PRIME business club

To make its material more accessible, PRIME is having its most popular booklets and guides redone as downloadable PDFs that can be printed out on ordinary A4 ink-jet and laser printers.

We are taking the opportunity of also having large-print versions made, with a minimum text size of 16 point (the industry norm is 10 and we normally use 12 point). This obviously means fewer words fit on a page, but rather than crudely blowing things up we are reflowing the text and images properly and redesigning where necessary, so the large-print versions should look as attractive as the original documents.

First to be done and downloadable immediately for free (right click with your mouse and use Save As) are these four titles.

If you need anything else from PRIME in large print just ask us. We may not be able to produce all our documents and reports in as polished a style, but we will send you something readable.

Normal size versions are also available in a version that is suitable to print. This way you save trees!

Ideas for business, a practical guide and workbook

Local business support in the uk, a directory of where to go for help for people aged over 50

Get help with finance for your business, a leaflet about PRIME’s over-50 loan scheme

Top 10 things that can kill your business, a leaflet about avoiding common business pitfalls

Working for Yourself a practical guide to sales marketing and preparing a business plan.

PRIME has updated its popular free
“Working for YOURSELF guide, which explains sales, marketing and preparing a business plan in a practical way for people setting up their first business.

You can download it as a PDF immediately here, while we are getting this new paper version printed.

We do still have some paper copies of the previous edition, so if you like email us your details and we’ll post you a free copy. The main differences between the new and old versions are changed contact details - the basic text remains the same.

The guide concentrates on the subjects many people tell us they are least confident with - sales, marketing and putting a viable plan together. It doesn’t cover everything, but at only 40 pages long it’s quick to read and inspiring.

Contents
1. Customers and selling to them
2. Negotiating
3. Marketing
4. Setting prices
5. Business model, business plan
6. Checking with reality
7. Sources of support
Business glossary

If you are downloading the PDF to print out on your own printer, the square format should come out OK on standard A4 paper as it’s the same width.

The printed paper version of “Working for YOURSELF - a practical guide to sales, marketing and preparing a business plan for people aged over 50″ is now available. You can still download the guide as a PDF, but if you would prefer a paper copy just email us your details and we’ll post you a free copy.

This PRIME guide concentrates on the subjects many people tell us they are least confident with - sales, marketing and putting a viable plan together. It doesn’t cover everything, but at only 40 pages long it’s quick to read and inspiring.

Contents
1. Customers and selling to them
2. Negotiating
3. Marketing
4. Setting prices
5. Business model, business plan
6. Checking with reality
7. Sources of support
Business glossary

If you are downloading the PDF to print out on your own printer, the square format should come out OK on standard A4 paper as it’s the same width.

The production of Working for YOURSELF, written in-house by PRIME, has been partially-funded by the Equal Diversity in Practice project, which is in turn paid for from the European Social Fund.

“Working for YOURSELF - a practical guide to sales, marketing and preparing a business plan for people aged over 50″ is a new PRIME booklet. It is currently being printed, but you can download a free PDF here of the full text.

This PRIME guide doesn’t cover everything, but concentrates on the subjects people are often least confident with - sales, marketing and putting a viable plan together.

At only 40 pages long it’s quick to read and inspiring.

Contents
1. Customers and selling to them
2. Negotiating
3. Marketing
4. Setting prices
5. Business model, business plan
6. Checking with reality
7. Sources of support
Business glossary

If you find yourself short of some reading over the holiday, you can start plotting your new business with this PRIME guide.

The square format should print out on standard A4 paper, as it’s the same width.

The production of Working for YOURSELF, written in-house by PRIME, has been partially-funded by the Equal Diversity in Practice project, which is in turn paid for from the European Social Fund.

If you’re reluctant to sell you are not alone - it is something many people feel when starting in business. But it’s one of those things that disappears with practice - and in particular as you relax and develop your own style. Here are some tips taken from “Working for yourself”, a new guide from PRIME that’s currently in the final stages of production.

Fear of selling

Many people find the thought of having to do selling frightening. And it’s the thought that’s often the problem – not selling itself.

