Through a unique process and software tool Sightpath offers clients a total Business Development Service which models your business and generates a balanced plan and growth strategies. Sightpath also offers an ongoing support service to review progress, revise your plan and maintain momentum.

Robert Copping MD of Sightpath had this to say about the collaboration ”SMARK-IT and Sightpath both aim to help businesses with an ambition to grow, so it makes perfect sense to collaborate and help our clients succeed more quickly.  If a business is going to successfully grow, it has to have good planning and funding, which is exactly what Sightpath is able to provide.’

Ketan Makwana founder of SMARK-IT comments on the new collaboration were.. “ in the current economic climate to succeed you need to collaborate rather than compete.. our alliance with Sightpath is testimony to our commitment to providing entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses with high standards of service, support and expertise at affordable prices. We firmly believe that working with Sightpath our clients will benefit from insights and logical planning to help them and their businesses prosper”

SMARK-IT offers a unique and dynamic service to entrepreneurs, fledgling businesses and SMEs through a comprehensive range of services that is delivered by their key collaborative partners. TO find out more about how SMARK-IT can help you and your business contact us today.

SMARK-IT will be launching Sightpath services at the Business Start-Up show (Stand 854) on 30^th November – 1^st December at Earls Court 2. Tickets are free visit www.bstartup.com

SHEQ is a total quality management system designed for SMEs and new business start-ups. It actually stands for Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality.. this clever solution provides all the key documentation and guidance to ensuring that businesses have all the relevant information and tools to support the complex procurement processes that larger contracts demand.
Essentially SHEQ offers unrivalled foundation to winning contracts and it comes at a very affordable price making SHEQ resourceful and affordable.

Jane Dronsfield, MD of Jane & Co had this to say about the collaboration “we are very pleased to be working in collaboration with SMARK-IT providing, via our joint efforts no-nonsense business solutions to SME’s nationwide. We pride ourselves in taking the ‘con’ out of consultancy and offering our clients the most cost effective solutions to compliance. We understand the needs and priorities of SME’s because we are one!’

Ketan Makwana founder of SMARK-IT comments on the new collaboration were.. “ in the current economic climate to succeed you need to collaborate rather than compete.. our alliance with Jane & Co allows both agencies to grow whilst serving clients best. SMARK-IT is about empowering people in business whilst supporting other businesses to grow. We look forward to working with Jane & Co Ltd and welcoming more businesses to our collaboration network.

SMARK-IT offers a unique and dynamic service to entrepreneurs, fledgling businesses and SMEs through a comprehensive range of services that is delivered by their key collaborative partners. TO find out more about how SMARK-IT can help you and your business contact us today.

SMARK-IT will be launching SHEQ at the Business Start-Up show (Stand 854) on 30th November – 1st December at Earls Court 2. Tickets are free visit www.bstartup.com

Bill Morrow is founder of Angels Den, Europe’s largest equity funding facilitators bringing Business Angels and entrepreneurs, with, as Bill puts it “fantastic and groovy business ideas” together.

Although anyone who meets the larger than life Bill will find this difficult to believe he started his career as an accountant working for Virgin. Over the years he moved up the corporate ladder in the City to Finance Director before deciding to dedicate his time to helping the all too often forgotten business heroes – Britain’s young entrepreneurs. Angels Den was launched in 2007 and, partially thanks to the virtual collapse of the UK banking system, it has rocketed to success as the most accessible source of small business funding available today. Bill has created an informal and incredibly effective format for helping entrepreneurs to find the right partnerships to help them to develop their ventures into the success stories of tomorrow.

Bill himself is no stranger to the adversity that small business owners face as the idea of Angels Den was formed out of the frustration he felt at not being able to find appropriate funding for a venture that he was looking to expand.

Today Angels Den has almost 10,000 registered entrepreneurs vying for the financial attention of literally thousands of Business Angels. Never one to sit on his laurels Bill is planning the launch of an Angels magazine, a TV show to help struggling entrepreneurs, and the development of a mass public owned fund to help finance some of the best business ideas that they are approached with.

1. Tell us what your company is about?

Angels Den connects fledgling businesses which need funding with high net worth individuals who are looking for investment opportunities (known as Angel investors).

Business angels (the gentlemen and ladies with the cash to splash) could literally be anyone, from a successful corporate CEO to an everyday person with a little extra cash and an adventurous spirit.

2. How did you get started in this field?

I was trying to set up my own business and needed funding and found it a very complicated, costly experience. I spent almost £15K on Angel Investment groups and had nothing to show for it at the end so I realised there was a gap in the market.

