Archives for May 2013

How to Attract Customers to Your Business

May 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you’ve just started a new business one of your major tasks is acquiring new customers. When it comes to marketing a new business one of the problems that you face is getting the word out about your products or services at a price that won’t eat up your capital at too fast a rate. When you consider that 9 out of 10 new businesses that fail site a lack of funds as the reason for their failure you can quickly see that spending too much on your advertising and marketing campaigns can be dangerous. With this in mind we put together a list of several excellent and economical ways that you can market your business and start getting new clients without breaking your budget or using your startup capital to quickly. Enjoy.

  • While Internet advertising and social media are all good and well the fact is that it takes quite a bit of time to get up a good head of steam online as far as marketing is concerned. On the other hand, a small one or two color postcard with your best ad and a great promotion can, in many cases, drive a huge volume of traffic to either your website or your brick-and-mortar location. In many cases the investment cost is quite low also. The most important factor here is to have an incredible deal that, while it might even be at a small loss, introduces new customers to your services and products.
  • Spread your marketing over a number of different tactics and approaches. Simply put, there is no single marketing effort that you can rely on 100% of the time. Keeping that in mind you should, within reason,  use several different communication lines to get information about your business and your services to the public. Make sure that all of your marketing portrays your business in a similar fashion so that, when people see different advertisements on different media from your company, they don’t get confused as to who you are and what you do
  • Start getting feedback and collecting testimonials from customers as soon as you can. One habit that definitely can help any business to grow is to send a survey to every customer that makes a purchase and, if they respond very favorably, ask them for permission to use their testimonial in future advertisements. This also entails having the proper legal documentation so make sure you have this covered as well before using any testimonials for marketing purposes.
  • If there are other businesses that are similar to yours but not necessarily in competition with you, consider advertising together with them on postcards, newspaper ads and even on the radio and TV. Not only will this save you money as far as your marketing costs but also, since your businesses may complement each other, it opens the door to a whole new avenue of prospective customers.
  • The way you or your employees answer the telephone can make or break your business. Answering the phone and talking about a special offer at the same time is a great way to not only greet potential customers but let them know about any specials or offers that you are currently running. Instructing your people on how to answer the phone and how to treat and react to new callers in the most favorable way possible is vitally important. We’ve heard many stories about companies with excellent services and products but, because the person answering the phone was so unprofessional, the business suffered and went belly up. For this reason you and your people should treat every single person that calls your business phone number as the most important person that you’ve spoken to that day.
  • If you’re sending out direct mail pieces or letters to your customers on a regular basis you should include a handwritten note of greetings or to talk about any specials or promotions that you might currently have. A Post-it note on a letter is going to be the first thing that a prospective customer looks at, acting like a mini billboard to grab their attention. In some cases they might not even read the letter but they’ll certainly read that sticky note and it might be all the impetus they need to make a purchase.
  • Immediately after a customer has purchased something from your store or purchased services you should send them an email, a text message or a note offering to either increase their services, give them a discount off their next purchase or anything that you think might entice them to directly make another purchase. Creating a bit of urgency with a rapid expiration date is a great idea as well.
  • Newsletters are still an incredibly powerful and viable option especially if you are a new business owner. Newsletters will help you to focus your market on customers that have already made purchases and also open the door to new customers who may not have heard of your services but had your newsletter forwarded to them by a family member or colleague. Sending printed newsletters is quite costly obviously but still should be considered.  Newsletters via email and the Internet, while they still will take as much effort to create, will obviously cost a lot less to send to current and prospective customers and should definitely be added into your marketing mix. There  are very few marketing methods that are better than newsletters for keeping your business ‘top of mind’ and reminding your core customers about how great you are and the excellent services and products that you offer.
  • If you have a brick-and-mortar location you should definitely consider having an open house or a grand opening celebration. If your budget can handle it inviting vendors, renting a ‘bounce house’ for the kids and offering food and refreshments can go a long way to show the community who you are and give you the opportunity to give them brochures and other information about what you do. If what you are selling is a service that’s quite valuable you might consider giving a seminar, charging a fee for it and limiting the attendance. The fact is, even though you might think that charging a fee will keep people away it actually does the opposite and gives them the impression that what you’re going to be giving is valuable.
  • If there are businesses in your town that are complementary to yours you may consider bartering with them so that they get your service and you get theirs. Once you’ve done that you can actually talk to people about their services and, more importantly, they can talk to people about yours. In this way you can help each other out and possibly make a good friend and future business partner in the process.

