Yesterday evening Active Marketing & Design Ltd exhibited at the Best of Norwich business event at Caistor Hall. The Best of Norwich (http://www.thebestof.co.uk/norwich) is a website which recommends local businesses, and it is owned and run by husband and wife team Chris and Sara Greenfield from Wymondham. The difference between this site and the hordes of other online directories is that the member businesses like ours are all genuinely recommended Norwich businesses which Chris and Sara have hand-picked. We hugely value the importance of customer recommendation and referrals to build our business and The Best Of Norwich website helps to facilitate this by allowing users to log in and record their comments and testimonials about the businesses which they use.
At Caistor Hall, we were privileged to pick up a framed recommendation from one of our clients who had kindly written some nice things about our work on the Best Of Norwich site. In a small business community such as Norwich, the importance of reputation and recommendation can never be under-estimated. If a customer likes what you do, they may tell one friend or colleague - upset them and they are likely to tell more like 10 people about how awful you are.
Wednesday 20 May 2009
Tuesday 19 May 2009
The importance of buying local
I was privileged to be able to exhibit at the annual Buy Local celebration event held in the magnificent surroundings of Norwich's Dragon Hall last night. Membership of Buy Local is something that we are really passionate about, not just because its "in vogue", but because it makes good business sense. Buy Local is a social enterprise for independent local businesses which recognises that small business owners have a vital role to play in supporting the local economy, both as buyers and sellers. In order to qualify for membership, Active Marketing & Design has to buy from local suppliers where possible, something which we do already and are keen to do more of.
In turn Buy Local is a good place for us to promote our independent local business to other like-minded business people. The list of good reasons to Buy Local is endless, but stuff like keeping the pounds in the local economy, saving money, time and hassle, building a reputation and reducing our impact on the environment are all pretty critical.
The event had double meaning as it was held in the historic Dragon Hall which has been an integral part of local industry for centuries. In medieval times it was an important trading hall for merchants of key goods such as cloth and food products as it occupies a prominent position between the River Wensum and King Street, an important trading route. Im sure we could learn many lessons from those times before the internet and the global economy, about the importance of doing business with other local businesses.
http://www.buylocalnorfolk.org.uk
http://www.dragonhall.org
In turn Buy Local is a good place for us to promote our independent local business to other like-minded business people. The list of good reasons to Buy Local is endless, but stuff like keeping the pounds in the local economy, saving money, time and hassle, building a reputation and reducing our impact on the environment are all pretty critical.
The event had double meaning as it was held in the historic Dragon Hall which has been an integral part of local industry for centuries. In medieval times it was an important trading hall for merchants of key goods such as cloth and food products as it occupies a prominent position between the River Wensum and King Street, an important trading route. Im sure we could learn many lessons from those times before the internet and the global economy, about the importance of doing business with other local businesses.
http://www.buylocalnorfolk.org.uk
http://www.dragonhall.org
Thursday 7 May 2009
Access to finance for rural start ups
Research recently published by the Commission for Rural Communities has identified a worrying problem with the lack of access to financial advice in rural areas, a particularly pertinent issue in the current economic climate. Its not the first time that this theme has reared its head, and yet there is still limited recognition of the real issues or specific services to meet the needs of rural people and their businesses.
A lack of access to finance was one of the key findings of ground-breaking entrepreneurship researcher Izzy Warren-Smith back in the mid-nineties. Her work identified that in many cases women were the driving force behind the surge in farm diversification projects for struggling rural agricultural businesses. Yet these enterprising women were coming up against significant barriers in their quest to build a sustainable business, and lack of access to finance was a big issue. Farmer's wives/daughters/sisters would go to the bank with a decent business plan, but they were more often rejected. On the back of her pioneering work, Women in Rural Enterprise (WiRE) was established to offer support to these women, and is now a thriving national organisation which helps women to grow and develop their rural businesses.
