• Use meta data where you can though be aware of the spam implications (follow links below to find out more)
• Make them lively – keep content engaging with pictures and links
• Encourage comment and debate

The following links go to sites we have found or had recommended by clients and colleagues, which offer expansive and relevant advice on boosting your blog and website footfall.

• http://www.xarj.net/2008/seo-secrets-to-writing-the-perfect-blog-post-wordpress/ - offers accessible, comprehensive advice on search engine optimisation and more
• http://www.searchengineguide.com/mack-collier/10-steps-to-creating-the-perfect-small-b.php - this site offers tips on content for small businesses.

Additional thoughts...
• http://www.money-from-blogs.com/ - this site is an example of one that can put you in touch with advertisers who will pay you to appear on your blog
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470230177/interactiveda3375-21 - there is now a Blogging for Dummies book – this successful series now makes the most complex blogging tasks seem simple.

Please share!
If you want to share experiences or good practice of your own, we’d love to hear from you. Please ask any questions or add your comments here.

TT

So why are people outsourcing?

2009-01-10T12:04:00.005Z

If buzzwords like ‘downsizing’ and ‘cutbacks’ are doing the rounds in your organisation, you’re not alone. You may in turn be looking for some smart alternatives to big overheads for your business, which is where outsourcing comes in. The following are a few reasons outsourcing aspects of your business may be the way forward for 2009…

If you need to downsize your team
You may have had to cut overheads by downsizing your team, but all too often this will leave a surfeit of work. When it becomes clear that its simply too much to handle the alternative is to seek part time or virtual support to help fill that gap. Outsourcing offers as little or as much support as you need.

If you have restricted workspace
If you don’t have the space you need, outsourcing is perfect for taking care of for example, accounting, sales or office support, which would otherwise take up valuable desk space.

If you’d like to improve your image
You may just be starting out; maybe run your business from home? Outsourcing a 24 call answering service or virtual PA support can give clients the impression your business is a bigger and more impressive operation.

If you’d like to try before you buy
It could be that you are moving into an area you haven’t before – web-based expansion is a common example. Outsourcing at this stage means you can have ‘taster’ of this new area and see if it is something you are sure is worthy of investing in full time staff/technology etc of your own.

To cope with the busy times!
Outsourcing is perfect for when you need support to cope with your business peaks, but can’t justify the cost for a fulltime team. A good example may be a telesales team to help you drive Christmas or new financial year sales.

At Tailored Time, we think the key to making outsourcing work is to try to allow them as much time as you can and to ensure they are well briefed and understand your business inside out. We help lots of clients with all types of outsourced business help, including book keeping, project management, web, PA and sales support… Give our team a call on 0845 075 1044 to see if we can’t help point you in the right direction for more nimble business in 2009.

TT

Winter warmers

2009-01-05T22:50:00.005Z

January: duvet or not duvet?
OK. It’s January, it’s cold, it’s back to work and frankly it's the time of year when if you’re anything like us you’d probably like to hibernate under your duvet at least until the weather cheers up a bit… and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the business press has it that 2008 has merely sniffed at the economic horrors that 2009 is set to bring. Oh dear.

BUT WAIT - what’s that noise?
Ah yes. That’s the sound of you, me and every other self-respecting SME owner snapping out of the winter doldrums and looking for new ways to keep on motivating our teams, inspiring our clients and to keep driving our business forward.

Winter warmers
We’re keeping our eyes peeled for news and information - aka winter warmers - to help you on your way. This week we are delighted to see news that commercial property providers are under increased pressure to release some of the pressure business is under at the moment. The Pru – one of the UK’s biggest commercial landlords is leading the way to help retail and other commercial clients with measures including reduced service charges and new, more manageable payment plans for rent. Even if the Pru isn’t your landlord, it is expected the effects of the benefits they offer will cascade pretty quickly onto other commercial landlords, ultimately offering benefits for anyone that rents commercial property, to pass onto clients and staff.

