As a small business owner you want to recruit people with the technical skills and the soft skills to fit the role and the team.  From experience of recruiting tech people over a long period of time I know how much the right tools can help you in the hiring process.

Let me share a few useful tools so you can find great candidates and the perfect person to join your business.

Get the Job Description and Advert Ready

Finding that perfect candidate starts with an accurate job description and a great advert. They are the first points of contact you have with any candidate and if you want to get the best people excited, you have to have a great job description and an enticing ad

Hemingway App[i]

Designed to help you write clear and concise content. It will help you cut out needless words and highlight overly complex sentences that can be shortened or simplified.

http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

Visuwords[ii]

This thesaurus automatically offers you alternatives words and will keep you from using the same ones repeatedly in your text.

https://visuwords.com/

Post on Job Aggregators

Job aggregation sites gather together jobs from across multiple job boards, careers sites and vacancies pages to provide candidates with a huge range of vacancies that they will find interesting and be suitable for. They are often described as “Google for jobs”.

Posting your vacancy onto a site, such as Indeed.co.uk[iii] will significantly improve your chances of your role being found by great candidates who are looking for their next challenge.

Make the most of LinkedIn

The perfect candidate to fill your tech role may not be actively looking for a new role right now. With over 575 million profiles, LinkedIn offers you an almost infinite buffet of people to pick from. Of these profiles 260 million are active at least once a month and 40% of those use LinkedIn at least weekly.

Of course, LinkedIn was originally built for the recruitment industry. The idea was that the level of detail people put into their profiles, including job titles, experience and hobbies would allow recruitment firms to better select suitable candidates for roles they are filling. LinkedIn provides you with the opportunity both to advertise job vacancies and to proactively search for people with suitable skills and attributes.  The advertising function will put your advert in front of the people their algorithms identify as suitable, with increased frequency if they are deemed to be actively searching (i.e. they have clicked on job adverts recently).

The proactive search opportunity is going to be time-consuming for somebody within your team. Putting “tech” into the search bar and then filtering to the three tech-related industry sectors listed still lists over 1.99 million people[iv] who may be suitable. Luckily other filters, such as Country, Current Employer and by using Boolean search criteria, you can cut that number dramatically. If you pay for your membership, the number of search filters you have available to you increases to further reduce the list to manageable numbers.

“All” you need to do then is approach the candidates you would like to apply…

Use an ATS

So, you have a list of candidates, how do you ensure you keep tabs on all the information you have about them, so you can make the right decision for your business?  This is where applicant tracking systems, such as Bullhorn[v], come to help you. https://www.bullhorn.com/products/applicant-tracking-system/

Think of applicant tracking systems as your recruitment CRM. Recruitment isn’t as simple as it may have been in the past. Legislation designed to protect both the candidates, and the company, has to be adhered to and you have to be able to justify decisions around this. Simple things like interview times and the notes from those conversations can all be recorded into an ATS.

Applicant tracking systems will speed up the process and ensure you never miss a candidate or conversation with them. Some, including Bullhorn, integrate with LinkedIn to help with the activity we described above.

Face-to-Face or Video?

Arranging face-to-face interviews with candidates isn’t always easy. Candidates are usually in another job, so it is difficult for them to come to you during working hours. With many jobs requiring multiple interviews for some people, arranging face time will elongate the process. When you’re looking to fill a role as soon as possible, delays are the last thing you want. If your business is one of the rapidly growing number of remote only businesses, you may not even have an office for them to come to. And let’s face it, the coffee shop really doesn’t cut it!

Video interviewing tools mean you take away much of that delay.  Products such as VidCruiter[vi], Breezy HR[vii] and Spark Hire[viii] allow you to book interview times, record the video (for playback later and to meet legislative demands) and even check references. All of which cuts costs, removes delays and makes everyone’s life just a little easier.

Imagine these as Skype with benefits.

