Business workshops - What would YOU want?

[Ashley_Price]

In the coming year, my Chamber of Commerce is looking to run a range of workshops (say six throughout the year) on different topics that would give information that would be of interest to established businesses or those looking to start a business.

So far we have got three:

• Starting a business
• First Aid in the Workplace
• Social media: setting up an account and business promotion

But we're thinking about another three - or possibly replacing one of the above.

So, what topics would encourage you to attend a workshop? What would you want to know about, or improve your knowledge on?

We are obviously asking our members the same question, but I am trying to get as wide an input as possible.

 

[Mr D]

Trademarks?

 

[fisicx]

4. Marketing
5. Marketing
6. Marketing

It's a taken me a while to get my head round this but it's now clear that everything revolves around marketing. A bad product with good marketing will make you money. A good product with not marketing will lose money. A good product with great marketing will make lots of money.

 

[Clinton]

When it comes to small business, they all want to know how to get more customers.

Not so much how to improve the business, put it on a sounder financial footing, have a disaster plan, nah.

So have a workshop about getting more customers, have another one about using social media to get customers, and one on using SEO to get lots of free customers etc.

Oh, yeah, free is good as well: How about the top ten FREE ways of getting more sales?

I wouldn't even bother suggesting exit planning / strategic planning / growth through acquisition! But if the audience is established businesses of a certain size then it may be worth exploring other ideas - from HR related to protecting IP.

<added> @fisicx it seems we were both posting about this at the same time!

 

[fisicx]

Dyson built poor vacuum cleaners. But his customer service was excellent - if your machine broke down you got a new one delivered the next day. So everyone raved about how great Dyson was - they did his marketing for him. You don't need a better mousetrap, you just need great marketing. Get this right and people will buy your tat.

 

[Mr D]

Dyson built poor vacuum cleaners. But his customer service was excellent - if your machine broke down you got a new one delivered the next day. So everyone raved about how great Dyson was - they did his marketing for him. You don't need a better mousetrap, you just need great marketing. Get this right and people will buy your tat.

The dyson wasn't a bad vacuum cleaner. Just for the considerable extra price you got slightly cleaner & damaged carpet.

 

[fisicx]

They were unreliable, bits kept breaking. But a next day replacement meant customers were happy. In 2004 they still weren't very good: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...il-to-score-in-reliability-tests-7907520.html

 

[Ashley_Price]

Thanks for the comments so far, but then isn't EVERYTHING connected with getting more customers?

For example, if a customer had an accident in a shop, meaning that customer ends up in hospital, (or worse), that could have been saved if the staff had even basic First Aid, then imagine the negative publicity that would get!

I wouldn't even bother suggesting exit planning / strategic planning / growth through acquisition!

No, I think this would be far too "heavy" for the majority of our members or people in smaller businesses.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Dyson built poor vacuum cleaners. But his customer service was excellent

Yes, "Customer Service Done Right" could be a good one. We all think we know how to offer good customer service, but I am surprised at the horror stories I've heard, yet people think it's fine to treat customers "badly".

 

[Clinton]

...then isn't EVERYTHING connected with getting more customers?

Oh, do get a life!

if a customer had an accident in a shop, meaning that customer ends up in hospital, (or worse), that could have been saved if the staff had even basic First Aid, then imagine the negative publicity that would get!

Teach the staff safety & first aid, sure. Do it so they can keep themselves, their colleagues and the general public safe.

Not to protect against losing sales, FFS!

 

[Mark T Jones]

I agree on marketing

beyond that - credit control. End to end.

 

[Mr D]

66

They were unreliable, bits kept breaking. But a next day replacement meant customers were happy. In 2004 they still weren't very good: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...il-to-score-in-reliability-tests-7907520.html

I've had two. Neither broke.
I think my mum is still on her first one. Well over a decade old.

 

[Mr D]

Thanks for the comments so far, but then isn't EVERYTHING connected with getting more customers?

For example, if a customer had an accident in a shop, meaning that customer ends up in hospital, (or worse), that could have been saved if the staff had even basic First Aid, then imagine the negative publicity that would get!



No, I think this would be far too "heavy" for the majority of our members or people in smaller businesses.

First aid is useful. Too big a subject to cover in an evening, perhaps how to do chest compressions or how to deal with a stroke. Or how to deal with different burns and scalds.
I gave my wife a class on how to do chest compressions once, useful if my heart stops. Doing it on a dead body is not ideal, learning in a more controlled environment is better.

