Forest Software
Web, SEO and IT & Business Advice for the Smaller Business
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Last updated on January 23rd, 2012 at 11:23 am
Although not many small businesses think about expanding your business overseas here at Forest Software we have two clients who have done just that. Having spoken to them about this we have listed below a few things that you need to think about if you want to expand your business internationally.
1. Market insights
Expanding into any new market requires research, this doesn’t matter if you are expanding into a new product range or into an overseas market, you still need to find out how the market operates and, more importantly, what the market wants. Researching an overseas market is often a greater challenge than the domestic market, but there are many places you can go to for help (listed below).
2. Use the ‘been there, done that’ factor
If possible, use your existing contacts. You are looking for people that have been there and done it so that you can learn from their mistakes and profit from what they have learnt.
3. Make use of government resources
UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets, and encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.
When you are overseas on a visit (you are going to visit the new location aren’t you?) try talking to the British embassy or consulate in the area you are in, they can be an invaluable sources of information and contacts and may be able to give you advice on customs and local laws.
4. Find relevant support organisations
Many other business organisations have units dedicated to helping you export or invest overseas: the Chambers of Commerce, and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) are two that spring to mind and there are many others that are worth approaching for advice.
5. Seek professional advice
Don’t forget to talk to your own professional advisers, who should be able to either introduce you to their overseas affiliates or to specialists in expanding your business overseas (such as Fitzgerald and Law).
6. Set up good business systems
Think carefully about how you will manage the business after any agreements are signed. Will you have your own staff in the business or will be be a joint venture? How often will you or your senior management visit? Who will be authorised to sign cheques and make any payments or money transfers? Are the reporting lines, performance requirements and responsibilities clear (see our making your business aims clear posting for more details)?
7. Stick to what you’re good at
Assuming that you are not a foreign exchange dealer you should talk to your bank and your professional adviser about your overseas investment or trading plans. Foreign exchange volatility is a fact of business life, and is a risk that needs very careful managing or you could find that any profit is wiped out by exchange rate fluctuations. Don’t get involved in exchange rates, but leave this to the experts.
8. Check your tax position
Depending on the countries involved, you may find you can’t get tax relief for losses on foreign exchange, or you may even be taxed on gains which you haven’t made. There may also be restrictions on how much you can finance by way of loans rather than investing your own capital into the project.
9. Banking
If you are trading overseas, talk to your bank about what facilities might be available. Apart from the exposure to exchange rate risk mentioned above, you might not want to provide open account facilities to new customers in the overseas market, especially where there are difficulties in getting reliable credit risk information, or where the local legal environment does not seem to support contractual rights as strongly as you might wish. In this case “letters of credit” or other kinds of trade financing instruments may provide a solution.
10. And finally…
Much of the tips above can be summed up as, take advice (from your bank, accountant, professional adviser, the UK Government, colleagues that have already done this and any other source you trust). Doing so could save you writing off a bad debt on your first shipment, abandoning your joint venture investment or making big losses.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last updated on November 12th, 2010 at 03:00 pm
Many small and medium businesses in the UK are legally obliged to take out Employers Liability Insurance to cover them against claims from their staff, or former employees, if they are injured or get ill because of their work for you.
If you are one of these businesses then you must also display the insurance certificate where it can be easily read by your staff – you should not just put it into a filing cabinet and forget about it, although since 1 October 2008 you have been allowed to display your certificate electronically. Employers choosing this method need to ensure their employees know how and where to find the certificate and have reasonable access to it.
Do I need to take out this insurance?
The answer for many businesses is “yes”, however you may not need to take it out if you have no employees (are a “one man” business), are a family business where all the staff are closely related (although I would suggest that it would be a good idea to take it out in this case and if you are a limited company the exemption does not apply anyway), or you are a public organisation such as a government department, local council, nationalised industry or a health service body.
Employers’ liability insurance will enable you to meet the cost of compensation for your employees’ injuries or illness whether they are caused on or off your site. You should note that, any injuries and illness relating to motor accidents that occur while your employees are working for you are more likely to be covered by your motor insurance if they happen in a company vehicle.
You should not confuse employers liability with public liability. Public liability insurance is different. It covers you for claims made against you by members of the public or other businesses it does not cover you for claims made by your employees. While public liability insurance is generally voluntary, employers’ liability insurance is compulsory. You can be fined if you do not hold a current employers’ liability insurance policy which complies with the law and if it is not displayed.
Do I need to keep copies of certificates of insurance which are out of date?
Since 1 October 2008 there has been no legal requirement for employers to keep copies of out-of-date certificates.
However, you are strongly advised to keep a complete record of your employers’ liability insurance. This is because some diseases may appear many years after exposure to their cause (asbestosis for example) and former or current employees may claim against you for the period they were exposed to the reason for their illness.
Where can I find out more?
To take out the insurance or to find out if you need it and the level of cover you need (there is a current minimum of £5million, although most insurers give cover of at least £10million), you need to talk to your insurance broker, if you do not have one of these for your business then the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) have a list of brokers that specialise in Employers Liability Insurance that will let you find a local broker.