Home

https://breezy.hr/

https://www.sparkhire.com/

Assessing Candidates’ soft skills and traits

When recruiting to fill a technical vacancy, it’s vital that the candidates have the core set of skills you are looking for. However, more and more organisations are looking at the “softer” skills and traits to help them choose the perfect person. Personality, judgement aptitude and cultural fit are all important. Just having the right technical skills does not guarantee they will be the right person for you. That’s where tools such as Saberr[ix] and Athena Assessment[x] will help.

You may be better off finding someone who is the right fit and then training them to fill any gaps in their technical knowledge – as long as you know, in advance, where those technical gaps are.

https://www.saberr.com/base

http://www.athenaq.com/

Testing Candidates’ Tech Skills

So, how do you assess their technical skills and identify any gaps? This is where candidate testing tools come in.  There are many variations available. Some are straightforward skills testers: do the candidates have the exact skills you need. Others take a slightly different approach, looking at the candidates’ abilities to think logically and laterally. Scenario testing, so to speak.

Having an accurate assessment of the skills your candidates really possess, as opposed to what they claim to be able to do, is key to making the right choice. Of course, there are also people who struggle to sell themselves (particularly tech staff) but have a really strong set of skills. Knowing this will stop them being disqualified from your application process. Check out tools like TechRank if you want to know what tech skills your candidate has – this will also help you see through a poor interview performance to the skillset the candidate has.

It’s no longer possible to base a hiring decision on a CV, interviews and the interviewer’s memory. Luckily there are many tools such as the ones above which you support you in making the decision and hiring the right person to work with you and your team.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gurvinder Singh is the co-founder of TechRank. TechRank sources, expertly tests and objectively ranks tech talent helping companies hire the best, and most capable person for the job. By testing candidates for the level of skill the position requires, businesses can make an objective decision about the person they hire to fill a vacant tech role.

Web:  www.techrank.io

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techrank/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techrank.io/  

Gurvinder’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurvinder-singh/

LINKS REFERRED TO IN THE ARTICLE:

[i] http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

[ii] https://visuwords.com/

[iii] https://www.indeed.co.uk/

[iv] https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetIndustry=%5B%2296%22%2C%224%22%2C%226%22%5D&keywords=tech&origin=FACETED_SEARCH

[v] https://www.bullhorn.com/products/applicant-tracking-system/

[vi] https://vidcruiter.com/

[vii] https://breezy.hr/

[viii] https://www.sparkhire.com/

[ix] https://www.saberr.com/base

[x] http://www.athenaq.com/

It’s not exactly news that key and iconic music venues are closing across the country. We’ve already seen the loss of the London Astoria, the Manchester Roadhouse, the Harley in Sheffield, Bristol’s Bierkeller, Edinburgh’s Picture House and The Arches in Glasgow, among many more.

Such closures have come about for a variety of reasons. Increases in local rents and business rates make it difficult for owners to make ends meet and poor economic conditions mean that music fans have less money to spend on gig tickets and drinks at live music venues. This means there’s less and less cash to cover staff and equipment costs, insurance and other outgoings.

Noise complaints are another huge problem. Though many venues have been in place for decades, newly built accommodation has seen residents make repeated noise complaints about live music. Bizarrely, the soundproofing onus is often on the owners of existing venues, rather than developers of new accommodation.

Despite this multitude of difficulties, live music is the fastest growing sector in the £4.5bn music industry. PRS For Music found that venues are three times more likely to go bust without live shows, and gig-goers spend 70 per cent more at the bar than other customers.

So, what can venues do to help bring in more people, and increase their overall revenues?

Venue Branding

Venues often become iconic and famous even beyond their own cities by having a unique vibe that’s palpable throughout. Such venues are shaped largely by the clientele and know exactly they’re catering too. Sometimes this is defined by a specific music genre, like punk, metal or blues.

Those able to own a persona, such as being known as the blues club of that area, for instance, have a huge advantage. Consistency is key. A punk venue should get rid of the tables when a band’s playing, spray some graffiti, or have staff dress the part with denim and leather.