3. Are there many companies like yours in the respective marketplace? If so what makes you stand out from your competitors?

Angels Den was launched in 2007 and, partially thanks to the virtual collapse of the UK banking system, it has rocketed to success as the most accessible source of small business funding available today.

Raising money for a business has previously been a stressful, intimidating and expensive process for many people and Angels Den set out to change that. It’s a place where people can get funding based on how good the idea is, not how much money they’re prepared to spend. It takes the minimum amount of time and causes the minimum amount of pain involved in asking for money.

It is a fast, transparent and effective service for entrepreneurs.

4. What do you enjoy about the work you do and the service your company provides?

We offer a refreshingly different type of angel investing. It is accessible to the person in the street, which it hasn’t been in the past.

We are also passionate about helping start-ups to achieve their dreams. With a good idea and a good business plan there is no reason why companies should not be able to access funding.

5. How do you go about exceeding customer delight?

One of the big hurdles that we have is that entrepreneurs, having watched a certain BBC2 TV show, think that all Angel investors have ‘scales’ and they will be ridiculed, sneered at and humiliated.

We have gone to great lengths to make Angels Den the human face of Angel investing and ensure that our entrepreneurs are fully trained in how to pitch to an Angel investor and have their hand held at every step of the way. This takes away the fear and allows them to have the best opportunity possible to secure funding.

6. What is important to you and your business?

The government supporting enterprise.

Entrepreneurism is at the root of Britain’s future growth and must be encouraged.

7. What aspirations do you have for your business?

World domination!….We are now holding SpeedFunding events (a similar concept to Speed Dating) nationwide in the UK and in Asia and looking to expand these further across the globe.

8. How has your business performed in the current economic climate?

The banking crisis had left many entrepreneurs with no access to funding as loans are almost impossible to come by. This has meant that Angel investment has become the lifeblood of start ups.

9. When starting up your business what support did you look for?

We have received investment from Angel investors, who have supplied both financial investment and knowledge.

We have also used informal business ‘mentors’ from our network who have provided essential advice and guidance as well as being a sounding board.

10. How important do you feel networking is to your business?

Very important. Word of mouth recommendations, coming increasingly through social media, constitute a big part of our new business.

11. Can you recommend any networking portals that entrepreneurs and small business owners should consider?

Business Scene is a very good portal. www.business-scene.com.

12. What challenges to you face in your business?

As I mentioned, we have had to educate the entrepreneurial community to consider Angel funding as there is a lot of misinformation about exactly what it is. The Dragons Den programme has been a double-edged sword as it has raised awareness of Angel investment but it has also frightened people off.

We provide an excellent service to get entrepreneurs ‘investment-ready’ and we are sensitive to the fact that many are nervous about meeting potential investors.

13. How do you overcome these challenges?

We have adapted our service to take this into account and train entrepreneurs at ‘Pitch School’ that investors are not ‘dragons’ and entrepreneurs only ever meet investors on a one-on-one basis.

We also run free ‘drop-in’ Business Funding Clinics for entrepreneurs, at venues including the British Library, where entrepreneurs can find out about Angel investing in an informal one-to-one meeting. These are an excellent source of information and knowledge.

14. What support would you like to see made available to small business owners?

I am passionate about entrepreneurship in the UK and strongly feel that more should be done to encourage and harness the fabulous ideas coming out of the UK.

15. Tell us about some of the exciting and successful projects that your company has undertaken.

We have recently launched a new campaigning arm, Angels Lounge (www.angelslounge.co.uk) to encourage more women to become business Angels. This has achieved great media exposure and is a force to achieve more funding, particularly for female enterprises.

16. What approaches has your company adopted to win business?

Angles Den’s strong entrepreneurial team means that it is innovative and creative in its offering. Its flexibility means it regularly amends its business model, for example to expand into new sectors, such as clean technology, and also to new countries. It also becoming a trusted international advisor by creating a model to help countries grow their entrepreneurial businesses.

17. What methodology has been applied to retain customers?

Providing an excellent service and achieving results.

18. What is next for you and your business?
We are in a good place with over 3,000 plus Angel Investors onboard plus many more through syndicates and 10,000 entrepreneurs registered. We are one of largest Angel networks in the UK and Europe. Over 3,000 individual pitches, on average, take place a year between entrepreneurs and investors giving our entrepreneurs the best chance of securing funding.

We are looking to expand further into Asia plus looking at the Middle East and North America.

