Sage Blog

Business Networking Strategist, Andy Lopata, is speaking at this week’s free Sage World event. He talks to the Sage Blog about getting the most out of business events.

Business Networking Strategist, Andy Lopata

I’m delighted to hear that registrations for the Sage World 2010 event in Telford this weeks are now around the 1,500 mark.

I’m speaking on both days at the event alongside some exceptional business experts and entrepreneurs and Sage have worked hard to ensure that each delegate will enjoy a fully interactive experience. I’m particularly interested to see in action the SpotMe technology they are using for people to exchange details, meet key people and ask questions of the speakers.

In my first presentation I’ll be looking at how to get the most from the event, and the importance of a networking strategy in general. Two days is a big investment of time from any entrepreneur, but one that can offer a tremendous return if used wisely. I’ll be aiming to give delegates a few ideas to really focus their attention on what they want to achieve by being there.

At the end of day two I’ll be sharing some simple tips to help delegates develop a powerful referrals strategy, hopefully with the help of some of the contacts they will have made over the previous 36 hours!

As well as my two talks, I’ll be holding surgeries, facilitating networking and be available to answer your questions on networking and referral generation on both days of the event. I’ve also invited some questions in advance on the Sage World Facebook page and I will deal with as many as I can at the event.

There is still time to register; go to www.sageworld2010.co.uk to book your place today.

Keith Proudfoot, Regional Director of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), will be speaking at next month’s free event for small businesses, Sage World. He’s taken time out to talk to the Sage Blog about the needs of small businesses.

Last week I attended a round table discussion with Dr Vince Cable.  Among some talk about Local Economic Partnerships replacing the 10 Regional Development Agencies discussion turned to small business and their needs to drive the recovery.

Keith Proudfoot, Regional Director ICAEW

Dr Cable sees the SME sector as pivotal to the future of the UK.  So it’s good news that his Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) will do what they can, or what they can afford, to help smaller businesses.

The promise of less regulation has been heard before, but the most encouraging part was Dr Cable’s affirmation that he would use a combination of sticks and carrots to ensure that the banking sector lends to smaller businesses.

Of course a bank overdraft is just one way that a business sets itself up to do business and I shall be talking about alternatives in my session at the Sage World conference in Telford next month.

I will also be looking at ways to make your approach to banks more likely to succeed.  While I can make no promises on turning sow’s ears into silk purses, I will be giving tips to make your approach to the bank be given proper consideration.

I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the Sage World conference and hope you will find my presentation useful.  I know I will enjoy hearing the other presentations and find out a little more about Telford: the home town of my daughter’s boyfriend – it’s a small world!

Keith Proudfoot

Register free for Sage World at www.sageworld2010.co.uk

We knew it was going to be bad.

But as the first official breakdown into what the Government owes is published, the UK’s debt crisis appears to be much worse than anyone thought.

Steve Porter, Sage Accountants Division

New figures confirm that Britain is now in the red to the tune of £4 trillion – a hefty £65,000 per person. And experts say that as analysts continue to pore over the country’s post-election finances, the figure could rise even further.

So how does it all add up? And where do we go from here?

According to research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the amount owed is double that previously predicted by analysts – including the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

ONS experts say our borrowing is now so huge it would take each of the UK’s 62 million residents five years to pay off their share.

Their report, published last month, attempts to present a comprehensive review of our debt by adopting an approach pioneered by former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher advised assessing spending and debt in the same way that households calculate what they can and can’t afford.

Round up of our financial health

The ONS says their survey represents the first realistic round up of our financial health since the election and looks at amounts spent on public sector and state pensions, bank bailouts and costs incurred by Labour’s Private Finance Initiative.

The figures are truly mind-boggling. The report calculates there is now a net public sector debt of £1.08 trillion but values state assets – including the worth of every school, hospital, office, council house, railway, ship, aircraft, vehicles and land – at £1.4 trillion.

Analysts added the large amounts spent on pensions – there is some dispute about these but the ONS estimates the public sector pot is £1.2 trillion and the state pot £1.35 trillion – to the additional costs taxpayers must cover, including £40billion for decommissioning old nuclear power stations and £500billion for contingencies.

Another £1trillion to £1.5trillion was spent on banking bailouts and take-overs, setting the total debt at around £4 trillion.

More bad news to come?

ONS chief economist Joe Grice said that the estimates were ‘important steps to help assessment of the public finances and their sustainability.’ But others have warned that there could be more bad news to come.

Mike Denham from the TaxPayers’ Alliance warned that the amount could double as the true cost of helping the banks is revealed and our pensionable population increases.

As he says: “Once you take account of the full extent of state pension liabilities and other costs associated with an ageing population it may be that the real liability could be double even these figures.”

For now, the Treasury’s response has been to establish an Office for Budget Responsibility and a Public Service Pension Commission to look into spending and sustainability respectively – amid fears about cuts and freezes.

Managing public finances

But professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) say more wide-scale action is needed to address the problem and are calling for an overhaul of the way public finances are managed.