Other venues find their strength by wearing many hats. So, they might do blues on a Tuesday, rock on a Wednesday, pop on a Thursday etc. This way, they’re able to attract a diverse set of music fans, albeit a smaller number from each scene.

Social Media

As 88 per cent of people are influenced by reviews and online comments, having a strong digital strategy is important. Promoters still flyer and stick up posters, but social media is the way most music venues find out who’s playing, and where.

Make sure your venue regularly posts about your nights and helps to promote the bands playing, as well as any promotions. You can use social programming tools like Hootsuite to schedule posts across all networks and make sure you’ve constantly got posts going out.

It also pays to make sure the gigs you’re hosting appear on as many sites as possible, such as Bands in Town, Gigs and Tours, The List, etc. You should also do your research to find out who the most influential bloggers, promoters and social influencers in your area and connect with them. They may well be your greatest allies.

Venue Programming

Venue Programming services can help you build consistency in the gigs you’re offering, ensure a good turnout, and plan well in advance, which will also give you time to properly promote shows.

For example, Gigride – a marketplace for musicians, DJs, venues, and promoters – acts like an Airbnb for gigs. It also helps venues find bands, promote gigs and shows how many people a band is likely to attract.

Other services like Nextbigsound, Chartmetric and Soundchart can help you analyse the online engagement generated by a band or performer.

So, by using technology, venues can more easily gauge how many fans a band is likely to attract, and online hype they’re able to generate, which will help them maximise ticket and drink sales.

Get Creative

It’s not all about technology however. There are some old tried and tested methods worth adopting too. Venues can get creative by including promotions such as a free drink with each ticket (co-promotions with drinks brands can assist). You can offer free entry to shows for bloggers and music fans able to bring in a crowd or offer commission to local bands that can fill up a guest list.

You can even think about selling or giving away your own merch, such as t-shirts, tote bags, and badges to regulars to help you get your name out there. Membership is another option that could offer regulars free or discounted entry, a free drink or another reward for their loyalty.

It’s also worth compiling compilation CDs featuring local bands that frequent your venue, with their permission, of course!

There were more than 480,000 independent gig performances last year alone in the UK, held in 130,000 venues, all of which brought 9.5m visits. So, there’s still a huge market for live music.

While music venues have undoubtedly taken a few hits in recent years, I believe that live music can save them from closure. This will in-turn help to safeguard the UK’s music culture, give bands the opportunity to share their tunes, and help them find national and international success – which also reflects well on venues themselves.

With the right environments in our music venues, we’ll be able to enjoy a wide range of live music in the coming years. Let’s get busy!

About the Author

Marco Santesso is co-founder and CEO of Gigride – the Airbnb of gigs – which he set up after years of struggling to book tours for his band.

Gigride is a marketplace which brings musicians, DJs, venues, and promoters together to organise gigs. It also allows promoters and venues to find out how many fans a band is likely to attract to their gigs.

Web: https://gigride.live/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gigride/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gigride_live

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gigride/

Crowdcube: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/gigride/pitches/bXRvBl

Citations

https://www.pwc.com/outlook

UK Music Measuring Music 2018, Wish You Were Here 2017, The UK Live Music Census 2017 report and PRS for music reports: https://pplprs.co.uk/

https://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Guides/Playing-Live/MU-Live-Music-Kit

Ernst&Young Italia Creativa report, e https://www.statista.com/statistics/491884/live-music-revenue-usa/

http://eventbrite-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/marketing/Millennials_Research/Gen_PR_Final.pdf https://www.home.barclaycard/media-centre/press-releases/Experience-economy-grows-as-consumers-seek-out-memories-in-favour-of-material-possessions.html

https://www.mia.org.uk/2018/11/grass-roots-music-venues-the-data/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/555767/adults-playing-musical-instruments-uk-england/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/310723/total-number-of-pubs-in-the-united-kingdom/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/629796/casual-dining-brands-by-number-of-units-united-kingdom-uk/

http://www.hotel-industry.co.uk/data/hotel-data-industry-size/ Melvin Gold Consulting Ltd

The 100 Largest UK Membership Bodies (INFLUENCE 100 LIST)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/33713015/uk-nightclubs-closing-at-alarming-rate-industry-figures-suggest

https://www.duffandphelps.com/insights/publications/valuation-insights/valuation-insights-second-quarter-2018/european-industry-market-multiples

Entering the Great Taste Awards is quite a process.  Your food product will be blind-tasted and judged by some of the most demanding food critics, restaurateurs, chefs, cooks, and producers, as well as food writers and journalists.