We are planning a fund which will allow people with small amounts to invest to support female start-ups. The fund will invest in a wide range of companies, spreading the risk and allowing anyone to become an Angel, not just those with millions of pounds in the bank.

We plan to increase the number of events held by Angels Lounge (www.angelslounge.co.uk) to encourage more women to become Angel investors. At the present time only 5% of Business Angels in the UK are women, compared with 15% in America, and this could be leading to a situation where businesses receiving funding are skewed away from female-friendly enterprises.

Finally we planning to expand our monthly ’Angels magazine’ to feature more editorial business and lifestyle copy with a long term aim of getting national distribution, in order that it’s the must-read for the Angel investor.

19. What type of project/client would you most want to work on?

Something that we don’t do is vet companies that come to us. We will of course offer advice and guidance but we do find sometimes that companies that we don’t always expect can attract funding.

20. What advice would you have for any entrepreneur or fledgling business?

Passion, passion, passion. If you have that, together with a good business plan, intellectual property and the work ethic of a pit donkey you will go far.

Minimum 26 days from issue of invitation to tender, to receipt of tender response. Minimum 40 days from issue of invitation to tender, to receipt of tender response. Minimum 36 days from issue of invitation to tender, to receipt of tender response. Minimum 52 days from issue of invitation to tender, to receipt of tender response. Company presentations if appropriate. Award of contract Notification to OJEU of the award of contract Minimum 48 days from award of contract. Minimum 48 days from award of contract. Minimum 48 days from award of contract. Minimum 48 days from award of contract.

Approved List:
A list of people and organizations that have expressed an interest in providing works or services to a buyer and who have been pre-assessed so that they meet the minimum requirements of that buyer – for construction and highway related works and services this is managed by Construction line.

BEM:
Black & Minority Ethnic (Business)

BME:
Black and Minority Ethnic (Business).

Best Value:
It is a requirement of the Local Government Act that all Public Service Organizations ensure that they achieve “best value” and “value for money” in the services that they provide.

CPC:
Common Procurement Codes. Codes used in OJEU notices to identify and describe types of goods/services

CPV:
Common Procurement Vocabulary. Standard vocabulary used in tenders especially OJEU notices.

Consortia:
In this context a group of organisations that engage in joint procurement for a portfolio of works, supplies or services. Joining forces to win business.

Contractor’s Proposals:
The document used in a tender process which sets out questions for the suppliers to answer which help us understand how you intend to provide the goods or services (see also “Method Statement”)

Contract Standing Orders/CSOs:
Internal rules governing the award of contracts at the Council (previously referred to as the Contracts Code)

Contract:
The legal agreement which sets out the rights and obligations of all parties.

CSR Policy:
Corporate, Social Responsibility Policy. A policy showing that a business will monitor and ensure its adherence to law, ethical standards, and international norms. The Business illustrates how it embraces responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Corporate and Social Responsibility is self regulatory and is not obligatory by law.

DPA:
Data Protection Acts

Default Notice:
This is a notice that identifies a breach of contract has occurred. It also sets out a plan to rectify that breach.

DR Plan/Policy:
Disaster Recovery Plan/Policy is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. This is a subset of an overall Business Continuity Plan (BCP) which is planning for non-IT related aspects such as key personnel, facilities, crisis communication and reputation protection – Public Service Organisations ask for this to ensure that should something happen to you infrastructure / people etc that you can provide evidence that your business could still service the contract.

EMAS:
The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. This is a voluntary scheme designed to improve organisations environmental performance.

EMS:
Environmental Management System. This is a system of rules and directives setup by an organisation with the aim to reduce the impact it has on the environment.

e-Procurement:
The use of an electronic system to acquire goods, works and services, and payments from third parties. Solutions currently on the market include: Complete ‘end to end’ procurement systems that are integrated with financial back office systems

1. Stand alone modules used to seek tenders or quotations (known as e-Sourcing)
2. Web-based systems that enable ordering from approved catalogues (e-Marketplaces)
3. Other web-based systems such as e-Auctions
4. Procurement cards for ordering and payment
5. Payment through BACS

EU:
The European Union

EU Legislation:
Laws arising out of the EU that support the Treaty of Rome and other treaties agreed between member states. For procurement purposes governmental and other public bodies are required to comply with the EU Public Procurement Consolidated Directive (2004/18/EC)

EOI:
Expression of Interest – This is where you notify the person advertising the tender that you would like to be considered

FOIA:
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Framework Agreement:
An agreement with suppliers which set out terms and conditions under which specific call-offs (purchases) can be made throughout the term of the agreement. A framework may include more than one supplier.

