E-GUIDE

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GROWTH FOR LONDON BUSINESSESHelping SMEs achieve their ambitions in 2013 and beyond

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Observing the world’s fastest-growing companies can be deceptive. Often it seems they have an uncanny knack for creating things that hit

their target market bang on trend, just as demand is peaking. It might also appear that they achieve rapid expansion simply because they have more finance and resource at their disposal than their rivals.

The reality is that these companies have usually invented smart processes that foster a culture of innovation and growth. They have found ways to multiply the capabilities of their employees and resources. They understand how to manage finances with such aplomb that they can grow aggressively without ever running short of cash in the bank.

Many of these fast-growing companies have been generous enough in recent years to share the techniques they have used to expand. This eguide distils their learnings to help you plan and realise growth.

Chapter 1 explains what today’s most dynamic companies master internally to ensure they are pursuing growth at every level of their organisation, and how you can adopt these practices without too much fuss. That means exploring things like scalability,

or trying out ideas management software.Chapter 2 outlines how businesses can

unearth and exploit previously untapped markets. It takes you through strategies such as “coopertition” and improving your cross-selling processes, and looks at what you could be learning from your rivals.

Of course, formulating growth plans is much easier than executing them. Achieving your expansion on a day-to-day basis will require leadership and management beyond anything your business has needed before. Chapter 3 is designed to guide you through the practicalities of achieving growth, while side-stepping the spectres of cash-flow crises, funding shortages and over-expansion.

Being based in one of the most financially and commercially successful cities in the world means you are uniquely positioned to exploit the incredible opportunities on your doorstep. Chapter 4 explains how to leverage your London location to ensure you are making the most of all this great city of ours has to offer.

It is crucial that London’s SMEs are able to realise the growth they want – crucial for businesses themselves, for the people they employ now and in the future, and for the economic and social health of our country. Fortunately, with the right strategies, leadership and entrepreneurial outlook, there is every reason that you will succeed.

“It is crucial that London’s SMEs are able to realise growth,” says Sophie Hobson, editor

INTRODUCTION

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This e-guide is brought to you by LondonlovesBusiness.com, in association with Lloyds TSB.

LondonlovesBusiness.com is the new digital newspaper for established entrepreneurs and executives of London’s mid-market companies. We aim to further the ambitions of London’s businesses, celebrate good business and success, and bring you frank debate about the issues facing London businesses. We are fast becoming the must-read website for London’s business community through our mix of the latest business news across all sectors, profiles of London’s greatest entrepreneurs, features exploring the trends you can capitalise on, and the best of London lifestyle.

LondonlovesBusiness.com is published by Casis Media LtdCasis Media Ltd 56 Buckingham Gate London SW1E 6AE

Editor: Sophie Hobson sophie.hobson@londonlovesbusiness.com

Business development director: Jenny Knighting jenny.knighting@londonlovesbusiness.com 0203 394 1847

CONTENTS E-GUIDE

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GROWTH FOR LONDON BUSINESSESHelping SMEs achieve their ambitions in 2013 and beyond

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04Foreword By Stephen Pegge, Director of SME Markets and Corporate Communication at Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking

05Creating a culture of growthThe internal practices you can adopt to foster innovation

08Finding new growth opportunitiesIdentifying the strategies and markets that will work hardest for your business

11Managing and funding growthPlanning the coming years so you can realise your ambitions in a structured way

15Leveraging your London location to maximise opportunityCapitalising on the best the capital has to offer.

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Many London companies have shown their resilience over the last few years, but the battle for growth is not yet won. Our latest Lloyds TSB Regional Purchasing Managers’ Index, from March 2013, marked the fourth consecutive month of growth for London’s private sector companies, largely driven by solid improvements in orders across the service sector.

A sustained period of new business growth and signs of the global economy picking up in 2013 helped to underpin the most marked rise in employment for nearly two years. But operating margins remained under pressure and uncertainty continues to hold back investment.

