The Growth Academy sessions have been running successfully in Edinburgh and Falkirk for well over 12 months and now is the right time to expand to a new area.

Attended by small business owners or self-employed professionals The Growth Academy sessions are ran as monthly Academies during which we work closely as a group on the business challenges faced by the attendees as well as looking at possible collaborative opportunities.

We work within a structured format and the tone is informal but professional with the focus on the challenges faced by the attendees as they strive to take their businesses forward. Each Academy Session has no more than 7 businesses in attendance and as we don’t have long term contracts the attendees are there because they want to do be.

Although there are no long term contracts, the format is designed for an ongoing involvement and the majority of attendees come back monthly. We fully accept that needs change and running your business comes first so you are welcome to dip in and out of The Growth Academy as your needs dictate. We provide any support needed, we plug any skill gaps and we tackle any challenges head on, at all times sticking to the basic principals we founded The Growth Academy on.

Inspiration, Education and Accountability.

The Academies have been proven to be a great opportunity for business people to find the way forward for their company and for them to gain access to an experienced business growth mentor at the great rate of £50 per session. The first session comes with a no questions asked money back guarantee.

In our quest to ensure that our followers get the best information around The Growth Academy would like to thank guest blogger Jamie Watts of Bibby Financial Services for the great content in this blog post!

Even as the economy shows signs of recovery, doing business is as hard as ever – especially when you are just starting out. However, it is also the case that as we start to extract ourselves from the recession it could be a good time to take advantage of new opportunities. In my role at Bibby Financial Services, I can witness first hand its dedication to embracing the entrepreneurial spirit of our existing clients and supporting new and established businesses through periods of growth by releasing cash tied up in your unpaid invoices.

While the perception has been that banks have not been willing to lend to businesses over recent years, I’ve seen Bibby Financial Services continue to increase its support of SMEs in the UK market place. By the end of 2011, BFS will have advanced funds of approximately £350m and that figure will continue to grow in 2012.

However, it would be too easy for me to scribe this blog knocking the banks; they are getting a hard enough time from the national press without me adding to it. Rather, I thought I’d take this opportunity to offer some advice on how you can protect the life blood of your business – your cashflow.

Top 10 Tips for helping your cashflow run smoothly

1. Be clear with your terms and conditions - Setting out your terms of trade early on can prevent hiccups later. So whether your business terms are 7 days or 30 be sure to include them in both your order confirmation and invoices
2. Credit Check your customers - Trade only with those companies you know are creditworthy with a good track record of paying your bills
3. Always check your invoices - Often the smallest thing can hold you back. That’s why addressing your invoices to the correct department and the right person will speed things up
4. Send the Invoices – Don’t put it off - Once you’ve completed the job send your invoice immediately. Attach a read receipt if you’re sending it electronically.
5. Be Strict with credit control – Don’t be afraid to adopt a follow up system – issuing statements and reminder invoices. Call your customers if their payments are late
6. Don’t be scared to negotiate - If you have a debtor who insists on taking 90 days plus to settle an invoice, negotiate an increased rate for this as essentially you are helping fund their business by providing extended payment terms. Likewise offer incentives to debtors who will pay ahead of terms.
7. Take Stock – You may want to think about your stock levels – holding stock costs money. More frequent deliveries from your suppliers could mean that stock levels are kept to a minimum
8. Manage your suppliers - Negotiating longer credit terms and volume discounts could free up more cash to invest back into the business
9. Pay attention - Is your customer acting differently or suddenly hard to get hold of? Are they sending post-dated cheques? These are signs that that something may be going wrong with your supplier behind the scenes and staying on the ball means things are easier to sort out should they go wrong
10. Keep the cash flowing- Continually review your funding to make sure it still meets your business needs. Factoring and invoice discounting could be the perfect solution to your needs as it offers a flexible option for your funding facility to grow in line with your turnover. As more banks look to switch traditional overdraft clients onto invoice finance in an effort to consolidate their risk, it’s important that you shop around to find the best deal for you.

Lack of cash kills a lot of businesses, hopefully these tips from Jamie will be useful and will help you allow your cash to flow more freely!

If you would like to get in touch with Jamie, let me know and I will connect you!