You can do selling any way you like, and you’ll soon develop your own style. It doesn’t have to be the traditional hard sell.

Sell your own way

” The only area where my age might count against me is in sales - because I’m not a brash young salesman. But I really don’t see that as much of a drawback. I have a nice letter that I write to people and that seems to work well.”
Graham Siggs, who started his own electrical testing service after being forced to retire from the civil service at the age of 60.

Reluctance to sell is conquered by knowing your customers well enough to know how to do them a favour - by selling them the right product or service. Being an altruist and being an effective sales rep then become one and the same thing.

Beating obnoxious salespeople at their own game

The reluctance to sell we are assuming here doesn’t apply to everyone, and it probably depends on what type of salespeople you have been exposed to in the past. But it is something many people express to PRIME, and it can be overcome by developing your own approach that simply avoids practices you are uncomfortable with.

Once you start your own business it becomes necessary to find customers on a regular basis. So don’t let bad sales experiences from your past become a barrier to setting up your own independent business. Resolve to do it differently - and better.

If you have a good product or service it stands to reason that there are people out there who would welcome the opportunity to buy it. It may sometimes be hard work, but you owe it to them as well as your own business to find such people and make them a clear offer they can understand. It’s then up to them to make the decision – to buy or not.

You need to find an approach to selling that you are completely comfortable with. You don’t have to turn into the sort of person you don’t want to be simply to sell things. Do it your own way - it may well be more effective and even fun.

Three neglected facts about selling

1. Selling is not telling
It’s more to do with listening. This is as true when writing an advertisement or sales letter as in face-to-face selling. You need to have attuned yourself to what customers are actually seeking to do it well.
In face-to-face selling, don’t talk too much. Ask questions. Listen intently for what the person really wants. Then talk about those aspects of your offer that are relevant to those desires.

2. Benefits trump features
More customers are interested in benefits than features. Enthusiasts tend to burble on about features, but what most customers are after is what these features can do in practice to benefit them and solve their problems. So when talking to a customer or writing promotional material highlight the most relevant benefits.

For example, uppermost in most people’s minds when buying a pair of secateurs is the objective – bushes neatly pruned or flowers accurately cut. Or they might be thinking about what they want the process of using the secateurs to be like – quick clean cuts rather than a difficult blunt action resulting in crushed stems. They might also want a safe and comfortable grip. These are all benefits.

By contrast the facts the secateurs you are selling are made out of Type 440 high-carbon steel and have a bypass design are features. They are things that a garden-tools connoisseur or metallurgist might appreciate, and they might very well be how the quick clean cuts are achieved. But they are not things on the minds of most people buying secateurs.

Because buyers tend to be most interested in the benefits, you are doing them a favour by concentrating on the benefits first. “These will give you a quick clean cut.” You could go on to say “that’s because of the Type 440 high-carbon steel and the bypass design”. But they might think you a nerd, so you’d be better off with “and they have a comfortable grip”, or simply shutting up.

3. It’s OK to ask for the sale
Once the customer is giving out signals that they are ready to buy, don’t just plough on with your presentation. It’s easy to do this if you are nervous, but it’s a mistake. You are wasting their time and they might get irritated and start thinking of objections just to annoy you. Selling is a human activity after all, and normal emotions come into play.

Most buyers much prefer it if you get to the point. So ask for the sale. Say something like “Do you want the green one then?” or “I can give you two for just £10 more” to move things on the decision. Then go straight to taking the money.

If you have a sincere desire to see the buyer get what they want you will feel satisfaction at the close of the deal, so move to it promptly. Asking for the money should also feel natural, because money is what allows you to provide this thing that they want - your product or service.

A very short guide to sales jargon

• Benefit - something that does good to the customer, and which you believe they may value. Something that solves a customer problem.
• Feature - how a product or service accomplishes something - hopefully a benefit that the customer wants. It’s usually best to skip over features that have don’t have relevant benefits when selling.
• Offer - the bundle of products and services you wish to sell to a particular group of customers. A special offer is a variation on the bundle promoted for a limited time or to a sub-set of the customer group.
• Prospect - someone you believe could become your customer but isn’t yet.
• Solution - just means product. The overuse of this term annoys almost everyone. Use the verb form “solve” instead. Genuinely think about the customer’s problem, and then explain what your product can do to solve it.

