Starting a New Business… And what you need Part 3

So here we are at the last instalment of our series of posts about how to set-up a Business and what you need to think about. We would like to start off by saying thank you. If you have actually read all 3 parts of this series, we tip our hat to you! Also, if you have read all parts it would be great to hear what you think about it overall… if you haven’t read the other two parts – part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

Up till now we have covered everything from branding and identity through to budget setting. In this part, we aim to cover Funding/Grants/Investments, supply chain, customer support and communications.

So without any further delay let’s get stuck in!

Funding/Grants/Investment

This is probably one section that will gain a few views, mainly because this area is quite a hotly debated subject. There are loads and loads of differing grants etc… for start-up and established businesses. The only problem is really identifying what (if any) are applicable to you and also what you could qualify for.

Depending upon the type of business you are starting sites like kickstarter and crowdcube could be a good place start. This sort of funding is known as crowd funding. The basic principle of which is that you create a profile/opportunity on these sites and offer different levels of investment for rewards/shares etc… once your listing has been made live then you will need to share it and advertise it across your friends, family and business networks to get it off the ground and start to gain investment. If this is an option that you feel would be best for you, you really do need to think long and hard about what your offer to investors will be, not enough and you will never achieve your target investment amounts… too much and you could find yourself in a very messy situation (here’s a good example of what happens when you get wrong: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/saga-coolest-cooler-kickstarter-campaign-143200090.html ).

Next along from this is private investment, angel investors and investment groups/companies. These are easy to find, just enter in google ‘Private Investors’ and you will see that there are a few directories, businesses and news articles. All of which will get you set on the right track. Remember that when you are dealing with private investors and angels investors, the money that they are investing is generally their own. They will need to see strong business plans, will want to meet with you for you to present your opportunity to them. They will conduct background checks and carry out due diligence checks against you and the businesses figures that you present. If you’re pushing for investment for a start-up opportunity expect some hard and tough questions.

Funding and grants are a different beast altogether. These are normal managed, monitored and distributed by government bodies and other similar organisations. Funding and grants aren’t just available to help in the general setting up of your business but there are also certain schemes that can be used against utilities, communications etc… In fact, more often than not funding and grants can only be used for strictly monitored activities and improvements. The qualifying criteria for these will also vary incredibly dependent upon what the grant is for and who it is being offered by.

As with all of the parts of this series, everything that is mention is purely for reference only. Funding, Grants and investments can be very complex beasts and should be thought through carefully to ensure that you can maximise their use for your business. A rushed application and/or profile could leave you getting completely overlooked.

Supply Chain

Whether it’s a product that you are intending to manufacture or even if it’s just a service that you are looking to offer. The chances are that it won’t just be you that is involved in it. Even if you are to offer a single service that only needs you there, you will still need to ensure that your branding, marketing, sales, customer services etc… are all sorted out. These are all elements of a supply chain to you, that you have to ensure is set-up before you get too much momentum going. The main reason being is that if you don’t, you will more than likely have to pause/stop that momentum whilst the gaps get filled in.

If you are looking at manufacturing a product, then it goes without saying that it is paramount this is looked at. Everything from design conceptualisation and prototyping through to the logistics of getting said product to the end user.

It’s great to have an awesome idea/product/service but, if you can’t deliver it then you’re screwed before you have even started.

Customer Support

This is something that you cannot spend enough time on and will always be about continual improvement. In today’s digital markets, it can be very easy to overlook or not fully understand the impact customer support can have on your clients/customers. Just because a physical presence is no longer deemed a must, that doesn’t mean that it is something you can do without. Remember that even with all the technological marketing tools that are currently available, word of mouth is by far the most persuasive. Many people would rather work off of a recommendation than a search and select process (wherever possible). If you lack good quality customer support, word will spread quicker than you would like to give it credit for!

