Welcome to the email newsletter from JFP Strategic Planning. This is the regular communication from JFP which we hope will stimulate at least one thought!

FUTURE EVENT - BREAKFAST FORUM

Breakfast Forum - Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) On Wednesday 19th October 2011  we will be holding another of our breakfast events at RMAS. This will be our ninth annual event and it has always proved to be very popular, attracting 50-60 local businesses. This year we will be running the event in partnership with David Venus & Company who specialise in company law and company secretarial practice and are based in Pall Mall and Esher.

Booking forms will be available in August.

RECENT EVENT - TWIS : WE SPONSORED THIS VERY SUCCESSFUL NETWORKING CLUB

On 19th January, JFP sponsored the TWIS networking lunch (Third Wednesday in Slough). Seventy people came along, and it was a pleasure to see them. For those of you who were unable to attend, we hope to see you next time we sponsor the event. This is a monthly networking event with a friendly atmosphere very conducive to developing long-term business links for owners of, and those involved in small and medium-sized businesses. 

NEW CLIENTS

Since our last newsletter, we are very pleased to welcome five new clients and we look forward to a successful relationship with them all.
 

• Red Letter Design a creative graphic design agency, based in Central London, working in partnership with clients ranging from multinationals to start-up companies.
• Cullen International based in Brussels and Namur, who provide a range of regulatory monitoring services on telecommunications, media and electronic commerce, covering the European Union and 30 European countries.
• Vital Elements who supply nutritional supplements.
• Si29 who offer IT services to private individuals and small businesses.
• The Flower Pot a coffee shop/restaurant in near Thame in Oxfordshire.

CORPORATE EXECUTIVE vs ENTREPRENEUR

Those who own and run their own businesses differ considerably from managers in large organizations. Below you will find a “light-hearted” attempt to identify 15 of these differences.

1. Huge corner office vs most practical low cost office.

2. Unlimited expense account vs minimum spend possible.

3. First class travel everywhere vs taking bus if it makes sense.

4. Office politics vs meeting the payroll.

5. Fountain in the foyer vs turning off the lights in empty rooms.

6. Let’s have a meeting about a meeting vs “Do It Now! ”.

7. Executive dining room vs local sandwich shop.

8. Cares deeply about CV vs doesn’t have a CV.

9. Keen on a peerage vs never been to the House of Lords.

10. Eminently employable v utterly unemployable.

11. PA does email vs does own email.

12. Risk averse vs opportunistic.

13. Boardroom fine art vs whitewashed walls.

14. Boasting about how many employees there are vs boasting how few there are.

15. Obsessed with status vs obsessed with cashflow.

TOP TEN TIPS FOR RAISING FUNDS

1. To raise monies for companies, a Business Plan (an Action Plan for smaller companies) will be required. The Business Plan will probably be around 24 pages plus appendices, whilst the Action Plan will be around half a dozen pages.

2. The Business Plan will include inter alia the following sections: Executive Summary, Key Personnel, Company History, Products and Services, The Market, Marketing, Risk Factors and Financial Highlights.

3. Accompanying the Business Plan will be the financial projections, which will probably have detailed month-by-month and annual profit and loss accounts and cash flow forecasts for the first three years plus annual projections for Years 4 and 5. Projected Annual Balance Sheets will also be required.

4. Beware: the vast majority of Business Plans never achieve what they set out to do; usually because sales do not materialise as quickly as expected and costs are usually far greater than originally expected.

5. Raising finance takes time. To arrange a simple bank loan or overdraft will usually take a minimum of a month; whilst raising monies from investors in three months is quick going and normally takes 3 to 6 months – sometimes more.

6. Finance can come from many sources so pick what is best for you – for example, do you need an overdraft, a Bank Loan, an EFG (Entreprise Finance Guarantee) government loan, grants, invoice discounting, factoring, stock finance, soft loans from “friends and families”, private inventors or Business Angel monies, venture capital (institutions providing new and early stage funding) or private equity (institutions providing early stage / development finance or monies to finance Management Buy-Ins or Buy-Outs) or monies from a company (Corporate Venturing) or Venture Capital Trusts, which are publicly quoted companies, which invest in unquoted companies?