Starting a new business today is difficult and stressful, to say the least. The odds are certainly against you but the entrepreneurial spirit in America is still very strong and, if you use the tips and advice that we’ve given you above for your marketing plan, you’ll have a much better chance for success. Best of luck with your new business and make sure to come back and visit us here on our blog regularly as will be offering more advice for you budding entrepreneurs on a regular basis. See you then.

Filed Under: Marketing

How To Use Social Media To Promote Your Small Business

May 14, 2013 by 1 Comment

Today, no matter what you sell or where you sell it (online or from your brick and mortar location) you can bet that one thing is happening every single day; people are talking about your business online. Now, there’s an old saying about the fact that any publicity is good publicity. Frankly, we don’t buy that. The reason is simply because, unless you’re a big celebrity or sports car, negative reviews and comments online can only hurt your business, not help it. Not only that but, with hordes of people flocking to social media websites like Facebook and Twitter every single day, if they’re knocking on your door and you’re not answering, they’re going to find another door to knock on.

With that in mind we put together a blog about how to use social media to promote your business. It doesn’t matter if your business is online, off-line or a combination of the two, this blog should give you some excellent pointers and advice for getting the word out to the public about who you are, what you offer and why they should be buying from you, using social media. Enjoy.

Before you can begin any conversation about promoting your business with social media you must first answer this question; what is it exactly that you are trying to promote? What are the specific assets that your company has that you should be talking about? Who are the customers that your product or service are targeted to? If you don’t know the answers to these basic questions then, no matter what you do, you’re not going to get the best results.

Your next step is to determine which social media websites are going to be the best for your particular product or service. For example, if you manufacture women’s clothing and fashion accessories you will definitely want to have a Pinterest site as well as Facebook and Twitter. The reason is that on Pinterest you will find people who are much more interested in seeing what you have to offer rather than reading about it. The reason to be on Facebook and Twitter is basically because both of these social sites have tremendous amounts of traffic. Determining which social media websites are the best for you is an important task and should be taken quite seriously

Once you’ve decided to jump in to social media with both feet you should find yourself a good social media managing program. One of the best is called HootSuite, a program which allows you to manage all of your social sites from one page as well as schedule messages, ‘tweet’ in real time and find out what your click-through statistics are.  There are several different social media managing websites available so make sure to do your research and find the one that’s best suited for your business.

In order to get any sort of traction from your social media websites you’re going to have to post new, interesting and relatable content on a regular basis. The fact is, social media is really not about advertising but about giving people something of value to attract them to your brand, business or service. Once you’ve attracted them and they come to you with questions or concerns, then you can hit them with the hard sell. (Actually, hitting them with the soft sell first is probably a better idea.)

Finding websites that you can link to (and that will want to link to your website) is also very important if you want to promote your business using social media. Sites like LinkedIn and Google+ are great to link to but finding as many websites that are in the same industry or have similar interests as your business is vital for growing a large fan base and increasing the chance that people will come to you to make a purchase. They come to you and find great links and go to great sites and find links to you.

We’ve already talked about posting content. The thing about content is that, if it’s interesting or valuable, it will usually get comments, questions and remarks. Your job is to monitor your social media websites (remember HootSuite above?) and answer those questions, refer to those remarks and have comebacks for those comments. Doing this will show people that you not only check your social media sites regularly but that you actually care about what people are saying on them. This is called engagement and is one of the most vital factors to getting a real following on any social media website.

