How refreshing to receive a referral from the least expected…

 On Thursday evening I received a call from a potential new client having recently incorporated her business, and now ready to employ a work experience candidate it was time to establish her commercial insurance needs.

 Aware of her requirement for professional indemnity cover and having previously worked for a household name insurance underwriter she contacted them for advice.

 Once contacted they enthusiastically researched a local broker who could be referred, and so out of the blue we received a phone call.

 After digging a little deeper and having fully assessed her businesses operation, there were clearly additional requirements besides the professional indemnity cover such as Employers Liability, Public Liability and Products Liability which had been overlooked.

Whilst the quotations for cover are sourced, the client is now very happy with the advice received and thankful – which is the nicest part.  

So many times the service we provide is not a priority with clients, primarily due to the focus on a lower premium. However, you really should make every effort to provide the most accurate information on your company and advise of any changes in how you operate i.e. new Health & Safety policies or hazardous works etc.

Details of expansion or contraction in terms of staff, stock, premises and turnover will all factor in ensuring you receive the right cover; commercial insurance is a very bespoke business especially as and when your business changes so be sure to advise your broker. 

It is important for clients to realise insurance brokers actually work for you, we do provide so much value; and the better informed we are then the more appropriate your insurance cover and advice will be. Remember that it is always better to be marginally over insured than under insured.

 With a little integrity I must admit the referral would likely have been due to the insurance company making a recommendation from the ‘Find a BIBA Broker’ portal.

 BIBA the British Insurance Brokers’ Association carries the motto ‘The best insurance is a BIBA Broker’.

 In this instance our client believes so too!

 Either way, it was a gratefully received referral where we were glad to be of service. 

Paul

Let me tell you a story…

A young high earning city gent, let’s call him Steve, books a meeting with an Independent Financial Adviser. He had a 2 year old daughter, his priorities had changed and he felt that private education was the route to go for her future and wanted to start saving now.

“I’ve got a problem” said Steve “I want to save for my daughters future, but I’ve got an issue….I’ve no spare money at the end of the month”. “That’s fine” said the financial planner “We’ll take a look at your income and outgoings as part of the work we do and we can see where you spend your salary.”

Steve and his adviser got to the stage where they discussed his budget, completed a budget planner and it left both of them scratching their heads.

“Based on what you’ve told me” says the adviser “You should have £800 per month spare!!”

“Well, I haven’t” Steve replies “Where does that money go??”

“Ok” says the adviser, “Tell me about your typical weekday?”

“Ok” says Steve, feeling confused about why the adviser asked

“I jump on the tube to work, before work I pop into Starbucks and buy myself a coffee and a Sandwich for breakfast. I then go to work, but, I love Starbucks!! So I pop out at about 10:30 and buy myself a coffee and a snack…..”

The story continued and the adviser, and eventually Steve realised that he visited Starbucks 4 – 5 times a day. Then Steve with the help of the adviser calculated that he spends £320 per month in Starbucks!!

“I think we’re getting closer to finding out where your spare money goes” says the adviser

“Yep” says Steve feeling slightly ashamed about his caffine and snack habits “I’ve never looked at it this way before.”

“I understand” said the adviser “and it’s not unusual if you’ve never had the chance to budget plan before. Also, I’m not suggesting you stop visiting starbucks…but what this information allows us to do is to prioritise realistically.”

Then the meeting continued…….

Moral of the story:-

If you’ve never budget planned before, do so now!!  Any professional adviser will be prepared to do this as part of the financial planning process, but you can also do this yourself by downloading This Free Template from the office of fair trading.  Also, if you’re not sure where your money goes, dig deeper, think about what and how much you spend on a regular day.

Once you understand where your money gets spent, you have the power to change your spending habits (if you want to)…..and the budget planning exercise will be time well spent

Chris

A closer look at your marketing plan?

On my travels I’m often surprised by typical answers to a simple question.

Q. “Do you have a marketing plan?”
A. “Umm. Yeah, but, no, but …. Got one somewhere, haven’t seen it for a while. ”

Have you experienced this?