After this intense process customers who see the distinctive black and gold Great Taste label will know that they can expect a wonderful tasting product. One star is given for products that deliver fantastic flavour, while two stars are reserved for those that are above and beyond delicious.

In just over 18 months, Roqberry has won an incredible 20 Great Taste Awards for our speciality tea, so I’ve learned something about what will impress judges.   Let me share some key points with you here:

Create big, bold flavours

When we launched Roqberry, we were foodies wanting to ‘blend the rules’ around what tea is, what it could be, and when it could be drunk. We wanted tea to complement our food, which is a bit unusual, especially in the UK.

This required bold flavours so that the tea could hold its own when paired with rich foods and not be reliant on milk which softens the flavour. For example, our Sushi & Spice and Raspberry Fondant both won two stars.

So, my advice is to not be afraid of flavour. Don’t settle for making something tasty yet boring if you could make something delicious and outstanding.

Trust your own palate

I am often asked, how I know when a new flavour is award-winning. The truth is, I don’t. We create tea blends that we like and work from there. Which brings me to my next tip: trust your own palate!

By creating something that you love, there’s an excellent chance you’ll be creating something someone else will love too! The important criterion to focus on is the flavour. A tea could look good and smell good, we may have even thought up the perfect name for it, but, if it didn’t deliver flavour, it was dismissed.

I recommend that you give yourself a set amount of time to allow your creative juices to flow. Play around with ideas, take inspiration from a number of sources, and don’t be downhearted if it doesn’t taste great on your first try. Some of the best flavours we’ve created have been the result of a number of iterations ‒ we keep working until it tastes just right…to us. Then we get feedback from our customers.

Be prepared to make tough decisions

Of course, the balance to the point above is that you also need to cut any flavours that don’t prove popular with your customers. They are your ultimate tastemakers.

Just because you created flavours with love and care doesn’t mean you should keep them in your range. We use events and tradeshows to test our new flavours on our customers. People vote with their wallet and if we sell out of a product by sampling it, we know we are on to a winner.

We will discontinue the least popular product, even if it is one of our personal favourites. This helps continuously raise the standard of our teas, ensuring every of them meets the standard for great taste.

Push to create something outstanding

One more point on flavour (after all, it’s the most important thing) ‒ you must push the boundaries if you want to create a truly outstanding product.

It’s far better for some customers to absolutely LOVE a product and for others not to care for it than to create something mediocre. And truly unique products will never satisfy everyone’s preferences. At least if you have a unique product that some customers love then you have a captive audience for that range. Other customers will prefer other unique flavours, so it’ll all work out in the end and customers will have a wide range of products to explore!

Use the best quality ingredients

When managing a food or beverage company, there are lots of strategic and commercial decisions you will need to make. One thing you should never compromise, however, is the quality of your ingredients.

Even if you have a delicious recipe, using cheap ingredients will compromise the flavour and overall quality of the product. Eating and drinking is about the entire experience ‒ cheapening the ingredients cheapens the experience. Cheap experiences do not win Great Taste Awards.

For example, for the tea bags themselves, we opted for natural materials over the plastic teabags used by cheaper brands. Not only did this decision help preserve the flavour of the tea, but it also helped get Roqberry noticed by the mainstream press.

My advice: if you have an option, always go for the higher quality ingredients. Customers will prefer it and the Great Taste judges, with their impeccable palate, will certainly appreciate it.