Engagement can be as simple as following someone on Twitter, re-tweeting their comments to your followers, liking someone’s comments on Facebook or following them on Pinterest or LinkedIn. These are the little things that you should do every single day in order to not only prove to people that you care about what they are talking about but also to encourage them to share what you are talking about.

Basically what you need to do is find a handful of social sites you like, update them constantly, add new content regularly and engage with your followers as much as possible.  Over time this will build and build and, one day, you’ll have more followers than you ever thought possible and revenues that match.

All set? Good.  Now get started using social media, keep up with it and come back to visit us here regularly for more info on how to grow your brand, increase revenues and other excellent info. See you then.

Filed Under: Social Traffic

Tips for the New Tech Startup

May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

These days there are tech companies starting every day. Problem is, many of them fail before they even begin to get any traction. It’s with that in mind that we put together today’s blog. We’ve taken a lot of advice and tips that we found from all over the net, including tips from people who successfully started their own tech company. If you’re keen on doing the same then this blog is definitely for you as it has lots of excellent advice and tips that you can follow (from people who have already done) to make sure that your tech startup is a great success. Enjoy.

One of the best bits of advice that we’ve heard is simply this; don’t be in a huge hurry to get your new tech product out the door and into the public’s hands. In many cases going ahead with a product that isn’t ready for the market can be much worse than waiting a few extra weeks (or even months) until it’s really ready to go.

As cofounder of Yesware, an email provider for salespeople, Matthew Bellows advises that you shouldn’t sell your product too soon and that you should also hold back on your sales and marketing until you are quite sure your product is ready to go and it also has tons of inbound interest going for it.

Another common mistake that many startups make is that they start hiring people right away to take over certain roles in the company before learning fully about those roles themselves. While this might help as far as lowering your workload it also takes away any chance that you might have two actually see how many things are done and, indeed, need to be done when starting a new tech business. Without this experience it’s going to be hard to measure if you are employees are successfully taking care of their part of the job.

One of the cofounders of Apptegic, Karl Wirth, agrees with the above advice wholeheartedly. He admits that, for the first year and a half that his tech startup was in business, he was the only salesperson. This helped him to not only learn how to sell his product but also how to determine a prospective customer from someone who’s just kicking the tires. Mr. Wirth says that he knew that sales would be important but that he had no idea it would help to shape and refined his business so profoundly.

Most new tech company founders agree that as engineers it’s hard to know exactly what other tasks need to be performed in order to actually bring a product to market and then successfully sell it. Doing it all yourself, they agree, is one heck of a great way to learn. As the engineer and then also the product manager, sales manager and fund-raiser you find exactly what needs to be done and then, using that experience, you can start hiring people to fill the positions and already I have a very good idea about exactly the kind of people you need.

That leads to a point that most tech startup founders will agree on; people are your most important asset but hiring them to quickly is the best way to burn through your startup capital. What most recommend is that, while you hold off on hiring, you start looking for talent and interviewing ahead of time.

Another point that most are keen to make is simply that you have to focus on the end user of your new product more than any other group of people. Matt Bellows agrees and notes that the days of sales and marketing driven companies are almost attheir end. Any new tech startup today must be in tune with their end-user and must be listening to them with both ears.

Finally, many a tech startup founder or cofounder will tell you that you should prepare to see your first version of any new tech fall flat on its face. That’s right; be prepared to fail. The simple fact is, any new tech is going to need hundreds if not thousands of beta testers in order to get out all the bugs and present a solid product to the world. If you know this going and then you will be better prepared when negative feedback and bugs send you back to the drawing board.

We hope that you enjoyed this blog and that, if you’re developing a new mobile app or any other kind of new tech, you’ve gotten some insight and some good ideas. Please come back and join us again soon for more and best of luck with your new business. See you soon.

