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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - 9 February 2005
| Thought
for the week: "If you always hire people that are bigger
than you, you shall become a company of giants." David Ogilvy |
In
this week's issue:
- when
is the right time to start up a new business?
- what
to do when your customers don't respond
- understanding
the law on jury service
- how
to set up a business e-mail account
Small
business answers
If
you have any questions about your business idea, are lacking some
basic data about your target market, or simply need help tracking
down a grant, subsidy or other source of business support in your
local area, then send an e-mail with your query to the EnterQuest
information team and we'll do our best to help.
Send
your question to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com.
Weekly
stir
When
is the right time to start up a new business?
For some peculiar reason at the moment, whichever part of the media
you look at or listen to, or business support website you visit,
the message is the same - there is no better time than now to start
a business.
Then
you've got all those surveys, forecasts, "SME think-tanks" (what
on earth is one of those?) and business barometers telling us about
"small business confidence levels", which one week predict doom,
gloom and disaster ahead for unsuspecting small firms and the next
week uncover optimism of unparalleled levels which implore every
budding entrepreneur to get their new venture up and running straight
away.
What
a load of irrelevant, misleading, misguided and, to be quite frank,
irresponsible bunkum.
The
Sunday Times' business supplement got in on the act this
weekend with an article about what a bunch of the UK's most successful
entrepreneurs would do if they had their time again.
Now,
what's all that about? Surely, as they've been so successful, they
wouldn't do anything differently, as they obviously did everything
right in the first place. In the article you hear about how these
entrepreneurs would invest millions in all sorts of sectors, like
mining in overseas markets. The issue from our point of view is
that 99.99% of entrepreneurs starting up today typically struggle
to put a few hundred pounds into their venture, never mind millions.
Maybe
they should start up a new enterprise doing irrelevant small business
surveys and forecasts, as there seems to be more and more money
around (taxpayers', mostly) to be grabbed doing exactly that.
This
sort of thing is very frustrating when you consider the average
Joe or Jane Bloggs, who've got a seed of an idea about starting
up on their own, or investing their hard earned profit from an existing
venture into a new opportunity they've spotted on a shoestring budget.
So
what's our point this week?
The
point is that there is no such thing as a good time or bad time
to start a small business if certain basic factors are considered
and good practice followed. For each individual concerned, and for
their particular idea, any time can be the right time to start up
no matter what the forecasts say.
Here
are seven factors that we have consistently observed can contribute
to it being the right time to start up a new business.
| 1) |
When
you have without any question found an untapped or under-exploited
market niche and are focused like a laser on meeting and delivering
what it needs.
|
| 2)
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When
you can confidently say to yourself that you are capable of
every new business' number one priority - selling - and know
exactly how you are going to sell to your chosen audience.
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| 3)
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When
you have researched everything that needs to be researched about
the sector you're entering, including your competitors, whether
your prices are right, whether you're compliant with all regulations,
and when you have uncovered all the hidden costs involved in
getting started.
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| 4)
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When
you have sufficient start up and ongoing working capital in
place to get you up and running, and when this hasn't all been
borrowed from the bank or wherever, which can result in the
repayments choking you to death within six months.
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| 5)
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When
you have run a market test to confirm that your target audience
are really willing to pay for your product or service.
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| 6)
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When
you can honestly say you are focused on, and happy with, the
quality of the service you are going to offer to your customers.
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| 7)
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When
you can honestly say that what you are starting up is something
that you're not only good at and enjoy doing, but is also something
you can end up excelling at. |
Of
course, despite our cynicism, which has been cultivated over too
many years of listening to small business "experts" and forecasters,
there are several other factors that come into play. But these are
never going to be as relevant as the factors that really matter
and generate the real confidence levels that make it clear to the
individual concerned that it's the right time to start a business.
Marketing
tip
What
to do when your customers don't respond
When
you've spent time, money and effort creating and distributing a
new mailshot, writing sales copy about a new product or service
for your website, or sending out an e-mail newsletter about a special
new offer, there's nothing more disheartening than getting no response.
Here
are four tips for improving the response rate for your mailshots
and newsletters.
1)
Review the profile of your target audience
We've
said it before, but you can never know too much about your target
customers. What's more, you can never review how well you know them
too often. Make a list of characteristics that fit into your target
customer profile: their age, where they live, their income, marital
status, gender, likes, dislikes, habits and profession.
Now
review the content of the newsletters or mailshots you're sending
to these customers. Do they really hit the mark in terms of the
right style, tone and topic area? Are there any ways you could make
them more relevant for your target audience?
