Starting and running your own businessHosted By Chris Leadley & Rick Smith – Forbes Burton

About us – Rick SmithQualified engineerWorked in motorsport managing racing teams for 12 yearsBankrupt in 2005Has worked in insolvency ever since – helping individuals & business ownersCurrently mentors prospering companies that specialise in different industriesExpert in personal & business developmentBusiness Coach & Entrepreneur

About us – Chris Leadley Studied Marketing & Media at University Worked in the marketing department for a large international company

Made redundant from company buyout Worked for Rick in his motor repair shop Built 4 businesses from scratch with Rick Developed Marketing Strategy Skills Google and HubSpot certified Marketing Consultant

What we’ve done so far…

Established companies in a

variety of different industries including:Property, IT Services, Corporate & Personal

Insolvency and Financial Services

Worked with national and international

companies

Turned around and recovered a variety of Small Businesses

The 3 things you need:

1 – Products & Services

2 – Solid Foundations &

Brand3 – Build

Customer Base

1 - Products & Services

Your Products and ServiceIncrease Value For

Customers• What is it?• How will it

help your customers

• How else can you add value?

Maximise Sales

• Subscriptions

• Repeat buying

• Product upsells or ‘higher level’

Maximum Leverage

• Create once use many

• Sell to many at once

Low Price• Music

downloads / Apps

Mid Price• Phones/Tablets

High Price• Laptops/PCs

About Your Products

• Prompt• Reliable• Efficient

Excellent Service

• Answer Their Needs• Always Follow Up• Treat Them How You Want To Be Treated

Customer Focused

• Customer Feels Appreciated• Will Spread The Word & Refer• Will Buy From You Again!

Adds Value To

Product/Service

Have Great Customer Service

2 - Strong Foundations & Brand

Have a Solid Business Idea About You

• Think about what motivates you in life – what do you enjoy doing

• Realistic List of Goals

• Do You Have What It Takes?

Your Business Idea

• Is it realistic and viable?

• Can you explain your idea in one sentence?

• How will people benefit from your idea?

Your Business Goals

• Short, Mid, Long Term e.g.

• Be enough to pay overheads, Expand and grow, Exit strategy

Business FundamentalsThe Legal• HMRC/Taxes• Business

Type/Registration• Insurances

The Financial• Accountant/Banking• KNOW YOUR FIGURES• Cash flow – Profit &

Loss

Staff & Systems• Trained• Customer Focused• Documented

Processes

Strong Positioning• How do you want yourself

and your business to appear to customers?

• Will you be positioning at the bottom, middle or top of your market?

• Have Clear Consistent Branding

Your Brandin

g & Positioni

ng

3 – Building Your Customer Base

SEO• Organically Build Ranking• Optimised Website• Best Results Start Local

Social Media• Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/

Others• Build Targeted Loyal

Followers And Buyers• Real Time Customer

Engagement and Feedback

Pay Per Click• Google/Bing/Facebook -

Trackable• Instant Traffic And Leads • Needs To Be Managed

Properly or You’ll Lose Money

Online Marketing

• Local Awareness Marketing• Needs To Be Direct Response• Track And Measure Performance ConstantlyLeaflets• Good Public Relations• Use As Educational/Info MarketingPress• Word Of Mouth Referrals• Strong Business Connections• Know Like And Trust

Networking

Offline Marketing

Consistency• Set & Forget• Use Same

Branding And Message Across Marketing

• 17 Times Seen Before Customer Buys

Outsourcing• Frees Up Your

Time• Cheaper/

Flexible• Expertise &

Professional

Software• Track All

Marketing Activities

• Automates Emails Depending On Customer Actions

• Plan In Advance For Best Results

Automate Your Marketing

Your Turn…Split into groups of 5Think of a Company NameThink of a Product you can sellThink of the Positioning (who would buy it and why)What would the Price be (low, medium or high)?

How would you Promote it?Best group of the day will win Amazon vouchers for each member!