Filed Under: Starting a Business

The Importance Of Using The Workplace Accident Book

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Even though necessary precautions are put in place to keep employees safe at work, accidents do happen. Whether it is a regular office job or a more intensive and dangerous form of labour, it is important to safeguard against any potential incidents.

If a business or enterprise has more than 10 employees, it is a legal requirement to keep a record of accidents, according to the Social Security Claims and Payments Regulations 1979. An official accident book that complies with data protection legislation was launched in 2003 by the Department of Work & Pensions and HSE.

It is also a RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) requirement to report and keep a record of serious injuries, cases of diagnosed industrial diseases, near miss incidents and work-related deaths. This could result in a company being investigated by the HSE, ORR or local authority.

There are various reasons why it is important to have documentation and evidence about any workplace accident, from improving the employer’s health and safety policy to protecting the individual in any medial or legal dispute. Click here to learn how attaining a masters in human resources will be able to keep a company up to code regarding workplace accidents.

Recording accidents

The key details that need to be recorded are:

  • Name and contact details of injured person
  • Time and date of the accident
  • Location of the accident
  • Cause and nature of the injury
  • If applicable, the name and contact details of the person recording the accident details

It is advisable for an employer to monitor the number and type of accidents that take place. With documentation regarding the nature of workplace incidents, the employer can assess whether the current precautions are of an acceptable standard. If not, a revision of practices or an updated health and safety policy could be necessary. Further training or protective equipment may also be required.

Storage and retention

Traditionally, the accident book was placed in the first aid room or another suitable location. However, this is no longer acceptable according to revised legislation. Employers must ensure that accident reporting remains confidential for the concerned parties.

Following an incident, the information should be removed from the accident book and given to a nominated person. This documentation will be filed in a safe and secure place for at least three years from the date on which the report was written.

Accident investigation

It is often recommended that a thorough investigation be carried out in order to protect the employer and worker against any future incidents. This will include:

  • Description of accident
  • Cause of accident
  • Immediate actions to take to prevent recurrence
  • Further precautions, safety measures or training that have been identified
  • Photographs and witness statements
  • Conclusions and long-term recommendations

Legal action

An employee may be able to take legal action if the appropriate safety precautions were not implemented or the health and safety policy was not adhered to. Accident at work claims can result in significant compensation for the victim.

An accident book will provide evidence and proof that the injury is a direct result of workplace negligence. It can also be vital for employers to protect themselves against unwarranted claims.

Filed Under: General Business News

Why Small Businesses Fail and How to Avoid the Same Fate

May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Unfortunately, every single day across the United States thousands of new businesses fail. In fact, nearly 90% of all small businesses will fail within the first 2 years of their existence. In most cases the reason behind these failures is simply that these entrepreneurs don’t have the knowledge and experience necessary to handle the challenges and changes that owning and running their own company brings. It is with these alarming statistics in mind that we put together a blog article about why small businesses fail and what you can do to avoid this happening to you and your small business. Enjoy.

