Jessica Sansom’s presentation slides
December 4, 2009 by Gemma Brown - project manager - Destination Growth '09
Jessica Sansom, head of sustainability at innocent drinks, presented at Destination Growth earlier this month. Here are the slides from Jessica’s talk on ‘Maximising the opportunities of climate change’.
Jessica addressed the effect of climate change issues on small and medium sized enterprises.
View slides from ‘Profile in the press’
November 27, 2009 by Julie Coombes
These are the slides from Paul Hill’s and Gordon Maw’s workshop, ‘Profile in the press’.
In the current economic climate, raising the profile of your business is more important than ever.
Paul Hill, business editor of the Eastern Daily Press and Gordon Maw, former head of media and communications at Virgin Money, gave their insight on what makes for perfect PR – with top techniques for engaging the media, advice on how to build profitable relationships with your local press, and essentially; what makes a good story? Paul and Gordon also discussed how the industry is changing and how emerging media is offering innovative opportunities to raise your profile and build your reputation.
View slides from ‘Learning from the Asian Phenomenon’
November 27, 2009 by Julie Coombes
These are slides from Dr. Spinder Dhaliwal’s seminar ‘Making a fortune: learning from the Asian phenomenon’.
Spinder Dhaliwal launched delegates into the world of dynamism, go-getting, risk taking and free enterprise in her seminar. By looking at those at the cutting edge of the British entrepreneurial scene, Spinder offered priceless and unique access to the Asian entrepreneurs at the forefront of British business.
Dr. Spinder Dhaliwal – Learning from the Asian Phenomenon
Video: An overview of Destination Growth ‘09
November 16, 2009 by EEDA Press
An overview of Destination Growth ‘09
Videos from the sponsors, exhibitors and speakers
November 13, 2009 by EEDA Press
Views from the sponsors and exhibitors at Destination Growth ‘09.
Views from the speakers at Destination Growth ‘09.
Videos from the delegates at Destination Growth
November 13, 2009 by EEDA Press
Why did you attend Destination Growth ‘09
What did you get out of the day?
Destination Growth ‘matchday programme’
November 6, 2009 by EEDA Press
Archant have compiled a ‘matchday programme’ which can be viewed here. It contains in-depth interviews with our speakers, videos and much more.
View slides from ‘Reality of recovery – what it means for you’
November 6, 2009 by EEDA Press
These are the slides from Neil Gibson’s seminar on ‘Reality of recovery – what it means for you’.
An expert view of the world economy, with a specific look at the East of England, what to expect and what this means for your business.
Neil Gibson, director Oxford Economics, gave an up to the minute look at the current economic climate, particularly focussing on how the UK and the East of England is fairing under the economic pressures. Over this 40 minute slot, Neil provided details on the rocky road to recovery – when recovery will come and how it will look – so that you can ensure your business is prepared for the upturn and seize every possible opportunity.
View slides from ‘How to develop a winning strategy’
November 5, 2009 by EEDA Press
These are the slides from Professor Malcolm McDonald’s session on how to take the buyer’s mind off price by developing a winning strategy.
In recessionary times, there is a temptation to slash and burn on the cost side and to drop prices on the revenue side – both unnecessary. By understanding what a winning strategy is and by knowing how to develop one, you will be able to start investing again as a result of better margins, hence better profits. In this practical Malcom covered:
- the effect of price on profits
- the elements of a winning strategy
- where to start
- how to do it
- a practical exercise as a takeaway.
Lord Sugar on what has made him successful
November 4, 2009 by EEDA Press
Lord Sugar was asked in his Destination Growth answer and question session what has made him successful. View the video below for his response. Click here to view commentary from the whole of Lord Sugar’s seminar.
The pit-stop challenge!
November 4, 2009 by EEDA Press
The overalls are on, the team is in place, can they set a record time?
Scott Garrett, former commercial director at Williams F1, provides some top tips on building a winning team to help them get to grips with airguns, wheels and jacks as they compete to lower their time in the pit-stop challenge.
Delegate sound bites
November 4, 2009 by EEDA Press
We asked some of the delegates from yesterday’s event why they attended Destination Growth ‘09 and what they got out of it. This is what they thought…
Lord Sugar on franchising
November 4, 2009 by EEDA Press
Lord Sugar was asked in his Destination Growth answer and question session about the possibilities of franchising products abroad and whether the government could provide support in this area. View the video below for his response. Click here to view commentary from the whole of Lord Sugar’s seminar.
Profile in the press – Gordon Maw and Paul Hill
November 3, 2009 by EEDA Press
Paul Hill, business editor of the Eastern Daily Press and Gordon Maw, MAW communications, on how to get profile for your business in the media.