Growth is an elusive elixir, especially in today’s commercial environment. To expand requires expert insight, entrepreneurial flair, a willingness to adapt, and meticulous management. Each of these necessities will be addressed by this eguide with a view to

helping you master them. Growth also requires, perhaps most

critically, a financial infrastructure that can underpin your plans. The correct business funding will ensure you have enough cash to continue day-to-day operations, provide you with the injections of capital needed to take those steps forward into expansion, and ensure that you are paying for assets, property and other essential business infrastructure in the most efficient way for your business.

The right funding should also come hand-in-hand with someone who can help you through the process of growing your business, whether they provide financial guidance, useful connections and opportunities, or a much-needed listening ear.

At Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking, we are working very hard to ensure we meet all these needs. We are actively seeking to lend more to businesses. In 2012, Lloyds Banking Group lent £13.2bn to SMEs, easily passing our original £12bn benchmark and revised £13bn target. Our lending to small and medium sized businesses went up by 4% net.

If you are looking for support and guidance for your business or simply want a listening ear for your plans, we could help you to reach your business ambitions.

My expectation is that you already understand the importance of growth. My hope is that this eguide will introduce you to the strategies you need to plan it.

By Stephen Pegge, Director of SME Markets and Corporate Communication at Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking

FOREWORD

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Running an SME is an incredibly consuming job for most owners and managers. You become inward-focused on the business, because you have to be. But it is chiefly by stepping back, observing the practices of other fast-growing businesses, and objectively assessing your own, that you can implement new ideas to ensure your entire organisation is designed for growth. This chapter will help you harness the full potential of your staff, and ensure that your structure and infrastructure are not inadvertently holding you back.

Organisation-wide innovationLet’s face it, you cannot grow in the long-term unless you keep finding new markets to sell to, or new things to sell. But continuing to find the ideas to drive those new forays can feel impossible, particularly if you are leading the business, which tends to exhaust your creative capacity for inventing new opportunities. You need to

CREATING A CULTURE OF GROWTH

“It’s too easy to invest in your existing products that have proven returns, rather

than spending on experiments.”

instead harness the creativity of your team, by creating a culture of experimentation and innovation.

Learn from the example of Wonga, which was the UK’s fastest-growing tech company in 2011 according to the Sunday Times Tech Track 100. Wonga co-founder Errol Damelin has in effect created a separate organisation within the business, dedicated to researching new ideas. It has its own budget, own team and own resource. His thinking is that in the pursuit of growing revenues, it’s much too easy to invest in your existing products, as they have proven returns, rather than risking spending on experiments that might well fail. But it is only through experimentation and, yes, failure, that you unearth the truly innovative new products and services that will drive long-term growth.

Try allocating a budget purely for innovation, forbidding the business from dipping into it for anything else. Allow staff

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(or consultants) to fail in their experiments, even though there will be costs associated with this.

You might also adopt one of Google’s greatest organisational coups. It encourages its engineers to spend 20% of their work time working on their own projects. This frees them up to think creatively, without pressure, and encourages a spirit of entrepreneurialism. You can replicate this concept by granting the team one afternoon a fortnight or month to either brainstorm together or run through creative exercises to generate new ideas.

Core to many of today’s fastest-growing companies is a belief that every person at every level of the company could come up with the killer idea of tomorrow. You need to implement a structure whereby anyone’s ideas about the business can be heard. That might mean full team meetings, or an email or intranet system. You might want to try idea management software. This allows staff to capture ideas, assess each other’s, and pass on the strongest ideas to relevant senior managers.

Thinking really long-termAmazon isn’t a bad company to take tips from. One of founder Jeff Bezos’ growth techniques is to think in longer timeframes than other companies. Amazon typically creates five to seven-year plans. Bezos has explained: “If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people. But if you’re willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon, you’re now competing against a fraction of those people, because very few companies are willing to do that. Just by lengthening the time horizon, you

20%Amount of time Google

engineers spend on their own projects within work time

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can engage in endeavours that you could never otherwise pursue.”

An ingrained sales culture at every levelIf all your business’ sales are coming purely from you and the sales team, you’re missing out. Every member of your team has the potential to bring in new business. That doesn’t mean you should expect Julie in HR to be closing deals. But you should ensure everyone has the right two-line pitch about the business down pat, so that when they explain it to people at networking or social events, they are always doing their bit to bring in new customers. Create a culture where everyone wants the business to grow by incentivising non-sales staff to make useful introductions to the sales team. You could also bring in friends and family discount cards and offers (a strategy often used by big retail companies and airlines to win new customers without spending a penny on marketing).

