HBF2015

HUNTINGDONSHIRE BUSINESS NETWORK WILL BE AT HBF 2015

Huntingdonshire Business Network HBN will be at the Huntingdonshire Business Fair at Woodgreen on 23rd April 2015

Our stand is booked and our new banners are designed - it should be a really good event.  HBN has been a regular attendee at the HBF events and will be tweeting on #HBF2015 and #HBNCambs

We look forward to seeing you at the event

http://www.meetup.com/Huntingdonshire-Business-Network/events/218841699/

Maths and English Skills

What maths and English skills do employers want and learners need for an effective UK Workforce in 2015?

Views are being sought from employers, colleges and learners

Mira Training Solutions is undertaking research on behalf of City & Guilds and are particularly interested in hearing from employers of apprentices between the ages of 16 and 25 in the sectors of Automotive, Engineering, Health and Social Care, Hospitality, Public Sector and Retail although the invitation is extended to all sectors.

The purpose of the project is to review the maths and English skills young employees need in order to be successful at work. We want to determine exactly what skills are important to employers and how best young people should develop these for mutual benefit.  Please see the attached flyer containing some background information on the project.

This is a key piece of research for City and Guilds and the results will have national exposure as well as helping drive the design of C&G's maths and English qualifications.

The voice of the employers is one very important element of the research. We're holding a series of focus groups for employers and learners across the country and would like to hear your views.

We invite you to join the Cambridge-based focus group for a short breakfast meeting with coffee and croissants on:

Tuesday, 24th March - 8am to 9.30am at St John's Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 OWS (free parking on site)

I do hope you'll be able to take this opportunity to contribute to the debate about the changing nature of the essential skills needed by young employees in your organisation.

Please click here to register your attendance/interest in being contacted.  Alternatively call either Angela on 01223 501405 or Trevor Weston on 07850 632280.

Kind regards

Angela Jervis

Associate - Mira Training Solutions

St John's Innovation Centre

Cowley Road

Cambridge CB4 0WS

T: 01223 501405 OR

Trevor Weston on

T: 07850 632280

www.miratraining.co.uk

 Find us on...

      

"Superfast Broadband" Grants for Huntingdonshire

Grants for superfast broadband now available to Huntingdonshire businesses

A government scheme to help small and medium businesses in Huntingdonshire to install superfast broadband has been announced today.

Connection vouchers provide grants of between £100 - £3000 to install superfast broadband to business buildings. The funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis until March 2016.

The scheme is run by Connecting Cambridgeshire (a partnership of local authorities) and funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The vouchers pay for the one-off cost of installing superfast broadband to offices, which can be expensive and prevent businesses from getting better connectivity.

Huntingdonshire has over 9000 businesses that could benefit from the funding. Charities and social enterprises are also eligible. Groups of businesses can apply together for connection vouchers and pool the funding together. This enables a whole office block or business park to be upgraded to superfast broadband.

Connection vouchers were previously only available to Cambridge and the surrounding area, but Connecting Cambridgeshire has been able to work with government to extend it across other districts.

Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey said: "This is fantastic news for Huntingdonshire businesses, and I'd encourage any firm that's struggling with slow internet speeds to apply for a voucher immediately. Across the UK, thousands of businesses have already taken up the vouchers and I'm delighted that the scheme has now been extended to include Huntingdonshire as well. "

Councillor Mathew Shuter, Business Champion at Cambridgeshire County Council said:  “Superfast broadband is vital for all businesses and our local economy. I am delighted that we can now offer the scheme to businesses across the county to ensure that they can grow and compete in an increasingly digital world.”

Councillor Jason Ablewhite, Executive Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, said: “The extension of eligibility for these grants to include Huntingdonshire is most welcome news. I urge all our local businesses to make the most of this opportunity to reduce the cost of connecting to superfast broadband.”

Through Connecting Cambridgeshire’s business support project, Destination Digital, it has helped over 700 businesses across Cambridgeshire to use digital technology.

Businesses can find out more about connection vouchers and apply online on the Destination Digital website: www.destinationdigital.info

RICHARD WISHART'S VIEW

Bringing Huntingdonshire companies into a scheme that has been available in other parts of Cambridgeshire for a very long time is very good news.  The shame is that it has taken so long !!  I would like to know more about the Ultra Fast trial that is planned for Huntingdon and how this scheme would apply.

