Administrator, Author at Small Business Insider

What is ahead for business telecoms over the next twelve months?

Posted on February 22, 2019 Written by Administrator

Over the coming year we’ll see changes in business telecoms accelerating. Here are some thoughts on how this will develop and the impact for business.

Our increasing data needs

Data consumption is going to continue to grow. Stats from 2016 show 1.26Gb per user per month, increasing to 1.72Gb in 2017. Although we cannot find statistics to prove this, we believe business users are consuming more data than consumers. At the time of writing, I’ve consumed 7.1Gb of data per month, on average, over the last three months.

With the increasing cyber security threat, the use of mobile data, as opposed to Wifi, will increase dramatically. With mobile data becoming cheaper and cheaper, public Wifi is just not worth the risks it poses.

Will landlines disappear?

The number of homes in the UK with a landline has decreased by 3% in the last 5 years^[1]. A further 24% of households have a landline they never use^[2]. Many have them because internet connection is cheaper when they take a landline from their internet provider.

Unlimited call contracts make using a mobile a no-brainer. Smart speakers, such as Amazon’s Echo, Google’s Home and Apple’s Homepod, can connect to each other via the internet. You can talk to other devices in the same house. Phoning your customers, and gran, has never been easier.

With companies such as PwC removing landlines from all their UK offices, it is likely that the office landline will be disappearing as well.

For people who still like desk phones, products such as the ZigeeDock mean you have all the features, but you use your mobile to make the calls.

Brexit’s Impact on Roaming Charges

Roaming charges may be rearing their ugly head again, particularly if we leave the EU with a no deal Brexit. Although the main mobile operators have said they have no current plans to change, that doesn’t mean it will be the same after March 29^th. Planned government legislation sets a limit at £45 per month (unless you opt out) and a requirement for the operators to warn you before you go over your data usage allowance. We will wait and see.

How fast will 5G be?

The marketing hype around 5G grows daily. Claims of early speeds of 5Gbps, and climbing, will need to be proven. Once the networks are live to consumers and they are being properly load-tested, we expect real-life performance results to be down on the claims.

AT&T tests showed on 194.9 Mbps download

Huawei attained 970 Mbps at the beginning of 2018

Qualcomm’s real-life simulations delivered up to 717Mbps

The expectation is that there may only be around one million 5G handsets on the streets by the end of 2019, it will be interesting to see what speeds they can get.

Who’ll sell the first devices?

We won’t be able to use 5G without a device. Every major handset manufacturer is developing something, but whose will we see in the shops first? Front runners are Samsung’s S10 and Huawei’s P30. February’s Mobile World Congress Event (25-28 Feb.) will give us all an indication of the answer to this question.

Choices to be made

As telecoms companies sell both mobile solutions and internet connectivity this will lead to a marketing dilemma. What products will these companies recommend (both to consumers and SMEs)? The investment made to install fibre, both FTTC and FTTP, is going to be threatened by 5G. For companies with high data requirements, the choice will still be a fixed line internet connection. However, small businesses with data needs will have a choice. In areas where high speed internet coverage is still poor, such as rural locations, out of town business parks and even some city centres, 5G will provide welcome relief to high cost copper-based solutions.

Change will get faster in 2019 and continue to playout in the years ahead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Ianiri is Director of independent telecoms brokerage Equinox. Mike works with companies, charities and other organisations to help them choose the right telecoms packages for their needs and thereby reduce their costs. He is particularly knowledgeable on the integration of IT and telecoms in business. www.equinoxcomms.co.uk

Twitter: @CommsEquinox

^[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/386778/share-of-calls-enabled-landlines-in-uk-hoseholds/

^[2] https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2018-06-04/480-million-frittered-away-uk-landlines-every-year

How to create an attention-grabbing opening for your speech

Posted on February 21, 2019 Written by Administrator

Like a great novel a great speech hooks you in from the first words. Whether you are giving a presentation to your team or a speech at a work conference you need to grab attention immediately.