By making something with care and attention you’ll create products that you and other people will love. Test what you create on your customers, refining as you go, and be brave enough to drop what isn’t working. By taking this approach you’ll develop a wide range of great-tasting products.  That’s great for your business and put you in a strong position to impress the judges of the Great Taste Awards when they get to taste your product.

About the Author

Kim is the founder and Managing Director of Roqberry. Kim spent 15 years at GE working across a variety of industries and holding senior leadership roles in Commercial Operations and Strategy. She also holds a Masters in Business Administration and in International Management (RSM/ESADE).  Kim runs the day-to-day operations of Roqberry and has also qualified as a tea sommelier.

https://www.roqberry.com/

http://instagram.com/RoqberryTea

https://www.facebook.com/RoqberryTea/

Tweets by RoqberryTea

https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/roqberry/pitches/bj2vQb

Whether you’re looking to cut the cost of that lunch out or make some savings on your office electricity bill, as a business owner you’re probably always on the lookout for neat ways to save some money.

Available to everyone, these apps and services are great for business owners and employees alike. So, when you’re planning the next team outing or feeling the burn of the bills, then reach for your phone to help your money stretch further. 

1. Yroo

Yroo is a price comparison app which tracks prices over time. In order to help you know the best time to buy it sends you an alert when a price drops. The app can search over 5,000 stores to show you the most competitive price on products, particularly handy when you’re looking for new office furniture or the latest tech gadgets.

The app also has scanning functionality allowing users to check price comparisons instantly on-the-go so you know if you’re getting the best deal. Free to use and regularly updated this app is a great tool for any business owner.

Take a look here: https://yroo.com/

• Honey

Honey is a Chrome browser extension which will automatically find and apply discounts codes to checkouts for you. Not an app, but perfect for business owners, this tool won’t take any extra time for you to make use of.

With over 10 million members, Honey is completely free to use and takes minimal time to set up. You can enjoy discounts at lots of large brands when buying office supplies at sites such as Amazon, Target and Best Buy.

Discover more: https://www.joinhoney.com/

• LoyalFree

If you’re looking for something more personalised to your local area then the LoyalFree app can help you ‘Save money when you shop local’ in 14 towns and cities across England. Boasting thousands of deals, the app also supports many independent businesses as well as the larger names.

So, whether you want to find a great spot for after work networking, save some money whilst out holding a meeting, or stock up on some business supplies – this app can help you do all of those things. Handily, you can find a wide variety of services on the LoyalFree app, meaning savings are available at local cafes, accountants, stationery suppliers, etc.    

The app is also great to share with employees who may not know the local area as they can explore their surroundings through the interactive trails on the app, such as enjoying a ‘Cocktail Trail’ or a ‘Vegan Eats’ tour of the area.

Download the app here: www.loyalfree.co.uk/download   

•  uSwitch

This app will let you compare energy, broadband and mobile deals so you can see if you are getting the best tariff for your business and your team. Switching tariffs is done in the app and only takes a matter of minutes to complete.

The app has handy functionality which will remind you to switch each year so you never miss out on the latest and best deals. uSwitch is also a Feefo 2018 Gold Trusted Service award winner and boasts many top app store ratings and reviews.

Read more: https://www.uswitch.com/

• Vouchercodes

It’s easy to get lost in a world of discount apps on your phone; from Wowcher to Groupon to VoucherCodes – all of them offer a variety of discounts. My personal favourite is VoucherCodes as it gives you wider options for shopping, plus it includes food and travel deals.  So, it’s handy when you are booking your next team outing, or buying a reward voucher for an employee.

Find out more here: www.vouchercodes.co.uk

Although checking through an App before you make a purchase may seem like extra work, it can really pay off as there are some great savings to be had. Whichever of these apps you choose to use, we are sure your business will see the benefits.

About the Author

Sophie Hainsworth is co-founder of LoyalFree, a multi-award winning innovative mobile phone app which helps connect people to special offers in their area. The app combines this with local digital loyalty schemes, tourism information, tours & trails and events. Users benefit by using one app across the UK – so they can tap into the local area wherever they are.