ISO:
This is an internationally recognized set of standards that relate to the setup of a specific management system e.g. Environmental Management System (14001), Quality Management (90001), Service Management (20000 -20K), Security (27001)

ITN:
Invitation to Negotiate. This document is used in the tendering process and will advise you of when and where a “Best Negotiation Position” should be submitted

ITT:
An Invitation To Tender. If you get through the initial PQQ then you will receive an ITT which will include a description of the buyer’s requirements and a general brief on the information that is required from your company if you wish to bid for the contract.

KPI:
Key Performance Indicator. KPIs are tools which help us to measure the performance of suppliers against their contractual obligations. KPIs are normally detailed in the service specification document.

MEAT:
Most Economically Advantageous Tender

OGC Buying Solutions:
Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions is a central buying arrangement which is sponsored by the government. All public bodies may procure through OGC Buying Solutions’ contracts and framework agreements.

OJEU:
The Official Journal of the European Union. All contracts that are valued above EU thresholds must be advertised here.

PIN:
Prior Indication Notice. Notice that a tender is due to be published

PQQ:
Pre-qualification questionnaire (also known as Supplier Questionnaire). Usually issued to people and organizations wishing to express an interest in tendering for works, goods or services or to join an “Approved List” (see definition of an Approved List).

Procurement:
Buying or purchasing goods or services and taking into account the whole life costs. The acquisition by purchase, lease, rent, hire, transfer, loan or other legal means of the goods, services and works required and/or used by an organisation.

Quotation:
The procurement process of inviting and evaluating bids from people and organizations to provide goods, works or services based upon the Council’s standard terms and conditions.

RFQ:
Request For Quote

SLA:
Service Level Agreement. Agreed service levels between Supplier and Buyer

SLB:
Small Local Business where there are less than 15 employees

SME:
Small and Medium business Enterprises (the DTI definition of a small business is where there are no more than 50 employees and a medium size business is one where there are no more than 249 employees)

Specification:
The document which we use to set out our requirements for the goods or services.

Standstill Period:
The mandatory standstill period was introduced to allow unsuccessful bidders the chance to obtain more information on the award of the contract and take appropriate action if they believe they have been prejudiced by a breach of the rules, by applying to the courts to either have the contract set aside, or to be awarded damages. Also known as the Alcatel Standstill Period which is named after a pair of linked European Court of Justice cases where the Company Alcatel was involved.

Supplier Questionnaire:
Another term used for Pre Qualifying Questionnaire (PQQ)

Sustainability:
The environmental issues to be considered.

Tender:
The procurement process of inviting and evaluating sealed bids from people and organizations to provide goods, works or services.

Tender List:
A list of Contractors or Suppliers selected from an Approved List or from responses to a Contract Notice and invited to submit their tender for a specific contract

Total Cost (also known as total aggregated value):
The total cost of the overall requirement over the contract term. Individual or annual costs are irrelevant where goods, services or works are of the same type or have similar characteristics. The total cost of the contract must be used when deciding which process.

TUPE:
Means the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. The purpose of TUPE is to preserve continuity of employment and to safeguard employment rights of all employees whose employment transfers to a new employer as a result of a relevant transfer.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
Henry Ford (1863 – 1947), American founder of the Ford Motor Company

With losses of 730million DM, in 1991, Lufthansa Airlines was on the brink of collapse. Only 8 years later, in 1999, Jurgen Weber, Lufthansa’s CEO reported record results in the whole of the airline’s 70 year history.

In the space of 8 years, the company moved from disaster to a pre-tax profit of 2.5 billion DM – a feat many would not have believed achievable. The “Lufthansa experience” has become a famous case study conducted by eminent entities such as the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, and London Business School.

A few weeks ago, I met a woman called Sarah who ran her own Pilates centre in London and I asked her how she had experienced the recession. She responded with a deep intake of breath as she rolled her eyes upwards.

“Well…” Sarah began, as she breathed out slowly. I sensed I was about to hear an interesting story.

“It was tough,” she said. “And it’s only now that we’re starting to realise what we went through. When we were in it, we just got on with it.”

Sarah explained how she completely changed they way she did business, becoming more flexible to retain her regular customers; sometimes getting up at 5am to see a client at 6am and working late into the evening, whereas previously she would start work at 9am. She diversified, and offered the use of her facilities to people who provided services that complemented her brand.