 

[alan1302]

The dyson wasn't a bad vacuum cleaner. Just for the considerable extra price you got slightly cleaner & damaged carpet.

Damaging a carpet would make it a very bad vacuum

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Credit management, funding ,understanding the risk of funding with borrowed money

Understanding credit risks and avoiding bad debt .Methods to get invoices paid asap

As Mark said !

 

[estwig]

Your not in business, until you have business.

Good marketing, it solves so many problems, in my case it starts with having a choice of clientele.

If you want first aid go talk to the Red Cross, it's a not business consideration.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Contracts

From the perspective of why they matter, how to read them, when/how to get good advice

 

[Newchodge]

Contracts

From the perspective of why they matter, how to read them, when/how to get good advice

And start with What is a contract?

 

[ethical PR]

In the coming year, my Chamber of Commerce is looking to run a range of workshops (say six throughout the year) on different topics that would give information that would be of interest to established businesses or those looking to start a business.

So far we have got three:

• Starting a business
• First Aid in the Workplace
• Social media: setting up an account and business promotion

But we're thinking about another three - or possibly replacing one of the above.

So, what topics would encourage you to attend a workshop? What would you want to knowWe are obviously asking our members the same question, but I am trying to get as wide an input as possible.

The best way to ensure your workshops are in line with their needs is to survey your members.

When we did this for a chamber I did some work for the topic three areas they wanted help with was:-

1. Finding finance
2. Finding a premises
3. Marketing


Your social media topic sounds too restrictive I would go with something like.

‘How can I use social media to promote my business.’

And I am not sure first aid is going to draw the crowds. Probably something around HR basics and employment would be more useful.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

@Ashley_Price if your audience will be from members of the Chamber of Commerce, it is likely that they have already started a business, so I would dispense with that one.

For one-man-band type businesses, looking to grow, I suggest:

1. HR - taking on your first employee
2. Finance - when to borrow & when not to
3. ICT - data storage, GDPR, applications, landlines, VOIP etc
4. Marketing - identification, segmentation, exploitation etc
5. Social Media - how to make the most out of communicating via social media
6. Duties, Obligations and Liabilities of running a business - understanding what can go wrong

Looking through the forums on here, I suggest there is little point in repeating what your audience can easily find via Google.

In each case, the value of the workshops might be pre-empting common problems so that your audience can avoid them.

As an aside, before planning workshops, wouldn't the Chamber of Commerce already have access to workshop materials etc?

 

[saton]

I would add the legislative aspects of business creation

 

[Clinton]

I agree on marketing

I was bloody joking about the marketing (!), about the typical small business owner mindset of wanting more money, more money, more money (sales) instead of concentrating on providing value, improving the product, building goodwill, benefiting the planet, creating an enterprise that has value, operating to sound financial principles...

Many of these attributes will no doubt also result in an increase in sales, but they are worthy goals in their own right.

Instead, all the wannabe Richard Branson wants to know is how to get more money.

If you go to somewhere like the Business Show where there are 100+ workshops. Which ones have the most attendees? You guessed. Standing room only.

I want more money, more money.

So when I suggested to Ashley that he make all his workshops about marketing,, I was taking the p*ss, especially given his own oft aired views about marketing (it seems he sees marketing as the be all and end all of existence).

 

[Mark T Jones]

I was bloody joking about the marketing (!), about the typical small business owner mindset of wanting more money, more money, more money (sales) instead of concentrating on providing value, improving the product, building goodwill, benefiting the planet, creating an enterprise that has value, operating to sound financial principles...

Many of these attributes will no doubt also result in an increase in sales, but they are worthy goals in their own right.

Instead, all the wannabe Richard Branson wants to know is how to get more money.

If you go to somewhere like the Business Show where there are 100+ workshops. Which ones have the most attendees? You guessed. Standing room only.

I want more money, more money.

So when I suggested to Ashley that he make all his workshops about marketing,, I was taking the p*ss, especially given his own oft aired views about marketing (it seems he sees marketing as the be all and end all of existence).

Oh. Missed the irony there.

Could go into a lengthy topic about what marketing actually is - but there already is one.

 

[LeasingEval]

Toitally agree on the marketing. I have been to a few workshops run by our local "business gateway" (not sure if that is just a scottish thing) and they have all been woeful - always run by someone who has never actually started a business before and the "advice" has always been the same :-

1. Register for tax
2. Get insurance
3. Write a business plan

Any thing past this and they are clueless.