Website: www.loyalfree.co.uk 

App download link: www.loyalfree.co.uk/download 

Twitter: @loyalfreeapp – https://twitter.com/loyalfreeapp 

Facebook: @loyalfreeapp – https://www.facebook.com/LoyalFreeApp/ 

Instagram: @loyalfreeapp – https://www.instagram.com/loyalfreeapp/ 

When you start a small business you know that this is a venture that comes with risk. One in five small businesses fail in their first year. Thirty per cent of small business fail in their second year, 50% fail after five years, and 70% fail in their tenth year in business.

Why is this happening?

One of the biggest issues in small businesses is access to a range of expertise and talent. SMEs work using a ‘startup mentality’ ─ hire people with a range of skills and get them to plug holes as and when they appear.

But what happens when your business faces a serious problem? Many SMEs turn to professional services and consultants which has led to a thriving consultancy market. Currently there are over 700,000 consulting firms around the world and in the UK, SMEs spend a total of £60 billion a year on professional services.

Unfortunately, much of the spend is wasted.

Small business owners may only need the answers to a few questions, yet are forced to pay a minimum fee/contract length for advice that they may not have the expertise to implement.

Additionally, consultancy firms often dispatch their junior team members, using senior resources to manage and control their teams.

For these reasons, nearly half of SMEs avoid using external consultants because of over-inflated costs, with 36% citing scepticism about their level of expertise as a barrier.

What can small business owners do to get the type of advice they need at an acceptable price and rather than failing, help their businesses succeed?

1. Talk to employees

One of the quickest, cheapest and most effective sources of advice might just be your own staff. Over the course of their careers, people will often have held a variety of roles in a number of variously-sized businesses in different markets. Just because you hired them as a sales director doesn’t mean they won’t know how to fix an IT issue or can’t provide high-level strategy, for example.

Start by bringing your entire team together for a brainstorming session. This way, staff with fragmented skills and experience can support one another in coming up with a solution that is both practical and effective.

PROS: Staff already know your business from the inside-out, so there’s no need to bring them up-to-speed. Besides, asking your staff costs nothing, so it’s always a good place to start.

CONS: Existing staff will be personally invested in projects and work completed to develop their department. As such, they may be too close to the company to recognise the problems or too attached to existing processes to even think of challenging them. If you’ll excuse the cliché, they can’t see the wood for the trees!

2. Contact your network

Everyone has a network whether you’ve deliberately nurtured it or not. People from school or university, friends and family, as well as business contacts you’ve connected with over the years. Any one of them may have a solution to your challenge.

Start by going through your LinkedIn connections and sending a few messages. The professional focus of LinkedIn makes it an ideal platform for reaching out about business challenges.

PROS: You know these people; you know their background and can view their skills and experience. People are much more willing to help out someone they know than someone they don’t, making it potentially much cheaper than a consulting firm. They may also know someone within their own network that can help.

CONS: If you are asking for a favour you have little leverage to make demands. They may not have a lot of time to help, making them slow to reply and little time to focus on the solution. As such, they are pretty unreliable for quick solutions to immediate problems, causing more uncertainty than they solve.

3. If your personal network can’t help…

If you’ve tried your personal networks to no avail, you could always try an expert network. These are companies that connect businesses with relevant experts from around the world. You send your challenge to the expert network company, they find a suitable expert in their books, and then connect you. Think of it as tapping into someone else’s LinkedIn and getting a guaranteed response.

PROS: As there is a strong financial incentive to help, expert networks are very reliable in terms of putting you in contact with someone. You’ll receive a fairly rapid response and can quickly jump on a call to discuss the challenge. Calls may total several hours, but it’s still a lot cheaper than hiring a consultant for two full weeks.

CONS: These calls don’t come cheap. Businesses can sometimes pay expert networks up to $1,300 per hour for advice and they have no idea how long it will take to find a solution. There is also no way to personally vet the expert you are connected with ─ you simply have to trust the network company to connect you to the right person ─ making it a bit of a blind call.