Held as always at The Wheelhouse in Falkirk, the session was as lively and thought provoking as ever and a good range of topics were covered.

The Growth Academy sessions do have a structure and a focus but they are allowed to drift off if that the tangent is beneficial to the attendees. Tangents are very much the norm in Falkirk! The majority of the group have now been attending sessions for over 6 months, and know each other well but we have now welcomed in a “newbie” and he is contributing already.

Attendees were

Jamie McGowan - WPA

Cat Cripps - Wildcat Solutions

Alistair Ewing - Blimey Loans

Gordon Emslie - GNE Consultancy

Ian Dickie – New Start Fire Consultant

A range of topics were covered but the one I want to cover in a little more detail is “how to deal with competition”.

This is a common discussion in The Growth Academy sessions, and there is no vanilla answer to the question. There is a more detailed blog on the topic in the blog section of this website but I have outlined below the 3 key points to remember with considering how to sell against your competition.

1. Always respect your competition and research them as much as you can.
2. Never speak disparagingly about your competition when speaking with a client. They won’t appreciate it.
3. Always focus wherever possible on the areas where you feel you are stronger than your competition. May sound obvious but you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t.

Ultimately competition is a good thing and should always be embraced and used as a positive driver in business.

In the session we did have one attendee who is regularly put on the spot by prospects who ask him about his competition as they regularly have media coverage of flaws in their offering, it is hard for him not to use this media coverage to his advantage but he does try to focus more on the strengths of his company and let the prospects make their own mind up on the competition.

After months of ground work I am delighted to announce CCB have opened a new office in Moscow allowing us to offer our full range of market support services to UK and international companies interested in working in the Russian market.

Russia is one of the fast growing and vitally important BRIC economies, and the one closest both geographically and culturally to the UK, with over 140 million inhabitants, a rapidly growing middle class, the majority of the world’s energy reserves and much of the world’s natural resources it offers massive opportunities for UK companies looking to export products and services in a whole range of areas.

Working in the market is not as challenging as you may have heard, and with a dedicated team based in our Moscow office CCB are able to help clients understand the market and the opportunities for their business, and then help them secure partners and clients in the market.

If you would like to see a copy of a short market brief we have produced highlighting some of the key sectors we see at the moment, and I would be delighted to send you one or to come in and give you a fuller overview of the market. I would also be delighted to introduce our Russian Director Maxim Tereshchenko who will be splitting his time between Russia and Edinburgh.

If you would like more information please feel free to contact Charles direct on charles@ccbaltic.eu

What a year it’s been for football clubs and fans already. And we’re only just into March! Is 2012 going to be the year that sees Crowdfunding change football in the UK for the better?

Rangers, Darlington and Portsmouth have all gone into administration and they’re not the first to experience the humbling experience of potential bankruptcy.

To date, a grand total of 53 English and Welsh football clubs have gone into administration since 1984. In Scotland, there have been 11, including the latest fall from grace, 54 times league champions Glasgow Rangers.

The knock-on effect of these big clubs failing can be immense. Not just for the fans, the community and the local economy but also for football itself. Dunfermline players were recently paid only 60% of wages and are still waiting for till receipts on their last match against Rangers.

It is very likely that there will be more clubs ending up in administration in the months ahead.

There’s something rotten in the state of football financing. The traditional model consists of a local businessman or international supporter buying the club, often as a vanity purchase, then investing millions of their own money into subsidising a club that rarely turns a profit.

Often, those business owners are not aware of the extent of subsidy fans expect them to give and relationships become frayed.  The intense pressure from fans to secure the most expensive players for the team, leads to the most common reason for clubs going into administration: speculation on future earnings.

Flipping the Football Finance Model

It’s time for the football financing model to be flipped.

The current model is bust and nobody is interested in fixing it.

All except for the fans. The fans are the ones that truly understand the passion of the game; the community asset of a football club and the community-building possibilities that can come from making sure the club is not only profitable, but of true value to the wider community.

Crowdfunding is the way forward for fan ownership, supported by the local community and businesses.

