How does BCTC work with Local Businesses and the Council?

Posted on by Steve Bicknell

One of the key things that makes BCTC different to other networking groups is the Local Government Affairs Meeting (LGA) is one of the most important meetings organised and attended by the Chamber. It is held in the Town Hall every second Monday of the month and it provides the Chamber with its unique position of influence within the Borough representing Chamber members by being the consultative business voice of Bournemouth.

Chamber members are represented by the Trade Group Leaders (representing the geographical areas of the Town) and members of the Executive Board of the Chamber. Businesses not affiliated to trading areas can raise any concerns they are having with any Chamber Director or via emailing the Executive Officer. Concerns are then raised on behalf of the business at the meeting.

The LGA provides a forum both for Bournemouth Chamber and the Council to discuss how improve Bournemouth addressing concerns about many issues – economic development, policing, parking, tourism, events and many other issues.

The purpose is to work together to find solutions in a positive way.

The meetings are professionally organised and chaired by BCTC with agenda’s and minutes.

How can you get the most out of the LGA?

  1. If you have a problem that affects your ablity to trade in Bournemouth tell us
  2. If you have suggestions and ideas to improve the economic development of Bournemouth tell us
  3. Join your local trade group and work with the Chamber

BCTC SJB

 

What can you say in 10 seconds to promote your business?

Posted on by Steve Bicknell

At our BH Banter evening networking events we are introducing the 10 second pitch.

I know that many groups have longer pitches but equally we know that some people find it hard to know what to say and it can be a source of worry and make people feel anxious, we want our members and guests to feel relaxed.

The purpose of networking is to generate business and grow your network, so what can you say in 10 seconds?

  1. Tell the group who you are – for example – Hi, I am Steve and my company is Bicknell Business Advisers
  2. What do you do, sell or promote? for example you might say something like… we help businesses to reduce costs, increase profit and minimise tax
  3. Why did you come to BH Banter? for example you could say – to learn new skills, make new connections, solve or get support with a business issue – try to be specific – I am looking for ways to grow my social media or I want to find better ways to market my business

The purpose of the pitch is that once the presentations are over and open networking starts you can quickly identity who you want to speak to.

The key to networking is to:

  • Attend regularly – so that you can build relationships
  • Help others – what goes around comes around
  • Keep your promises and do a good job
  • Build trust

BCTC SJB

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF OUTSOURCING

Posted on by Eloise Yarwood

Whether you choose to outsource your admin, marketing or anything else your business requires to an offshore or UK based assistant, the benefits to your business can be surprising.  We need to first look at what makes a good business great.  Every great business needs many factors to ensure the smooth running for not only itself but it’s clientele.

 

  • Customer Service
  • Sales & Marketing
  • IT & Maintenance
  • Finance and Accounts
  • Recruitment
  • PA & Administrative Services
  • Training & HR
  • Strategy and Data Analytics

But if you are a small business, a startup how can you get all of these experts?  Where do you go for advice? Who advises you on your accounts? Who has all the inside knowledge of HR employment, redundancy?  Who knows the numbers?

As your business grows you cannot do everything, so what do you do?  Employ?  NO!  You should outsource.  Continue reading and I’ll tell you why.
You can access a wider choice of experts who work from their own home office (virtually), so you are not restricted to where they are based.  You get an expert in their field that you can have for when you and your business needs them, if you don’t require their services that week or month then you don’t pay! Sounding good?

I wonder if you spend hours struggling with something that takes you twice as long to complete?  We’ve all done it! If you choose to outsource your work it’s completed faster and more thoroughly this saves time and money.

Your risk mitigation strategy is also another a primary reason to embark on outsourcing a professional, they are an expert, so they have the right qualifications, the right knowledge and the right insurance if anything goes wrong.  If you hire someone with these credentials you and your business have shown credibility and competency.

There are no ongoing office equipment expenditures, this not only helps the bottom line by cutting back on insurance, but it helps with maintenance and upkeep of all the equipment.  Not to mention all the compliance of DSE & HSE. (health and safety nightmare!)  Your compliance rules are relinquished; it is in the hands of the freelancer, outsourcer or company.

Freelancers or outsourcers are self-employed, so they take care of their own; training, equipment, pension, sick pay, maternity and insurance.  This is another expense saved for you.

I would steer clear of companies that say they are offering cheap assistance, I believe some basic requirements can be met, however they may often speak broken English and many things may get lost in translation. This could then result in the process being longer, more frustrating and costing you valuable time and money.

I will leave you with this:

There are three kinds of service; GOOD | CHEAP | FAST – You can pick any two.

GOOD service CHEAP wont be FAST

GOOD service FAST won’t be CHEAP

FAST service CHEAP won’t be GOOD

4 Easy Steps to build resilience

Posted on by steenquestlifehqcouk

“More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. This is the truth that I have discovered in a career spanning the Armed Forces, Public and Private Sector and endurance challenges.

It’s never been more important – or more challenging – to remain focused, energized, productive and optimistic, that is, to be resilient.

 “What is the biggest factor for developing resilience?”

What is meant by resilience. The American Psychological Association state that resilience is…

 

“Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress. It means “bouncing back” from difficult experiences.”
The key word in this quote is adapting… once you have the idea that your behaviours and actions are not fixed parts of who you are you can start to adapt how you respond. As Darwin said
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

To continually build your resilience you must know and believe that your past and present do not equal the future. By learning and reviewing your actions you can outgrow the challenge you face and in future act in an empowering manner.What a load of Arse! What can the study of resilience in sport teach us…

Dr Salmon renowned sports psychologist and author of ‘Overcoming performance errors with resilience’ conducted an extensive study to understand how resilience could be learnt. The outcome of this study is the below process with pneumonic of ARSE… who said scientists don’t have a sense of humour…
This process shows how we can build upon our resilience after the event…

Acknowledge – They must first acknowledge that however the event went there is learning to be gained from understanding their thinking during the process. (See Taking Responsibility Article)

A client, part of the armed forces, struggled with finding the strength to continue to push themselves to their peak ability, once the pain became too much they would stop; however, they knew that they could have pushed further.

Review – Review what happened and why it didn’t work.

With the above client, we back tracked through the moment and isolated his thinking, what led him to feel the need to stop? What where the thoughts just before he stopped? What did he think it would say about him if he continued and if he stopped?

(The technique mentioned above is part of a goal setting system called PECSAWCA, I covered this in another blog here)

Strategy – Now that you have gained an insight into what went wrong put in place corrective action to prevent it happening in future events.

We created a strategy where we now linked the actions of carrying on to their top three values and started the process of linking it to their identity. We also adopted the idea of just 1% more each time. When the pain got too much just to go 10 more meters, then another 10 meters…. (If you are interested in how to find you CORE Values please get in touch see below also see Process Goals: Use Habits to achieve success)

Execute – Go out and test the new strategy.  (See the Importance of Experimentation article here)

As soon as was possible the client tested his new strategy.

The following quote from Michael Jordan demonstrates this idea of using learning to increase your resilience.

I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Steen Stones, a former Royal Marine, adventurer and founder of Quest Life Coaching and Training; a business focused on helping you achieve your aspirations through building psychological resilience. Are you ready to take responsibility to create your change? Sign up to the Resilience Newsletter