Here’s an updated list of common business pitfalls. Below each pitfall there are links to information about how to deal with them.

The revised text comes from the new A5 paper leaflet version of an article that originally appeared on this site. We’ve checked the original links and added some new ones. Comments and suggestions for helpful links related to avoiding such pitfalls are welcome.

1. Failure to sell

New businesses should concentrate on winning their critical early customers before anything else. If you are uncomfortable with selling, try another approach. Selling doesn’t have to be the traditional hard sell, but it does need to be done. Even if you are busy now, set time aside for thinking about where your next customers are going to come from.

• PRIME’s guide to selling for beginners
• Feel bad about selling?
• Understanding customer needs
• Longer description of classic selling technique from HSBC
• Free club course on marketing (audio podcast and workbook)
  

2. Not watching the cash position

Know what you have got from week-to-week, as this is a very common cause of often completely unnecessary failure. A sudden cash shortfall can happen even if things are going well. Indeed the cash can run out just when you get very busy, as you may be spending a lot on stock or materials and not have time to watch out for pitfall no 3.

• Managing your cash flow

3. Failure to chase for payment

Chase up money promptly or they’ll think you don’t need to be paid. Don’t be embarrassed - if you have done the work you deserve to be paid. But don’t take it personally - be businesslike at all times. Regular reminders and clear terms of payment can forestall many problems, but if you have to go to law the small claims court (the county court) is quicker and simpler than many people expect.

• Dealing with late payment excuses
• How to get paid on time
• Checklist on controlling credit

4. Underpricing

Pricing is one of the most difficult things for a new business to get right, because you don’t yet know all your costs or have much evidence of how your customers respond to price. A common mistake is to overlook some major costs and thus price too low. It’s hard to increase prices later to the same customer. If on the other hand your prices are too high then achieving sales will be difficult and your marketing costs will be high. If you suspect this is the case experiment with lower prices through time-limited sales or trial offers to particular customers.

• The dangers of competing on price alone
• Regrets charging too little for too long
• Lloyds TSB on pricing your product or service
• Three firms find out how low they can go (article and audio podcast)

5. Failure to do a reality check on your basic business idea

Any entrepreneur needs enthusiasm to overcome the inevitable obstacles, but don’t let this blind you to fundamental flaws in your business idea. Think of all the dreadful singers that enter The X Factor. Though their mum likes them, and their friends say they like them, neither is the audience they need to impress. Look at your business from the point of view of your real audience, the paying customers. Are there enough of them, and will they pay enough to give you a good income when all your costs are taken into account?

• How to thoroughly research your market
• Reality check from Dragon Peter Jones

6. Ignoring seasonality

It is amazing how many types of business show a strong seasonal pattern of demand that is not obvious to the outsider. It’s not just toys, ice cream and fireworks but journalism, dog kennels and car parts. When you enter a market do all you can to quiz people in the know about its distinctive seasonal pattern. Methods used to counter big seasonal swings include adjusting pricing (as in the holiday industry), diversifying into a market with an opposite pattern and exporting to somewhere with different seasons.

• Advice for seasonal businesses
• Coping with seasonality

7. Forgetting about the competition

It’s a rare business that has no competition, so you need to think up good ways of dealing with it. Avoid entering a crowded market unless you have a very good plan for winning customers. Aromatherapists abound in some localities - which makes it difficult for any of them to make a profit. Try to make your product or service unique in some way that matters to the customer, so you are not competing head on. Take a lesson from the animal world and search out your own niche.

• Finding space in a crowded market - operating in a niche
• Changing marketing tack to beat competition

8. Ignoring legalities

Only take risks in the area you are most confident in - which for most people isn’t the law. Minimise risks everywhere else so you have less to worry about. Always check the small print in contracts before you sign. You don’t need to be obsessed with regulations, but watch that you have the necessary licences if for example you are street trading, that you obey hygiene laws if handling food and that you know the basics of employment law if you take someone on to help. Legal wrangles can waste a lot of your time or even close you down if you get it wrong.