Let’s look at some ways to do this

Intriguing questions

Many of the best speeches begin with a simple question. Why? Because a good question immediately engages your audience. It also provides your speech with a simple structure. You have asked them a question and can then go on to answer it yourself with your speech.

Sometimes an entire speech structure is simply: ask the audience a question of significance, answer it by discussing three key points and then sum up. I began a recent speech by asking: “Which is the world’s happiest country?” Other openings I’ve used over the years are: “What do you believe is Mankind’s greatest achievement?” and “Did you choose your career or did your career choose you?” All are designed to arouse the interest of the audience.

Clearly, the more interesting, intriguing and relevant the question you begin with, the more your audience will be engrossed by it.

Best of all, you can ask the audience a question about themselves. What has been the most frightening moment of your life? If you could go back and change one decision in your life, what would it be? When was the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone? People are immediately interested in questions about themselves.

Stories

People love to hear a story. It is particularly helpful if you can start your story with a dramatic incident. If you open it with: “I have never believed in ghosts, until recently when I stayed in a 17^th century hotel that was rumoured to be haunted.” If you begin by taking your audience straight into an interesting story, you can be pretty sure everyone will listen from that moment on.

If you have a dry and serious subject to talk about, your need for a personal story to enliven it is all the greater. Suppose you’ve been asked to speak about the economy and that your audience includes many economists. You might open your speech by remarking that coming to speak about the economy to a room full of economists feels a little like venturing into the lion’s den. You can follow this up by saying you’ve never had a close encounter with a lion, but you did once have a scary moment with a shark. Then you can tell the story about your close encounter with the shark as an entrée to your speech and refer back to that story several times during the speech.

A startling statement of fact

A startling fact can have the same effect on your audience as an interesting question. It wakes them up!

Think about a presentation on public health. You might begin it with: “Tobacco has killed more people worldwide than the First and Second World Wars combined.” You can then go on to comment on ways public health can be improved and the important role of preventative medicine.

Whatever the subject you are speaking about, try unearthing a startling fact on this subject and opening your speech with it.

Begin with a quotation

If you want your speech to carry extra authority, it can be helpful to open it with a quotation from a respected figure. For instance, you might open with: “Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.’ I’ve always believed that’s true: each of us has within us a vast well of untapped potential.”

Or have some fun by playing around with a learned quote. Offer your audience a fresh ‘take’ on a familiar quote. How about the following, as an example of this?

“Einstein once remarked that ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ He explained that knowledge tells us everything we already know about the universe, whereas imagination points us towards everything that has yet to be discovered. Speaking personally, when I heard that imagination is more important than knowledge, I immediately felt a whole lot better about my own schooldays. All those happy hours I spent in History lessons, gazing out of the window and dreaming I was a professional footballer…”

Use associations with the date

The date on which you are delivering your speech will certainly be significant in some way. Look it up online as it may be the anniversary of a historical event such as the first Moon landing, a famous battle or the birthday of a famous figure. Or it may be a National Day of some kind, as most days are. Here, for instance, are just a few National Days in the UK: National Men Make Dinners Day, National Parents as Teachers Day, National Philanthropy Day and National Day of Listening.

Find a way to reference the occasion at the start of your speech and you can then weave that reference into the narrative of your speech.

Begin with something unexpected

For example, I once began a speech with: “I have a confession for you tonight.” I explained that I belong to a group which is in a small minority within the population and that people like me have been persecuted over the ages. All eyes were on me and the room was silent. This was a speech about left-handedness and how, thankfully, we are no longer persecuting left-handed people as was the case in the Middle Ages. At that time, left-handers were sometimes accused of witchcraft and put to death. The opening led me directly into the key point of my speech: a plea for greater tolerance of those in our society who are different.

This has been an article about how to begin your speech in an impactful way and hook audience attention from the start. In my experience, the most common of these approaches is to begin with a question. However, we all know one great example of how not to start a speech: “Er, does anyone know how to get this laptop and projector to work?”