Chief executive, Michael Izza, explains: “While there are important debates to be had about specific spending cuts, I believe that meaningful reform is necessary to underpin sustainable public finances over the long term and create a culture of fiscal responsibility.”

As he says, there is still a lot of number crunching to be done but finding meaningful, permanent solutions to our debt problem is a challenge we all face.

Thinking business

At Sage our aim is to do our bit in terms of helping sustain a slow but steady recovery. We pride ourselves on our mantra of ‘thinking business’, and this includes an understanding of how important is to keep a track of the financial health of your company. We know the value of financial control and visibility, and this is something that we try and weave into everything we do – whether as part of our software solutions or the advice we offer via our wide-reaching support network.

Business advice and Accountants

Coming specifically from Sage Accountants’ Division, we’re also aware of the key role that accountants can play here – in terms of providing the right software and support to businesses. After all, in our last Pulse survey we saw that small and medium-sized companies now see accountants as their first port of call for business advice.

We’re all in it together, and the time and cost savings that we can produce from our continued close relationships – understanding the needs of a business or practice and offering the most efficient solutions or guidance – mean that we can all play our own part in edging towards economic recovery.

Steve Porter, Sage Accountants’ Division

Marketing Specialist, Geoff Ramm, talks to the Sage Blog about why Sage World adds up to an event not to be missed.

They say business is a numbers game, so here goes;

Geoff Ramm

On the 8^th and 9^th of September 2010 over 1,500 businesses will descend into The International  Centre, Telford.  The investment £0.

In just 48 hours 15 professional speakers will share their own ideas, techniques and vast knowledge to help transform your business, take it to the next level and maybe help you to stay, 1,2 or even 3 steps ahead of the competition.

By my own calculations all you have to do is take a minimum of 1 idea from us in those 2 days and you will walk away 30 ideas richer. 

Now let’s think for a minute of the potential of networking with 1,500 entrepreneurs, companies and organisations who will be there.  You will also have your very own Spotme tool to help you to network with exactly the right people you want to connect with!

As for me…..  my ‘Now That’s What I Call Marketing’ – Volume 1 & 2 keynotes will be packed with great cost effective ideas to help you gain more customers, retain more customers  and yes I will also reveal how using powerful numbers will help you to stay ahead of the competition! 

Warning there will be great prizes to be won too. 

Look forward to meeting you at the 2 day conference.

Geoff Ramm, International Marketing Speaker, Marketer & Author

Register free for Sage World at www.sageworld2010.co.uk

Offering social proof – showing that other people have taken a similar decision – is a proven method of driving marketing response rates.

Jason Sullock

Negative social proof

But one of the most common mistakes, made even by experienced marketers, is provide negative social proof.  And this, with the best of intentions, can actually decrease the likelihood of getting you a good result.

Surely no-one would do such a thing?

You’d think so wouldn’t you?  But it happens all the time… the sign in your Doctor’s Surgery that tells you ‘36 patients did not show up for their appointments last month’… the notice at the National Park that tells you ‘Your countryside is being spoilt every day by the picking of wild flowers’… the politician who tells you ‘22 million young people did not vote in this year’s election’.

What these examples tell you as the reader or the listener is that ‘this is the norm’.

In fact, in one test, a negative social proof statement actually increased the rate of theft of petrified wood in an Arizona National Park by a whopping 5%; whereas the picture of a lone thief and a simple statement asking the tourists ‘not to steal’ reduced the rate by 1.25%.

Another test, again in Arizona, improved the level of recycling by 25.4%, simply by displaying the slogan ‘Arizona recycles’ and an outline of the state filled with the smiling faces of different people.

Clear evidence of how important the use of positive social reinforcement can be.

Using positive social reinforcement in the workplace

And this can be taken into your workplace too.  Rather than expressing disappointment at how many members of staff have not implemented a new process (and highlighting that people have not listened to you), it might be more advantageous to publish a list of all those who have already done so.

So the next time you’re trying to change a situation… think positive.

Jason Sullock, Customer Marketing Manager in Sage’s Small Business Division and author of 555 Quick n Dirty Marketing Tips

We’re getting closer to our free small business event, Sage World 2010. So, we’ve asked another of our top speakers, Rory MccGwire– to tell us why he’s taking part.

I was delighted to be invited to speak at the forthcoming Sage World event as I believe it will provide a great platform for start-ups to gain practical insight, contacts and advice to help them set up and run successful small businesses.

Rory MccGwire

I’m also pleased to see that Sage World is trying to do something different from the usual business event with their ‘interactive delegate technology’. The fact the event is technology driven (and yes, Sage can provide that technology) means there will be lots of demonstrations of the software tools you can use to get your business idea off the ground.

If you’ve already established your business, then you’ll find plenty of ideas to help you build on that foundation and meet the technical challenges that small firms face in the modern business climate. So it’s not about the technology for its own sake. It’s about what the technology can do for you, and the event will be looking at finance, HR, marketing – many of the most important aspects of running a business well.

