Recent Discussion Topics

How are you going to adapt your business, if at all regarding climate change.
Has running a business with good morals become even more important.
As websites become more important. How do we maximise engagement with our website visitors.
Does email marketing still work.
Impact of underperforming employees.
What’s your strategy to compete in the digital age.
Do you select a new employee on the basis of potential, or base selection on actual achievements.

Employee Benefits- How important are they in a post lockdown business.
Are KPI’s more relevant than ever.
Moving from cash preservation to good cash use.
Making your business standout after lockdown.
Funding your business for the next 12 months.
Refocussing your operating model for recovery.
Innovation - Is it more important than ever?
How do you build trust over a virtual meeting?
Marketing to find new customers in the new environment.
Has lockdown helped us rediscover what’s important?
How do we start planning the transition back into the office?
Is the concept of redundancies right for your business.

Are you energised and inspired by the progress the crisis has forced on you to make?
Demonstrating calm and optimism at this trying time.
Providing customers and employees with safety guarantees that restore trust.
The next business scenario- From surviving to thriving.
Business building for the crisis and beyond.
Connecting with customer in times of crisis.
Small shifts in leadership can transform your team dynamic.
Does a brand even exist among SME businesses?
Do you have a way of constantly innovating?
Recruitment issues for SME’s.

Challenges of Budgeting and its real value
Building a Cash Management Culture
Price Increase negotiations while keeping Customers happy
Should we be ready to embrace Artificial Intelligence?
Has the Sales Machine in your Business had its day?
Should you rebrand to attract more Customers?
Planning for a downturn in Business
Are annual Appraisals worth it?
Is there a strong case for a family friendly workplace?

Retaining Key employees
What does a successful Business look like?
How much should you know about your competitors?
Managing Customer Expectations
Inside Sales v Outside Sales
Improving Employee Engagement
Maintaining Resilience as a Business Owner
What is included in the ideal monthly Management Pack? 
Understanding Marketing Costs against Customer Wins

Raise prices to increase profit 
Customer Service Skills at the heart of business growth
The Biggest Challenges Businesses face today
Making your Business stand out
Taking your Business to the next level
The Bank Manager relationship
Converting Prospects
To what extent do you review your Business?
Motivating Staff without huge salaries

The price of undervaluing our Skills
Is there relevance for having an E-Commerce website for businesses other than those in retail?
Recruiting good people
Managing Multiple Outsourced Relationships
Growth by Acquisition
Feeling comfortable saying NO in business
Technology Challenges facing small businesses
Bonuses – appropriate or not?
The Importance of a Sales Strategy
What it takes to deliver breakthrough customer experiencesHow small shifts in leadership can transform your team dynamic
What does the Internet of Things mean for Small Businesses?
Is a Cultural Change the answer to your Business frustrations?

The impact of the 80/20 Rule on your Business 
How to Build Value into your Business 
The Cost of a Product or Service plays no part in setting the Sales Price
Stop Planning and make more Decisions
New Minimum Wage- impact on your business 
The impact of underperforming Employees
The need to monitor your Business Credit Profile
Implications of promoting staff
What does Digital really mean for your Business?
How good are your Management Skills?
Is growth about adapting at speed?

What should you expect from your Accountants?
Resolving complaints well is vital to protect your reputation
Business Apps – Brand enhancer business tool or waste of time?
What does a Joint Venture bring to your business?
Cutting sale costs, not revenues
What should we be getting from internal meetings?
Developing a mind-set to exit
Is PR worth the cost?

What supplier of services has impressed you and why?
Is business growth about adapting at speed?
How in tune are your management skills?
Team Days – Good investment or waste of time?
The impact of underperforming employees
The need to monitor your business credit profile
How do you make your emails stand out so that people read them?