I hope these suggestions have been helpful and that your next speech or presentation will open with impact.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gordon Adams is a member of Toastmasters International, a not-for-profit organisation that has provided communication and leadership skills since 1924 through a worldwide network of clubs. There are more than 400 clubs and 10,000 members in the UK and Ireland. Members follow a structured educational programme to gain skills and confidence in public and impromptu speaking, chairing meetings and time management. To find your nearest club, visit www.toastmasters.org

How to ensure effective communication with investors

Posted on February 19, 2019 Written by Administrator

Raising funding for your business can be difficult for all types of businesses, and there’s not a lot of advice to go on.

However, there are some rules when it comes to developing an investor comms strategy, and from my involvement with over 30 fundraises, I’ve created a system that’s remarkably effective.

There are three essential topics for effective communication with investors and funders:

How to spot investor hot buttons, and create a core message that brings them on board
The optimal investor journey
How to engage investors in-person and online

Investor hot buttons

An investor’s primary objective is to make a return on their investment (ROI), but beneath this motivation are an array of biases – or ‘hot buttons’. Assuming that an investor is just aiming to make money is where most entrepreneurs go wrong. While investors of course want to believe that backing your business will bring them a decent ROI, their trust in you will be triggered by their hot buttons.

For example, if an investor makes regular money from a property investment, they might be interested in investing in a property development business. This way they can diversify their portfolio – their hot button in this case – but through a business model they understand and have faith in.

A hot button is a proposition that chimes with an individual’s worldview, and there are generally two types that you can influence: emotional and rational. Hitting an emotional hot button might involve presenting an environmentally-minded investor with an innovation that protects rainforests. Pushing another hot button may involve offering an investment opportunity to a teetotaller who recognises the soaring craft beer trend. If your investment doesn’t trigger at least one hot button then you’ll have a much harder job.

To locate an investor or funder’s hot button, just have them take a look at your pitch deck and financial model and ask two questions: What stood out to them the most? And, what was their biggest barrier to investment?

Getting answers to both questions will give you a more realistic view. To ensure the answer is genuine, have someone independent ask the questions.

The investor journey

There are some bad practices seen throughout the fundraising industry when it comes to sending information to an investor. You need to ensure the investor sees the information you intend.

For instance, if you send over your Pitch Deck before you’ve had the chance to develop a relationship and tell them about your company, it probably won’t be that impactful.

This is why you need to guide their journey. I’ve put together this handy flow diagram to illustrate the ideal investor journey.

When you connect with a potential investor or funder, whether that be via LinkedIn, an investment website, such as the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), or in-person, you’ll first send the prospective investor an executive summary.

This summary will fit on one page (two at a push) and will include:

● The full terms of the deal – the amount you’re seeking and the type (loan, equity, bond, etc.)

● Key information about your business such as the number of employees, projected or actual customer numbers, size of the space, etc.

● The directors and management team

● Your point of difference (which you base on your hot button research)

● Past experience or successes

● Current traction (if you’ve achieved anything)

● Any other key information that’s likely to help them make an investment decision

The investor will review your exec summary and once again ask you to send over your deck. This is a hugely positive signal and a sign you should attempt to initiate a face-to-face meeting, video conference, or failing both of those options, a call.

If you still haven’t sent them your deck, you’ll instead need to send a stripped down version with no text to distract them. You’ll then talk them through your business model and its strengths

Only once you’ve had a successful live interaction with the prospective investor do you leave them with a version of your presentation. The text included should roughly mirror what you said in your meeting, and should feature a full financial model in a spreadsheet. Don’t send them a lengthy text-heavy business plan, they probably won’t read it even if they ask for one!

Face-to-face communication

There are a few key skills you can adopt when meeting with an investor face-to-face or over video conference (and to a lesser degree on the phone). They include:

● Active Listening – While your pitch documents will be fairly fixed by this stage, by listening to the investor you can tailor your presentation towards the areas they are interested in. Always ask them about what they like to invest in before you pitch.