With crowdfunding, each fan becomes a shareholder of the football club and, depending on the amount invested, can receive a number of benefits:

The benefits offered to the fans of Darlington FC include:

• Voting at shareholder meetings to appoint the board
• Two shares allocated for each £100 invested in the first phase of crowdfunding (when the risk to their money is higher) then one share for every £100 invested thereafter
• Potential EIS tax deductions
• Regular invitations to shareholder events
• Newsletters
• Name-checks and thank yous on an erected plaque and the website
• A financially robust community asset, funded by the community, for the community (no one entity can own more than 15% of shares)
• Opportunity to be voted to sit on the board
• Access to the financial accounts

Crowdfunding Darlington Football Club

Craig McKenna of The Growth Academy approached local Darlington MP Jenny Chapman and suggested that crowdfunding could be the route to a future for the football club. Jenny introduced Craig to the group of people who now are known as Darlington FC 1883 Ltd and after much discussion they launched a project to raise £750,000 on leading crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

Darlington FC 1883 Ltd is now almost half way towards the total and the football club being bought out by the fans.

If the targets are reached by 23rd April 2012, the new fan-based club will be brought out of receivership, have the debts paid off, secured the assets of the club and finally rid itself of financial insecurity. Darlington FC will become a genuinely community ownership model and will prove to be the blue-print for other struggling football clubs to follow. And most importantly, each fan/investor will be transformed from stakeholder (those who are interested in the wellbeing of the club) – to a shareholder (those with a financial interest in the future of the company).

What more could any fan want?

If you would like to help the Darlington FC Crowdfund succeed more information can be found here #buydarlo

If you would like to more information on crowdfunding for your club or have any questions feel free to contact Craig McKenna by clicking here.

On the topic of “How To Get Your Terms & Conditions Right” we will consider how you can ensure you are concluding a contract on YOUR terms.  We will discuss payment provisions and their potential pitfalls – what should you put in your contract to maximise your right to payment?  We will also consider the contractual tools that may be open to you to address non-payment.

It is not uncommon for businesses to make offers of sale or purchase subject to their standard conditions of contract (frequently printed on the reverse side of an order form, for example). A question can sometimes arise as to whether there is a concluded contract and on whose terms.  In the “Battle of the Forms” we will explain when you can rely on your contract provisions trumping those of your clients.

There cannot be many businesses who are not feeling the pressure to get paid on time and improve cash flow. The seminar will conclude with some “Key Tips for Debt Recovery”, including advice on how best to chase outstanding invoices.  We will also explain formal routes for recovering sums due including demand letters and court actions.

The seminar will take place on Thursday 1 March 2012 in our Glasgow office and Thursday 8 March 2012 in our Edinburgh office with the following programme:

8.00am - Registration/Tea, Coffee & Breakfast Rolls

8.30am – How To Get Your Terms & Conditions Right

8.45am - How To Avoid “Battle Of The Forms”

9.00am - Debt Recovery Key Tips

9.15am - Questions & Discussion Forum

9.30am - Seminar Close

As a leading business coach and mentor, I support and work with ambitious and early-stage companies during periods of challenge and growth. After becoming more and more disillusioned about the lack of options for my clients to access funds, I felt I needed to step up and find them a solution.

So, I am now formally in the crowdfunding business and I am very excited about the opportunity that this offers my clients.

With one exciting project already launched on Crowdcube (check the revolutionary VIP Smiles here) and several mind-blowing businesses at the top of their game in the pipeline, it is with great pleasure that I accept, most humbly, the challenges and successes that 2012 will bring.

A.K.A, bring it!

A Brief History of Business Start Up

Back in the day, when a genius business idea started germinating in the entrepreneur’s head, they would immediately put it in a business plan and reach for the funding pot. Then select one, or a combination of the five main routes to funding: 1) raid the piggy bank; 2) approach the banks; 3) investors; 4) personal network or 5) apply for a grant.

But now that banks are not investing; business investors refuse to fund seed or early-start projects; friends and family are feeling the ravages of the economic downturn and the grants sector has been virtually wiped out, where do you turn to fund your awesome business venture in 2012?

Crowdfunding Investors Unite

The answer is simple. It’s 2012 and in the Chinese calendar, it’s the Year of the Dragon. Or more precisely, in the business calendar, it’s The Year of the Armchair Dragon.

Crowdfunding is finally coming of age and is set to become a permanent fixture on the business funding rostrum.