Need to know business news
The Times has a rather good, ‘Need to know’ section as part of its online offering. Follow this link to keep abreast of breaking news on commercial property benefits and more at:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/need_to_know/

That’s all for now – so keep warm, keep your chin up and as always, keep us in the loop with your news by posting your comments below.

TT

Last minute Christmas business to take care of?

2008-12-21T21:20:00.004Z

If you’re anything like us then you’ve probably got your holiday season sewn up all neat and tickety boo already. OK. Scratch that. Actually if you’re anything like us you’ve probably got more than a couple of last minute arrangements to take care of.

For holiday business…
Reception cover, virtual pa and office services: at Tailored Time we are still very much around to help with the last minute tasks you might still have at hand.

…or pleasure
Presents still to buy, flowers, gifts or transport to book? However big your to-do list, hopefully our list of can-dos will have something that can help you. Give a call and lets see how our extensive contacts book can help you. Speak to Sarah on 0845 075 1044.

Closing down the office - last minute tips
Finally the following are a couple of last minute reminders as you close your offices for the holiday season…

• Make sure you have a list of home and away contacts for anyone in your organisation you may need to speak to over the festive season

• Make sure your clients know when you will be around – have up-to-date out of office and voicemail messages for all staff and a note of your holiday office hours on your website

• Do a spot of housekeeping; leave your offices tidy and write a new year to-do list! Sounds a bit of a bore, but believe us, this will make for a much more manageable return to work in January.

That’s all from us for 2008 – wishing you once more, a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year indeed!

TT

New year's resolutions

2008-12-17T11:06:00.008Z

New year’s resolutions (NSRs) can frankly be a bit of a yawn and planning them can feel a bit like homework. You make ‘em, you break ‘em, so what’s the point? NSRs often emanate from things you know you should be doing, but aren’t, like eating less, exercising more, doing something for charity… all too often they are a bit of a nag.

The trick to making your business NSRs go the distance then, has to be making them something you actively want to do and can see the benefit of. And while you’re at it, why not make them something you and your team can share (remember how much easier the gym can be when you have a friend to share the pain)?

At Tailored Time, we believe the principles of making good business resolutions are:
• Something we want to do
• Something we can see the benefit of
• Something we can share
• Achievable, aka realistic
• No resolution is too small
• Don’t make too many

And given these principles, we have put together the following, simple achievable NSRs for the TT team:

Improve our aftersales care – follow up all sales with a written note of thanks
Tighten our housekeeping – return all invoices before their 30 day deadline
Take care of and listen to our staff - put two team away days/workshops in the diary
Read the business press - allocate time and a system for the team to do this each week
Eat less chocolate

So, as the world winds down for Christmas, why not take some time to reflect and think about some simple achievable NSRs that can help you motivate your team and ring in the changes for better business in 2009. Then have some chocolate…

As always, we'd love to hear about your resolution planning for 2009 - please post comments or questions below.

TT

Business planning for 2009?

2008-12-10T21:54:00.009Z

Planning for your business can be a daunting task. We think the trick is to keep it simple and suggest a streamlined, 3 step plan. The basics are summarised below, see what you think…

Step 1: Know your red flag areas.
OK this might not be the most positive way to begin think about your business, but taking action before a crisis arises is much better than reacting under stressful circumstances. So – where are your red flag areas? Cashflow, turnover, running costs, staffing issues…? Whatever they are, have a good honest look at where these potential stumbling blocks lie and structure goals for the year ahead that include heading these off before they get too big for you to manage.

Step 2: Articulate your goals.
Goals are the end point of your plan. They also determine the direction you want your business to move. If your goals are going to drive your planning you need to first articulate these and make sure each is Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

Step 3: Develop a written plan.
With your goals and risks in mind, you can now shape a plan. This should be in a format you are comfortable with, can revisit and refer to, add to and importantly, print out and see. Generally, we start with an overview (2-3 paragraphs) of where the business is now and where we want it to be. We then follow this with a month by month breakdown of the year ahead, plotting first the goals we want to achieve, followed by the actions that are going to get us there.