• Health and safety basics that no business can ignore
• Check for government regulations that might apply to your type of business
• Top data protection pitfalls for small enterprises
• The legal aspects of taking on new premises

9. Taking too much money out too soon

Until the business has been running for some time you don’t know how much money to keep in reserve to cover late payment, bad debts and unforeseen expenses. So put off major expenditure on kit, advertising or yourself so you always have some money in reserve.

• How much to pay yourself during startup
• Compare yourself to others but be realistic

10. Getting trapped in long-term arrangements

New businesses are usually best off keeping things flexible, so they can move to where the money is. You don’t want to get locked into anything you can’t get out of easily. This applies to premises, hiring staff and contracts with suppliers. The big strength of small businesses is that they can quickly change to take advantage of the opportunities they discover. Don’t throw this advantage away.

• Getting the right deal - negotiating skills

There are several free on-line directories that are useful both for finding services you require and for researching the local competition.

Near.co.uk is a good example, and one of the simplest and quickest to use. It provides a straightforward list of businesses by type and town. For example:

Wedding services near Widnes
Chain saws near Chepstow
Car auctions near Carshalton

The data for Near’s listings comes from Thomson local directories, so it’s generally up to date. What’s good about Near is that it presents the information in a simple and clear way.

Yell is the Yellow Pages equivalent. The interface is a bit more cluttered but you can plot results on a map. On some of the examples we tried it seemed to have fewer entries than Thomson-based Near. But it is a more a intelligent system than Near, and will suggest a range of different sorts of supplier that might, for example, offer chain saws for example, rather than giving up after finding only one result.

But probably the best of the simple listing sites is - rather surprisingly, BT’s online phone book. This now has an excellent business look-up function. It’s fast, returns numerous results, and will suggest other relevant categories. Here’s the chain-saws in Chepstow query for example.

This service is free for “personal use”, and you can increase the number of results per page up to 50 in the preferences menu. So you could obtain the details of lots of businesses.

Thomson Local, the source of Near’s data, is another site well suited for compiling big lists. Compared to Near you need to think a bit more when using it. For example it returned no results for a simple query about car auctions in Carshalton - because strictly speaking there aren’t any. But if you manually widen your area of search to Surrey or the South East it starts finding them. So it’s a bit literal in how it handle queries. But it has vast amounts of data and is good for scanning large areas of the country.

There are limitations on using any of these sites for compiling big lists. Partly these are practical. Thomson Local for instance limits the results returned to 200 in any one search, so if you are looking for a very popular category like pubs in the South East it will miss a lot.

There may also be restrictions in the terms of use that seek to prohibit you from using the data from the web site “for any kind of direct marketing, telemarketing or electronic marketing”. Whether or not these are enforceable in law is a moot point, but if you use the site heavily you may find it stops working.

What’s going on here is that many of these firms have other paid-for products that they would rather sell you for compiing big lists. These can be more convenient and indeed cost effective, by for example allowing you to sort on more criteria so that less of your mailing effort is wasted.

Returning to what’s available for free, UpMyStreet is a more elaborate site going well beyond a directory, but it’s worth investigating as it offers others sorts of free information that may be useful for your business. You can simply use its Find My Nearest feature - here’s the results it returns for car auctions near Carshalton, which are displayed by default on a map.

But it can also tell you much more about a neighbourhood in response to a post code or town name. This includes a brief free Acorn profile - Acorn is a marketing system that attempts to describe the type of people you can expect to find in the area, including their likely income level, age, the sort of homes they live in and some of their consumer interests. Here’s what it thinks of the residents of Chepstow.

Elsewhere on the site you can find out about local property prices and crime statistics. Obviously these features are mainly aimed at home buyers. But they are also of interest when researching likely areas for customers or premises.

If you are thinking of becoming a self-employed sales person, distributor or agent then it’s worth reading the Trading Schemes Guide on the Department of Trade and Industry’s web site. It gives an idea of some of the pitfalls, and what is and what is not currently permitted.