Scalability and strategy“You need to have a strategy and you need strategic goals,” explains Ian Patterson, Area Director for Lloyds TSB Commercial in Central London. “The strategy is the vision of where you want to get to: here I am today, and in 12 months time this is where I want to be, and in five years time this is where I want to be. Those goals might be number of staff, or sales, or new markets.”

Ian says you then need to ask: “What are the actions I need in order to achieve that growth? You have to make decisions

in terms of capacity. Say you want to go from an £8m turnover to £15m - you’ve

got to create an infrastructure that is going to allow you to do that.”

That’s where scalability comes into play. “Scalability” may have become

the buzzword du jour among London’s tech start-ups, but its principles apply to companies in all industries. Very simply, if you want to grow, you need to ensure you have a business infrastructure that can grow with you.

Review targets for the coming years, and be rigorous in analysing what you need to upgrade within your current operations, supply chain, manufacturing process, logistics, professional services, lending facilities and team to achieve those goals. Growth plans will disintegrate unless they are married with plans to upgrade the elements underpinning expansion. Work out at what stage you will need to upgrade each aspect of your business, and how you will finance those upgrades. Talk to your bank manager early about your plans.

Ian advises looking at increasing your capacity in stages. If large investments for upgrading look overwhelming, consider options that allow you to expand and contract with minimum complications before a major upgrade. That might mean only taking flexible and short-term property leases, using cloud products rather than buying up expensive new software and hardware in bulk, renting assets rather than acquiring them, or using contract workers rather than employing full-time staff.

“Every member of your team has the

potential to bring in new business.”

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FINDING NEW GROWTH OPPORTUNITIESGrowth might seem elusive in today’s climate, but there are plenty of companies of all sizes who are achieving it. Try some of these real-world-tested ideas to kick start your growth.

Form strategic partnerships with collaborators – and competitionStrategic partnerships have long been a well-used weapon in the growing business’ artillery, and unearthing new partnership opportunities should of course be an ongoing exercise if you’re looking to make your business more efficient and discover new customers or revenue streams. But modern businesses are taking strategic partnerships to the next level – sharing resources with traditional rivals, or joining forces to create a new package of services or products that are irresistible to the customer. To give one example, earlier this year PSA Peugeot Citroën announced it would partner with Toyota Motor Europe to supply light commercial vehicles to Europe under the Toyota brand.

“Co-opertition”, as the buzzword labels

it, allows forward-thinking companies significant cost savings, and the potential to gain new customers or business opportunities. You might share distribution and logistics resource, market to one another’s databases, work together on R&D, team up to fulfil a contract that is too large for you to complete as a single business, or create a new joint product offering.

You might alternatively invite a bigger company in the same market as you to

take a stake in your business. When Coca-Cola bought a stake in Innocent Drinks, for example, it allowed Innocent to access Coca-

Cola’s expertise, and buy cheaper plastic bottle and caps.

Make more from your existing marketYour existing customers are by far the easiest route to increasing revenue. It’s always going to be cheaper to sell more to an existing customer than market to and acquire a new one. So how do you make more from your current customers without them feeling over-sold to? Three methods

“Build return custom into transactions

wherever possible.”

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are indispensible: building return custom into transactions, effective analytics, and an ingrained culture of cross-selling.

Firstly, return custom. “It’s really important to keep thinking all the time about where you can add further value,” advises Ian Patterson, Area Director for Lloyds TSB Commercial in Central London. “If you’re an IT company, for example, and you put a new system in place for a business, can you look to expand into a retainer every three months to come back and revisit the client? Look at how you can build up that regular pipeline of sales.” You could also look at bringing out regular updates to products to incentivise another purchase, which has worked wonderfully for Apple and Microsoft.