The ideal solution is to have a contact centre or at least a telephone Number that connects with a human being. This way you have a person to person interaction and have many opportunities to boost your public persona. At the very least you will need an in-depth FAQ section and a monitored ticketing system.

There are many different ways of being able to keep your customers happy and the real truth is that it honestly doesn’t matter how you keep them happy, what matters is that you just do!

Communications

Whilst this item does appear at the very end of the series, that does not make it any less important that anything that has preceded it. You have to make sure that you have your communication channels up and running, as without them… well, how on earth are you going to tell anyone about your business etc… We appreciate that this does kind of go without saying and we assure you that we are not putting down peoples’ levels of intelligence here. But, you would be surprised how many seem to deem that it’s ok to start off business using just your personal mobile number and @gmail.com accounts etc… The sooner that you can create a solid professional appearance the sooner the audience will take you seriously.

Purchasing a domain ready for your website will automatically give you the access you need to be able to create a professional email account (obviously once you have hosted it) this can cost as little as a few £ to get going. If you are having a site built for you then get them to include the email setup and hosting within that (2 birds, one stone). Think about it from a potential customers point of view… what would appear more trustworthy to you an email from @gmail.com or an email from @yourcompany.com?

The same can be said about operating your business from your personal mobile phone or home telephone. Whilst it may feel as though this is the only option to you when you first start out, there is a particular way in which this can be sorted without the need to purchase expensive telecom systems or enter into business mobile contracts (in the UK at least…).

When you operate your business from a mobile number and someone searches for a business that provides your services, whilst you may come up in the searches, who do you think the potential customer is most likely to call? A mobile number result, that could be to someone anywhere in the country with no base or a landline number that is either free or local in its prefix? Similarly, if you utilise your home number… what happens if the kids answer a business call for you?  The fact is that 90% of people will automatically go for the landline number as it gives a feeling of being established. Not just that, it also gives more security to the customer i.e should they need to call, they will get through to someone. Ok, so I know this logic may not apply to all trades and industries, but I think you get where we are going with it?

There are many ways of rectifying this depending on your budget. Call centres, virtual call centres, full telephony systems… these are all things to look at, and if your budget allows.. are great. In general terms, these solutions could be a bit overkill for your purposes. So in situations like that we would suggest you take a look at SwitchboardFree or services similar to that in their operation.

SwitchboardFree gives you a virtual number that can sit over your home phone. What’s the point in that then? Well, as the name suggests, you can set up departments opening and closing times, voicemail (an awesome feature is that it will email you any voicemails left as a sound file), forward to mobiles and loads more. You can select from Freephone numbers, local rate numbers and even geographic prefixes. It is a truly brilliant service and works flawlessly. The best thing is that it is an incredibly low monthly cost that you can upgrade when you need. When a call comes through and you answer you get a little message in your ear announcing that the call is a business call, whilst that is happening the caller is on hold. You then have the option to answer the call (press *) or forward them onto voicemail. The exact same process is repeated when you forward to a mobile if you happen to be out and about. If someone calls outside of the opening hours you have selected, they get a polite message informing them as such with the offer to leave a voicemail.

We may sound like we are on commission for this but we honestly aren’t. There are a few services that are similar to SwitchboardFree, but in our opinion, this one is the best. We believe that most countries will have companies offering similar solutions, but in all fairness, it is not something that we have had the opportunity to research. Maybe someone reading this could leave a suggestion or 2 in the comments?

So there we go…. That’s the end of our 3 part series and we would like to thank you for sticking with us through it all. For some, it may be a case that there really isn’t anything new contained within it and for others it could become your holy grail of business (doubtful, but you never know).

The whole aim of this series of articles has been purely to act as a reference guide and as something to give those that are trying, a point in the right direction. We hope that we have achieved this and at least helped one or 2 of you out there? Who knows, we may even end up doing business with you?

Either way, thanks for staying with us to the end of this and we really look forward to getting your feedback and comments on it.

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