Raising small business finance

With the credit crunch still biting hard the availability of bank finance is a sore point for most business people.

The situation is particularly bad for small businesses, typically perceived as risky by bank underwriters. Bank credit terms offered to small businesses are so poor they can represent a glass ceiling to growth.

While no magic bullet out there to the banking crisis, these are some of the alternatives worth considering:

Family and friends – With returns on traditional bank deposits at an all time low many family members are already likely to be seeking alternatives for their investments. If your funding requirements and terms fit their risk profile it may be worth talking it through.

Lending against assets – Traditionally this means lending against the sales ledger of the business or invoice discounting. Though this may be an option for you, there are alternatives forms such as borrowing against stock, brands and plant and machinery.

Grants – Though these are harder to access at the moment, don’t dismiss the possibility out of hand. The Enterprise Finance Guarantee is targeted at SME’s with strong business plans and the inability to provide security needed for a loan. These schemes can support 75% of a loan up to £1m.

Many more options are available but may be unique to your businesses circumstances.

If you would like to talk to us about you business call us on 0121 270 6305.

Business growing pains?

Managing a business into growth can feel like a troubled adolescence.

No one wants to listen to how good you are. You’re the new upstart with new fangled ideas that people just don’t understand. Some feel you have the whiff of arrogance about you, perhaps it’s because you are just so darn sure.

Sounds familiar?

It’s rarely an easy path growing a business, particularly small and new businesses.

Fortunately we’ve trodden the same path many times, partnering our clients through the journey.

Resourcing a growth strategy within today’s financial climate will often prove the toughest obstacle.

With ideas, experience and a sympathetic ear, we’d like to help you make that growth journey.

For more information on how we can help your business, call us now on 0121 270 6305.

5 Tips for running a successful small business

1. Constantly review the cost base and supply chain of your business. Never has there been a more relevant time for this discipline. With inflation running at long term highs your margins are bound to be being squeezed, if you are a small business you will have the added disadvantage of buying small.

So challenge your suppliers on price, bench mark them against their peers; cooperate with other people near to your sector to buy. This doesn’t have to be your competition, look up and down your value chain. Don’t ever stop looking around for alternatives. Above all, never stop looking for better ways of doing and buying things.
Promote, promote, promote. You don’t have to pay for this. The best form of promotion is speaking to people. Despite the internet, word of mouth is still the most viral marketing campaign you will ever come across. So find out who your customers are and your go out and talk to them, get to know them. They won’t be hesitant to tell you what they want and how much they want to pay for it.

2. Promote, promote, promote. You don’t have to pay for this. The best form of promotion is speaking to people. Despite the internet, word of mouth is still the most viral marketing campaign you will ever come across. So find out who your customers are and your go out and talk to them, get to know them. They won’t be hesitant to tell you what they want and how much they want to pay for it.

3. Change. We all know we’ve got to do it, but let’s face it; most of us don’t like it. One thing is for sure, if you don’t change, your business will die. One way to look how you have to change is look at your competition, try and emulate them or if possible, beat them. The advantage of being small is change comes easy; it won’t be like turning around a super tanker organisation.

4. Ideas. Don’t be sacred of having them, embrace them. If you are lacking new ideas, bring in new blood. It may be just the shot in the arm your small business needs. If you lack the funds for new blood, why not try an internship programme or talk to your local university about offering a graduate some unpaid work experience.

5. Stay positive. This is a challenging trading environment, unlikely to change in the short term. There are reasons to remain optimistic. If you are a small business, you are lithe, able to change quickly. If you have traded through the recent recession, you have just survived the worst downturn since the Great Depression. If you have just started out, there is a world of financial and personal opportunities that await.

If you would like to talk to us about your business call us now on 0121 270 6305.

About Us

Helping our clients overcome the challenges of the modern business and taxation environment is core to our strategy at Blossom Stream Limited.

Focusing our efforts on the needs of our clients we have the experience and know how to help your organisation grow, sustain and succeed.

Our service offering spans the traditional work of Accountants through to the new. Whether it be supporting you through the tax and accounts compliance minefield, saving you money on your tax bill, planning your tax future or improving your reporting framework, we have the qualified experience to deliver you peace of mind. In addition, we can bring our wider industry experience to the aid of your business, providing consultancy and support on areas such as IT, internet strategy, business planning, marketing, recruitment, outsourcing, performance management and telecommunications.

