4Networking follows the Yellow Brick Road to Farnham!! (March 09)

On 25th March 2009 at Farnham Golf Club the business networking phenomenon that is 4Networking arrives in Farnham. With 193 vibrant breakfast groups across the UK and nearly 15,000 members, online and face to face, it really is a different way of doing things.

4Networking prides itself on allowing business people to be themselves with a relaxed informal style that is structured for efficient and effective use of your business time.

The breakfast club is bought to Farnham by Alex Warren of Yellow Brick Road who commented “I decided to bring 4networking to Farnham as I saw the need for a business breakfast club that was 50% social and 50% business. People go there because they want to be there not because they have to. There’s no pressure to refer business to each other as it’s all about doing business with people that you know, like and trust. Oh and getting 3 guaranteed business appointments at every meeting is always useful!”

To register for the event call Alex Warren of Yellow Brick Road on 08447 706320 or click on the 4Networking website www.4networking.biz .

You gotta make some noise!

IN BUSINESS, you’ve GOT to make some noise!

Recently, I heard about two people who have become experts in marketing.

One is a man who has attended all the‘boot camps’, read the books and taken seminars from the best marketing gurus around. The other is a woman who told me her personal library of marketing and business books cost over £100,000 in the past ten years.

Unfortunately, neither of them has applied what they know and their businesses have not grown.

These are classic examples of ‘analysis paralysis’. They have studied their market and learned the techniques. They know how to write sales letters and they know the latest in online marketing techniques. They know about using endorsements, about using graphics and colours, about ‘reversing risk’ and identifying their target demographics.

What they don’t know is how to make noise.

They’ve not taken enough action! One business leader recently told me her greatest fear is “making a mistake!” Like, get over it already!

If you’re going to be in business, you’re going to make mistakes. (I suspect that’s true in life; I know it’s true in business.)

The key to building your business is taking action. Of course, it’s good to know what you’re doing. Sure, it’s good to put the odds in your favour as much as you can. But in the end, you’ve got to take a chance and make some noise!

If you want your business to grow, think about what you’ll do differently. What will you expand or contract? How much will you spend on advertising? What new products or services will you offer? Which ones will you cancel?

In the end, growing a business is about taking action. It’s about making the best judgments you can and then taking the plunge.

If you’d like help with this, consider hiring a business coach. Being an entrepreneur means the responsibility is on your shoulders and that can be a lonely thing, so build your team! Get help. Get advice, get support, get someone to (figuratively) ‘kick your butt’ and get you into action.

All you have to do is believe and ask!!

When Tulane University Professor Jeffrey Barach ran for a seat in the U.S. Congress, he asked a noted political consultant what it took to run a successful campaign.

The consultant replied, “One word: ask!”

Candidates must have the ability to ask for money, votes and help. “So, also, with leadership,” adds Barach. “Commanding is a form of asking. When a leader personalises a vision, he or she is asking others to share it.”

Yet, asking is hard for many people. For example, some sales people fear asking for an order.

How is the fear of asking overcome? A successful college fund-raiser once advised Barach that people cannot ask for donations if they think the would-be donors are doing them a favour.

Of course, in a sense they are and fund-raisers should be grateful and solicitous. But they also should recognise they’re offering donors an opportunity to do something for themselves.

“The solicitor has to believe that the donors’ gift solves a problem for them,” Barach maintains, “or the tone of voice will not be right.”

The same principle applies to selling anything. A student in one of Barach’s summer courses sold knives, mostly to college girls as part of their hope chest.

His classmates criticised him for hawking expensive knives to young women with low incomes.

He countered that they were great knives,and the smaller sets were a good value, although he agreed that he shouldn’t sell them his big ticket ($200) sets.

Later in the summer, however, that student told the class that he had come to believe that the larger sets of knives also were a good value,that his customers would appreciate them in the long run.

What amazed him, he added, was that as soon as he came to that conviction, his sales of the larger sets increased radically.

Re: Use or Lose your local businesses -Farnham Herald - Friday 9th January

I have a huge amount of empathy for those retail businesses of Farnham who are struggling to make ends meet. Walking through the Woolmead today I noted that over 1/3rd of the retail units were empty. As a Farnham man that hurts – I want to see Farnham businesses doing better and trading strongly.

The logical question to ask is why has this happened? You could blame the commercial landlord for not being more flexible as regards rent payments – probably set at a time when trade was booming – but contracts are a two way thing and the retailer knew the value and timing of the payments when they signed the lease.

Unfortunately it is more than likely that it is the business planning that has gone astray. One of three things can have happened here. Either the business failed to plan, or it made a plan but set assumptions that were too bullish for the current economic climate, or perhaps it failed to monitor adequately their trading situation against a well constructed initial plan.

It then begs the question what kind of advice are these businesses getting? From my experience business owners need good advice from someone they can trust and perhaps the current professional advisors were just not up to scratch or were not listened to. Perhaps the business owner did not even ask for advice on the assumption that “they knew best” or they were too frightened to ask.

Now is the time to make a business as efficient as possible with a robust plan to beat the downturn. If a business gets the basics right now it will emerge a much stronger beast on the way back up. And guess what the best way of getting the business basics right is… getting some good advice!