Expert networks have also come under increased scrutiny, particularly in the US, after several cases of insider trading were discovered and prosecuted by the SEC in 2012. In total, more than 36 individuals and firms were charged with a variety of financial and corporate crimes, causing a swath of regulation aimed at clamping down on unscrupulous practices.

4. Employ a consultant

In reaction to the declining popularity of expert networks and in response to the need for quick, cost-effective consultancy, a number of disruptive services have now become available. For example, Consulthon, allows businesses to post their challenge to a network of experienced consultants for free. The consultants then pitch a brief overview of their solution, which the business owner can then discuss or try out without committing to anything. If the business then wants a deep-dive into the solution, they can book a call with the consultant

PROS: Reviewing responses before committing to a consultant means you can find someone who speaks your language. You can assess which of the consultants has the relevant level of experience and offers a solution that you understand, so there is no risk of overcomplicating the solution. You can even test the solutions in principle before the call, giving you live data to feed back to the consultant.

Additionally, since the network is for expert consultants from a variety of fields, you have a one-stop-shop for all your challenges or a multi-faceted challenge requiring more than one consultant.

CONS: Calls can be expensive (e.g. £250/hr) but you do only pay for the amount of work you need, avoiding the cost associated with minimum contracts. Consultants may also have full-time jobs and therefore be unable to visit your premises or commence work immediately, restricting them to calls only.

With any consultancy option, whether in house, a member of your network or an external consultant, it’s still on you to assess the solution and accept the risk. If it doesn’t work then you’ve wasted time and money with no recourse.

Your team will have to implement the solution. As you’ll know, it takes a team to make any business successful. A consultant can only help navigate specific hurdles to help you achieve success.

If you can get excellent advice, at the right point in time, you’ll be able to tackle any challenge that comes your way.  With the solution implemented you can look forward to business growth, without the worry of large debts or unnecessary high overheads.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marieta Bencheva is co-founder of Consulthon, a UK Management Consulting Expert Network. Businesses can raise a Business Challenge and the network’s experts will brainstorm solutions. After selecting the answer they like the most, the business can book a paid one-hour advisory call and deep-dive session with that consultant. All the consultants are vetted by Consulthon and the platform offers businesses access to a wide range of skills, in a variety of sectors and countries.

Web: https://consulthon.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/consulthon/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CONSULTHON.CO.UK/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CONSULTHON  @consulthon

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consulthon.co.uk/ @consulthon.co.uk

References:

What Percentage of Small Businesses Fail? (And Other Need-to-Know Stats)

https://www.consultancy.uk/news/13415/uk-smes-spend-60-billion-on-professional-services-yet-much-is-wasted

https://www.inc.com/soren-kaplan/the-business-consulting-industry-is-booming-and-it.html

UK SMEs spend £60 billion per year accessing expert consultants

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-28/investors-are-paying-1-300-per-hour-for-expert-chats

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-investors-networks-asia/expert-networks-thriving-in-asia-away-from-u-s-scrutiny-idUSBRE9810N320130904

Platform economy has arrived and is here to stay. Businesses across every industry are investing in platforms realising the importance from a strategic growth perspective. The technology era demands a connected world and connectivity channelized through platform driven business models is the way forward.

The emerging platform strategies are demand-driven, and they promise to provide unprecedented scale, speed, and global reach. These can build the foundation for unleashing new market opportunities from system management, data collection to deeper consumer insights. We have seen platform model underlying the success of many biggest and fast-growing companies like Amazon, Google, Alibaba, Uber, Airbnb, etc. The industry has been fast growing and 80% of the global enterprises are expected to create or partner with industry platforms in the coming few years.[1]

What does it mean for the loyalty marketing industry when consumer loyalty is undergoing a tectonic shift?

Customer experience has become a key differentiator for businesses worldwide. Customers are looking for choices and ease of navigating between those choices for better and quicker decision making. They are more expectant as they experience personalised and real-time services with businesses via simple and affordable digital technologies.