To capitalise on business analytics, it is worth investing in the right technology, whether that’s top-notch CRM software, online analytics or the more complex analytics packages used in retail. Cloud products are making the sophisticated technology used by the biggest players affordable for small and medium-sized companies. Look for packages that reveal customer behaviour patterns, streamline your supply chain and partner management, and discover new efficiencies and opportunities to increase margins.

Cross-selling is always going to be a winner for growth, but it’s crucial to position it non-aggressively for the customer. Employ “secret shoppers” to assess how your sales staff are at cross-selling, whether face-to-face or by phone, and ensure they have clear targets and briefs for bolt-on sells. Experiment with different price points for cross-sold items to see what’s effective – it will take some trial and error to unearth the sweet spot for

“It’s only by pushing ideas to

the limits you’ll find seeds of genius.

”

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customers. Try bundling products too.

Adapt your offerings It’s time to get creative about where your product or service could be applied that you haven’t yet tried. You might have created the business around a certain market, but that doesn’t mean you should be limited by it. “Thinking about how your product or service can be expanded and tweaked into other areas means you increase your income, and if something happens to your core business you’ve got other income streams that can be relied upon,” explains Paul Evans, Area Director for Essex and East London, Lloyds TSB Commercial. “Some businesses can have one customer they sell to accounting for 80% of invoices. If that person pulled out, what would happen to the business? Spread your risk and income streams to make sure you protect yourself.”

Spend a couple of hours regularly with the team, brainstorming new applications for your product or service. Let the conversation get as far-flung and seemingly ridiculous as it can. It’s only by pushing ideas to the limits you’ll find seeds of genius. Alternatively, assemble a focus group composed of people who have never used your product or service before, then either describe it to them or remove all labelling, and ask them what they think it’s used for.

Deconstruct your rivalsIt pays to be your competitors’ customer. Assess where rival companies’ weaknesses lie by transacting with them regularly as far as possible (anonymously, of course). If their customer service is lacking, or their quality dropping, or their lead times long, then ensure you put extra resource into excelling in these areas and making your advantages

over their offerings known to customers. Learn from the big telco companies

and make special offers to customers who switch from rivals’ services or products to yours, to broaden your market share. Analyse competitors’ marketing and email newsletters rigorously for signs of what their next moves might be, so you can stay one step ahead.

Export“So many businesses either don’t want to export or seem not to think about it,” says Evans. “But one of the big opportunities for growth is exporting.” There is a huge amount of support available for companies keen to explore exporting. Government bodies such as UKTI can offer advice and contacts, while institutions such as Lloyds, which is keen to lend to businesses with a savvy export plan, can offer seminars, finance and help. A conversation with your bank manager, a UKTI spokesperson or a peer who trades internationally costs nothing – and a conversation is the first step towards ending up with a solid, long-term export plan.

The export landscape is changing too. Although Europe still accounts for around two fifths of the UK export market, countries further afield can offer lucrative opportunities – not just the BRIC countries, but the Next-11 nations, and beyond. Europe is in most cases still the easiest starting point for new exporters, but other countries may offer greater returns in the long-term and should not be discounted.

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MANAGING AND FUNDING GROWTHGrowth targets are nothing without the right plans and management to execute them. You will be expanding your business to a size beyond anything it has previously experienced. That means you need a revised approach, the right skillset at senior level, enough finance at all times, and reliable methods for assessing progress, to ensure you are growing on track without over-expanding.

Assembling the right team for growthNow is the time to look hard at whether your senior team have the experience needed to take the business to the next level – and if not, work out who you need to bring in. That might mean a new full-time manager, or a chairman or additional board member. Ian Patterson, Area Director for Lloyds TSB Commercial in Central London, says: “I get involved a lot with London business angels. The businesses [they invest in] are looking to exit within three years or so and pay back investors. The businesses quite often bring in non-exec directors who’ve had experience of running businesses and exiting. Then they’ve got somebody who’s had that experience and

can become an excellent sounding board.” A mentor can also become that sounding

board – and, as Ian notes, “Very often a mentor can evolve into a non-exec director”. Lloyds offers an extensive free mentoring programme for businesses, which is well worth finding out more about.

