EBA Consulting Ltd

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it."  Theodore Roosevelt 

Tel: 01554 890300

Government Small Business Policy is Failing.

The Small Business Council (SBC) annual report concluded that despite the Government’s aim to make life easier for entrepreneurs’ over-complicated regulation and insufficient support services are still hampering the government's effort to improve the business climate in Britain .

The SBC annual report was published in the middle of July and William Sargent, the SBC chairman and the government's 'voice of small business', says:

"The government set out its stall to help small businesses. Although some measures have been introduced which have been helpful, nonetheless the fact remains that the overall climate in the UK can be unhelpful to the small business. Small businesses perceive themselves as being used by the Government to implement social policies and collect revenue - when they want to concentrate on being competitive and innovative, delivering jobs and economic growth.”

The SBC report focuses on a number of areas and issues where it feels the government is currently taking the wrong approach or where spending, advice or legislation is failing to get through and affect actual business owners.

If you need assistance with this contact us now before it's too late

It is vital  businesses, especially the SME sector gain access to key areas of assistance to help them in their development process.

 Put it in Writing

The number of businesses who get into financial arguments with customers resulting in late payment or refusal to pay altogether is more prevalent than many owners think.

We provide business support to an extensive range of market sectors and come across bad debt issues on numerous occasions.

There are a whole series of procedures businesses should go through before trading with clients which generally revolve around credit checks and agreeing terms of payment. However one area which seems to catch companies out is the failure to put any agreement to supply in writing. The more complicated the supply arrangement the greater the reason not to rely on a verbal contract.

Failure to put the contract into writing can give rise to inaccurate interpretation of original specification as well as disputes over terms of trading. This often leads to the customer and supplier disagreeing over the finished product. Of course the unscrupulous buyer will use the lack of clarity as a tactic to deliberately avoid paying.

Putting the contract in writing in the form of a purchase order or more detailed specification can be a relatively simple process and can save thousands of pounds. If the situation is overly complicated you can always resort to the legal profession either for standard terms or specific wording.

We recently came across a situation where a business turning over in the region of £150k made an out of court settlement which lost the business £8,000 on the original sale price and in a second instance is in dispute over an £12,000 invoice. This has all stemmed from a verbal contract with nothing in writing.

If you need assistance with this contact us now before it's too late

Marketing Pilot Study 

Last month we reported our award of a pilot study project by one of the public sector enterprise agencies to look at the effects of marketing strategies on the SME sector.

We are now in the recruitment phase and there is a strong level of interest from SME’s. We are currently visiting businesses and establishing their exact requirements. The ultimate objective is to use market and sales information to provide a telemarketing service to increase sales and market awareness. The results of the project will be shared amongst the participating businesses, we are also hoping to publish a paper at the end of the assignment.

If you need assistance with this contact us now before it's too late