As major banks made redundancies, Sarah was approached by a number of their former employees looking for a career change. In response to the enquiries she created a short course, “Introduction to becoming a Pilates Instructor.” Today, her centre also provides accredited Pilates Instructor training courses. Sarah concluded that the recession had been a positive experience for her business.

Unaware that she had done anything special, she simply responded to the situation in the best way she could, and although she is the sole Director, she talked about what “we” did, and not “I”.

They say it’s not the problem that’s the problem; it’s your response to the problem. As a model of excellence, Sarah with her Pilates business was unaware of the unconscious choices she made; she could have chosen to get up at her normal time, instead of fitting in with her clients’ hours, she may have decided that the overheads of running a Pilates centre were overwhelming, she could have considered offering alternative courses and decided, “it would never work.”

The alternative conscious and unconscious choices available to her were endless, each choice having an impact on the success of her business.

In the pragmatic business world, using the word “unconscious” is often considered too “far out” for comfort. When we say “unconscious”, we simply mean the things that are so engrained in our habitual behaviour that we aren’t even aware of making a choice to respond or behave in certain way, as opposed to another way which could be more appropriate.

Remember the last time you were in a situation that could have gone better. Maybe a meeting got over-heated, or you lost a sale or lost your audience’s attention half-way through a presentation. Perhaps you intended to have a productive day and ended up procrastinating all day.

Back-track through those events until you identify the choice-point. That’s the point at which something triggered the behaviour that inhibited your optimal performance. If you could re-experience it again, frame by frame, in super slow-motion, are you able to identify when you made your unconscious choice to respond in the way you did? What alternative behaviour or response would you choose? How would that have affected the outcome?

Now you know what choice you would have made instead – how come you didn’t make that choice at the time? Could it be that the choice-point came and went so fast that you weren’t even aware you had a choice?

NLP is about providing people with the flexibility to make different choices to the ones they usually make, enabling them to get different results.

When ten managers have been through exactly the same company’s own management training programme, how come some managers get outstanding results from their people, and others only produce good, mediocre or poor results?

The answer lies in finding the difference that makes the difference between top performers and their peers. This very question motivated John Grinder and Richard Bandler when they modelled the patterns of excellence in some of the top communicators and therapists. NLP is about the process of modelling patterns of excellence.

The discoveries made by Grinder and Bandler now form the recognised NLP applications that are particularly effective in the business world. Below are just a few examples of many:

• Focus of attention – Where is yours? Are you focused on the problem or the solution? If you focus on the problem, how on earth can you find a solution?
• Intention and Consequence – What did you intend? How did this compare with what happened? Do the two match, or could you do something differently? Effective managers will always make sure that their teams’ business activities are fully aligned with the desired outcome. If un-expected outcomes arise, they will have the flexibility and choice to recognise this and adapt their business activities appropriately.
• Goals and well formed outcomes – Remember Sarah from the Pilates centre? She was clear about her goal, had choice and flexibility in her approach, and she took action.  Many businesses waste enormous amounts of time, money and energy because they are not clear about what specifically they want to achieve. Not having a clear goal can mean that every day is like ground hog day as a new goal or target  becomes the focus of attention.
• State – Have you ever noticed how on one day, all your meetings, phone calls, and other work just goes right? And on other days, it all goes wrong? It’s not a conspiracy – the common denominator is your own “state”. Your “state” is the sum total of your internal and external experience at any given time – i.e. your physiology, your thoughts and your feelings. Fix these things in yourself and your teams and you will experience enormous differences in performance.
• Perceptual positions – This is the ability to experience a situation from a different perspective. What if a manager could really understand the world from their team members’ perspectives? What if a sales person could sell to their customers how the customer wanted to be sold to, not how the sales person wanted to sell to them? What if two colleagues who could never get on were given the tools to understand one another’s experience of the conflict, and how they might come across to one another, and to an observer – how would that impact on their conflict? What if you had the tools to be your own personal and career development coach?
• Anchoring – This is a deft tool for associating people to certain states and for communicating directly to their unconscious. What if your team could always be motivated and focused the minute they stepped into the office?  What if clients could always associate your brand name to the values you want? What if you wanted your staff to associate “company takeover” with opportunity and growth, as opposed to job insecurity and cut-backs?

NLP has been around for as long as civilised human beings existed. Grinder and Bandler began the work of coding certain behavioural patterns inherent in us all – their work began to provide the tools to enable people to improve their experience and get different results in their performance by being able to see, hear, feel and think in a different way. The applications of NLP are found in most business training programmes, although not always explicitly labelled as NLP. Other business courses have dedicated NLP modules as part of the study course.