  1. Lack of preparation. This is a big one. The simple fact is that your business’s stability and eventual profitability depend on the planning that you did before you even open your doors. Many small business owners get started without even so much as a business plan to guide them, a mistake that can have devastating results. The cure? Before you even begin to think about opening a new business put together a business plan and make sure it is viable.
  2. Lack of sufficient funding. This second mistake is almost as bad as the first. Simply put, most businesses do not start making money for at least the first few months if not the first few years. The business plan that we talked about above should give you a very good idea about what your operating costs will be. A good suggestion is to have enough funds on hand to cover at least a year’s worth of operational costs.
  3. Inadequate marketing strategies. No matter how good your products or excellent your services if nobody knows about them you will be hard-pressed to sell them. The cure? A well planned and well run marketing strategy, including advertising, public relations, social media, SMS text message marketing and mobile marketing to name a few. Professional websites, the location of your brick and mortar store and your relationship with other local businesses and vendors are all important as well.
  4. And unreliable supply chain. As delicious as the pizza and pasta that you prepare at your new restaurant are, if your suppliers don’t show up on time and you run out of tomato sauce you’re going to sell a lot less product. The cure? Cultivate relationships with responsible providers, research networks and find people who you can personally deal with and work with. These relationships are vital to your businesses daily operation. Have a backup plan on hand as well as occasional problems arise even with reliable suppliers.
  5. Unreliable, rude or otherwise bad employees. Similar to advertising, if you have unreliable or socially inept employees you might have the best products and services in town but nobody will want to buy them from you. Too many or too little employees can also be a problem. The cure? If you have a moderate sized workforce or larger in your employee you would do well to delegate the task of handling employees to one of your most trusted and competent people. If it’s just you and a handful of employees be fair but firm and let them know that you will reward excellence but won’t tolerate much less.
  6. Lack of sales. Basically, a business with no sales is a business that won’t last very long. The cure? Know what your customers want (asking them if you need to) and also know what the competition is asking for similar products and services.
  7. A product line that lacks diversity. If your business only offers one or two products and suddenly sales drop off you’re going to be in trouble so make sure you have a diverse line of products and services to offer. The cure? Having something to fall back on if one or more of your product’s sales decline drastically.
  8. A bad reputation among the public. Reputation depends on a wide variety of factors; your products, services, employees, customer service and so forth. The cure? Without question a company that has a solid reputation will always be more successful than one that doesn’t. 
  9. A bad location. Not as important today as it used to be due to the skyrocketing number of Internet-based businesses, the location of your brick and mortar business is still important. The cure? Having access to walk and drive by customers, traffic, parking and safety are vital as well is having a sufficient distance between you and your competition.

Before you start any new business you would do well to make sure that you have an answer for every one of the nine mistake examples that we just talked about. If you do you will be much better equipped to succeed and, frankly, beat the high odds of failure. Best of luck and make sure you come back to visit us often as we regularly feature advice for small business owners. See you then.

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship

Insurance Considerations for Business Owners

May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

With so many different facets of your business to think about, the last thing that you need to concern yourself with is worrying about what happens when things go wrong. No business owner, however, is immune from making mistakes or becoming the victim of circumstances beyond their own control.

With the air of uncertainty that surrounds business ownership,  it’s imperative to take out the right kind of insurance. And with insurance available for every conceivable eventuality, it can be difficult to know what types of insurance are necessary and which types are superfluous.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of the most important insurance considerations for business owners.

General liability insurance

General liability insurance is the foundation stone on which a properly insured business is built; it’s an absolutely essential purchase for a business owner of any size.

General liability insurance covers a vast swath of potential scenarios, but its basic premise is that it covers you if: you; those in your employ; or your products and services, cause bodily damage, or property damage to a third part claimant.

General liability insurance covers all manner of costs, including medical expenses, the cost of defending lawsuits, and court costs.

Product and professional liability insurance

If you own a company which manufactures a product, whether you then sell it directly or sell it wholesale to a retailer, you are responsible for its safety. Product liability insurance, therefore, is an important purchase, as it protects against financial loss, which results from injuries caused by a defective product.

If, however, you are running a service-based firm, it is imperative to invest in the requisite sort of professional liability insurance, which covers you against lawsuits pertaining to malpractice, human error, and negligence.

Property insurance

Property insurance covers your business for damage to your commercial property and the equipment which is contained inside, caused by fire, smoke, wind, and vandalism. While physical items, such as computers, office equipment and inventory are all covered, it is also possible to purchase property insurance which covers loss of earnings, as a result of being unable to operate as normal because of the damage.

Worker’s compensation

Worker’s compensation insurance is seen by many as an optional extra, as many of the areas that it covers have a modicum of coverage under general liability insurance.

The aspect of worker’s compensation insurance that is most attractive, however, is that it protects you, the business owner, from being sued by an employee.