Alex Warren – Yellow Brick Road Consulting Limited

Credit Insurance for the New Year?

What is Credit Insurance?

The consequences of one of your customers becoming insolvent and you suffering a bad debt can have serious financial impact on your business. Credit insurance companies not only advise you on who it is safe to deal with on credit terms and up to what level, but also in the event of your customer becoming insolvent, or you suffering protracted non-payment , they typically indemnify you for 90% to 95% of the amount of loss, depending on the cause of that loss, but this percentage is negotiable in many cases as you can chose to take on more of the risk.

Other Benefits of Credit Insurance

There are numerous other benefits of taking Credit Insurance from one of the many Credit Insurance Companies amongst Yellow Brick Roads' connections. One of our providers has 160 offices in 40 countries and 4,000 experts in all aspect s of credit management. This global network has constantly updated information on over 52 million companies worldwide. Their expert risk underwriters, who will be based in or near your customer’s home country use that information to establish an advisable line of credit and to alert you to any changes that may affect that cover.

Many Credit Insurance companies also seek to recover the amount of your loss, and contribute to the cost of that recovery in proportion to their liability for the loss. To help recover the loss the major Credit Insurers have a worldwide network of collectors, lawyers and insolvency practitioners each well versed in local law.

What does Credit Insurance cost?

This will vary widely on a case by case basis. For ballpark figures you can expect to pay between 0.1% to 0.6% but these figures will change with the economic situation.

Why use Yellow Brick Road?

Yellow Brick Road works effortlessly for its clients. It has connections within leading Credit Insurance Companies as well as specialist brokers.

Yellow Brick Road Consulting Limited

13 Jubilee Lane

Farnham
Surrey

GU10 4SZ

08447 706320
http://www.yellowbrickroadconsulting.co.uk/

Yellow Brick Road sponsors 10th Annual Christmas Cup!!

10th Annual Christmas Cup – Farnham Park Golf Club

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Christmas Cup – a fun golf event held for all Farnham people returning home from work and University to the area for the Christmas period.

The event, to be held at 12pm on Saturday 27th December at the Farnham Park par 3 course, has been a great success and largely informal gathering normally collecting between 10 and 20 players.

“We set the handicaps on the first tee – and generally make it much easier for the new players to win. In fact no player has ever won the competition more than twice – it’s a great opportunity to catch up with old faces whilst having a bit of fun at the same time! It can of course be a little cold, but that doesn’t stop us!” - Cup stalwart – Robert Stoker

To mark the 10th anniversary the Cup organisers are to do things a little differently – they have attracted sponsorship from new local business Yellow Brick Road Consulting, a celebrity to hand out the prizes, Jon Tickle of Big Brother and Brainiac fame, and will be attempting to raise as much money as possible for the designated charity the British Heart Foundation.

“It was time to give the event a purpose and we thought raising some money for charity at the same time as meeting up with old friends over a game of golf seemed a great thing to do. Unlike the Augusta Masters where the winner receives the famous green jacket the winner of the Christmas Cup will receive a Yellow Jacket courtesy of our kind sponsors Yellow Brick Road” – Last years winner – Duncan Drummond

“Players will be fined on the course for any poor shots played and also shots deemed to be too flashy will come under fire. Of course any breaches of course etiquette will be subject to the severest punishment! We hope to make a lot of money for the British Heart Foundation – Cup Sponsor – Alex Warren of Yellow Brick Road Consulting.


Notes to Editor

Yellow Brick Road Consulting Limited (YBR) helps the owner managers of small and medium sized businesses increase their profits and improve their cash-flow. For more information please follow the link below.

www.yellowbrickroadconsulting.co.uk

Office: 08447 706320
Mobile: 07771 682673

Don't let the Decrease in VAT Increase your costs

Yellow Brick Road Consulting – Press Release 25th November 2008

Don’t let the Decrease in VAT Increase your costs

So how will the recent cut in VAT affect local small and medium sized businesses? Will the impact have a positive effect or not? A recent release from Wise & Co states the following:

“In a move that will affect all businesses registered for VAT, the standard rate of VAT has been cut from 17.5% to 15%, effective from Monday 1 December 2008. The rate will remain at 15% until 1 January 2010 when it will revert to 17.5%.

Zero-rated supplies, such as basic foodstuffs, children’s clothing and books; exempt supplies, such as education and health; and supplies subject to VAT at 5%, such as domestic fuel and power are not affected by this change.”

There are other small changes to the legislation detail but the key point is whether any potential benefit from increased sales from non VAT registered customers will outweigh the incremental administration benefit for business. Probably not is our view. Customer activity is unlikely to be radically changed by this small reduction in the cost of products and the increased administration is a pain.

In this market businesses are much better off looking at the bigger picture. Are they doing the business basics right? In business we are no longer order takers as we have been for the last ten years. We have to work much harder for our sales and ensure that the sales that we do make contribute fully to the bottom line. Only the most efficient businesses will come out of the current economic situation on the front foot.

For more information on how Yellow Brick Road can help your business get the business basics right call the contact numbers noted below.

Alex Warren
Yellow Brick Road
www.yellowbrickroadconsulting.co.uk

Office: 08447 706320
Mobile: 07771 682673