In June 1992, Jurgen Weber, invited around 20 twenty senior managers at Lufthansa to a meeting that was originally labelled ‘Mental Change’. The aim was to create a network of change-minded managers who would drive redevelopment within the company.

For some of Lufthansa’s Managers this was a completely new experience, having never been acquainted with interdepartmental co-operation and non-bureaucratic problem solving. Members moved though a process of denial, blame-seeking and eventually came to an acute awareness of the situation and a desire to act, and set about putting in place some ambitious goals.

The workshop was repeated three more times with different groups of fifty people. Instead of simply informing managers of the facts new strategies to be implemented, the workshops enabled Lufthansa staff to live through the same process; to see, hear and feel the urgency of remedial action. The majority of senior managers were convinced that drastic change had to happen and committed to a set of extremely ambitious goals.

Dr Heiko Lange, Lufthansa’s former Chief Executive for Personnel said, “In the turnaround we have consciously tried to win the commitment of people through workshops, town meetings, etc. With everything I do, I try to demonstrate that at first we have to reach the emotional mobilisation before a rational mobilisation becomes possible at all.”

And to re-echo the man who brought the motor car to the average person, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

The Business NLP Academy As the business dedicated arm of the NLP Academy Ltd, the Business NLP Academy is the leading NLP for business organisation in Europe and facilitates pragmatic applications of NLP. While many NLP companies offer NLP for business as part of an overall course, the Business NLP Academy is different in that all of our courses focus on NLP application in a business environment, whilst developing high-level skills that enable business people to be even more effective in their work. The Business NLP Academy offers courses across the business spectrum from sales, marketing, negotiation, business coaching, team development, leadership as well as our leading NLP Business Practitioner course. Business NLP training is available through public courses or on a bespoke basis, where courses are tailored to the particular needs of your organisation and delivered in-house to your people. Attracting people from all over the world, the NLP Academy has over 10 years experience as the founding NLP training organisation; offering the opportunity to train with, and learn from some of the biggest names on the international NLP stage. We provide ongoing support and follow-up to our participants as part of a quality enduring relationship, which makes for an unrivalled customer experience when you train through us.

So what exactly is a business plan and why is it so important? This living, breathing document will help you to centre your corporate chi and gather your ideas and aspirations into one manageable place. Once created, the plan has many uses. It can guide a business to launch, help you gain financial backing or partnerships, act as a roadmap towards growth and eventually aid in the sale of your business. This single document will help you through the entire life cycle of your business and should not only be regularly referred back to but should also be amended and updated as your goals change.

For the uninitiated, creating a business plan can be a daunting task: so much structure, so much information, and where on earth do you get the financial information from anyway? But this document really is not that scary. Just follow a few simple rules and you can create a professional business plan that will have investors knocking down your door.

While avoiding too much confusing detail, I’ve decided to give you just a taste of what is needed in each of the sections of your business plan:

The Executive Summary

The purpose of this section is to grab the interest of your readers and hang on to it like a pit bull with lockjaw. Present your reasons why they should sit up and take notice of your business in a clear and succinct manner. Always be truthful – there is absolutely no point in flowering up the facts – but do inject an element of excitement because your belief in the potential of the business has to rub off on them. The Executive Summary is a synopsis of the rest of the business plan, and for those short on time it may be all that they read to form an opinion of your business. So no pressure, but it has to be darn good as a stand-alone document.

Summary of Background

Introduce your readers to the people who have made the business what it is today and present the story of its past, present and future. What has been achieved and overcome to date and what are your aspirations for the future of the business? If you are starting a new venture, focus on what influenced you to launch into the world of business and why you feel that there is a market for your service or product.

Business Environment

This is where you sell, sell, sell your competency at determining the potential of your business. How much have you done to prove that there is a market for your service or product? Why do you believe that your business will succeed, what market research have you carried out, what sales have you made, who are your customers, does competition exist and what barriers are there to entry into your market? It would be useful to include here all your findings and any issues that you have had to overcome.

Business Background

Why should your business succeed where so many have been flushed down the extra-wide drain of despair after the fickle finger of reality pointed out that their enthusiasm outweighed their substance? It’s time for an exercise in Sales 101, a SWOT analysis. Take an objective look at your business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Present openly and honestly both the good, the bad and the ugly sides of your business and its market.

Operations

This is the downright practical section of the document: all of the elements of the business and its sector that you have researched to prove that it can succeed. Who is at the helm of your ship and what qualifications do they have for this role, are you correctly legally protected, how are your products made or services delivered? And so on.