Medical Claims can be an expensive and drawn-out affair, which can cause much unnecessary stress and financial strain. With worker’s compensation insurance, however, employees are guaranteed wage replacement and medical benefits, if they are injured at work, which they receive in return for giving up the right to sue their employer when an accident occurs.

If, therefore, your workers operate in a high risk environment, such as a warehouse, it may be worth considering.

Business owner’s policy

If you’re still a little confused about what types of insurance are necessary and which aren’t, as well as what each policy type covers you for, it could be worth considering purchasing a business owner’s policy (BOP).

BOP’s give you all the insurance policies that you require, but are arranged through one provider. BOP packages can also be tailored to suit your specific requirements, offering a one-stop solution to your insurance needs

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

5 steps to take if you suffer a fall at work

May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Despite strict regulations and guidance on health and safety in the workplace, accidents at work do still happen. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reported that, in the last financial year, 111,000 people were injured at work and that over 27 million working days were lost as a result of work related injuries.

Injuries at work can be caused by any number of things, from faulty equipment to improper training. Simple mistakes such as leaving a cable trailing in the office, not wiping up a spill in the canteen or failing to stack boxes safely, all leave the possibility of an accident occurring. If you have suffered a trip or fall at work, here are five things you should make sure you do to protect yourself following the accident.

1.      Take care of yourself first

Following a fall at work, your first concern should be with your own welfare. Ensure the company first aider is called to attend to you and if necessary contact the ambulance for further medical attention. No other steps should be a concern to you until your injuries have been assessed and treated. If you have suffered a head injury at work, it is critical you are seen by a medical professional as soon as possible.

2.      Record the incident

Make sure your accident is fully reported in your employer’s accident book. Every employer is required by law to have one of these, under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), so make sure all the details of your accident, including your injuries and any treatment you received, are fully and accurately recorded.

3.      Collect evidence

If you can, take a note of any witnesses to the accident or capture photographs of the scene, as this will make claiming compensation later a whole lot easier. If you are moved to hospital or are unable to find out who saw what, it can be a good idea to have a friend or colleague take some names and contact details so you can easily get in touch with these people later on.

4.      Seek professional legal advice

You may or may not want to claim compensation for your injuries, but by getting in touch with a solicitor promptly after the incident you will be leaving the door open for this course of action and giving your claim the best chance of success. Most injury lawyers work on a no win no fee basis, so instructing them to investigate your accident shouldn’t cost you anything up front.

5.      Get the support you need

If, as a result of your accident, you are unable to do your job, your employer should support you through your time off. There may be healthcare provision that they can allocate to you and you should be able to claim your salary for a reasonable period of time after the incident. If you do suffer loss of earnings as a result, a compensation claim will usually recover this for you, so try not to worry too much and instead stay focussed on getting back to full health.

Filed Under: General Business News

Important Planning Advice for the Entrepreneur Starting a New Business

May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

If you’re an entrepreneur and busy planning the opening of a new business we have some important planning advice that will help to make everything smoother or as far as setting up your business and making sure that the unexpected twists and turns (that always come) don’t catch you off guard. The fact is, it’s almost impossible to  prepared for every single problem that might occur or every single opportunity that might come up so it’s best to have plans in place that, while not specific to any one problem or opportunity, will help you to deal with them better quicker and with less loss of revenue or interruption in your timeline. With that in mind let’s get started. Enjoy

 