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Last updated on November 12th, 2010 at 02:43 pm
If you run an SME you may not yet be aware of the new accounting rules due to come into effect on 1st January 2013 which have the typically snappy name of “The International Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs)”. The aim of the new standard is just that – did you know that in the EU there are over 50 sets of accounting standards being used – to make like easier for investors in businesses and lenders.
A copy of the complete standards along with checklists etc can be downloaded from the IFRS website
There will be extra work involved for businesses during the transition from the current accounting standards, particularly the setting up a new format for the financial statements and making fair value assessments where required by the IFRS for SMEs. In addition,the transition will involve restating the 2011 UK GAAP numbers so that the 2012 accounts can have the correct values for comparison with the previous year. This really means that you will have to produce two sets of financial statements for that year (one in each format). Changes to the accounting systems before that year may be needed in order to let you capture and report the information needed to produce the new format.
If you are at all worried about this forthcoming change in accounting standards we suggest that you talk to your accountant about any work that you need to do in preperation. You may also want to look at training for your senior accounts staff so that they know what to expect, sources of training include AdkinsMattchett&Toy who run public courses here in the UK.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
If you are a small business owner you will know just how hard it is to get away for a holiday, even just for a few days. You will also know about the pressure to find somewhere really relaxing so that you can unwind.
Just a couple of months ago I was in the same position and decided that it was time to book a long weekend away. Now there are two problems with deciding in July to book a short break in August – the first is where to go, if you are only having a long weekend you don’t want to spend too long getting to the destination. I solved this by remembering my holidays from many years ago when I went to North Wales, it is only about 3 hours drive from here and I like the countryside, there are plenty of things to do and see. The 2nd problem then raised its’ head – where to stay? I looked at several hotel sites and having discounted many of the possibilities for different reasons (cost, the wrong location, didn’t like the look of them, poor reviews) I settled on a hotel in Trefriw, near Conwy, called the Princes Arms.
From their website it looked just the kind of place I was looking for – a reasonable size without being too big, in nice countryside and good views out of the rooms.
I arrived in good time on the Friday and much to my amazement the hotel was even better than I expected (so often it is the other way around). The room was nicely decorated and furnished and the view from the bedroom window looked out over the valley and the river. Having settled down I then decided that rather than stick to my plans of going out and finding somewhere to eat I would take a chance and eat in the hotel. I was very pleased that I did, for a 3 star hotel the food was brilliant – in fact many years ago I worked in the IT department in a 4 start hotel in the centre of London that had a top notch restaurant and I would say that the food was easily as good that night as any I had tasted in the hotel I worked in.
During the rest of the holiday I was pleased to see that the standard was the same every night. As you can imagine this made the break very enjoyable.
So, if as a small business owner you are looking for a nice hotel that you and your partner can go to that will leave you refreshed and relaxed I can thoroughly recommend the Princes Arms in Trefriw. In addition to normal holidays in North Wales they also cater for golfing breaks and walking holidays (several times I heard the owner offering guests maps and books of walks and he seemed to know the best walks to do in Snowdonia from experience, another mark of good customer service that I mentioned in one of my previous blog postings earlier this year and one that many small business owners could learn from).
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last updated on September 5th, 2010 at 04:57 pm
Today I got an email from a company here in the UK that I just had to share with you.
Subject : hey there
“Hey there
Just a quick email to yourself. We are one of the best at what we do and we are proud of our services. Internet Advertising/SEO is the best way these days to gain more customers and clients for either local or national for business. Company’s who do advertise well online receive over 80% of their custom through the internet. We know we could help you with a great online marketing campaign.
Our Services:
Web Development – Starting from £149
Internet Marketing/Advertising (Targeted) – Starting from £30 pcm
Search Engine Optimization – Starting from £249Would you be interested in any of our services?
If you think you may be interested in our services or want more information on web development, SEO or Internet Advertising, Please email us back or phone our office on xxxxx xxxxxx
Kind Regards”
Now there are so many things wrong with this email that is supposed to be from Internet marketing experts, and I have listed below just a few of them.
- For a company that is offering targeted marketing they have failed as I have been in the net business since 1995 and have been working in SEO since 1999 (before it was called SEO) and my website plainly says this.
- They have obviously brought a list of email addresses and just broadcast the email to the entire list.
- The subject and salutation of “hey there” is, in my view, much too informal – although this is not as bad as a marketing email I got yesterday that started “Dear Colleague”.
- There are spelling errors in the text of the email “Company’s” as opposed to “Companies” for example.
- If you are not interested there is no way to remove yourself from the list – not that this often works anyway.
- For a UK Ltd company they have fallen foul of the Companies act 2006 which states that every email has to have the company details on it.
- But… the killer for me is that the “to” address was 44 lines long and contained maybe 200 email addresses – all were plainly visible. If they understood or even thought about email marketing for a nano-second they would have at the very least used the BCC function, or even better would have sent the email individually to each recipient.
The whole thing made me think “cowboys” – then I went to look at their website and it seems that they must be special – they have the following partners listed on their website :-
- Yahoo
- Bing
- Ask
- Fast Hosts
- Joomla
I wonder if the big search engines know that they have this partner?
So. if you are thinking of sending an email out for marketing purposes make sure that they are targeted and are invidually addressed at the very least and are spelt correctly, at least that is if you are expecting any replies.