Business this year – Are you aligned with the forecasters?
Business Goals – Are they a help or a hindrance?
What role should your accountancy firm play, and at what stage should you take on a Finance Director?
Push v Pull marketing – Is your business using both strategies?
Negotiating Tactics in Business
Effect of confidence from the current economic situation
Controlling Costs as good Business Practice
Organic v Inorganic Growth for your Business
Clearing dead wood and converting the change into a success

Value Pricing
What barriers do people perceive to growth – are they more perceived than real?
Are you using video marketing?
Job Sharing- does it work?
Is Linkedin useful or not?
What’s your strategy to compete in the digital age
Plans if interest rates increase to 2.5%
Do we need formal business education to be on top of our business
Valuing a Business for Sale or Acquisition

The importance of creating a 'bigger business' impression
Anywhere working.  Does it work for the benefit of the business?
Employee benefits.  How important are they to staff?
Techniques to improve cash flow
Is traditional marketing more suitable than digital marketing?
Managing third party contractors
How to make a trade exhibition work
When and how to communicate, if costs start to overrun
Whether to tie yourself down by buying a building, or stay flexible with a lease

Handling a newly promoted sales manager, who cannot manage, and should still be just selling
Strategies for accessing capital
Methods of selecting new staff
How to find a suitable acquisition
Ensuring you have suitable business insurance
Promoting a strong differentiating message when marketing
Tactics to be a good Managing Director
Should your business plateau for a while and become more profitable instead of constantly striving for growth

How much should we be paying staff?
How do we maximise engagement with our website visitors
The real benefits of having an expert who can bid for tenders
Creating loyalty amongst your sub-contractors
The need to differentiate your offer in simple terms
Dealing with the frustrations of acquiring a business
Handling difficult customers who comment online
Can you trade with a customer after you have been in litigation with them on a one-off issue

Ways to reduce costs
How do business owners reward themselves?
Handling the peaks and troughs of turnover
Winning business from increasingly tougher competitors
Implementing a cold calling strategy
The issues around ‘over servicing’ of clients
Re-motivating disgruntled employees
The value of accreditation

Are key performance indicators necessary for success?
How do you keep innovation alive?
Managing a sales team
The value of giving shares to loyal employees
Handling resistance to change
Damage limitation when a key employee leaves
Selling into complex organisations

Why should SME's be using Customer Relationship Management?
Does email marketing work nowadays?
Handling the peaks and troughs of sales
Allocating appropriate time to do Staff Appraisals
Influencing other Directors without being aggressive
Creating a referral offer that has value to the recipient
Motivating staff that have been in their comfort zone for too long
The value of a 'Non-Exec Director' to a family run business

Keeping momentum going in the B2B sales process
How important is brand for SME's, or is it all about reputation
Structuring and paying bonus payments
Engaging youngsters into the business
How to allocate time to launch a new venture
Handling the impact of maternity leave on the remaining team
The threat of overtrading as we come out of recession

Getting customers to switch suppliers
Winning big ticket clients
Running a business which is subject to seasonal fluctuations
Pending impact of Auto Enrolment on SME businesses
Stepping back from your current business to have time to work on new ventures
Handling clients that can't pay
Does running a business ethically add value or not
The effect of Google's 'Hummingbird' algorithm on our websites

Essential Technologies for SME’s
Recruitment – Tips and Best Practice
Funding an acquisition
Cloud Computers – The risks of not owning your data

Whether to expand now or wait another 12 – 18 months
Motivating a difficult employee who saps the energy out of your team
Ensuring a satellite office is reflecting the company and not running its own agenda
How to target a market sector without compromising individual established client relationships
Various approaches to increase your prices without losing customers
Securing business with competing customers, without prejudicing the relationships
Ensuring bigger customers are handled appropriately

The need to revitalise staff meetings
Techniques for getting access to decision makers
Maximising the opportunities of Trade Exhibitions
Overcoming the issues of good delegation
The use of referrals and testimonials to secure new business
The relevance of a mobile app to engage with your customers
Marketing away from your immediate locality
The impact and importance of team profiling for maximum business efficiency

The threat or opportunity of commoditization of your business services
How to re-engineer your staff bonus system
Implementing a corporate culture to appeal to bigger customers without losing the current entrepreneurial culture
Overcoming the “bad attitude” of some staff
Where and how to find good tenders
Recovering money, resulting from the accounts department’s duplicate payment
Techniques to speed up customer decision making
How involved should you be with social media?