Marketing

What are you doing or going to do to make your customers come a-flocking to your door? What PR, marketing, advertising and promotional plan do you have, and what proof that this will work to achieve the sales figures you will be presenting in your Financial Plan?

Investment

If you’ve ever wondered why the Dragons on Dragons Den get so annoyed at those pitching for their investment, you need look no further than the ridiculous value they feel has been placed on the business in front of them. Investment amount requested divided by the percentage of the business you’re giving away equals the assumed value of the business (£50,000 for 10% of the business assumes that the whole business is worth £500,000), but how can you decide the value of a business? When you’re in a situation where you’re asking for investment funds this is largely down to the investors, which is why you must spend so much time and effort in this document proving that you not only have a damn good idea but also the will and wherefore to take it to market. The weaker your proposal, the less convinced the investor will be and the lower the value he could potentially place on your business.

Financial Plan

OK, for a new business there may be an element of guesswork here. Yes, you heard me right, but it is your responsibility to show that this is educated guesswork and not just wishful thinking. It is critical to get this section as accurate as possible because seasoned investors, potential partners and those who may be interested in buying your business will be able to smell the waft of adult male cow from a mile away. Be upbeat but realistic, and if you need help seek the assistance of your friendly neighbourhood accountant. It’s not a complicated job so it won’t cost much.

So go forth from this article and prosper through devastatingly grand Business Planning. Keep it short and to the point, keep it exciting and full of opportunity, get your readers to want to pursue you for a chance at being a part of your dream. For more detailed information on writing your Business Plan, check out our website at www.angelsden.co.uk where you’ll see that we’ve simplified the process by telling you exactly what our Angel investors will want to see to decide whether they are the right people to help you to achieve your business dreams. Good luck, one and all!

Bill Morrow -Founder of Angels Den Bill Morrow is founder of Angels Den, Europe’s largest equity funding facilitators bringing Business Angels and entrepreneurs, with, as Bill puts it “fantastic and groovy business ideas” together. Although anyone who meets the larger than life Bill will find this difficult to believe he started his career as an accountant working for Virgin. Over the years he moved up the corporate ladder in the City to Finance Director before deciding to dedicate his time to helping the all too often forgotten business heroes – Britain’s young entrepreneurs. Angels Den was launched in 2007 and, partially thanks to the virtual collapse of the UK banking system, it has rocketed to success as the most accessible source of small business funding available today. Bill has created an informal and incredibly effective format for helping entrepreneurs to find the right partnerships to help them to develop their ventures into the success stories of tomorrow. Bill himself is no stranger to the adversity that small business owners face as the idea of Angels Den was formed out of the frustration he felt at not being able to find appropriate funding for a venture that he was looking to expand. Today Angels Den has almost 10,000 registered entrepreneurs vying for the financial attention of literally thousands of Business Angels. Never one to sit on his laurels Bill is planning the launch of an Angels magazine, a TV show to help struggling entrepreneurs, and the development of a mass public owned fund to help finance some of the best business ideas that they are approached with.

In essence this is just a process which determines how you are going to deliver on your sales plan. All businesses set out a financial forecast as a part of their business plan on what they have achieved and how much they will grow by. It is at this stage that a sales strategy is created to define how you will achieve that sales growth.

What should be considered in a sales strategy?

You need to consider the resources you have available, how effective your pipeline is and begin to categories your opportunities into time; so for example what you can achieve in the next 3 months, what to expect within 6 months and what is currently a potential within the next 12 months.

With this in mind you also need to address what techniques and approach you will adopt to convert from opportunity to sale. This is important as you may consider multiple approaches for different opportunities. You should look to review these on a regular basis throughout the year to ensure you are on or ahead of target.

Your strategy should also have consideration to how your action/approach will be received by the customer as this is not a plan it is a strategy.

Why is it important to review strategies regularly?

Like any other process you must review for effectiveness otherwise you risk losing opportunity or costing the business. If you take the example of a car; they require regular services at intervals to maintain smooth operation, tyres, exhaust, oil and filters. Without these regular checks you risk spending more to keep in running and eventually it will breakdown.

The same applies to sales strategies review regularly see what is working and what is not, service the strategy to maintain a smooth operation and this way you reduce hemorrhaging cost from your business.

What is meant by Sales Channels?

As a part of your strategy you will consider opportunity and time but also where your business is coming from. Sales Channels are purely different ways in which to obtain business. In some businesses you may have multiple sales people working geographically across the country, in others you may employ agents or have dealers/distributors of your product.