Gordon gives an overview of PR and its meaning – it is the reputation of your business; the difference between advertising and PR, ie it’s importance in raising awareness; and gives top tips.
The key to a successful PR he says is when it is sustained.
Ways to profit from PR:
- Find out how newsworthy you are: what is ‘new’ about your company and what you are doing – your database and queries and intelligence could be a potential goldmine for good news stories for the media
- Get to know your media and get to know the journalists personally, understand their campaigns and what they run and what they don’t
- Find the ‘sweet spot’ – the combination of what makes your phone ring what the media want
- Differentiate yourself – make yourself stand out from the crowd
- Work out an elevator pitch for your company – are you the biggest in your area, only one in sector, etc
- PR ‘holy trinity’ – charity, sponsorship or awards: it works!
- Become the ‘expert commentator’
- Be creative – ‘man bites dog’, news with a twist or do something unexpected
- Use online tools and power your ‘Google’ footprint – the first thing people do is ‘Google’ your business. But what comes up is in your control and media sites are hugely optimised so if you an get coverage you will get a higher profile
- Use online press release distribution and exploit networking sites
- Involve the most important people in your world – staff, customers and potential customers
- More than that, PR can give you confidence to go for more ambitious and bigger contracts than you would have done before.
Paul Hill on how to make the most of your relationship with the media: tell them something they want to know but don’t know, convey the context, be clear and don’t use platitudes.
- Give the right information that the media wants, don’t give too little information or hold back key information
- When drawing up a contract think about commercial confidentiality – see if there is a a chance to ‘shout about it’, do a photo-call etc
- The media need a sense of scale and context – 10% of what?
- Don’t say what has happened but the significance of it as well – for eg not news if a business has launched a website but if is the first website for that industry, tied in to upsurge in trade
- We want up to date information – don’t assume we know about your business and or rely on us to check on google or newspaper articles
- Jargon – we are lay people so use very simple and plain terms. Good communication is clear communication it isn’t about dumbing down.
- Bad news has a habit on getting into the public domain but media don’t make things up
- Best thing you can do is be prepared and be straight and don’t put a positive gloss on it. You don’t necessarily have to respond immediately – check the deadline
- Deal with the specialist reporter and that way it will foster a positive relationship with the journalist
- Before sending out a press release put yourself in the readers’ shoes and ask yourself questions you yourself would ask.
Find the best type of finance for your business
November 3, 2009 by EEDA Press
David Gill from St John’s Innovation Centre and the panel of experts give advice on finding the best type of access to finance for businesses during the recession. David first gave an overview of the Understanding Finance for Business programme.
David Cleevely, Cambridge Wireless, entrepreneur, business angel and former government advisor gives an overview of the differences between angel and Venture Capitalist funding and benefits of both:
- First decision you have to make is about whether you go for VC or angel investment – one is not a substitute for another
- VC is about big investment, big share and big profits and for very ambitious businesses. Angels are hobbyists, their like for the company may not be based on profits and are for businesses less ambitious and who require smaller cash injections
- Typical investment from an angels is between £500k and £1.2m. VC starts at a minimum of £2m, but on average is between £5-10m, or even £20
- A key statistic to remember is that angels in UK lend more three or four times than VCs in the UK.
Andrew Moss, NatWest, on the latest in the banking world, what finance is available and how banks can present themselves. NatWest has a £250m regional lending fund for the East of England:
- Key message from Andrew was that banks are open for business during the recession, so it’s even more important to maintain an ongoing and honest relationship with your bank manager
- Don’t leave your approach to last minute, for eg if there is a cashflow problem speak to the bank manager at earliest opportunity
- They are best people to advise businesses to manage cashflow, manage risks, take advantage of opportunities
- The priorities for the banks are to look at the quality of business and quality of management and that there are robust systems in place as well as looking to see if the plan is sensible considered achievable
- Also that the company maintains really good relations with stakeholders including the bank
- Specific help is in the form of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme which was introduced January – NatWest has leant £240m so far.
Stuart Evans, EEDA board member and entrepreneur on using grants to build a business.
- Grants are valuable but not a free lunch, there are tricks to learn in order to get and keep them
- Must not underestimate the effort in getting a grant and keeping it
- Purpose of the grant and funding organisation is to support good businesses facing market failure
- Even higher standards are required now on the application form during the recession – read the fine print – for eg, there might be a requirement to keep the business in the region
- Check credentials of any consultants you might employ- some are good and some not so good.
Michelle Mone
November 3, 2009 by Dave Briggs - The Foundry House
Michelle is going to be changing the tyres on a formula one car shortly – no, really – and is warming up for that by talking to the Destination Growth audience about the story of her and her business.
- Michelle started her business life at 10 years old to help her parents out financially
- At the age of 11 she had 16 and 17 year olds working for her!
