NW Business Mentoring Ltd

2. GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
Avoiding the Business pitfalls in growing your business



You’ve pitched and won the contract, and now you’re thinking “How are we going to deliver?” The effort involved in bidding and winning the business has paid off. Staff morale has improved, the company profile has been raised, activity has increased in all areas of operation and there is a general buzz of enthusiasm throughout the

organisation.



Business Growth is a principal objective for all businesses, but fast growth can just as easily lead to business failure as lack of growth. Handled correctly, you will be able to: increase profits and revenue, create an infrastructure that is robust and scalable, and establish a reliable workforce that can grow with you.



However, statistics show that the “inability to manage growth” is one of the top 10 reasons for SME failure. This is especially true if the company experiencing sudden growth has not properly optimised their internal operations and systems to compensate for the increased demands.



To address these issues, here are some examples of how working with North West Business Mentoring can help:


We provide directors with an external independent review of their current business to identify any issues and offer practical solutions to resolve them.
Working in conjunction with the management team, we help implement the changes necessary to ensure that growth is profitable.
We help company directors to communicate with their employees, ensuring that everyone understands what is happening, when and why.
We assist finance departments to make sure that cash flow is not adversely affected and that management reports are delivered on time.
Using our experience, we help to avoid any unforeseen bottlenecks and address any potential delays so they are quickly resolved and new practices are effectively introduced.
North West Business Mentoring understands that rapid growth can be an exciting but highly stressful time. Our advisers have been through similar experiences and so can lend their skills and knowledge to help your organisation.

3. GENERAL SUPPORT
Simple to understand solutions & support


We provide sound practical assistance to organisations experiencing growth. They bring many years of experience to help guarantee that your organisation meets the targets and objectives required. They will be able to:



Ensure the correct resources are in place.
Work with the management team to help facilitate effective communications.
Provide independent impartial assistance on the balance regarding increasing risk.
Ensure that cash flow isn’t compromised.
6-12 month independent progress review against the target and or contractual commitment.
Identify and resolve issues where processes and resources are stretched.
Offer practical guidance in regards to introducing new systems such as; CRM, MRP, etc.
Identify and resolve staff training and development issues.
Identify and suggest development for the management team.
Ensure supply chain parameters remain with expected limits.
Ensure adverse trends in performance metrics are addressed.
Engage the management team in ‘what if’ discussions to ensure potential risks are understood.
Identify sources of potential additional funding as a contingent action.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The strength of NW Business Mentoring is the ability to be impartial and call on their experiences to provide focused and objective assistance. Business advisors are good sounding boards to test ideas and aspirations and can offer highly experienced contacts in all aspects of business operation.

4. PROBLEMS WITH YOUR BUSINESS
Help with overcoming Business Problems



Your experience as a business owner or manager will enable you to solve many problems without help. If your problems are serious or not related to your skill set, it is important to seek specialist help as soon as possible. More than half of the UK’s small businesses fail because of cash flow problems. Most of these businesses could be running profitably now if professional help had been sought at an early stage.
Here are some of the business areas where you may have issues that need to be addressed:

Financial, Crisis Management
Business Turnaround
Cost Reduction
People/Staff/HR Issues
Sales & Marketing
Health & Safety
Legal
If your problem is less critical, it can still be cost effective to use outside help. You will save time so you can get back to running your business and also have someone with whom you can discuss ideas. Most managers tend to see the problems and solutions they understand and may give less consideration to those outside their own realm of experience. Sometimes problems are not recognised until it is too late. If problems can be identified early on, they can almost certainly be fixed, but the longer they are allowed to fester, the harder it is to recover.

For example, if your sales are low, is this due to a financial problem (lack of revenue or cash flow or investment), is it a people problem (the sales force is underperforming or are badly managed), or is it a marketing issue (you haven’t researched the market thoroughly, or need to improve your website)? If you go straight to a finance specialist or a website developer, you could be wasting time and money as your problem has not been effectively diagnosed.

Problems tend to get worse rather than go away, so act promptly if possible.



We have experienced a wide range of challenges in many different business scenarios, some severe – but they prevailed and learned valuable lessons which they are eager to pass on. We firmly believe that every problem has a solution – so long as you recognise and diagnose the issue early enough.

We have identified the most important issues you may be facing if you are having Problems with Your Business in the links below – but please do explore the full Expertise menu on the left for a more comprehensive overview of the business disciplines we routinely deal with.

5. R&D Tax Credits


R&D Tax Credit Relief applies to companies liable to Corporation Tax.



There are two schemes, one for small to medium businesses (SMEs) and the other less generous scheme for large companies. The SME scheme applies to companies with less than 500 employees and either a turnover of less than £86m or a balance sheet of less than £100m.



The most generous scheme applies to SMEs and qualifying costs can include salaries/wages, subcontractors, items consumed in the development, utilities and certain software costs.



Qualifying costs incurred during the two years up to your last year-end can be claimed and may result in a reduction of corporation tax due or a cash credit.



Claimants can be technology or science-based or may be a non-technical business who has commissioned a subcontractor to develop software, for example.



You do not have to be a profitable business and in fact, the scheme can be more generous to loss making companies. Typically, the value of the claim is between 25% and 33% of the qualifying costs.



HMRC target to clear claims within 28 days of submission.

The next step



To start the process, click the find out more link below to contact us.