It is advisable to maximise your sales channels so that you can ensure maximum input of sales revenue and opportunity. It is worth considering at this stage that if you have multiple channels that the strategy may differ for each one.

Where can I get more support on creating sales strategies?

There is a lot of free advice available through portals such as Business Link the information may be generic but it is a good starting point. You can also got to agencies such as our SMARK-IT where specific or customised strategies can be produced relevant to your product/solution and market.

Networking is the process by which one expands their contact base and enhances their understanding, experience and opportunities.

How should I build my network?

Building up a network of diverse people is essential for any business. By making contacts with different clusters or groups will increase the possibility of greater opportunities. The more diverse the network is the better it would be.

When you attend group meetings, collect the business cards of other people and interacting with these new contacts frequently can help you and your business.

What is successful networking?

It is important to create a lasting first impression on people whom you meet. The impression you create will determine how effective the contact or network becomes in the future. Keep in constant contact with your network and develop the relationship further so they invite or introduce you to their network and thus expanding your network. With successful networking you offer greater business opportunities.

Once I have built a network what should I do with it?

You should help people in your network, not only bring you goodwill but also business. The principle of networking is to share expertise, knowledge and aid each other’s growth and development. If a business has a product to sell, giving them contact number of a client who needs the product will help you in the long run as they may introduce you to your next client in return.

How can networking help my business grow?

Networking can help in more ways than just sales opportunities; often once you have made contact and shared details you may find that your network can offer advice and process to help you in managing issues; also you can discuss pitfalls with your network which may help you avoid these which can be costly to your business. So in all networking is not just about leads but about the exchange of support, information and expertise.

How should I prepare to network?

As a professional you should seek new ideas and opportunities that would help you to grow. If you are attending a networking meeting, be well prepared; think in advance as to what kind of people you are going to interact with and when you meet people establish their requirements are and whether you can fulfill them

Does networking have to be done in person?

Absolutely not; in this age of technology there are many Social Media sites and forums that you can interact with others and still gain the same benefits. To name a few LinkedIn a professional networking site which allows businesses and professionals to connect and work together, Twitter which is a great medium for short message statuses and also product testing.

There is also an increasing trend for networking on company-own websites which is brilliant as you are capturing all the relevant data of associated businesses or opportunities and developing more visibility of your brand. SMARK-IT operates its own social media functionality pretty much like LinkedIn and Twitter. It is free to join by visiting www.smark-it.com and registering.

Tactical marketing is all about placing ads, generating leads, sending out mailers, attending trades shows, creating brochures, implementing a follow-up system, whereas Strategic is  what you say, how you say it, and who you say it to and where you say it.

The distinction between the two is huge. Tactical Marketing is about the medium in which your message is delivered. Strategic Marketing is about the content of your marketing message.

Why is strategic marketing so important?

Strategic Marketing starts with understanding your customers and the things that are important to them, understanding why they are buying from you. If you want to understand this you must see the world from your customer’s perspective.

Just putting a marketing message in an appropriate medium for customer to hear or read is not good enough. The strategy must derive from an understanding of what’s important to the customer.

What Strategic Marketing does is determine how your Tactical Marketing will be executed.

How do I write a Strategic Marketing Plan?

Marketing plans are encompasses the route to your sales and determines how you will succeed in generating revenue. Like a business plan it is a roadmap to delivering key information to the market place and potential customers of the products or solutions the business is offering.

It is important when writing a Strategic Marketing plan that you consider why you are successful and why your competitors are successful. This thought process will enable you to determine if you need to adapt your approach or key message.

Your marketing plans needs to hold substantial information about your product, market and competitors so that your decided plan of action can be quantified.

What should I consider when producing a tactical marketing plan?

Tactical marketing can be included in your overall marketing plan as it only describes the medium that you will be delivering your message through.

Considerations should depend on the environment that you sell within so would it be more pertinent to do email campaigns rather than a postal campaign or do I advertise in a magazine or exhibit at a trade show. All these mediums come with costs associated and this needs to fit within the budget the business has allowed for marketing and be reviewed for effectiveness.

How do I know my marketing is working?

Many small businesses often do not take the time to consider what tactical marketing is working for them. This is because they usually are engrossed in mass marketing to gain exposure. It is important that you measure the success or failure of each of your marketing executions so that you can decide as a part of the future marketing plan if that method of marketing will continue to feature.

There are simple ways of monitoring by using marketing codes or reference points in your medium. For online marketing you can put in options for the customer to choose where they heard about your business.