Most importantly, you need to assess your own role, and how it needs to evolve as the business grows. “You need a different skillset for growth,” explains Ian. “Many businesses start out as one person or two people on their own who do everything. Usually their skillset is very much around the core of the business. As the business grows, the founder/owner role changes to managing. You then need to bring in the skillsets that you’re lacking. Look at where

you add the greatest value, whether that’s going out getting sales, managing, or doing what you’re doing.

You then need some back office people to support you: making sure someone else is chasing the money, someone’s talking to suppliers, someone’s making sure things come in on time, and so on.”

Analysing, adapting and reflectingCreating your strategy for growth is all

“You need to assess how you role should evolve as

the business grows.”

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well and good, but you need to constantly monitor your progress if you want a growth strategy to work. “It’s absolutely critical that there is a regular rigorous review that takes place, of both strategy and actions,” says Ian. “If you’re not doing what you were aiming to do, then you’ve got to ask: ‘Is the strategy not right or are the actions not right? What needs amending?’ Because there’s no point doing something if it’s not working.”

Such assessment needs you to take time out from day-to-day operations on a regular basis, to analyse and adapt. “But, particularly in a growing business, it is very difficult to find that time to step back and reflect,” Ian recognises. “You’re too engrossed in the nitty gritty, because everything is so busy.” One opportunity to force yourself to find that time is to diarise it with someone who can act as an external sounding board, once every month or two. “That’s where your mentor and your non-exec can help,” suggests Ian. “It’s a lonely business running your own business, so mentors can help - whether that means someone in the bank, or other businesspeople and agencies that can give advice, such as the East London Small Business Centre or Greater London Enterprise.”

As well as making time to review your mid and long-term strategy, Ian advises having a set of metrics you monitor continually. “You need some sort of internal system so you’ve got a handle on the business – say three key things you want to know, such as sales today, how much cash came in today, and what the bank balance is. You need to decide what those key metrics and KPIs are for your business, but it’s absolutely worth having these measures to check daily. It gives you a daily handle on the business, so that surprises don’t come by.”

Funding growth “Businesses fail primarily because they haven’t got any cash,” says Ian. “So in terms of managing and funding growth, you need to make sure that you have sufficient cash in place, or sufficient funding to support that particular growth.”

The daily metrics mentioned above will be a key part of keeping on top of cashflow, but you also need to plan ahead meticulously to anticipate cash shortages, and stay on top of chasing invoices. “Be conservative with your cashflow forecasts,” advises Ian. “Then try offering discounts for prompt payment. When it comes to chasing up people who owe you money, do what you say you’re going to do. Also, try to extend your sources of credit at the other end. With certain suppliers you can negotiate.”

You also need to keep abreast of the amount of working capital you have. Ian says: “Look at your working capital cycle; so if you have to pay staff every month but you’re not being paid by customers for 60 days, how much working capital do you need to fund not just salaries, but costs of production, overheads, and so on. How do you bridge that gap?”

Ian says overdrafts are by no means the only option for small and medium-sized businesses in this instance, nor are they the only option for financing growth plans. “Make sure that you’re using the right type of funding. If you’re buying an asset – premises, a car, or equipment, say – then you need to make sure you’re not buying that out of working capital. Look at different forms of finance that are available: so primarily looking at loans or mortgages for property, loans or asset finance for equipment, and consider the many different options for leasing when it comes to vehicles.”

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Paul Evans, Area Director for Essex and East London, Lloyds TSB Commercial, agrees that businesses would be wise to explore the multitude of finance options available to them. “Often businesses have great ideas and forward-thinking business plans, but no capital behind them. We’re really keen to lend to them, and there could be anything from one to 10 different types of finance available to them, from asset finance to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme. There are viable businesses with ambitious business plans out there, and we want to be part of their journey.”

Beware over-expansionAll businesses pursuing growth need to be aware of the perils of over-expansion. Grow too fast and you could run into mortal trouble.

So what are the main warning signs of over-expansion? Ian explains: “Running out of cash is the most obvious one – you’ll see the strain on the business. Be cautious if the money owed to you by debtors is growing. Sometimes you can be so busy doing more and more work that no one is chasing money owed to you.