I recently attended the WiRE annual conference at Harper Adams Agricultural College, which was buzzing with enthusiastic women in rural business. One of the key messages which came across was the tendency for women to stereotypically be more conservative with money (when running a business, not when shopping for shoes!) which puts us in a more recession-proof position and perhaps less in need of financial advice than men in rural areas.
A lack of access to finance was one of the key findings of ground-breaking entrepreneurship researcher Izzy Warren-Smith back in the mid-nineties. Her work identified that in many cases women were the driving force behind the surge in farm diversification projects for struggling rural agricultural businesses. Yet these enterprising women were coming up against significant barriers in their quest to build a sustainable business, and lack of access to finance was a big issue. Farmer's wives/daughters/sisters would go to the bank with a decent business plan, but they were more often rejected. On the back of her pioneering work, Women in Rural Enterprise (WiRE) was established to offer support to these women, and is now a thriving national organisation which helps women to grow and develop their rural businesses.
I recently attended the WiRE annual conference at Harper Adams Agricultural College, which was buzzing with enthusiastic women in rural business. One of the key messages which came across was the tendency for women to stereotypically be more conservative with money (when running a business, not when shopping for shoes!) which puts us in a more recession-proof position and perhaps less in need of financial advice than men in rural areas.
Wednesday 6 May 2009
Legal issues of setting up a small business
While there are so many things to think about when starting a business, staying inside the law is one thing that no new business owner can afford to overlook. Without trying to sound overly morbid, having a close brush with the long arm of the law could finish your business before you have even started.
At the First Steps Business Club for new business start ups in Norwich last night, we had a down to earth session on the key aspects of legislation that every small business owner needs to know. Rebecca Cleal from Clapham and Collinge Solicitors explained in practical terms how important rulings such as The Sale of Goods Act can be simply adopted in your business. It was really insightful, both from a business owner and a consumer perspective. Did you know for example, that within the 1st six months of purchase, the burden of proof is on the seller to prove that an item was not faulty if a customer returns it with a complaint? All consumers are protected by a range of statutory rights which apply in addition to any additional warranty or guarantee package offered by the seller. So in many situations spending money on an extended warranty is fairly pointless as the law already protects you as a consumer.
We talked a lot about the law and also the interwoven broader issue of good customer service - at the end of the day if your customer complains and is being a bit unreasonable, its generally good customer service to honour their complaint regardless of the grounds, in order to protect the priceless reputation of your business. The most damaging type of customer is a "silent complainer" - someone who doesnt raise their complaint with you (the business owner) but instead goes out and tells 10 of your potential customers to avoid your company like the plague!
The First Steps Business Club for new business start ups meets monthly at The Rivergarden in Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich to support people with enterprising ambitions or in the early stages of starting a business.
At the First Steps Business Club for new business start ups in Norwich last night, we had a down to earth session on the key aspects of legislation that every small business owner needs to know. Rebecca Cleal from Clapham and Collinge Solicitors explained in practical terms how important rulings such as The Sale of Goods Act can be simply adopted in your business. It was really insightful, both from a business owner and a consumer perspective. Did you know for example, that within the 1st six months of purchase, the burden of proof is on the seller to prove that an item was not faulty if a customer returns it with a complaint? All consumers are protected by a range of statutory rights which apply in addition to any additional warranty or guarantee package offered by the seller. So in many situations spending money on an extended warranty is fairly pointless as the law already protects you as a consumer.
We talked a lot about the law and also the interwoven broader issue of good customer service - at the end of the day if your customer complains and is being a bit unreasonable, its generally good customer service to honour their complaint regardless of the grounds, in order to protect the priceless reputation of your business. The most damaging type of customer is a "silent complainer" - someone who doesnt raise their complaint with you (the business owner) but instead goes out and tells 10 of your potential customers to avoid your company like the plague!
The First Steps Business Club for new business start ups meets monthly at The Rivergarden in Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich to support people with enterprising ambitions or in the early stages of starting a business.
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