No-one is saying it’s going to be easy, but by simplifying your initial approach, you can certainly reduce the stress. The most important thing is to get you off the starting blocks. Reemember: your plan should be a living document that you can revisit and add to throughout the year.

For more detailed advice, there's lots of advice online and in print, but try these references for starters:

http://www.dummies.com/ - for Business Planning for Dummies, from this series of books that offer an accessible approach to everything

http://www.businessballs.com/ - offers free templates and advice

http://www.bytestart.co.uk/ - this small business portal, offers tips for planning and much more

If you have advice to share or questions to ask, please add your comments below.

What’s letting your business down?

2008-11-28T14:04:00.001Z

Times are notoriously tight at the moment. In a bid to help you hold on to your business hats, at Tailored Time we’ve been talking to our clients about some of the most common things that let a small/medium business down.

• Underestimating your out-goings – taking time to get these right from the start will help you avoid nasty surprises when it comes to calculating your margins.

• Bad cash flow – this can hit whatever the size of business. Keep a closer eye than ever on this – if people are beginning to let you down, don’t fulfill any more orders with them until it is sorted.

• Biting off more than you can chew. More clients mean more orders mean more cash. Or do they? This works fine if you have the operational back-up to support this but if you don’t, it can wreak havoc with your reputation.

• Forgetting your customers once the order is in the bag. All too often the customer who was king pre-order falls to earth with a bit of a bump as soon as they’ve signed.

This a selection of feedback from a few of our clients. If you are struggling, remember you are not alone. Some immediate, useful sources of business advice, fact sheet and information to help rationalise your business fears include:

The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies – impartial advice for small businesses.

The Institute of Directors - factsheets, online help and more.

Business Link – government agency established to offer support for small business

Please share!
If you want to share experiences or good practice of your own, we’d love to hear from you. Please ask your questions or add your comments here.

Help on the way: Imminent tax cuts for small businesses

2008-11-15T04:10:00.004Z

Help on the way: Imminent tax cuts for small businesses

Government has this week announced that plans are afoot to provide new support for small businesses. In a pre-budget report, due in the next week, it is understood there will be substantial measure to help small business and revive the economy. Details are sketchy at the moment, but keep an ear out for the announcement and your eye on the ball to make sure you don’t miss what’s due to you. Keep abreast of developments via national media websites which will report this news as it happens. Try:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/default.stm

Why do a Christmas event?

2008-10-27T16:21:00.011Z

Corporate events are your way to say thank-you to your clients and build on the relationship you have with them with an eye on business for the year ahead. The ideal environment would be relaxed, it should encourage chat and networking amongst your guests and above all have them resoundingly know that you appreciate them and their business.

Who do I invite?
Making sure your guests feel comfortable is paramount. Events we have arranged for Tailored Time clients often see guests invited to bring a friend or spouse. This works for two reasons. First: your guests are blown away by your generosity and secondly, and most importantly, they are relaxed and more likely to have a good time in your company.

But I’ve only got a small budget…
Small doesn’t mean your guests need to starve. A simple solution may be to simply host a shorter event, where you can reduce both the pressure on your guests’ time and also your own outlay, by having a drinks and finger food reception rather than full, sit-down dinner.

What about the venue?
Many restaurants and bars have been advertising for Christmas business since September! If you haven’t booked your event yet, it means you should be thinking about it in the next week. Remember it needn’t cost the You can often reserve a roped off area of a venue at no extra cost. And for smaller groups, we have helped some of our clients with client parties in their own home. This keeps overheads down, but with outside catering and even a wine waiter for the evening, this type of gathering can offer a truly special touch.