● Identify Their Hot Buttons – You’ll have already identified one or two key highlights of your pitch that are likely to trigger their hot buttons. You’ll have some flexibility with how you frame your points of difference, but it’s better to find out early on if your hot buttons don’t match. It’ll save you a lot of wasted meetings and follow-ups.

● Mirroring – This is a technique where you make someone feel more relaxed by mirroring their body language, which is why face-to-face or video meetings work best.

● Recognising Positive Buying Signals – Closed body language such as folded arms means they’re probably not going to invest. But if you present yourself in a calm but engaging manner, they might then start to instinctively mirror you and open up. Other signals also include asking you more about the numbers, next steps and timescales.

● ABC (Always Be Closing) – Closing involves encouraging your prospective investor to reflect on how interested they are in your idea. Just ask them how they feel, what they like about your opportunity and whether they have any barriers to investing.

Of course, no one can guarantee investment, but if you follow these steps, it will certainly increase your chances of successfully raising funds for your business.

Good luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Auckland is a crowdfunding specialist and founder of TribeFirst, a global crowdfunding communications agency that has helped raise in excess of £5m for over 30 companies on platforms such as Crowdcube, Seedrs, Indiegogo and Kickstarter – with a greater than 85% success rate.

TribeFirst is the world’s first dedicated marketing communications agency to support equity crowdfunding campaigns and the first in the UK to provide PR and Marketing campaigns on a mainly risk/reward basis.

John is also Virgin StartUp’s crowdfunding trainer and consultant, helping them to run branded workshops, webinars and programmes on crowdfunding. John is passionate about working with start-ups and sees crowdfunding as more than just raising funds – it’s an opportunity to build a loyal tribe of lifelong customers.

Web: http://www.tribefirst.co.uk

Twitter: @Tribe1st

Business loans for business expansion

Posted on January 29, 2019 Written by Administrator

Businesses rarely stand still. They expand – or they may be likely to go under. On the premise of your preferring the former, therefore, what role might business loans play in your plans for expansion in 2019?

Expanding your business

Expanding your business means capturing new markets and increasing the sales of your company’s goods and services.

There are innumerable ways in which you might try to do that – from launching new product lines, conducting the associated marketing campaigns, taking on more staff, re-fitting and re-equipping your premises, or installing new plant and equipment.

The possibilities certainly don’t end there. The website Shout Out UK, for instance, on the 21^st of December 2018 listed 15 ways in which you might expand and improve your business in the year ahead.

Despite the myriad ways in which you might grow your business, however, if one thing is for sure, it is that it is likely to require the injection of fresh capital.

Business loans

That is when the typical business is likely to consider borrowing the necessary funds.

In the past, the most obvious – and, in many instances, only – place to turn might have been the local high street bank. You probably needed to support your application for a suitable loan with a detailed business plan and cashflow analysis to present in a face to face meeting with the bank manager. There followed a delay – which might last a matter of weeks – before your application was considered and an answer given.

Although banks still perform such a role, they have become increasingly wary of doing so. Fortunately, therefore, others have stepped into the breach of providing business loans with considerably less fuss and bother – with the process frequently conducted entirely online and significantly faster.

Online business loans

Online business loans are typically available for sums up to £100,000 – enough to finance even some of the most ambitious company expansion projects. Indeed, many expansion plans are kickstarted with loans of around £50,000 or less.

The loans are short-term and typically repayable within 12 months – so, avoiding the accumulation of significant amounts of interest that you may face with a longer-term period of borrowing.

Often with a fixed rate of interest and equal monthly instalments, your total cost of credit is known from the very start, so that you may plan the necessary expenditure whilst maintaining full control over your company’s cashflow.

Perhaps the biggest advantage with these types of online business loans is the sheer speed with which they may be arranged – in some cases a decision in principle on the amount you wish to borrow and its repayment terms may be given practically immediately.

The formal application which follows is also streamlined and requires none of the detailed documentary support likely to be required by any bank. Instead, a series of questions helps to establish the affordability of the loan and your company’s ability to repay, so that, if the application is approved, in some cases the requested funds are transferred electronically, directly to your bank account within the next 48 hours or so.