“Look out too for taking on work that isn’t so profitable because you’re just chasing the turnover – always ask yourself whether the work is really going to make you money. Another reliable barometer of over-expansion is complaints; if you notice an increasing number, then you’re probably not doing what you promised to do.”

• Business loans and Funding for LendingThe Funding for Lending Scheme was launched in 2012 to improve access to funding for businesses and UK households. It’s open until January 2014. Lloyds TSB participates in the scheme, and has reduced the interest rate by 1% on all approved business loan, commercial mortgage and hire purchase applications received after 10 September 2012 – and the rate lasts the whole life of the loan.

• Business overdraftHaving an overdraft in place is a great way to ensure you have extra funds ready in case you need them when something unexpected happens. Talk to your bank and apply for an overdraft limit that suits your needs rather than wait until you suddenly need it.

• Commercial mortgageA commercial mortgage can help you maximise your business finance. Lloyds TSB Commercial lets you borrow up to 70% of the value of the property, and the interest rate is reduced by 1% through the bank’s participation in the Funding for Lending Scheme.

• Asset based lendingIf you have capital tied up in debtors, stock, plant and machinery or property, your bank can help you turn these assets

TYPES OF BUSINESS FINANCE AND FUNDING SCHEMES ›

›

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into cash – increasing your working capital without slowing growth. It can help you expand, restructure, make an acquisition or management buy-out, or acquire new machinery and equipment.

• Asset financeAsset finance helps you acquire essential plant and equipment without draining your cash reserves and working capital. You can use it to fund almost any business asset, such as office equipment, vehicles, plant and machinery.

• Factoring Fed up of waiting months for invoices to be paid? Factoring lets you access the value of your invoices much sooner. The factoring service from Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance lets you access up to 90% of the value of your invoices, often within 24 hours, giving your business a positive cashflow boost. Service options include the management of your sales ledger, freeing you up both financially and managerially to grow your business.

• Invoice discountingInvoice discounting is for larger businesses wanting speedy access to the value of invoices and to remain in charge of invoice and credit control processes. With Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance’s confidential Invoice Discounting service, you gain swift access to up to 90% of the value of your invoices.

› • Hire purchase and leasingHire purchase and leasing lets you invest in the equipment, machinery or vehicles you need to expand, and avoid the one-off expense that usually comes with them. It’s also a good alternative to a conventional loan, which can be secured against other assets.

• Enterprise Finance GuaranteeThe Enterprise Finance Guarantee, launched in 2009, allows small and medium-sized businesses with a workable business proposal but lacking sufficient security to borrow from approved lenders.

• Vehicle contract hireContract hire is a cost-effective way for businesses to manage their company vehicles. Lex Autolease, the UK’s leading vehicle management company, has extensive experience in vehicle contract hire and leasing – its purchasing power and special offer programme means it frequently gets the best deals from manufacturers, servicing and maintenance suppliers.

Any property given as security which may include your home, may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or other debts secured on it.

All lending is subject to a satisfactory credit assessment

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LEVERAGING YOUR LONDON LOCATION TO MAXIMISE OPPORTUNITYAs a London company, you have a unique vantage point over businesses elsewhere in the UK. London is a thronging hub of talent, technology, transport and trends, leading the way not just in this country, but much of the rest of the world. How can you capitalise on being in the capital?

Public sector opportunityThe Olympics might be over, but there are still plenty of lucrative contracts available over the coming years related to big public sector projects in London. “Just look at the CompeteFor website,” Paul Evans, Area Director for Essex and East London, Lloyds TSB Commercial, urges, referencing the government website that hosts many of the contracts related to these projects. “Crossrail is a huge opportunity. It’s not just construction work, it’s all sorts, from IT to consultancy, and all the associated services through the supply chain.” CompeteFor also features Olympic Legacy work, and non-Olympic projects from the likes of Network

Rail, the London boroughs, the Met and others. “Some businesses still shy away from the tendering process, which is maybe fear of the unknown,” Evans says. “But we need to break down these barriers. There are great opportunities in London, and we’ve got money to lend to businesses looking to grow.”