It seems all too common for folks in business to devote time to doing things spontaneously and on an ad hoc basis, as opposed to carrying out planned activities. Someone has a “plan” in their head that’s not been committed to paper. They want to make things happen, but are they making the right things happen at the right time and in the right place?

A lot of time and resources are being wasted doing the wrong things at the wrong time in the wrong place. And it’s so easy to put right. Talk to someone who can help. Why try to cure yourself when there’s a doctor at the end of the phone?

Do you have a marketing plan? Do your clients have a marketing plan? Want a template? I’ve got one. Want a full plan? I’ll do it for you.

Please, UK plc, make the most of your potential. A simple marketing plan will keep your business on the right track towards success.

Charlie

People: Keys to successs

In any business the people are important – however the success of a business is often due to one or two ‘Key People’. Regularly the importance of those key people is overlooked, especially when you are busy with the running of a business.
Typically you will have protected your business with commercial insurance, covering various liabilities, and damage to premises and stock. If you employ people you will have employers’ liability, protecting you against the costs of compensation from a claim.

But have you protected yourself from the impact of losing a key person within your business?

The key person may be you, whose vision created the business or perhaps the sales manager, whose contacts and relationships ensure targets and profitability are met. It could be the chief engineer or designer with the responsibility of new products.
Whoever the person is, their loss could have a devastating effect on your business. It is easy to believe the nastiest of life’s events happen to the ‘other’ people, but what would happen to your business if you or someone key to your business were to die prematurely or endure a critical illness? Perhaps go off long term medically sick?
You may lose confidence from lenders, suppliers, customers and employees; your loans may be called in and suppliers may demand payment up front whilst customers go to your competitor and staff leave – just think of the loss of intellectual property.
Key Person Protection makes dealing with these consequences easier, by implementing a business plan in preparation of the loss, critical illness and or long term sickness of the key person(s) and making the necessary finances available to move forward.
Moving forward could mean the potential settlement of company loans (including Directors loans), the appropriate resources made available for recruiting that right replacement; a cash injection in place of lost sales revenues; the finance available for planned company expansion, and even maintaining a key persons income whilst they are medically unable to return to work.

Are you risking everything?
Do you remember your ‘Key People’ or ‘Key Person’ now?

Paul

Let’s turn the lemons into lemonade.

How many of these can you answer yes to?

1. I haven’t a clear marketing plan.
2. I don’t have any marketing skills.
3. I think marketing is complicated.
4. I don’t really know what works and what doesn’t work for me.
5. I find it difficult to explain why anybody should buy from me.
6. I’m unhappy with my brand.
7. I rely solely on a couple of methods to generate business.
8. My messages are mixed, without coherent themes.
9. I don’t keep concise records of my customers and prospects.
10. I don’t have time to think about how to develop my business.

None? Great.

Quite a few? All of them? Making mistakes is part of learning. Recognising your mistakes is the first step in curing them.

We’ve all been there, myself included.

The next step is to do something to rectify them. Turn these negatives into positives.

Turn the lemons into lemonade.

Charlie

There are loads of myths about business. Some are perpetuated by the use of traditional approaches – old Spanish customs. Some are theories that might have made sense once upon a time, but don’t any more.

Here are a couple of my favourites. What’s yours?

There’s no such thing as bad publicity.

The myth is that if people recognise your name for any reason, that’s good news. The reality is that nowadays competition is fiercer than ever. Quality and credibility are prime drivers. People want results and to be want to be associated with success. Bad publicity will come back to haunt you.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

In other words, don’t tinker with a “successful” formula. Wrong. Today in business you can’t stand still. You have to keep moving forward and improve constantly. You must stay ahead of your competitors and you can’t do that by being complacent.

I have a great product, therefore I must succeed.

Nope! If you have a great product and think that all you have to do is put up a sign and wait for customers to flock to you then your mistaken. You have to work hard to make sure that you get the right customers at the right time who will pay the right price.

Let’s share your favourite myths. Maybe by doing so we’ll help each other.