Timing
Invites should be going in the next week, or certainly the minute you secure a date/venue. If you haven’t yet confirmed your details, do call around to clients you want to come along and let them know what you are thinking, the sooner the better. Above all this is the chance for some positive conversations between you and your clients.

TT

Working with mr site

2008-10-16T14:20:00.000+01:00

We are delighted to announce that we are working with Mr Site offering their wonderful website in a box as part of our business support solutions. Mr Site’s award-winning, Takeaway Website Standard gives users everything they need to get a professionally designed dot com website online eg. www.yourname.com, including a secure shopping cart, hosting, email and a smart website that would normally cost hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.

It doesn't matter if it's for a business, a local art club or even a relative's wedding photos, anyone can create a website with Mr Site. How? It's all in the box, it's jargon free and seriously easy to use, with the Mr Site team always there to help every step of the way. We think it is a fantastic solution and it helps businesses get their name out there at a minimal set up cost.

Created by leading UK Web Designers, users can simply select a professional website design from the hundreds available and easily customise it to make it unique. Users can then drop in pictures, text, logos, music and videos and they're done.

Mr Site’s most famous fan is Levi Roots of Dragon’s Den fame. He set up a website for his famous Reggae Reggae Sauce with Mr Site and says, “I would recommend Mr Site to anyone. It’s fantastic.”

We think the website in a box rocks and there is no excuse to not have a professional looking website!

know any good business magazines?

2008-10-10T13:58:00.003+01:00

We are always on the hunt for new inspiration, new marketing ideas, exciting new business venture and do favour the occassional business magazine. We subscribe to quite a few but after a while we find they become a bit lack lustre (or maybe we just have the attention span of a gnat and get bored easily?)

We have subscribe to the Financial Times (please slit our wrists now... so full of doom and gloom) but after six months of wading through pink paper we gave up and thought there surely must be better ways to pass the time; we love the IOD Director's magazine; we have tried The Week, not so business focused but gives a quick glance of what has happened in the world; we get the FSB magazine which is ok but a bit flimsy on content and now we are going to try the Spectator wooooo.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/business/subscriptions/587856/subscribe-to-spectator-business.thtml if you want to subscribe to it too.

Someone sent us a link to this inspired online magazine... it made us laugh a lot, which is saying something in these crazy times...

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/

Any great suggestion would be good to hear about... so drop us a line.

7 Golden Rules to keep your business thriving

2008-09-25T13:02:00.001+01:00

Focus on your existing customers - these guys are valuable so keep that in mind!
Keep an eye on your finances - do you know what your margin is, do you know what your projections are... Are you on target to hit your targets?
Review suppliers - check out whether you are getting the best deals especially if they are increasing their prices
Review your costs - maybe its time to switch utility bills, do you really need to take that taxi to the meeting?
Adapt and add value - consider some 3 for 2 offers, make yourself stand out from your competitors (check out what ASDA have been doing so that they stand out from their competition!)
Check in with your bank - make sure you have got a good rep with your bank because you just might need a bit more over draft!
Dont face it alone - there is lots of advice out there and it is good to share!

Freelance or Full Time?

2008-09-22T18:09:00.001+01:00

There is an interesting article in this month's IOD magazine about why small businesses are choosing to work with freelancers over employing full time staff and we think that at last people are feeling the same way over this issue. There are some businesses that do need full time staff and this works very well for them, but from experience I find that working with freelancers means that you are working with people who are more self reliant and keener to do a good job. If you find you are not working with someone who feels this way, you can tell very quickly and the work will dry up equally as quickly for them.

Speaking from experience, at some point in a business life you soon have a negative experience with a full time hire and if you are a small start up business that experience can put you off even trying to grow your idea further than work you can do yourself. By the time you realise that you have made a bad hire and are able to do something about it, you are often at least three months too late. Sounds a bit harsh but it's true. We all know we have to go with our 'gut feeling' but sometimes when you are working with another person, in the same environment day in, day out, its a tough call to sack them....especially when you realise all the red tape you have to go through to get rid of them. You can see it as easier to just be a bit more patient, give them a bit more training and surely... surely things will come out all right. By that time, its too late!