  1. When you have a few minutes sit down and put together a list (using whatever method you normally use) of all the possible things that could possibly happen before, during and after opening your new business. This can give you crucial information and insight into the possible problems that you may face. Problems like an economy that begins to falter, product lines that drizzle or take off and growth problems that, while a positive sign, are unexpected and interfere with the actual growth. Once your list is done you should have a much better idea of what you need to do, what you need to have in place and possibly even how you will deal with problems when they arise.
  2. One of the reasons for tip #1 is so that you have more information for putting together the eventual budget that your new business will be using. Your list should have given you an idea already that, even if your business is growing and times are good, there will be challenges that need to be managed and having a budget in place to handle them is vital. If your new product suddenly starts selling like crazy and you don’t have the infrastructure to handle the orders that you have the financial ability to put the infrastructure in place quickly you’ll be glad that you took the time to make the budget right when you started.
  3. When the business plan for your new business is finished an excellent idea would be to go back and do two things; reduce the revenues that you have projected by 10% and increase the projected costs by the same. Doing this will give you a 10% cushion, so to speak, that will help you to get by any surprises that your new business throws at you along the way. (And trust us, there will be prizes.)
  4. This might be the most important piece of advice that we have today;  put together a balance sheet with an income statement and a cash flow statement so that you have a complete picture of your assets and liabilities as well as cash flow in out of the business. No matter the type or size of the business that you’re going to be opening it is vital that you know this information. Putting it into a financial framework will make it ‘real’  and help keep you grounded in financial reality,  a good idea when you’re first starting out in business.
  5. If you have a mentor, a trusted friend in the financial industry or access to an unbiased and financially educated opinion, use those people as a sounding board for your business ideas and thoughts. Simply put, the more advice that you receive the more information you will have to work with when it comes to making the hard decisions that all business owners must make.

 

We hope these five bits of advice were worth the few minutes that it took you to read them. Even if one of them helps you to realize your  dream of business ownership will be quite satisfied as well as happy for you. Good luck with all of your entrepreneurial adventures and will see you back here soon.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship

5 Things to Consider When Choosing Premises for Your New Business

May 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or starting up a business for the first time, choosing the right premises is vital if you want the enterprise to succeed.

At the start of 2012, small and medium enterprises accounted for 99.9% of all private sector companies in the UK according to the Federation of Small Businesses. What’s more, these businesses employed 14.1 million people and had a combined turnover of £1,500 billion.

However, while the potential for success is evident, locating and purchasing the right premises is a major undertaking, so here is what to consider.

Buy or lease?

Buying commercial premises is potentially a huge expense and will need to be considered thoroughly. The services of a surveyor, estate agent, solicitor and mortgage broker may be required. The building will be considered an asset of the business and you will have complete freedom over decoration and furnishings.

When it comes to employee safety, you will be solely responsible for ensuring they work in an environment free from dangerous or hazardous materials. An asbestos claim against conditions like mesothelioma can result in substantial compensation.

Renting premises is a much cheaper and less complicated option. However the potential cost of leasing over a long period of time could be huge. Even if the business is struggling, you will need to meet regular rental payments or face the consequences.

Location

Deciding where to locate the business is largely dependent on the market and industry you operate in. Ultimately, the customer will either be prepared to come to you or the business needs to be situated in a convenient location.

A built up area such as a town centre will be suitable for a coffee shop or convenience store, as footfall and exposure is high. However, rates tend to be expensive and you will need a high volume of customers to make money.

Other ventures such as a garden centre or car showroom are better suited on the outskirts of a city. You will benefit from bigger premises, parking facilities and cheaper overheads. You will, however, have to rely on customers specifically coming to visit you.

Space

Think about furniture, how much storage is required and the number of staff members. Health and safety regulations for space could have an impact on the amount you need, so ensure you are aware of any legal requirements.

Growth

What may be an adequate amount of space now might not be enough when the business expands, so take this into consideration.

Although keeping your feet on the ground is advisable, having a bit of ambition and predicting future success could avoid a potentially strenuous relocation later on.

Fully furnished or an empty space?

If you require an office space for the short-term or are unsure of future growth, serviced locations are a great option. Although they may seem expensive, they are very convenient and you can begin trading quickly.

Obtaining a property with no furniture or fittings means you can put your individual stamp on the location, though this expense will need to be factored into your budget.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous