The Business Bulletin

Welcome to The Business Bulletin - a weekly collection of useful articles covering all pillars of business created by leading experts in their field. Plus a "spotlight on" interview - gaining insights from small business owners.

In this week's edition:

• Are your employees benefiting from you? - Andi Herrington
• How do I go about generating referrals? A route map - Jacky Sherman
• The importance of radio in your marketing - Martin Steers
• 6 questions to ask before you write a blog - Dr Susan Hammond
• What makes a good manager? - Caroline Robertson
• Streaking to success! - Lee Matthew Jackson
• Spotlight On: Steven Mather

Are your employees benefiting from you? - Andi Herrington

Retaining good quality employees can be difficult, for years larger employers have been doing this by providing their employees with perks or benefits. Smaller employers are starting to join in and are looking into providing benefits to employees but can be concerned about the extra red tape, as well as having to consider not only the cost of the benefit but the cost of administering that benefit.

Two of the benefits that are becoming more common with employers who have a smaller number of employees are private medical insurance and cycle to work schemes. There are now a number of providers who cater for or specialise in the Micro and SME market and many of these offer much more competitive rates than an employee can get independently.

These benefits are very different in the way they are provided to employees. Private Medical Insurance is paid for by the employer but is subject to tax (and class 1A National Insurance) and has to be reported to HMRC. Cycle to work is paid for by the employee but can save both the employee and employer money.

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How do I go about generating referrals? A route map - Jacky Sherman

After 18 years experience working with others on their referral marketing I’ve distilled all that knowledge into a 5 point guide that if you follow you will generate a regular flow of introductions to your ideal clients.

Get out there and be seen.

Woody Allen summed it up when he said?“80% of success in life is just showing up”.

He was being self deprecating but he had a point. If no-one knows you’re in business, and they don’t know what you have to offer then no-one is going to refer you.

So from day one get out there and be seen, in person, on-line and, maybe, still in print.?From day one let everyone you know know what you’re planning to do

Don’t wait until your idea is fully formed; these people may help you with useful feedback, advice , resources and contacts that may improve on your original ideas and save you pain and expense further down the road.

Most importantly your first referrals are likely to come from someone you already know well. Why because they like you and want to help. If they’ve been on the journey with you from the beginning they will feel they have some stake in your success and be even more inclined and better equipped to help.

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The importance of radio in your marketing - Martin Steers

Never before have we had so many channels to communicate, market and spread our message as we do today, and the drive over the past few decades has been too digital – forever new and launching platforms and frontiers, each then developing their own experts as to how to use that platform and how it’s best for XYZ industry and ABC customers (and of course using their expertise to help deliver it).

However, in this drive to digital quite often the old ways can be forgotten, especially for new businesses, enterprises and new marketers, I want to remind and maybe even introduce you to the power and importance of making sure radio is in your marketing plan, from free media to paid for promotion.

Radio isn’t dead!

Whenever I speak to marketers, or to school, college or university students about radio, as part of the introduction I normally ask them how many listen to radio each week, normally with varied results based on age and other factors (such as car ownership), but I normally then go on to ask how many adults nationally as a percentage they think listen to radio each week with a ‘price is right’ style higher or lower game.

Why not take a moment to consider this yourself…. 50%, 60%, 70%, higher, lower?

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6 questions to ask before you write a blog - Dr Susan Hammond

Blogging for business works…

“Businesses with a regular blog on their website get twice as many email enquiries than businesses that don’t.”

“Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than those without.” –?Quoracreative

But only if you do it well.

And so you don’t end up with naff content or take eons to write something you should always ask six questions.?Before?putting pen to paper.

6 honest serving-men

Do you know the poem “I Keep Six Honest Serving Men” from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Elephant’s Child”?

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What makes a good manager? - Caroline Robertson

We probably all remember that one person, who looking back was a great manager. If we wrote down a list of the behaviours and attributes that stood out for us, it would probably be quite random and might not even make much sense. However, it’s more than likely that one of the things you noted was something to do with them being a good listener.

Epictetus’s quote?“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak,”?is something worth remembering. If you are one of those managers who want to jump in first and give advice or tell people what to do, you need to stop and think. Because by talking you are preventing yourself from listening.

Creating a positive working environment

According to research, being a good listener is a sign of emotional maturity and sound communication skills, which are key for being an effective manager. You might think that listening comes easily and naturally, because let’s face it most of us have been listening all our lives. However surprisingly, many people rarely actively and attentively listen to others. Instead, we get distracted, preoccupied and can become focused on the importance of what we are going to say. This means that we miss what other people are saying and this can be detrimental to management and business success.

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Streaking to success! - Lee Matthew Jackson

How to create good habits and break bad habits using streaks to gamify your success.

We all have dreams we wish to achieve, personal goals we want to mean, or unhealthy habits we want to break. Be it writing that book you have inside of you, or quitting smoking we so often fail.

From personal experience, I’ve lost and gained weight, failed to complete multiple projects, and experienced the frustration of never quite reaching my full potential. How do we get things done and beat this negative spiral?

For me, the answer was “streaks”!

...read more.

Spotlight on:? Steven Mather

Steven is a consultant solicitor with Nexa Law, a next-generation, nationwide law firm that allows him to run his legal business how he wants. He's helped thousands of clients in matters worth many millions of pounds. He's been doing this since qualifying as a solicitor in 2008 and he's been running businesses since he was 15. So he's seen pretty much every legal issue going!

Watch the video and learn more about Steven's business journey plus some top tips!