Managing a client/supplier relationship is much more simple; okay so it doesnt always mean you will be happy with the work but you can dump your supplier a lot more easily and quickly than you can your employee. And another thing you may find is that you will get more bang for your buck with a freelancer. So we reckon this type of business model rocks - especially in these changing times when you need to be as flexible and nimble as possible.

Managing Project successfully

2008-09-19T13:58:00.001+01:00

Our next adventure is going to be finding a good project management tool. We have looked at Microsoft Sharepoint, Huddle, Google Docs/Sites, Basecamp and Zoho and have realised there are some fantastic cost effective ways to share data with clients and associates without shelling out £££ to design your own system. We have yet to decide but Basecamp is looking v.interesting!

If you have any suggestions of your own then let us know!

Managing your databases

2008-09-17T17:50:00.003+01:00

There comes a time in every small business when they need to use a new bit of kit which is invariably technology/software based. Its something that I love to get my teeth into - any thing to make the business work smarter and harder and make a process more efficient.

Recently, we felt it was time to grow up a bit with our CRM and move on from using excel and ACT. Both of these solutions work well but have their limitations. The brief was to find something that was accessible online, didnt cost a fortune (or free!) and would provide a way of categorising leads, creating call lists and storing all of the latest up to date info.

There are plenty of applications that will do this - some are extremely expensive and therefore mainly marketed to large corps and some are far too complicated to use. CRM systems are a bit like an iceberg and invariably you only end up using a small fraction of their potential functionality. This can either be because it is not user friendly or you just dont need it.

We reviewed Salesforce www.salesforce.com and free CRM www.freecrm.com - and ended up going for free CRM and spending far too long getting our data structure right, but its all a wonderful learning curve! It was a bit cantankerous to start with and some of the functionality was clunky (like deleting en masse) but now that we have it, it is fantastic! It makes me wonder why it took so long for us to sort it out... it is saving us so much time!

Getting to grips with Second Life

2008-09-11T08:39:00.000+01:00

We heard about Second Life a few years ago - it was grabbing headlines because there were stories about people making millions in real life from selling property in Second Life. For those that dont know what Second Life is it is an online, 3-D virtual world that's imagined and created by it's users - its more like a social network which is constantly evolving where virtual people meet, chat, explore and play. Sarah came across a business run by Debs Butler on her networking travels who is marketing Second Life London and thought that it was a good time to experiment with this form of advertising.

Jojo was tasked with finding out more about it and it seems that it isn't so easy as it seems and we need to spend more time finding out how it could work for us... after all we are a 'virtual company' so what better place to exist. We already have one member of staff with an avatar... Cinders Foxtrot.... ha ha ha what a silly name.... look forward to meeting you in the second life...

Small Business Trends

2008-09-10T09:24:00.002+01:00

Just seen this interesting site about small business trends
http://www.smallbiztrends.com/hp/

it's worth a perusal!

inbox zero - have you achieved it yet?

2008-09-09T08:16:00.001+01:00

Have you heard about inbox zero ... it's what we all want to achieve and never quite get there. A copy of the four hour week is bouncing around the office and some of us (ie Sarah) are new found evangelists of this new way of life; and 'inbox zero' fits quite nicely into this ethos. We know very well that we shouldn't be dictated to by what comes into our inbox and that in fact, this is a very inefficient way to work but still we do it. Inbox zero is the new way of inbox life which is based around five actions: Delete, Delegate, Respond, Defer, Do.

Personally, we like the delete action the most but are too scared to use it - so we did an interesting thing the other day - Michelle hoofed a load of emails into another temp folder and this was a month ago and she hasn't missed them, hasn't had to refer to them and so really she think they can be deleted. But then there are always those times when a year later, we might have to refer back to correspondence from a client by email.... and its a total night mare if it has been deleted.