You need to be aware that in the UK the sector is regulated by statute. The regulations are there to protect not just customers, but also people new to business who can end up in debt and with unsold stock on their hands. The rules give you rights as well as obligations, so they are not just red tape, but a response to past business malpractice.

The sort of businesses that must comply with the Trading Schemes Act, the Trading Schemes Regulations and the Fair Trading Act include direct selling, network marketing, multi-level marketing and multi-level franchising.

Franchising that only involves two levels - franchisor and franchisee, is covered by different rules, and is largely self-regulated. PRIME has produced a free guide about the pros and cons of ventures of this type for the over 50s called Buying a franchise which you can download here.

If you are considering getting involved in this sort of off-the-shelf business we recommend you also check out the British Franchise Association and Equal Create Project web sites.

Anyone thinking of taking up an off-the-shelf business opportunity that isn’t proper franchising needs to do some very careful checks first - to make sure everything is above-board and legitimate. A first port of call might be the Direct Selling Association www.dsa.org.uk which has codes of conduct that are worth reading and that members sign up to.

The government-funded Business Link network is a good source of advice on a whole range of business issues, including trading schemes and franchising as well as original one-off businesses. You can find your local Business Link at www.businesslink.gov.uk

Citizen’s Advice can also often help with specific problems, such as business and personal debt and legal disputes. But if you are investing much money selling something for someone else you probably need your own lawyer. The BFA has a list of solicitors experienced in this area.

Finally for those thinking of becoming self-employed or setting up their own original business the UK has a network of local enterprise agencies that offer free impartial help. Enterprise agencies in partnership with PRIME can be found on this site - just click on the relevant map or symbol for your region.

The printed paper version of PRIME’s brief guide to Working Tax Credit for the 2007 to 2008 financial year is now available.

You can still download the guide from here as a PDF, but if you would prefer a paper copy just email us your details and we’ll post you a free copy.

We are also distributing the 20-page booklet free to libraries, enterprise agencies and advice shops - so if you are one of those just email us your requirement.

Working Tax Credit is a kind of reverse income tax that you should get if your household income falls below a certain level. PRIME’s guide is written especially for self-employed people over the age of 50. It explains the scheme in only 20 pages and contains worked examples showing how much self-employed people in different circumstances would get.

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PRIME has released a free and updated guide to Working Tax Credit for the coming financial year.

Working Tax Credit is a kind of reverse income tax that you should get if your household income falls below a certain level.

It is something you are entitled to as a working taxpayer and it is run as part of the tax system by the HM Revenue & Customs.

This PRIME guide explains how the scheme applies to self-employed people over the age of 50. Despite the bad press Working Tax Credit often receives, PRIME believes that for the self-employed it can be a valuable lifeline, so it’s worth checking out this brief guide to see if it might be useful to you.

Working Tax Credit - a brief guide for self-employed people aged over 50

This year we have also explained the basics of Child Tax Credit, as an increasing number of people over 50 have responsibility for looking after children - about a quarter of those contacting PRIME according to other research we will be publishing soon. Thanks to everybody for filling in the forms.

The guide provides examples for the tax year starting on the 6th April 2007 and ending the 5th of April 2008. The numbers for the current tax year 2006 to 2007 are similar but you get slightly less money.

Otherwise details of the scheme haven’t change significantly. The welcome hike in the “income disregard” introduced this year will continue into FY 2007-2008, which will mean far fewer people facing hassles and demands to return overpayments if their circumstances change.

Fears on this point discouraged many from claiming, which is a pity as Working Tax Credit (and Child Tax Credit) can help out with your basic living expenses if your business is going through a bad patch. Working Tax Credit is also very useful for those new to self-employment whose businesses are not yet making much money.

There is no universal grant for starting a new business in the UK. Working Tax Credit is as close as the system here gets to encouraging small business start ups. So it would be silly to ignore it if you qualify.

UPDATE

We’ve updated the links above to point to the print-ready version of the guide produced immediately after the 22 March 2007 Budget. This incorporates some minor changes on the Childcare element of Working Tax Credit.