Crowdfunding is what’s called peer-to-peer funding. Instead of going through funding gatekeepers with their preference for certain sizes, sectors, track record and personal connections, entrepreneurs can now place their business idea on a crowdfunding platform online and persuade hundreds of armchair investors, through social media, to invest small amounts of money in return for rewards or shares.

It’s tempting to say that it’s the next best thing since sliced bread, but it really is the next best thing since a certain Mr Jobs put his foot down on a few designs he liked.

Crowdfunding Platforms

There are already a significant range of crowdfunding platforms available if you want to raise money for social or arts-based projects (IndieGoGo, Kickstarter, Sponsume, Bloom VC, Soloco, RocketHub, etc). There are even some that will allow commercial entrepreneurs the opportunity to offer rewards, incentives and pre-orders.

But there’s only one in the world, that offers actual shares in return for small investments. Crowdcube was started in 2010 after three years exhaustively working with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to make sure the crowdfunding platform complies with all financial regulations.

[Even the USA has not got to the stage of being able to allow small businesses to legally offer shares to 'unaccredited investors' (the most basic definition is those who have net worth less than $1M). However, on November 3, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2930, a crowdfunding bill that will allow startups to offer and sell securities online. The Senate will likely vote on the bill in early 2012.]

Raising Investment

The process is very straight forward. Create an online pitch and promote it to people you think might invest in your business. Investors could be anyone from friends, family and colleagues, to your customers, suppliers or advocates of your business.

By promoting your pitch online and encouraging people to spread the word you’ll be able to attract investors that you don’t even know yet. Once you reach your target you’ll get the money to help grow your business.  Simples.

Trials and Tribulations of Crowdfunding

And there’s the rub of it. You only have 60 days to raise the money.

If you don’t raise the entire sum, the pledges that have been made, are not redeemed and the entrepreneur gets absolutely nothing.

This means that you have to get your pitch right and your business not just investor-ready but social-ready. Crowdfunding does not entirely depend on social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Groups but you ignore these tools at your peril.

When it comes to courting the crowd, they will generally make up their mind within a few minutes online and either give your project a rapturous thumbs up, or put your business to death with a cataclysmic thumbs down.

Win the Crowd, Win Your Freedom

The coolest thing about funding your business idea through crowdfunding is that if you raise more money than you require, you get to keep it all.  Raise 650% more than you need? It’s yours to do with as you please.

Not only do you get the benefits of raising the money you need for your awesome business idea, there are a tonne of upsides that come with the crowd voting with their feet and their bank balances:

6 Core Benefits of Crowdfunding

1. Third party validation of your business idea / concept / growth strategy
2. A network of business investors who will operate as brand ambassadors and actively share / sell your products and services using word of mouth marketing and social media
3. Pre-sell your products and services prior to business launch helps cash flow and confidence
4. Attract more funding from traditional funders since proof of concept has been established
5. Turn business customers into fans, investors and your brainstorming board of advisers
6. Establish several tranches of funding as you hit each financial and business growth deadline

Crowdcube and Growth Academy

As one of the leading affiliates for Crowdcube, businesses come to Craig McKenna at the Growth Academy to make sure no stones are left unturned in the quest to prepare for a successful crowdfunding pitch.

If you would like an informal chat to discuss your options and find out how much work has to be done to get your business concept investor and crowd-ready, please give me a call any time, any where. Or drop a message in the Comments box, follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Your Turn

Jump in to the discussion on crowdfunding. I’d love to hear your views. Are you sceptical? Do you think it’s too high risk? Are you worried about failures? Are you scared to put your money into investments in case they fall into a deep dark financial hole? Which businesses do you think are suitable for crowdfunding, and which ones aren’t?

More importantly, do you think crowdfunding will be the main way for businesses to raise funds in the future? Leave a comment.

Other Blog Posts You Will Like

• What business can learn from football and crowdfunding
• How to set realistic business targets for 2012
• How to focus your sales: 8 key steps to closing deals

If you haven’t already set your targets for next year, I am sure you will be thinking about setting them over the next week.

If not, you should be!