The founder and Managing Director of Blossom Stream Limited, Colin Davenport FCCA, qualified in 2000 with a City Centre top twenty Chartered Practice. Having trained and qualified serving the owner managed business community of Birmingham and the West Midlands Colin moved into industry. Here he worked in various finance roles including Financial Controller, operating in the UK, Central and Eastern Europe. His sector experience includes Construction, IT, Telecommunications, Recruitment and Manufacturing. Now living in Solihull with his young family, Colin heads our practice.

If you would like a Free initial consultation with Colin please don’t hesitate to arrange an appointment. Colin can meet you at your business premises or ours; it’s totally up to you.

Call now on 0121 270 6305 or email colin.davenport@blossom-stream.co.uk, alternatively click here to leave your details and Colin will contact you directly.

Business directory web advertising

Listing within a business directory is a critically important touch point for businesses to connect to their customers. Online advertsing is now one of the most effective channels for marketing a business. Conversion rates for the online advertising sector are typically some of the highest.

Of vital importance are cost effectiveness, quality and depth of the service provided by the advertiser. 

You should look for an advertiser that incorporates the latest in web technology, framing it’s offering within a web 2.0 interface. This means providing your business with an environment which enables customers to engage in a conversation about your products and services, taking the traditional listing or advertisement to a discursive level of exposure. 

Our business internet directory, interlinkdirectory.com, can do just that for your organisation. By offering the traditional directory listing capability and then layering web 2.0 functionality within this, we have constructed a tool which can feature your business in a quality web advertising environment. 

Interlinkdirectory allows you to list your business, post articles about your products and services, and in turn allows its visitors to engage in discussion about you. All this creates a continuous stream of content, building value and fluidity within your small business web advertising.

Click here to visit interlinkdirectory today and find out more about what it has to offer

How to move on from the recession

The western hemisphere is barely limping its way out of recession, and many skilled people have been laid off. The number of new start ups is rising more than ever before as these cut loose workers fight for their right to a piece of the global economy.

For start up businesses, getting off on the right foot is absolutely crucial to survival. We’ve prepared a five point plan here to help you stay on the track to success.

Build a coherent marketing strategy.
Find out where your customers are and what they read. Once you have these identified find out how you can get yourself into these places. For example, let’s say you are a new firm of accountants, book an appointment with your local chamber of commerce or business link office. Present your services to them and leave them with your business card featuring an offer, say a 10% reduction on all fees for new businesses. Ask that they pass on your card to every new business they meet. They will be constantly meeting new businesses and will be more than happy to encourage you as a new venture. This idea is transferable to many other business types, so give it a try. Your local chambers or link office can be invaluable in the early days of launch.

Keep on the right side of the authorities.
Remember to research out your responsibilities as a business before you begin to trade. Consider your accounting, taxation, employment law and regulatory requirements from day one. This can be a hard circle to square for any new business but its expedition is a necessary evil. If you are unsure of anything within this fold, always consult a professional before you make a move. A small amount of professional fees at the beginning can save you a fortune further down the track.

Secure a web presence from day one.
Having a web presence as a start up and small business will be crucial to your survival. In today’s information age it is an essential, giving you the right image and tools to communicate with the world from day one. Starting this journey at the beginning of your business is crucial, that way your web presence can grow with you. Far too many businesses get midway or fully through their launch before considering the option. It doesn’t have to be that way; websites can be built now for tiny prices and are scalable quickly and easily.

Know you market.
Be fully aware of your customer’s wants and needs. Go that extra mile in profiling them, for example use some keynote market analysis reports. These will tell you about buying habits, patterns and trends. Often these can be obtained at your local library for free. Once you have this data, relate it back to what you competitors are doing, if their missing something you may have found yourself a niche.

Never give up, but do be prepared to compromise.
The never give up attitude is an essential commodity for any new start up. Some days it will feel like nothing is going your way, but stick at it, fortune favours the brave.

Sometimes you will have to compromise; very rarely will everything go to plan. Having the ability to change and adapt to the circumstances in front of you is a vital characteristic for success.