The first time you meet a new client, you want them to leave the meeting feeling like they can’t wait to begin working with you. Giving a trusty first impression and having a good rapport with clients is essential for a freelancer or a start-up’s success.
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A new study has revealed that while we might be a nation of shopkeepers, we’re not keen on becoming a nation of online shopkeepers.
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When you talk about a company’s address the first thing that might pop into your mind is its web address. But in an age when anyone can set up a website and pretend to be a company or expert in a certain field, having a respectable business postal address is still important.
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You’ve been following a potential client for weeks, checking out their social media feed, returning to their web page and sending the occasional email. You’ve built up a relationship with them and are pretty sure that you’re in line for the next piece of work when, from under your nose, it’s snapped up by another freelancer.
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Business trips are a fact of life for most small business owners. But for those who’ve never been on one, images of deals done on the golf course, business class flights and meetings on the beach may be a little far-fetched.
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The teams stayed the same for this challenge where the aim was to buy all the items on a shopping list at the best price. Half of each team would be sent to France and the other half would be staying in Dover the teams had to decide who to send where and which items from the list each half of the team would be shopping for.
BDRC Continental’s findings from its latest SME Finance Monitor – which is released on a quarterly basis – raise the question of whether banks are as much to blame for the lack of lending taking place as previously thought.
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According to a new study, one in three of us now spend over ten hours a day in the office – with an increasing number letting our workloads creep into our homes via emails and phone calls.
Over half of bosses at small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) questioned by RingCentral UK said that they now work for at least 40 hours every week.
Apparently a more demanding customer is partly to blame, with 51 per cent of companies saying that their clients are becoming increasingly insistent on speaking to the right person at the first time of asking, while even more want responses to their queries to be more urgent.
The research also revealed that a massive emphasis is being placed on flexible working – with over three-quarters of SME owners stating that they believed have the option to work flexibly was important in boosting staff productivity.
Posted by the Secret Businessman
According to the latest statistics from the Department for Business & Skills, there are now 4.9 million companies in the country, with a combined annual turnover of £3.3 trillion.
The boost is largely down to the number of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been launched over the past 12 months.
SMEs now account for 99.9 per cent of all firms in the UK – responsible for the employment of 14.4 million people.
Just over 99 per cent of SMEs employed 50 people or less.
The figures also represent an increase of more than ten per cent to the business population in the last three years.
Around 127,000 new enterprises have been launched since the start of 2013, although that figure has been offset slightly with the closure of 26,000 companies in that period.
Posted by the Secret Businessman
Research – collected by the national enterprise campaign – shows that over 392,000 companies have been launched since January 1st, ensuring that the UK is on track to hit a previously-set target of 523,410 by December 31st.
The statistics have been revealed by StartUp Britain and it co-founder Emma Jones said: “At the beginning of the year the campaign pledged to do all it could to get the start-up figures up to 500,000 and it looks like we’re going to make it!”
She added that the figures are unaudited and “raw”, but they do indicate that there has been further growth in the rate that start-ups are appearing.
Small to medium-sized enterprises currently account for 95 per cent of all firms and also employ over seven million workers, according to StartUp Britain.
Posted by the Secret Businessman