At The Growth Academy, everything we do for clients is underpinned by first properly identifying the objective, and secondly, discovering ways to reach and surpass the targets that they have been set. Without a target in place, a lot of time and effort can be wasted trying to achieve the wrong things!

How to Approach the Setting of Targets

Setting targets is one the most important parts of running a business, yet so many people are unsure of how to approach it.

1. What is the business trying to achieve? Is your aim for 2012 to grow, maintain your position in a declining market or down-size to secure profitability and sustainability?

2. What is your average cost of sale? You really need to know this. If your sales costs are 45K a year and you work on 10% margins, then the target needs to be a minimum of 500K. Otherwise even if you hit the target you are barely breaking even.

3. How big is your market and your average deal size? This may sound like logic but you would be amazed. If your average deal is 5K and there are only 40 potential clients in your area, your target cannot be above 200K. And even then, the chances of you selling to all 40 are minimal.

4. How often will you review progress against targets? This is a whole other blog, but accurate pipeline management is essential

5. What other factors are you going to take into account, other than the financial? It is important to keep your sales resource focused and motivated and there will be times when closing the deals become tough. Have more than just financial or revenue based targets in place.

Setting Achievable Objectives is Key

Finally, and most importantly for me, is to ensure that the target enables you to do the things you want to do. Never forget that there has to be a clear objective behind the target. Make sure that if you hit the target the resulting benefits help you to achieve your own personal aims.

I have met too many people who hit targets year after year but never achieve their ultimate goals.

Only you know what the “right” target should be, not the bank, or any other outside influence. Obviously seeking some guidance is beneficial but if there is one decision above all others the business owner should make, it is deciding what his or her targets should be.

2012 will be a great year for many, many businesses, and I am confident that the most successful ones will be ones that have set clear targets and achieved them.

Your Turn

Let me know how you approach the setting of your business objectives and targets. There is plenty of room for discussion on this topic and I’d love to hear your take. Jump in everyone, the conversations we’ve been having here lately have been exceptional and I expect this one to be no different.

I am happy to answer any questions you leave in the Comments box below, by email, Twitter or Facebook.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• How to focus your sales: 8 key steps to closing deals before Xmas
• What business can learn from football and crowdfunding
• Do consultants appreciate their responsibility to small businesses?

These days, big business and big football clubs are getting themselves into a whole heap of do-do.

Some are on the verge of bankruptcy, some have been bailed out by the state, and some have even called in the receivers.

We may not shed a tear over their demise. But the problem with big constellations imploding is that they usually take down many smaller stars with them.

The supply chain for a club like Manchester City (£195m debt), or a business like Thomas Cook (£200m debt), consists of 1000s of smaller companies that are often well run, tightly managed and not burdened with extra-terrestrial levels of financial borrowing.

Football Business Leadership

The football industry is taking baby steps towards fiscal responsibility and showing leadership in financial controls.

In 2009 UEFA (European football’s governing body) introduced ‘Financial Fair Play’, a canny system to ensure the financial playing field is as fair as possible for football clubs. It is a way to restrict clubs from running up huge debts while trying to “buy” success on the pitch. As a result, clubs are allowed to lose just £38.5m in total over three years.

Financial Fair Play has received a lot of criticism but personally I can see the benefits to football as a whole. Anything that stops clubs coming under risk of financial ruin can only be a good thing.

If it is implemented properly there will be an undoubted period of extreme growth pains. But the clubs will come through it, resulting in the amounts invested becoming more focused on transfer fees, wages and youth development. This will certainly sharpen the minds of the clubs and the club owners.

Surely business can learn from this kind of principle?

After all, while Thomas Cook is allowed to get into £200million of debt, smaller competitors can’t get any lending at all. The smaller travel companies then end up suffering the tighter margins that ensue from the major travel company having immense buying power. Consequently, the smaller company can’t compete and either folds or struggles.

New Media, New Business Solutions

It’s not all doom and gloom for smaller companies. A viable business plan will still attract funding. It may cost more to access but it’s still there in principle.

What’s more, there’s a new kid in town that goes by the name of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding opens up completely new hemispheres of opportunity for start-up and growth-focused companies.

In fact, there is an air of gold rush growing among in the businesses community. This follows the recent success of the Rushmore Group raising £1 million in crowdfunding from Crowdcube. The investment, raised in only four weeks, sets a new record for the largest amount of money raised using a crowdfunding website.