2)
Re-examine the quality of your promotion
If
your problem is lack of response to a mailshot, look critically
at the mailing you sent out to review how good it really was. Compare
it with the sort of thing your competitors send out: how does your
mailshot compare in terms of length, colour, relevance and clarity?
Are you just saying the same sort of thing as your competitors,
or is there something to differentiate your mailshot?
Are
there spelling mistakes in your mailshot that could have been avoided
if you'd had it professionally proofread?
3)
Ask your customers what's wrong
If
your problem is a lack of response to, or interest in, a regular
e-mail newsletter or e-zine, consider doing a survey of your subscribers
to find out where you're going wrong. Ask open-ended questions such
as "What three things could we do to improve our newsletter?" to
encourage a detailed response - stay away from yes/no questions,
as the answers won't tell you much more than you already know.
This
is also a great way to get feedback on things that you're doing
right, as well as suggestions and ideas on areas that you may not
be sure about, such as the length and frequency of your newsletter.
To
increase the chances of your customers responding to your survey,
make a special offer for early-bird respondents. For example, offer
10% off your newest product or service for the first 100 replies
you receive.
Remember
to ask respondents who say positive things about you if you can
use their comments as a testimonial. Post responses to the poll
in your next issue to show respondents that you really have listened
to what they've said.
4)
Check everything else is working well
Whether
it's a mailshot or e-newsletter that you're concerned about, you
need to review how well the other aspects of your business are performing
to make sure that your poor response rate isn't related to some
other problem. For example, a brilliant newsletter won't be able
to make up for an out of date, poorly maintained website, and a
well-written mailshot can't compensate for shoddy customer service.
Find
more ideas about improving the effectiveness of your marketing in
Chapter 7, 'How to thrill your customers', of the UK Small Business Marketing
Bible, where you'll also find hundreds of other ideas, tips
and techniques for increasing sales.
Legal
tip
Understanding
the law on jury service
How many people are summoned to serve on juries every year?
a)
80,000
b) 450,000
c) 600,000
d) 720,000
The
answer is b) - 450,000 people are called for jury service every
year.
There's
no doubt that small and micro-enterprises can suffer as a result
of the unexpected absence of their proprietors or employees. Jury
service is a classic case of this - you get little advance notice
and you may be called away from your business for weeks, so it's
a good idea to understand what your rights and obligations are if
you employ somebody affected, or if you are a sole trader.
- The Courts Service starts from the principle that everyone
summoned to form a jury must attend. There's no indication as
to how long service will last, and although the average is around
10 days, jury service could last for several months.
- As
an employer, you have no obligation to carry on paying a member
of staff who's summoned. Instead, your employee can ask you for
a certificate of loss of earnings and claim money back from the
Courts Service. The amount payable is a maximum of £52.63 per
day for the first ten days and a maximum of £105.28 per day for
subsequent days.
- If
you're a sole operator or self-employed, you'll have to provide
evidence of loss of earnings before you can claim money back.
The Courts Service suggests a letter from your accountant; this
may be impossible for many sole traders, however, so evidence
of work commissioned or orders lost may be more appropriate.
- Having
said that, the Courts can grant "discretionary excusal" - meaning
somebody can avoid doing jury service if they have good grounds
for doing so, or at least can defer it until a later date.
- Small
business owners may well be granted discretionary excusal if they
can show their business is unlikely to survive without them or
if it will have severe problems. Likewise, an employee may be
able to prove he or she is indispensable to the business. Sole
traders with no other income may also be granted excusal.
- The
Court Service has published information on excusal.
- Finally,
employers should note that from 6 April, it will no longer be
possible to dismiss employees absent on jury service. There's
more on this change in the law at the Number 10 website.
The
UK Red Tape BUSTER covers
similar situations facing small businesses, including maternity
and paternity leave and absence for sickness. It also offers hundreds
of FAQs, scenarios, checklists and factsheets.
IT tip
How
to set up a business e-mail account
Recent news reports have suggested that the thousands of new entrepreneurs
starting up in the UK may be falling down on simple things like
providing professional-looking contact details for their customers
to use. For instance, some sole operators carry on using their old
personal e-mail addresses when dealing with potential clients or
suppliers, but writing e-mails from bunny-tail19@hotmail.com may
not reassure people that you're a serious business to deal with.
A professional-looking
e-mail address, preferably including the name of your business,
will help you project a more credible image. And it doesn't have
to be expensive. Here's how you can go about getting hold of one
and using it effectively:
- First,
you'll need a domain name. A domain name is usually the name of
a business or the proprietor, and is followed by a suffix such
as '.com' or '.co.uk'. You don't necessarily have to have a business
website to have a domain name, as you can simply use it to professionalise
your e-mails.