Shortening the sales process so that things don’t stagnate
The value of old fashioned communication
Advantages and disadvantages of remote working
How to market a new product using social media
Techniques of getting through to decision makers
Handling fellow directors
Appropriate senior staff incentives
Whether to maximise opportunities or sit tight in this economic climate


Driving efficiency in the workplace
Competing on price and how that affects perceived value
Why grow in this economic climate
What makes a business investable
Dealing with awkward customers
How to handle a promotion that hasn’t worked
Pros and Cons of buying part of a competitor
The relevance of creating an ‘APP’ as a sales tool

Identifying family tension within a business and avoiding the problems it creates
Successful debt management techniques
The advantages and disadvantages of re banking in this current economic climate
The relevance of a Board of Directors for SME businesses
PR. Does it work? Is it useful?
How to get buyin from all your staff to your business plan
Choosing a Sales Director who will perform from day one

How to convince doubting business partners of the need to invest in capital equipment during the current difficult economic climate
Spotting companies to purchase
Developing a London market
Implementing appropriate disciplinary procedures, which set the tone for a switched on business
Can businesses afford to take risks in the current economic climate
How long does it take and what does it cost to fully engage a new member of staff
The removal and how to limit personal guarantees given in the past
Techniques to motivate young members of staff

How to measure the success of social media
Dealing with underperforming sales staff
Acquiring a distressed business
Putting in place suitable social media policies and how to police them
The need for a low entry priced product, to capture business in this economic climate
Setting sales targets; other than a 5% uplift on last year
Techniques to obtain feedback from meetings and how to maximise the opportunity
Ways of approaching a competitor to purchase their business

How much should you be prepared to do for nothing to win a piece of work
How to price your time in a service business
Best ways to market a new venture, when the current business model uses only traditional ways of winning business
How to create an overall brand that encompasses different businesses
Ways of defecting from a business, with the least amount of damage to yourself and the business
Obtaining funding when you have only ever relied on one bank who now wants to limit their exposure
The need for a business plan, particularly during a recession

Is social media a scary problem or a great business opportunity
Whether to rely on freelancers or employ full time staff
Techniques to control sales staff and make them accountable
Methods used to get your business message out to a new market
The value of purchasing a competitor in distress, purely to use its strong  brand
How to let go and have the confidence to allow your business to flourish
Increasing customer engagement, when your product range is limited
Outsourcing to increase competitiveness.  The advantages and pitfalls.

How to build a pipeline of business based on listening to the issues your customers are facing
How to motivate senior staff when there has been no salary increase or bonus for 2 years
The value of ‘competitor knowledge’ when building a robust business
Do I grow or do I stick?  The fear factor
Should the business employ more sales or more support staff, as a way of increasing the size of the business
Selecting personnel who will make you a profit and not just provide a service.
Techniques to close a sales order after finding the buyers ‘pain’ and real reason for purchase.
Creating a business organisation that knows how to sell

Our changing approach to marketing and communication in the current climate (spend and tactics)
How social media can be part of your business and customer development
Group feedback with regard to this years salary reviews
Systemizing your business to make it scaleable and attractive to a purchaser
How to be good at time management.  The need to prioritise important tasks without emails taking you off track
How to incentivise senior employees without giving them a share of your business.  The advantages of an EMI scheme as opposed to a Long Term Incentive plan.
How and when to begin finding a replacement business partner in readiness for their retirement
How to get bigger customers

How to deal with an important member of staff who continually plays the system
The merits of a full time financial controller, or an outsourced function, or a part time senior strategic financial director.  The pros and cons
How to make your business offering stand out
What techniques are we using to get past the" gatekeeper "and arrange meetings with new prospects
How to offer discounts running alongside normal trading terms, without down valuing your core business
How to make your staff feel passionate about your customer service
The value/cost of a pay per click campaign
Business opportunities arising because of the recession and how to finance them

 

 

Tel

0113 288 6898

Email

info@bxgroup.co.uk

 

Specially Negotiated Discounts

The Business Exposure Group has worked hard on behalf of its members to secure special deals on a number of products and services.