 

[AllUpHere]

The problem you have with this kind of thing is, where do you find the experts. Without exception, every social media expert I've ever come across hasn't the faintest idea how to use social media for business. Oh yes, they can talk with authority quite convincingly, but that doesn't change the fact their opinion is worse than useless. You find exactly the same with most other types of 'expert' who are keen to talk at such events. They are so busy being experts, they don't actually have the time to realise they aren't actually making money.

 

[Onthebrightside]

Things that I think would have helped me start the shop up would have been:

1. How to submit your accounts a sole trader. Most business owners panic over that. For those starting a limited company, how to run a spreadsheet detailing your accounts, because if you can do that your accountant may give you a reduced rate (or you should look for one who will).

2. How to create an effective website - give them access to a website designer who can answer the questions as they build their website, hire a bank of computers, use a council hire room and run some classes so that they can create their websites to start with. Get into bed with one of the website providers to see if you can get a better deals for X amount of websites through them and give business start ups a free website for the first (say... 2 years) after which they have to pay for it themselves. If they can get that website ready to go before they role out the business they will have done the groundwork for their social media.

On here I recently got help to build a wordpress site - HOW I WISH I had that information when I started the shop, the website would have looked better, achieved more, been more dynamic and have been ready to go when I opened the door for the first time.

3. Shop leases - where to look, what to look for (footfall, parking, etc.), pitfalls of taking on an old lease (i.e. dilapidation etc.) and the costs involved in that - what you realistically need. Or put your small business start up in contact with companies who handle leases for small shops. Get the council involved as they sometimes have premises - spell out the cost of business rates etc. ask the council to pinpoint areas with high footfall but low business rates (there are well walked areas off high streets, leading from car parks etc). The council will be aware of these (or should be) as part of their town planning should have involved 'linkages'.


What not to do:

I got supposed free financial advice via Enfield Council when I first started up which purely involved the guy creating a spreadsheet it didn't seem anyone could understand and contacting one of the local banks he had 'connections' with. I had two meetings with him. Needless to say it didn't work, but later I received advice telling me that I had been given £8,000 worth of business advice! Frankly, if you had given me £8,000 and I could have put that into stock/website advertising etc. It would have achieved far more for me, or better yet have put that into funding for a lease on a shop - frankly the financial advice was just nonsense - so be careful who you employ and what exactly that financial advice does (I have a degree in quantitative and qualitative statistics, so I love a spreadsheet), but I had to question the guy several times on what his spreadsheet was displaying and he seemed to trip over his figures all the time - in the end it didn't get the funding I needed anyway I had to achieve it myself. It was simply a waste of council money.

Don't suggest for one minute that there are funding options out there for small business start up, there just aren't.

That's all I can think of for the moment

 

[Ashley_Price]

Thanks everyone!

Looking through the forums on here, I suggest there is little point in repeating what your audience can easily find via Google.

But then you can find almost anything through Google - so that makes your own list obsolete.

I think the difference is yes, a lot of information can be found on Google but sometimes people don't have the time to do all the searching themselves, and they may not understand it, or it may not be entirely relevant to them, so they want to ask questions, which they can't do of a website.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thanks everyone!



But then you can find almost anything through Google - so that makes your own list obsolete.

I think the difference is yes, a lot of information can be found on Google but sometimes people don't have the time to do all the searching themselves, and they may not understand it, or it may not be entirely relevant to them, so they want to ask questions, which they can't do of a website.

This - all the way.

Google is a great source of information. It is also a great source of nonsense and irrelevance.

One thing I know - largely from this forum -- is that what most start-ups lack is contexts and depth of understanding. Using Google 9 times out of 10 they will plump for the easiest / quickest / cheapest option, which might be provided by a complete idiot, or might be good information which is totally out of context.

 

[JamesR45]

In my experience, getting bums on seats to any type of event is about successfully tapping into either a DESIRE in the target audience or a FEAR (though desire usually works best). I'd use this as a check-and-balance for any event title.

One event I ran a few times in a previous life that got good attendance was 'a strategic guide to IT for MDs' - this basically gave SME MDs a jargon-free guide to what IT options they should consider (high-level) and what IT questions they should be asking of their suppliers. In this case, the event was pitched to tap into both desire and fear, i.e. the attendees wanted to feel they were being 'strategic' with their IT but also feared that they were making mistakes left right and centre with their IT because they didn't understand it.

Also, the fact that we referred to 'MDs' in the title meant the delete was generally a better quality - fewer admins/juniors sent along for the free pastries.