- You
can register a domain name for about £6 per year for a .co.uk
suffix, and around £15 a year for a .com suffix, although other
suffixes may be more expensive.
- You
can find a list of accredited domain name registrars at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),
and Nominet, the registry for .uk domain names, also provides
tips and advice on choosing and registering your name.
- Once
you've bought your domain name, you can set up an e-mail address
for it or have your personal home e-mail address, such as joebloggs@hotmail.com,
redirected to your new business address. Contact your Internet
Service Provider (ISP) for details of how to do this - see the
ADSL Guide for a directory of ISPs providing broadband
services in the UK.
- In
most cases, you can have unlimited e-mail addresses as long as
they are all for the domain name you've registered - for example,
you might have sales@yourcompany.com for sales correspondence,
and info@yourcompany.com for general information about your business.
Remember
that most domain name registrations last for between one and two
years - you will need to re-register when the domain expires. Some
registrars remind you a few weeks before, but many don't, and it's
as well to keep a note of the date you'll have to renew.
New business
idea
Each week
we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business
ideas in the UK.
Here
is this week's idea:
Just one
word
Regularly
improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word
and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make
you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.
Do you know what 'metadata' is?
a)
malicious code used in spyware and adware
b) keywords used to get a higher search engine ranking
c) data about data - information contained within or giving details
about other information
d) code used to create graphics on websites
Answer
at the end of the Bulletin.
Did
you know?
Do
you need cash for a community or voluntary enterprise?
If
this applies to you, you may be interested in applying for the second
round of the Only Connect Scheme, which is part of the National Council
for Voluntary Organisations' (NCVO) Sustainable Funding Project,
and is sponsored by Triodos Bank. Only Connect enables voluntary
and community organisations to explore their ideas for generating
income by trading goods and services in an enjoyable and practical
way. Firms can receive up to £100 travel expenses for visiting another
organisation, and hosts may be eligible for up to £150 for their
time.
Remember,
if you're having trouble finding information about grants or funding
for your business idea or sector, you can e-mail the EnterQuest
team at enterquest@cobwebinfo.com and
we'll look into for you.
Is
your information at risk from hidden data?
A survey
by document management company Workshare has revealed that
businesses are taking serious risks with sensitive information by
sending out, or publishing on their website, electronic Microsoft
Word documents that contain metadata. Metadatarisk.org provides examples of the sort of thing
metadata can reveal, as well as tips for getting rid of it. It also
has a great content security survey, and a range of publications
and articles on protecting web, e-mail and document content.
Worth
a visit
Get
your press releases published online
PRWeb.com enables any organisation,
regardless of its size, to get its press releases published on the
Internet. It's free to submit a release, and published news is categorised
by sector, by country and by date. There is also a PRWeb blog where users of
the service share tips and advice, as well as sections offering
plenty of practical guidance on writing effective press releases.
Property
guide for small firms
The
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has launched this guide
after a recent study found that most small firms don't know how
to manage their property assets effectively, and as a result are
losing money every year. Despite its misleading title, Property for Business: An Essential Guide for Senior Executives
is aimed specifically at small firms and sole traders that have
no property director or property specialist. It explains how to
create an effective property strategy and how to maximise the value
of your property as an asset.
Practical
new health and safety book
The
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has launched
this practical new book for small business owners. The more accurately
named Protect Your People - and Your Business is packed with tools
and advice on setting up a health and safety policy, providing checklists,
sample documents and jargon-busting explanations. It's available
to buy directly from the website for £20.
Worth
a read
The
fifth edition of this manual on how to create successful advertising
features new coverage for small businesses with limited advertising
budgets; advertising tips for non-profit organisations; and practical
techniques for writing headlines, devising illustrations and creating
advertising layouts. Check out:
Just
one word answer
The answer is c).
Metadata
is, literally, data about data. This could refer to information
concealed within the text of a word document, such as the
title, when it was created, when it was last edited and its
author. Every time an electronic document is created, metadata
is automatically added to it.
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If
you have any feedback or suggestions for us to make this service
more relevant please e-mail your comments to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com
If
you wish to discontinue your subscription to EnterQuest please send
a blank e-mail to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com putting
UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject box.
Remember
that we guarantee never to sell or give your e-mail address to anyone
else.
Good
luck
The
EnterQuest Team
This
information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable
efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the
information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible
for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences
of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought
where appropriate.
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