- By the sounds of things, Michelle’s parents had some pretty rotten luck
- Her first ‘proper’ job was at Labbatt’s brewery, working in admin. She set a goal of running Labbatt’s in Scotland within 3 years and managed it in 2 and a half.
- ‘The harder you work, the luckier you become’
- Michelle was made redundant when Labbatts were bought by Whitbread 13 years ago
- She spent years and a lot of money developing prototypes for Ultimo
- The launch of the first Ultimo bra cost £500 and was a case of guerilla marketing if ever there was one
- Julia Roberts wore the Ultimo in Erin Brockovich which led to the launch in America
- Michelle admits that during her initial success, she took her eye off the ball. She should have been looking for the next opportunity but instead enjoyed her success
- A deal with a distributor went horribly wrong which left Michelle in trouble – the company was saved 15 minutes before a previous bank called in a debt
- Used the internet to relaunch the business online, repaid debts and launched new products
- Giving back is important to Michelle and she has run events for charity benefit and is involved with the Princes Trust
- Continual innovation, and doing deals with retailers such as Debenhams and Asda have offered opportunities to deliver at scale, creating value for customers as well as profit
- You can’t be an entrepreneur without being willing to take risks
- Michelle has succeeded despite leaving school at 15, but still values education – but basic skills aren’t being taught as well as they should
- The Apprentice isn’t real business, but lessons can be learned from it especially around dealing with and managing difficult people
Margaret Manning – Entrepreneurs and Recession
November 3, 2009 by Dave Briggs - The Foundry House
Margaret is CEO of Reading Room, the highest ranking digital agency in the 2008 Sunday Times Tech Track league. She’ll be talking about how recessions can be golden opportunities for businesses.
- Reading room grew during the dot-com bust
- Margaret believes the recession is here for a long while yet, but a lot of people are pretending its over
- Planning – identify core strengths, weaknesses, risks opportunities. Have plans A, B and C
- Dot-com bust was predicatable and predicted. Lots of examples of the ostrich syndrome, faster and longer in effect than people thought it would
- Reading Room’s strategy: were prepared, not extended. Bought a company out of liquidation to gain critical mass. Repositioned the company out of the doomed mid sized generalist category
- Cashflow far more important than profit, especially in recession
- Innovation in client service – would clients recommend you?
- Cost cutting – act quickly, make tough decisions, focus on core activity (what can you live without?). Difference between core and innovation costs
- Recession is a golden moment to dominate your industry and competitors
- How can you motivate a team without financial bonuses? Reading Room have never paid bonuses! Reward staff in other ways.
- Having cash in the bank can help you to take risk during a downturn
- Importance of winning government work
Angus Thirlwell – How to become number one
November 3, 2009 by Dave Briggs - The Foundry House
Angus has spent 15 years building Hotel Chocolat into a £40m-turnover luxury brand. He be talking about what it takes to be the Sunday Times Fast Track no. 1 of fastest growing private businesses.
Someone has pinched my reserved chair at the front, which means my blogging might be slightly delayed as I wait for the sound to reach me here at the back of the room.
- Nurture a business like a child – throwing money at it will not work!
- Keep in constant contact with your end users
- Multi channel retailer – online in the UK and US, also has 40 UK stores and 2 in the US and Middle East.
- Started online but bricks and mortar really helped develop the brand
- Chocolate tasting club – 14 new chocolates developed every month. Those that choose to take part get sent the new recipes straight from the factory. Really involving the enthusiastic customers in the product design process.
- Corporate business team – B2B sales are important as well as the retail side.
- Drivers – strong brand values and an adventurous business culture
- Core brand secrets: originality, authenticity and ethics
- Engaged ethics – helping cocoa growers to become part of a movement to improve conditions to everyone’s benefit – sustainability
- Where did the business start? in 1988 as the Mint Marketing Company – a B2B peppermints business.
- In 1991 Geneiva Chocolates launched as a B2B business
- 1993 Choc Express – mail order chocolate gifts launched – first step into consumer market, direct marketing based
- 1998 Chocolate Testing Club launched – buy chocolate for yourself
- 2003 – Hotel Chocolat launched to combine Choc Express and CTC, as well as develop a new luxury brand
- Current property market supports risk taking – can get 5 year leases with breaks in retail rentals
- Now building a real Hotel Chocolat hotel in the Caribbean!
- Adventurous spirit is what makes the brand and the business
- Recipe for growth: build momentum and deep roots, contain risk, be adventurous, surf
Essex County Council
November 3, 2009 by EEDA Press
Essex County Council – exhibitor at Destination Growth ‘09.
Federation of Small Businesses
November 3, 2009 by EEDA Press
Federation of Small Businesses – exhibitor at Destination Growth ‘09