Again,  football has led the way in crowdfunding. In 2008, Ebbsfleet United Football Club was bought by approximately 26,000 people each paying £35. The money was raised online through My Football Club and the club is now controlled and managed by the members (the crowd), even taking decisions regarding transfers and team selections.

As confidence grows in the use of crowdfunding as a sustainable tool for business growth, we can only look forward to a complete transformation in how companies do business as they begin to deploy customers as investors, advocates and brand ambassadors.

Over To You

Do you agree or disagree? All comments are most welcome and I’ll be happy to answer any queries on this piece or on crowdfunding in particular.

Don’t forget to ‘like me‘ (that just sounds so needy – they really need to change that!) on Facebook and ‘follow me‘ for up-to-date breakthroughs on Twitter.

You can also email me on craig.mckenna@thegrowthacademy.com or call me on my mobile: 07717 316 014

Other Articles You Will Like

• The Growth Academy Crowdfunding Site Now “Live”
• How To Focus Your Sales: 8 Key Steps to Closing Deals Before Christmas
• Do Consultants Really Appreciate Their Responsibility to Small Businesses?

But a phone-call on Monday really stuck in my mind.

One of my clients confidently told me he and his sales force had six deals on the table and they were looking forward to closing the deals before Christmas, ready to start delivery in the New Year.

It was all very positive-sounding but it is my role to challenge these things. Unfortunately, as it turned out, only two out of the six deals on the table are realistically going to close before Christmas.

This isn’t the end of the world at all. The other four will close early 2012 and at least he can get his sales force to plan effectively and either

1. look for more deals, or
2. allocate his resources differently.

But it could have been bad news.

Qualifying a prospect is probably one of the most important elements for you and your sales force, especially if you are a small business.

If you don’t qualify a prospect, you will waste time trying to sell to people who don’t have the right buying signals in place.

Focusing only on the right prospects will always give you a mental advantage. Why? Because you get in to the ‘win-win’ habit every time.

The 8 Key Steps to Closing Deals Before Christmas

The 8 key stages can easily be remembered with the term SCOTSMAN with each letter representing a stage.

(S) Solution - Have you clarified if your prospect understands what it is that you wish to sell them. What is your solution and why will it work for them?

(C) Competition – Are you aware of any other sales force competing with you to sell to your prospect or for the money they may use to buy from you? Your competition could be internal as well as external.

(O) Objective – Have you a clear understanding of what your client is looking for and why they are in the market? What is important to them now and in the future? Do you improve their services or processes, or do you save them money?

(T) Time scales – Have you clarified what time scale the prospect is working to? Can you deliver within that time scale? Does the time scale work for you? Is there a timing factor that could be used in your favour, for example a financial year end?

(S) Size – Is the potential size of the deal worth the effort needed to win the business? Have you a clear picture of the size of the deal? Is it smaller than ideal but could open doors? Is it too big and may have a detrimental impact on your business?

(M) Money – Does the prospect have the money in budget to pay for your solution? If they don’t have a budget, can they find the money or do you need to consider walking away?

(A) Authority – Are you speaking to the decision maker? The person who ultimately will sign the cheque? Are they even aware that you are speaking to their company? It is no longer imperative  to deal with just the decision maker, there is a value in dealing with another contact within the business but very few pieces of business are completed without the main authority signing off on it.

(N) Need – Does the prospect actually NEED your solution? Very few deals happen in the current climate without a clear need. There are many reasons why they may need your solution and it is key that you find out which one is relevant and focus on it.

Sales To-Do’s

If you can answer ‘Yes’ to all the questions about qualifying prospects, then your chances of closing deals are extremely high.

Very few deals will actually happen if one or more of these 8 key stages are missing, and the time you may waste on chasing shadows can never be taken back.

It can be very seductive to get sucked into thinking that every deal will happen. There is a sort of comfort in having a large pipeline that “could” close.

But I would encourage you to qualify properly and allow yourself to focus only the deals that have a chance.

You are always better off closing 3 out of 5 good prospects.  If you try to close 2 out of 10 prospects, your focus and resources will be stretched thin.