King of the empty inbox is Merlin Mann who has been preaching his gospel since 2006 and he has even done a video too...

To find out more
http://www.43folders.com/izero

As they mentioned in the Times Online at the weekend, trying to get to inbox zero is like trying to loose those first two pounds after Christmas... but once it comes off, there is no stopping you... but equally, if you dont keep an eye on it you are back to inbox full all over again.

getting those payments in on time.

2008-09-03T12:56:00.002+01:00

So yes, we are hitting (or have we hit?) a recession - some say that the first signs of a recession is that people are slow to pay... we have certainly been experiencing a bit of that lately. The best way to deal with this delightful part of running a business is face the non payers head on.

Get those invoices out on time and more importantly make sure they are correct - dont give your customers any excuse to delay or not pay you
Make sure your book keeper or you are on the phone or sending out a reminder by email as soon as the deadline is up; just one phone call and you will know what is going on
Be prepared to keep your good customers happy and jetison those who are procrastinating with payments - there is no point keeping a customer and continuing with the service if they cannot pay... its the thin end of the wedge

Mmmm happy times - anyway, regardless of recession, this is how a good business needs to be run.

free ways to promote your business on line

2008-09-01T08:48:00.002+01:00

Online networking can feel like a bit of a waste of time as it can take a good long while to get yourself out there but it can be an excellent way of building your profile, getting referrals, mentoring and achieving lots of publicity.

Its been a bit of a mission to get ourselves onto BT Tradespace... can you believe a huge organisation such as BT would launch a service, market it only not provide a proper customer support solution... amazing really. We actually tried to get ourselves on there nearly a year ago but eventually we gave up because of lack of customer support. With the new found skills of JoJo (our latest recruit!), her IT skills and tenaciousness has paid off and we are up there!

We have also joined up on free index - http://www.freeindex.co.uk/myfreeindex.htm which looks a bit like http://www.bestof.com/ in the way your customers can leave testimonials.

There are literally millions of sites out there that you can use to promote your business. We reckon that it is really worth spending time exploring the different sites available and working out which ones work well for you. Another thing to explore is online networking... and it can seem like a huge bottom less pit. Sarah has spent time exploring lots of them like http://www.ecademy.com/, http://www.linkedin.com/ and some of them are better than others. If you set out just to get business, it probably wont work...just like face to face networking. People switch off if you are always trying to sell them. The best thing to do is to connect with others and ask them what they do; never try to sell yourself first without establishing a relationship first. And most of all be patient, it takes time to build trust.

Musings over... back to work xx

legislation around temp workers... pain or gain?

2008-08-29T12:43:00.001+01:00

We ponder... will the new legislation around temporary employees and those on maternity leave really start to affect SME's soon.... heavy stuff...

Reckon so - this legislation which comes into force over the next few years and according to the Federation of Small Businesses 98.5 % of the 885 who were polled said they would be less likely to recruit temporary workers as a result of the extended rights theyare to be granted by new Brussels legislation. In a nutshell it means that there will be equal pay to all temp staff after three months, the right to request flexible working for parents will children up to 16 years of age and finally when women go on maternity leave they will also be entitled to non-pay related contractual benefits such as childcare vouchers.

What do we think in the TT office... well, the world has to develop more flexible ways of working and lets face it, that is what Tailored Time is all about!

getting yourself out there....