Charlie

I’ve recently found out that I’m going to be a dad again!! My wife is currently 5 months pregnant and we are busy preparing for our new arrival. We didn’t think we had the chance to expand our family (for various reasons), however I’m ecstatically happy….now that I’m over the initial shock!!

Like any family, we want to make sure our children get the best start in life….and although nowadays a university education isn’t essential, I believe that having the right academic foundations will give my children the best opportunity to thrive.

However, for many families the cost of paying for a university education seems out of reach….let’s look at the facts:-

Due to the recent changes in university fees, the cost of a 3 year degree course could be as much as £36,000 for the course. If you add living and accommodation costs and study material for your children, you can easily see how these costs can add up.

I’m not sure about you, but I’m not too comfortable with the idea of either of my children starting their working life with this level of debt. However, it’s worth considering how you might be able to ensure that you can help towards these costs.

There are many ways to help, but it’s worth mentioning a couple of tips we use with our clients when planning for their childrens university fees:-

Start Saving Early – Consider this….if you start saving for university when your baby is born…you can save £167 per month (without growth) to achieve the £36,000 target. If you wait until your child is 10, this amount goes up to £375 per month.

Research before you invest – There are a wide range of options available to save longer term….ensure that you conduct enough research to be comfortable making the right decision. You have the option to seek independent professional advice….however, there is normally a cost to this advice and this should be taken into account when seeking advice.

Review Regularly – One of the biggest mistake individuals make when saving for any form of financial goal is not to review how the investment is doing on a regular basis. We review our clients circumstances at least annually…..and if you decide to start to save for your children’s education…keep an eye on how it’s doing….and more importantly, is it on track to achieve enough money to meet your financial goal.

Although there are a wide range of issues to consider….the 3 areas above are fundamental to building a financial plan. Start there and hopefully your children will not leave university with as much of a debt when entering into their working life.

Chatting about busines

When I first had the idea of running my own design business, I actually though “How hard can it be?” Oh how wrong I was. It’s easy enough to actually do the work (within reason – there are thought processes involved and a lot of deliberation with the clients) BUT it’s the business side of things that get in the way.

I suppose I am quite lucky as I have been conditioned to be organised in the teaching profession. That’s the filing sorted! Now for the finance. OK still not bad as I have always lived on my own so organising finances isn’t a problem. The biggest bug I have is advertising myself.

I sometimes wish I were more like Michael Keaton in Multiplicity. I guess that many sole traders and business owners feel the same. (BTW you will probably find many film references throughout my blogs, as I love movies).

Anyway back to the subject at hand. The ideas are ok too, it’s just getting round the technology in implementing them. As we grow so does the world around us. The technology is on super speed, and like me many businesses will find they seem to be playing catch up. Well you invest in that great piece of machinery only to find out it that a newer super fantastic model has replaced it, and within a few months it has become obsolete.

I have found that out with the simple business card.

When I first started, I printed my own (I couldn’t afford anything else). Then I found a great, cheap, printer who sent me free gifts too! Unfortunately being won over by all the cheap, free stuff, I ordered loads. A couple of months down the line, I wanted to change something on my card. That left me with a few hundred left over.

But I ordered a new improved set anyway. Proud of my new set of business cards, convinced that they would make me money, I gave them out.

A few months later, I changed address (decided that renting an office was not conducive to my time management). Whoops. I still have about X hundred cards left!! NOT AGAIN!

It did not look professional with a crossed out address.

I did a bit more homework on technology and discovered the QR Code. Even my bills coming through the door had them on. I had to get one. So I did.

With that I wrote a simple how to guide on QR Codes to help others who don’t like a lot of technojargon.

This time I was aware of my problem. I took my time with the next design, I even added a QR Code.

I also went to a proper, human printer firm. They took my design and delivered it in wonderful little plastic boxes. Great. This time I was wiser. I decided not to get too many printed. Because like life, your cards will need updating too. My last lot were so last year, this new batch are so NOW!

Tracey

Southend Graphic Design