TransportLondon’s international access is unsurpassed elsewhere in the UK. We have five airports: Luton, City, Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick, and rail links with Europe from Stratford, Waterloo and St Pancras. You can travel to foreign markets for less than £100 – which makes for a pretty compelling reason to start exploring new exporting and importing opportunities. Exploit London’s internationalism – seek out London residents who have previously lived and worked in markets you are interested in trading with. You can tap their insights into the way business is done there and the relative ease of entering the market, and

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ask if they have useful connections in the country.

It’s not just about international trade though. London is incredibly well-connected to the rest of the UK. Why not experiment on paper with moving or expanding parts of your team to easily accessible locations outside London? You could dramatically reduce premises and salary overheads, while ensuring employees based outside of London could still come in to meetings within a manageable train journey. You can also then tap into talent pools across the UK: Reading’s tech community, say, or the blue chip client network in Slough.

Networking and supportThere are more business events on any given weeknight in London than anyone could possibly attend. Every industry has its social scene, and we all know how important

networking is – but London’s events scene reaches beyond that. The capital also offers a fantastic range of business clubs, support organisations and advice-based events, which are all there to help you grow your business.

“There are many business clubs and networks, such as the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the East London Small Business Centre, the many government-funded events, as well as events offered by

organisations like ours,” says Evans. “We do about 200 business seminars a year across the country, on everything from importing to sustainability. These events and groups give you the opportunity to share ideas on how to be more successful, and also to tap into talent pools and network with the companies on your doorstep. They can mean that through introduction to fellow business owners you win new business – but they can also give you something of a shoulder to cry on, as much as finding ways to improve performance, as you can talk to people who understand what it’s like to run a company.”

Mentors can also add real value to your business growth plans, as outlined in Chapter 3. London is awash with talented, experienced minds looking to help businesses grow. Evans adds: “Our initiative has seen around 400 mentors from within Lloyds - former and present staff – with

vast amounts of knowledge sitting shoulder to shoulder with business owners and working with them. Running a business can be an extremely lonely affair. You have to wear so many hats, and to wear all those on your own is quite a challenge. Mentors can support business owners

feeling that way, as well as help them find growth opportunities.”

TalentTo tap into the right talent for your business, your location within London sends an important message. “Being seen in the right area is absolutely important in terms of attracting staff,” says Evans. Positioning part or all of your company within the industry area whose skills you need for

“We do about 200 business seminars a year across the

country, on everything from importing to sustainability.”

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growth (heading to Shoreditch for tech, Soho for media or Mayfair for hedge funds, say) gives you much better access to employees, suppliers, clients, and general learning and networking through events. Evans says: “In Shoreditch, for example, you find that all these companies that are fast-growing are next door to each other. Their success is growing off each other – the bar is raised by the people around you, and businesses are replicating and learning from those on your doorstep.”

The East London opportunityThe Olympics-fuelled regeneration of East London, and in particular Stratford, promises a business boom in the region. “There are still good opportunities for businesses to grasp there,” says Evans. “The property value has gone up, and as the Olympic site is redeveloped businesses will be looking to migrate into the Olympic Park. It’s a great time to move in and be among fellow SMEs there, and to be seen in that area. Then you’ve got Stratford International’s rail connections, and City Airport too.” If you’re looking to expand or relocate, the East London opportunity awaits.

Getting recognitionYou’ll know about all the industry awards you should be applying for already, but have you looked into more local business accolades? There

are a host of awards available for London as a whole, and for areas within it. “Go for these awards,” Evans urges. “Being prepared to put your name forward is important, for recognition and for greater local profile.” Winners and nominees can expect extra interest from local potential clients, a badge of honour for marketing material, local press coverage, and a hearty boost to staff morale, to name but a few benefits.

Lloyds TSB Commercial is a trading name of Lloyds TSB Bank plc and Lloyds TSB Scotland plc and serves customers with an annual turnover of up to £15M › Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority under numbers 119278 and 191240 respectively › Licensed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 under registration numbers 0004685 and 0198797 respectively › We subscribe to The Lending Code; copies of the Code can be obtained from www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk

“Being prepared to put your name

forward for awards is important, for

recognition and for greater local profile.”

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