2008-08-22T08:56:00.000+01:00

When you think about promoting your business, we are sure that the word 'networking' might have popped up a few times. Some people love it and some people cringe at the word. Sarah is the networking queen in the office (as she is the driving force for sales, it kind of makes sense!) but previously she had never done it, in fact she was one of the people who cringed at the word. Its strange that, when it is your own business, talking about what you do becomes more easily. There are lots of ways to boost your confidence too from getting a bit of 60 seconds training to practising in front of the mirror. Having our base in London does mean that there are a huge amount (in fact too many to list) of networking events, some a great, some are terrible but here is a list of Sarah's favs of the moment

http://www.sistersnog.com/ - this is women only, always full of interesting businesses meeting at interesting venues

http://www.bni.com/ - mmmm sometimes it can be a bit naff, a bit americanised but it works!

http://www.ozoneconferencing.com/network/index.php - you can network every week from home and meet lots of interesting businesses without the hassle of leaving home

And there are of course lots of 'online' netorking available too - these can be very timeconsuming and not always give you reward (ie being a source of new clients) but can be a good source of new suppliers.

Sarah's top tip is to choose wisely as it is all time consuming and you will need to devote time and energy to each one - its ok being a social butterfly but you need to be seen as someone of conviction, otherwise people wont trust to pass on business to you.

something new from Ikea for businesses

2008-08-20T08:51:00.003+01:00

whilst flicking through their latest catalogue (life was v.exciting in the TT office one afternoon), we spotted something about joining their business network. We are always up for new ways to promote the business and meet interesting businesses so we have signed up.... watch this space

www.ikea.co.uk/business

"If You're Not With Me In Person Then How Can This Relationship Work?"

2008-08-15T08:13:00.004+01:00

This was exactly what a client asked us the other day at a meeting.

And it's what a lot of business owners who are accustomed to having their staff in their own office, think.

The best way to approach this is to review the way in which you work before introducing someone virtually into the process. Our guess is that as a result of this you might find better and more efficient ways of working. Often the reason why we like to have our co-workers physically next to us is so that we can share information as it happens in real time but, we pose the question... is that really necessary for every task? We are not advocating working on your own and becoming a machine (unless you like it that way) but if it is time to shed some of your work load onto others and free up your desk space, then it is a very good place to start!

These are our Top Tips.....

For a longer term working relationship:

Establish what tasks can be grouped together - multi tasking is not always the most efficient way to work (ironically)
Evalutate whether a virtual meeting each week at the same time would be beneficial to your workload and that can be your point to download with your virtual PA
Provide enough information then you can empower them to make decisions on your behalf et voila, you have the startings of a good working relationship.

For smaller/random projects and requests:

Give precise instructions (nothing wooley otherwise you leave it up to someone else's interpretation of what you need)
Request a confirmation email with an explanataion email back from them in their own words of what you have asked them to do.
Set a deadline for your assistant to check in with you with a progress report

Good luck!

take a power nap...now

2008-08-11T19:22:00.001+01:00

Two of our lovely clients came to the office other day and one of them had a quick snooze whilst we were discussing the next projects... granted...it wasnt a very excited topic (book keeping) and they had been doing lots of jet setting holding their training sessions all over the world... and when our client had awoken from her little snooze we had a laugh about it and they explained they are all the rage these day and so we had a little cruise round the web and low and behold all the big corps are up to it with their special nap pods.... bring it on is what we say....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-557752/Business-giants-install-power-nap-pods-boost-productivity-workforce.html

and you even have a helpful film to show you how to do it too...
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-power-nap

love
the power nappers from Tailored Time
x

.....and relax.....

2008-08-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

yeah right we should be so lucky.....

This the title of this week's London Time Out (we always have a copy floating round the office) and whilst everyone in the world is relaxing we are busy with supporting all our clients' businesses so sometimes, June, July and August can be the busiest time for us. Some people have caught on that to truely relax you just have to leave all your blackberries, dooberies and however you access your work emails at home - apparently a group of city workers were surveyed and 83% of them take their blackberries with them and over a quarter check them at least once a day... bonkers if you ask us but then perhaps they are a bit paranoid of loosing their jobs at the moment.

We were commenting today that somehow it gets so busy in the office that it gets to late afternoon and we havent had lunch or popped out for breath of fresh air... somehow we get so engrossed in our work, we forget... madness.