I would like to know exactly the amount of funding being made available to Huntingdonshire companies through this scheme - The Destination Digital scheme quickly ran out of money and it would be good to know the overall size of the budget?

Another concern is that Broadband is normally purchased as a monthly recurring charge - how can a capital grant be used to pay for a recurring cost ?

Happy to help any Huntingdonshire businesses with their bids. We should be looking for collaborative 1Gbps solutions like they currently have in Peterborough funded by connection vouchers

John Grantham

Cambridgeshire Property Services Professional Launches Independent Estate Agency Business

Guest Blog from new Cambridgeshire startup

BY 

JOHN

 – DECEMBER 17, 2014POSTED IN: BUSINESS REGISTRATION, BUSINESS STARTUP, COMPANY FORMATION, COMPANY PROFILE

A serial achiever during 24 years with NatWest in a variety of management roles, John Grantham joined local property experts, Move with Us, in 2005. Several managerial roles followed including working as Manager of the LPA Receivership Team specialising in the sales and rental of residential property. Move with Us are a Sunday Times Fast Track and Profit 100 company providing risk management solutions and effective sales and marketing channels for residential property businesses. The company proved to be the ideal place for developing and honing the skills that John is about to draw on for his new business venture, Grantham Estate and Letting Agents Ltd.

Trading as an OptimHome independent estate agent, John’s business will focus on property in Cambridgeshire, particularly those in and around the market towns of St Ives, Huntingdon and St Neots. Someone who has lived and worked in the region for over 30 years, it is John’s mission to channel his extensive experience across all aspects of property services into providing a unique independent estate agent service that looks after client requirements every step of the way from the valuation to the completion of the sale.

We caught up with John this week to talk about his new business and what led him to go it alone.

Q – John, tell us about what prompted you to leave Move with Us and setup on your own?

A – “It was a combination of things really. Move with Us had just restructured and the conditions for taking the plunge with a new venture were right in that my children are now grown up and my wife is a successful professional in her own right. So I decided to take the redundancy package that was on offer and focus my efforts on starting my own business.

“In addition, after more than 30 years of working for other people I wanted to be my own boss. The idea of making my own decisions and not being answerable to anyone else was hugely appealing.”

Q – We notice you’ve decided to trade as an OptimHome independent estate agent. What was the thinking behind that?

A – “All of OptimHome agents are independent and community based so the opportunity to use a public facing trading name of an established brand was too good to miss. As a start-up business, I feel my association with OptimHome, who are established in Europe and launched in the UK this year, will strengthen my credibility in the marketplace.”

Q – When do you officially open for business and what have you been doing to prepare yourself?

A – “My company begins trading on 2nd January 2015. Aside from the administrative obligations, I’ve been doing as much research as I can obviously so that I can hit the ground running. I’ve also taken steps to secure an office space in St Ives. I was adamant that I wanted somewhere to work from that was away from home.  Most of the work in the office will not be customer facing though, as I plan to conduct client consultations in their own homes, so this will save on overheads in comparison to the other high street agents, which I will pass on to my clients.”

Q – What will set your business apart from the competition?

A – “As well as providing the complete range of property services that you would expect from the established high street chains, my business can offer a lower fee in comparison. I’m also a firm believer that customer service is everything, so my clients can expect both an outstanding service experience as well as excellent value for money.”

Q – Finally John, what is your main goal for 2015?

A – “It is my primary objective that we are able to put something in the region of 40 to 50 properties through the books over the first 12 months. If we are successful in hitting this target than we can probably look at employing some additional staff this time next year.”

For more information on the property services John offers as an OptimHome Independent Estate Agent and to arrange a free no obligation market appraisal of your property, visit his website at www.johngrantham.optimhome.co.uk

- See more at: http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2014/12/17/cambridgeshire-property-services-professional-launches-independent-estate-agency-business/#sthash.BAilMsgm.dpuf

 John Grantham
 Associate Estate Agent
 john.grantham@optimhome.co.uk www.johngrantham.optimhome.co.uk 

 The Whistlers, St Ives, PE27 3EE
 Tel: 01480 270 516 — Mobile: 07852 669 339 

Search

Re(SEARCH)ing the Markets for your Products

As we all discovered at last months "Marketing Strategy" event researching the target markets for your products or services is far harder than you think.