As for the loyalty marketing, this has been a key tool for businesses to gain repeat sales, consumer insights and acquire new customers. However, the industry has transformed rather slowly as compared to, for example, the banking, payments and retail industry. It requires a technological edge to bring the much-needed momentum with $360bn worth points lying unredeemed, globally.[2] Traditional loyalty programs are costing significantly more and delivering less. Loyalty points are not fluid enough. They hold value within single or a small group of brands and it takes too long to earn a meaningful reward.

Businesses require deep consumer insights as mass-segment marketing strategies aren’t reflective of individual’s preferences. Digitally managed platforms can create network effects such that every business can leverage the interconnected network for insights, analyse future prospects and design marketing strategies to drive sustainable growth, faster and economically. Whereas, a standalone or a closed-loop loyalty programme has its limitations. For the loyalty industry to enable true customisation and acquire more loyal customers, it requires rich and relevant data that can be generated by a platform that connects businesses and customers through a unique network.

The concept of loyalty point exchange or programme coalitions are not new. Businesses reward customers with points that are redeemable among a group of brands or transferrable to another programme. However, traditional coalitions have a standardised model of points exchange that doesn’t work for all sizes of businesses. Most of the settlements and reconciliation processes involve manual labour, adding to the time and cost. Eventually, the end consumer pays that as a transaction fee. By the time points are exchanged, consumer loses both, time and points value. The coalition owners tend to own the currency and businesses often lose out on the customer insights.

Redemption drives brand engagement. Then imagine the kind of engagement to be expected by offering diversified redemption. Businesses can potentially reclaim the lost value of their loyalty programmes by joining an exchange that will induce liquidity within the points. An advanced exchange platform can facilitate points earn, burn and exchange within the businesses in the network in a very cost-effective and real-time manner. 70% of customers leave a programme if it takes too long to earn a meaningful reward.[3] Helping customers to reach the redemption threshold is of prime importance to gain their loyalty. LoyalT_® underpinned by blockchain is among such platforms that connects businesses of all sizes and domains. In time, such platforms can emerge as a data hub with global and local businesses joining the network. Consumers can consolidate points to their preferred brand and redeem for a higher value. The network ensures real-time and secure points exchange and provides instant gratification to the consumers. One such platform can support numerous use-cases like multi-currency gift cards, peer-to-peer transfer of loyalty points, donations to charities. Every business is unique and LoyalT_® helps businesses maintain their individuality and generate the brand awareness through their own loyalty programmes. The platform acts as an enabler connecting businesses and consumers to facilitate the exchange.

We are headed towards a connected world with digitally managed platforms of consumer goods and services. Loyalty industry is waiting for such a transformation. Managed loyalty platforms on blockchain can emerge as a single source of trust less and decentralised point of connecting the businesses at a global scale. Business will be able to focus on their core offerings while the network takes care of the engagement rules, manages partnerships, multiple currencies, individual business preferences and more. All enclosed within the digital smart contract that is executed every time a transaction is initiated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aparajita Roy is the Head of Market Research at KornChain. She started her career with the Central Bank of India. She has extensive work experience in blockchain with her researches on International Money Transfers using Blockchain technology, account aggregators, trade-creating effects of the EMU and more. She brings her knowledge of international trade economics and experience of conducting independent researches to KornChain where she has been involved as a co-founder.

KornChain is a technology company that is building a global blockchain network for the loyalty marketing industry. KornChain have recently launched LoyalT® which seeks to be a global loyalty point exchange network underpinned by Blockchain. Customers can earn, spend, exchange & consolidate points in real-time while businesses benefit from customer acquisition, repeat-sales and deep insights. On-going implementation with large clients.

https://www.kornchain.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/kornchain/

[1] https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US42843817

[2] https://medium.com/@vjkrish.ram/you-are-not-alone-globally-360-bn-worth-reward-points-go-unredeemed-each-year-3ad3469e094e

[3] https://www.collinsongroup.com/en-meai