Just in case, some of you are still in London then this is a list of our favourite things to do... when we escape the office

hang out by the south bank with a few ciders (classy) watching the world go by

hire a canal boat and cruise around the byways (cant quite fit that in during a lunch break though)

Lie under the trees in Holland Park listening to the birds whilst they are practicing opera for a show at the Korn Ferry pavilion

Sit outside Julies in Notting Hill with a pimms

who are we trying to kid... we never get time to do that but we can dream!

Doing your bit for Charity

2008-08-06T13:23:00.008+01:00

We have been pondering about volunteering and doing our bit for charity, mainly prompted by Sarah's strenuous bid to take part in a Dragon Boat race for the Back up Trust in September. We also received some information from Volunteering England last week which has also helped the thought process along.

Did you know that just 14% of small businesses are currently taking advantage of employer supported volunteering (ESV) schemes, and with that in mind Volunteering England has just launched a campaign asking small and medium sized businesses to give more help to charities.

Volunteering England is urging small to medium sized businesses to set up ESV schemes in a campaign, supported by The British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Forum for Private Business and a range of other industry bodies, which is the culmination of a three year project aimed at developing Employer Supported Volunteering.

It aims to encourage smaller companies - which account for 59% of private sector employment, – to join the ranks of bigger firms that enable employees to volunteer their time to good causes through a work context.

Now you may think that it is all just giving and you don’t have time to do it if you are running a small business, it's all about money making not time giving… but apparently an employer supported volunteering programme can bring considerable benefits; often companies with ESV programmes find that employees are proud to work for them and potential employees want to join them. It often makes a difference with customers too, who feel good about buying from them and can lead to added investment which can't be a bad thing...

You may remember that the highly successful ‘Give a few bob’ campaign? The campaign, launched in June last year, brought the late comedian Bob Monkhouse ‘back to life’ and helped raise over £3m worth of free advertising space for prostate cancer through a massive media promotion. It was developed by a marketing company with around 45 staff, The Communications Agency. So there you go!

If you want to find out more about Volunteer England visit this link http://www.volunteering.org.uk/
and if you want to also get together a dragon boat team for The Back Up Trust to rival Sarah's team 'Truely Oarsome' (geddit???) then visit this link http://www.backuptrust.org.uk/dragon.html

Swapping Providers - its not always painful

2008-08-05T14:39:00.003+01:00

We are having lots of fun in the office changing over our email provider to Cobweb Solutions hosted exchange package... and actually so far... so good - it is running relatively smoothly and the guys at Cobweb are very helpful with our many questions. We thought that as we recommend them as one of our suppliers it was about time we sample their services rather than feedback from other happy customers... anyway, this wasnt meant to turn into an advert for Cobweb but having sampled other providers who are a nightmare to get on the phone and coach you through a new procedure (v.important if you dont have your own IT person sitting in the office all the time), they have got it going on with their Customer Services.

The reason for our change is expansion which is always an exciting word - as we are hiring more staff who work virtually with our clients it is necessary to have the platform to help the business grow...and Sarah is happier with her blackberry too as it means she doesnt have to remember to sync it with her computer every day...everyone is happy.... watch this space!

2008-07-30T20:34:00.000+01:00

We thought it was time that we began to share the collective knowledge of Tailored Time that we have amassed over time (since 2004 woooo!), to help businesses out there who are either just starting up or are thinking of making some changes to their business structure to outsource parts of their daily tasks. And those wandering souls who are just passing by in the big wide world of the internet....

This week we have been mainly putting our money where our mouth is and entering into the world of auto responders.... exciting things.... we keep preaching to our clients about automating and reviewing procedures well, guess what, we have done it ourselves too!

Check out www.aweber.com for starters - it all seems a bit complicated at first but plod on and it will be worth your while! There are many many different providers out there - we have been using an piece of software that sits on our computers called http://gammadyne.com/ which rocks in its own way but as we preach the virtual word, we are thinking virtual software is the way to go.