Richard Wishart of Delivery Management will give a practical tutorial of how to check out the best terms to use in your in your marketing communications. Most people dont realise that there is a lot of science available to help you in this difficult process. With his unique expertise in "Google for Work" - Richard will give a practical demonstration of the new Google Trends product. Everybody uses Google for search - make sure they are searching for you and your products.

Chris Thomas of Milton Contact Ltd is an expert at finding UK partners and customers for incoming German trade delegations.  Getting the right brief, finding the best matched UK companies and orchestrating the introductions (in spite of language issues) . Over the years some of Chris's briefs have been very obscure - so he has developed the "sleuth like" instincts of a latter day Sherlock Holmes. Chris will show you how he finds customers and Partners for his German delegates.

Huntingdonshire Business Network will be holding a Seminar on Friday 3rd October 1230-1430.

Researching the Markets for your Products     (click to book)

The event is part of the HBN Small Business Toolkit Series and after the event attendees should be able to:

1. Use the new Google Trend to test the effectiveness of your USP keywords

2. How to find the best customers/partners for your product or service
3. Create a persuasive 1 minute Elevator Pitch

The will CPD Certificates for all seminar attendees. Bring along the 3 best selling terms (or USPs) for your products and services.

#HBNSBT #HBNmember

The event will cost £5.00 for members and £10.00 for non-members. There will be a sandwich buffet lunch. All welcome

New HBN CPD program

CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Huntingdonshire Business Network (HBN) has just launched its new Autumn Seminar Programme complete with CPD accreditation. The HBN seminars take place on the first Friday of every month at the WI Centre in Huntingdon.  They are open meetings and anybody can attend - with only a small charge for a sandwich lunch.  You can book to attend using the HBN meetup group http://www.meetup.com/Huntingdonshire-Business-Network/  

The first event of the new season was "Marketing Strategy" and this was led by 2 HBN members who are marketing experts  +Simon Atack of Ace Tech Training  and +Tracy Marshall of Approach Direct Marketing.  The event was very popular and a great success and Richard Wishart HBN Chairman (above) received the first CPD Completion Certificate from HBN

All recipients of the new CPD Completion Certificates are encouraged to take "Selfies" and post them on line. 

The Seminars are worth 1 CPD unit and can be used to complement the CPD requirements of any professional body or industry.  Micro-business tend to miss out on the formal professional development training given by larger companies but the new HBN scheme is designed to redress this balance.  

Written by Richard Wishart

HBN Chairman

#hbnseminar

#hbnmember

#cpd

Marketing Strategy Event

Creating a Marketing Strategy for your Business

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service.  (Wikipedia)

As we get back into the “Cut and Thrust” of business after recharging ourselves during the summer break -  it is absolutely vital that you have a clearly defined Marketing Strategy for your business. As business owners we need very clear and precise definition of the market we are planning to address and the tools and techniques that we are going to use.

Producing a Marketing Plan that then languishes in your desk drawer is next to useless - It must be a living and dynamic document that drives action and is continually updated by new insights and practical experience.  A well documented and measurable  Marketing Plan is a superb tool for galvanising your Directors, Employees and Specialist Advisors to the same strategic business objectives.

Huntingdonshire Business Network will be holding a Seminar on Friday 5th September 1230-1430.  HBN Marketing Strategy Seminar

The event is part of the HBN Small Business Toolkit Series and after the event attendees should be able to:

1. Create an outline marketing strategy for their business
2. Provide a clear definition of the market to be addressed
3. Create a 10 Point Marketing Action Plan

The Seminar will be led by Simon Atack and Tracy Marshall -  two HBN members with considerable specialist marketing expertise.  Richard Wishart HBN Chairman will chair the event and ask the hard questions.

Simon Atack

Managing Director, Principal Trainer and Consultant at Ace Tech Training and Business Development Ltd

Ace Tech Training and Business Development Ltd are proud to be accredited as an official Registered Training Centre for Levels 1 to 6 of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management's Ofqual certificated Sales and Marketing courses.

Tracy Marshall

Owner,  Approach Telemarketing. All round marketeer, excels in telemarketing to deliver sales appointments, generate new leads and increase new business

Approach Direct Marketing Ltd is a professional business-to-business (B2B) direct marketing agency. We provide a full range of telemarketing, database building, email marketing services which culminate in managing targeted, effective and productive CRM campaigns.

#hbnmember

#Smallbusinesstoolkit

Written by Richard Wishart