If find the text too small you may prefer the original A4 text version

Introduction to business grants and loans

Grants to ordinary businesses are relatively rare in the UK, and vary from place-to-place and time-to-time. There has to be a reason why a grant-giving body would want to support you - for example to regenerate a particular run-down neighbourhood, to encourage the survival of some craft skill or to ameliorate some economic disaster afflicting a particular industry.

Except in the last case, a grant can be thought of as a kind of bribe to change your business behaviour. Expect there to be strings attached.

Applying for a grant can be a very complicated process, and even if you get it the grant will often only cover part of your project costs. You will still have to find the rest from other sources.

Q: Where can I find a grant?

A: Local Business Links are a usually a good source of information about any publicly-funded grants currently on offer in your neighbourhood. For example, grants are sometimes available for doing up premises or improving shop displays, particularly in regeneration areas. The geographic area in which such grants are available is often very precisely defined.

If you are involved in the agricultural sector or certain types of rural business a complex system of financial incentives and schemes apply. This is the most heavily grant-aided part of the economy, but as usual strings are attached and finding your way to the money can be difficult, The best place to start is Defra itself.

Internet search sites can help find a wide range of public, private and charitable initiatives. Apart from Google, there are some specialised funding search sites you can try - notably Grantnet and J4B.

Be cautious about web sites (or firms) that say there is a myriad of unclaimed government grants out there and that then offer to find you one for a fee. Don’t pay until they get you the money!

There is no government grant available to everyone who wants to start a business. This is an urban myth.

Read the rest of this entry »

PRIME has issued a revised, shortened and updated guide to franchising that you can download for free from here. Buying a franchise - a brief guide to the over 50s from PRIME 2007 is based on a much longer research report we published in October 2005 which contained results from polling nearly a thousand people about the pros and cons of franchising.

The new guide is a third the length and omits the academic results and analysis to concentrate instead on the practical lessons learned.

In less than 70 pages it explains exactly what franchising is and what’s involved in becoming a franchisee. It retains the earlier reports 10 detailed case studies of people who have gone ahead and done it. Also included are tips on dealing with franchisors, and a comprehensive jargon guide. References to useful sources of information have been updated.
So if you are considering franchising now you have a choice of reading. The new short Buying a franchise - a brief guide to the over 50s from PRIME 2007 and the original study Franchising for the over 50s from 2005 with full survey results and more quotes and comments.

Download and print out Ideas for Business, a free workbook from PRIME. It’s based on a successful series of live workshops we’ve been running around the county.

The workbook takes as its starting point your individual interests and experiences. After all, if you are over 50 you should have plenty to draw on.

You can download the workbook from here. Alternatively email prime@ace.org.uk or call on Freephone 0800 783 1904 and we’ll send you a paper copy.

PRIME has published “Financing an active retirement”, a free guide to pensions for self-employed people over 50. The 32-page printed guide is being distributed free via libraries and Citizen’s Advice Bureaux. You can also download the PDF version immediately from here.

PRIME is concerned that of the 12.5 million self-employed people in the UK, less than half are putting enough money aside to give them an adequate income for their retirement.

As people nowadays are living longer, they need more money to provide for those extra years. Men who make it to 65 are now living on for an average of 20 years, while women can expect to go on for another 22 if they reach 65.

Woman are particularly likely to experience a pensions shortfall, as many have gaps in their contribution record which reduce their state pension. And lower female salary levels typically translate into lower pensions from any company pensions schemes they may have belonged to.

“The self-employed need to bite the bullet and make proper pension arrangements”, says Laurie South, Chief Executive of PRIME. “People think that they can retire comfortably by selling their business, but they may be disappointed.

“In our expereience the owners of many small businesses find that their businesses are not as saleable as they thought. The problem is that they - the owner-operator, are often also the chief asset. Without them the business is worth little.”

PRIME believes the wisest approach is to treat providing for your retirement as a business expense from the outset. For many individuals this will mean making contributions to a personal pension scheme while they are running their business. So it will be competing with other priorities - but it may still be worth doing.

You can download our pension booklet here. For a printed paper copy email us at prime@ace.org.uk