“Prime Thinkers”

•To help in the development of individuals, companies, businesses, entrepreneurs and

voluntary agencies.

• To pass on the vast knowledge and expertise of retired experienced business

people to tomorrow’s generations.

•To highlight areas for improvement and to help increase profitability

•To raise finance for the disability charity “Kith and Kids”.

Who we are and What We Do• We are a group of retired and soon retired

business people from a range of different sectors, who are ready to pass on their many years of experience to assist any company, organisation, or individual who have a problem they wish to air, a new concept they would like to develop or a new direction they would like views upon.

• The ‘prime thinkers’ will look at, and brainstorm on any aspect of business life.

• The ‘thinkers’ will donate their time and the ‘presenter’ donates £75 to Kith and Kids

Who we Have Seen and Helped To date there have been over 30 individual businesses, charities and start-ups that have attended, covering such areas as:

• Retail - a yarn and knitting accessory shop and knitting school • Ebay - a seller on behalf of the general public• A disability charity - seeking new fundraising ideas• An electrical contractor – seeking marketing ideas in order to

expand his business• Training companies• New product company in the medical field• Travel company looking to combat competition from the net• Film maker and also training for film industry

and many other businesses

How does it work?• Currently sessions take place every 5 weeks, with 2

presentation each session.

• The presenters will have submitted an outline of their areas of concern in advance. They will also distribute backup material before the start of the session. Each presenter is given 10 minutes to expand upon the area they wish to have brainstormed.

• Each member of the group will then have an opportunity to

question the presenter, after which an open discussion will take place.

• After an hour, a summing up will take place by the chair.

• We advise the presenter that they should be accompanied by a colleague to take notes.

• Follow-up sessions can also be arranged

‘Prime Thinkers’ in action

National publicity!

An article from the Mail on Sunday

• >>My main need is to see if any of you can think of ways for my shop to>make more money. I have a great turnover. Last year, which was the 2nd>year of business for xxxx, saw a turnover of 250,000 pounds. That is>great. I also have great exposure in magazines who both feature theshop itself, and borrow products for shoots. They are usually high-end>magazines like Elle Decoration, Living Etc., Marie Claire, etc.>I also have 2 books coming out in the next 2 months. The books should>generate a lot more exposure and sales. So, all in all, the shop is a>huge success. People know about it in the Sates as well.>I have a great website and an online shop which generates a lot of>money. My (huge) problem is that I am actually making very little money.

• Last year I took about 8,000 pounds as a salary. Considering the vast • Amount of time I work both in the shop and at home doing things this is

>terrible. I need ideas of how I can increase this as I can't carry on>for many more years on this income. It is almost like breaking even for>me. One problem is that the UK yarn prices are fixed. In other words, the>yarns and books and magazines I stock from the UK have a RRP which can>not be deviated from. The mark-up is bad- only 60%. That's a lot of>balls of yarn to shift to make any money.>The yarns that I import from overseas wind up being expensive already>(adding shipping, duty, handling fees on etc.) even if I just doublethe cost and add VAT. My customers already think they are expensive. So Iam pretty stuck on the the price I charge for my merchandise.>It may be a case that a knitting shop will never make money no matter>how well it does. (the small mark-up along with the costs of rent,>rates, salaries, stock which always has to be replaced, web design anda million other costs) I can't believe this though.>I will bring my press book, some print outs of the website and some>figures on the day.>Let me know if you think ti would be a help to bring anything else.>Kind Regards,>Susan

An initial letter explaining areas of the business that the owner wanted guidance and ideas on

What just 2 ‘presenters’ have said:

• “4 great ideas came out of my meeting with Prime Thinkers, 2 of which I put into action immediately for building a wider sales force. I have since received an investment of £400,000.” Ebay retailer

• “I contacted some of the suggested possible customers the afternoon of our meeting and have secured 1 contract and am negotiating with a second. I have also implemented some of the marketing suggestions” Electrical contractor

• Dear all•

> I would like to thank you very much for being at yesterday's meeting,> it was an incredible experience for me, and one whose> impact has been sinking in slowly ever since. I thought you might enjoy> reading my thoughts as e mailed to friends who knew I was making the> presentation. It will show you what I felt the benefits were. Here is an> extract .............> > These are the most important things the meeting left me with:> - my mission statement and wordage generally is still too fluffy and NOT> ready (for the corporate world especially). The BENEFITS are not yet clearly> enough stated. Makes me realise I'll need to seriously reword and refine my> nearly-done website. Since writing this e mail, I have addressed this.> > - that the corporate world is where I can make money. They challenged me on> whether I REALLY want to make money, or whether my purpose is to 'heal the> world' whether I make money or not. Yes I DO want to make money and do need> to admit this with more confidence!> We agreed that I could actually do both, corporate and personal...in fact I> could let the corporates know that a % of PV earnings would go towards> subsidising people to do PV who would not otherwise be able to pay. This is> an interesting idea, and would make for good PR.> > - That I could also consider forming some kind of "institute' that was based> on using visual processes for wellbeing and I could then train up other> people etc. Good food for thought. I'm still debating with myself though how> much the success of xxxxxx is the uniqueness of ME and how much I can> pass on. Food for thought.......... and I still need a while to establish it> thoroughly and get it better known.> > - Branding is important They like the name. Phew. I would not have changed> it, even for them !!

Letter from one of the ‘presenters’ after November’s meeting

Finding ‘thinkers’ and ‘presenters’

• The ‘thinkers’ are surprisingly easy to find. From a small network of 2 or 3 people, over 20 signed up within a few days of the beginning of the project.

• The ‘presenters’ came from the network of the ‘thinkers’, their accountants, business colleagues and recent publicity.

• We can only satisfy just 2 presenters per session at the moment, we have not so far advertised, due to limited time available.

Our flyers!There are 2

types of flyer, one to recruit the ‘thinker’ the other the ‘presenter’

•

How do you get support?

• Kith and Kids, the receiving charity has a dedicated member of staff to advise and support any new initiative

• Check the ‘Prime Thinkers’ website for further information

• Utilise the experience of the existing ‘Prime Thinkers’

What we would do with the award?• Market the concept for new ‘Prime Thinker’ start-

ups across Nth London• Promote to potential presenters, that is new and

young businesses and the voluntary sector to attend PT’s

• Recruit active business owners to participate in groups similar to PT to give back their experiences

• Develop awareness of the disability charity ‘Kith and Kids’ for families with a disabled member