7. Always raise more money than you think and use some of it as "financial padding" – because if you run out of money, you will find it difficult to negotiate extra funds from your Bank and if you have to raise more monies from investors, your shareholding will be diluted significantly.

8. If you are raising monies, which entails giving an investor or institution a share of your company, you will have to be clear at the outset how they will make a return on their money – for example do you envisage a trade sale, going public or buying-out the other shareholders via a Management Buy-Out or just continuing to trade with an agreed dividend policy?

9. Raising monies is not easy but if you believe in yourself and your company, you must remain committed and focused and do PERSEVERE. Anita Roddick of Body Shop fame had great difficulty raising money for her second shop – but eventually found a private investor. Thirty years later, she sold the company to L’Oreal for £625 million.

10. Do not try and re- invent the wheel; appoint an adviser who has the appropriate experience. At JFP Strategic Planning, John Fairley or Norrie Jackson would be glad to help you.

WHAT ACTIONS ARISE FROM A JFP PLANNING DAY?

We are often asked what type of actions arise from a JFP Planning Day. Here is an example:
ABC Limited is a recruitment company owned equally by Mr. X and Mrs. Y, who are also both Directors - turnover is circa £1 million. Six months ago, they attended a JFP Planning Day and here is what happened.

1. Strategic Plan
The Strategic Plan that was prepared helped Mr. X and Mrs Y to understand what they had to do to grow the company in a controlled and profitable manner. The Financial Projections also showed what could be achieved and the likely sales price in five years' time, should they choose to sell. With agreed goals in place, both Directors felt more IN CONTROL.

2. Cash Flow Constraints
Although invoice discounting was in place, the company was experiencing continuous cash flow constraints. A mini-Business Plan was prepared and a meeting with their Bank was arranged with a view to securing a £75k Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) loan. They were turned down. Within four weeks, another Bank was approached, AN EFG LOAN FOR £75K WAS SECURED and the new bank account was in place. The stress of reviewing the cash flow forecasts every day evaporated and such forecasts are now reviewed every month.

3. Board Meetings
Board Meetings tended to be informal, irregular and ineffective. With a JFP Partner in place, acting as a Non-Executive Director, the meetings are now held every month, last around two hours and are conducted in line with an agreed Agenda with Minutes recorded. The whole process has BROUGHT A NEEDED DISCIPLINE to the company and means deadlines are now less likely to slip.
 

4. Sales & Marketing
At the Planning Day, ABC’s Sales & Marketing had been reviewed and a number of actions were agreed as follows:
• With the help of a Marketing Consultant, ALL CORPORATE LITERATURE WAS UPDATED. This included upgrading the website, changing the colours and adding customer testimonials and case studies. Overall, ABC’s promotional material now has a consistent “look and feel”.
• A number of techniques were used to improve the ABC’s search engine ranking.
• More on-line marketing is now been undertaken.
• The activities of ABC’s competitors are now reviewed in a more structured manner.

  www.jfpstrategic-planning.co.uk/presentations/SPT_bus_Presentation95.pdf

RISK MANAGEMENT

Have you considered the risks facing your business? We can help you to explore risk potential and plan to mitigate it. Action and budgetary impact tools help prepare achievable plans. The result of the risk management exercise is an increased sense of security on both a personal and business level.

www.jfpstrategic-planning.co.uk/presentations/RMT_Presentation95.pdf

IMPROVE YOUR PROFITABILITY!

Attend a one day workshop to work through our profit improvement session. The process stimulates action and plans and budgetary implications for your business. Find out more on our website or email sp@jfpstrategic-planning.co.uk to book a one-day session.

http://www.jfpstrategic-planning.co.uk/presentations/PIT_Presentation95.pdf

USEFUL LINKS

The latest monthly summary of business conditions in the United Kingdom, as reported by the Bank's Agents is now available.

Below is a link to the document on the Bank's website.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/agentssummary/agsum11Apr.pdf