Which is where I come in. As founder of the Donut small business advice websites , I’m well-versed in what small businesses really need to know. In my presentation, I’ll be encouraging you to take a realistic look at your business and its potential and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on how you can hone and reach your objectives. Sage World also offers a tremendous opportunity for you to build useful contacts. If I were a start-up owner at the event, however, I would be looking to take home more than a fistful of business cards, some leaflets and vague recollections of having spoken to someone from somewhere about something. Networking is about meeting the right people, making the right connections and tracking them during and after an event. So I’m dying to try out Sage’s Spotme electronic networking device. I’m sure this could really help me find and talk to the people that matter to me.

I’m sure it’ll help you, too. So please do track me on Spotme, come and say hello and make the time to hear my presentation.

Rory MccGwire.

Register free for Sage World at www.sageworld2010.co.uk

I recently had the privilege of joining Carl Hopkins and Jonathan Hick (who you might have seen on Channel Four’s Secret Millionaire) as judges for the North region heat of The Pitch 2010.

The Pitch 2010: North England heat

What is the Pitch?

The Pitch 2010, for which Sage is one of the sponsors, is in its third year and is Britain’s largest pitching competition.  It is similar in style to Dragon’s Den and instead of pitching for an investment they are pitching for a chance to win a prize of business services worth £50,000.

It’s a tough competition with five finalists selected from regional heats and one people’s champion selected from an online public vote.  The winner will be announced in November at The Business Factory event.

As a judge my goal was to understand and evaluate the business concepts, identify the opportunities and the threats as well as the business and presentation skills of the people pitching, searching for the best of the best.

The North Region Finalists

• Gaist – Utilises Microsoft Bing Maps and overlays this with information about transport infrastructure such as road works etc to enable organisations such as local councils and the fire service to collaborate real time.
• MyMall – A virtual shopping mall which enables you to experience all elements of online shopping in one place.
• Meltwater – A chocolate fondue which uses hot water allowing you to enjoy chocolate in a healthy way with the minimum of fuss.
• Acadreamia – An innovative service that enables university students to rent textbooks easily and affordably.
• Philip Porter Guitars – Hand built electric guitars to Phillip’s specifications which he believes will eliminate amplification feedback.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the North

Throughout the event I was really impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit of the North Region; the presenters were passionate about their business and where they saw it would fit in the market.  They talked us through their idea, where their business was now and where they saw the future.

The ultimate winner of the North Region was Gaist who impressed us all with their business acumen, an impressive track record and some existing and potential contracts which have been borne out of their past success.

With all of the businesses they had real areas of strength as well as areas where we could help with advice on other options to consider.

Advice to start-up businesses

1) Don’t restrict your market

If possible open your business to as many options as possible. For example with MeltWater initially their business concept was a healthier way to enjoy chocolate which may limit its appeal to people who want to be healthy.   The product itself is also completely transportable so could also be marketed as a way to enjoy fondue on the move as part of a romantic picnic or whilst camping.  By opening up the concept you widen the markets you can operate in.

2) Don’t underestimate the logistics of your venture

Whilst starting out and having a small client base it might be feasible to manage the operation yourself but once the business grows will that infrastructure still be appropriate?  When you only have a few customers you may be able to purchase package and ship yourself, however when you have 100’s of customers you may need premises and staff all of which need to be built into your business plans.

3) Understand your customers

Who is your customer and what are they looking? Don’t only consider what product or service they need, but what sort of customer experience are they looking for? Customers will have a preference in how they interact and how they purchase. For example many will research on the internet but for certain products they will choose to buy in the store as they want the experience that brings.  By understanding this and making it easy for customers to move seamlessly through channels you will widen your appeal.

4) You don’t need to be overwhelmed

Starting your own business and then running it successfully can feel like you are having to become an expert in a variety of fields from marketing to service, sales to finance and it can feel like you are on your own.

It doesn’t have to be like that. Take advantage of free advice and software on starting up and running your business. We have a range of free business white papers covering  topics from starting your business to understanding your market. There’s also plenty of free software out there to help you get off the ground, such as:

• Sage Planning for business – free software that will help you plan and launch your new business
• Sage Invoicing – free invoicing software

Good luck!

I wish all you budding entrepreneurs out there the best of luck and would recommend you take up all the advice available. And of course, best of luck to all of the The Pitch’s finalists.

Kim Eyre, Sage’s Small Business Division

We’re working hard to get everything ready for our free small business event, Sage World 2010. So, we thought we’d ask one of our speakers, Chris Hunter - writer, businessman and former bomb disposal specialist – to tell us why he’s taking part in our event.

As somebody used to taking risks and dealing with pressure, the chance to become immersed in a forum of this kind, is an opportunity I simply couldn’t miss.  Sage World’s ‘Immerse Yourself’ event not only offers an amazing number of networking opportunities but  also an impressive line up of inspirational speakers all of whom promise to offer business beating techniques that attendees can implement immediately.  

Chris Hunter, speaker at Sage World 2010

Personally, I’m going to be drawing some parallels between my life now – as a businessman – and the lessons I learned in my former life where I frequently operated in high pressure environments in which disabling terrorist bombs and dealing with the continual threat of insurgent ambushes were everyday occurrences.

Stay focused

I’m going to be covering a lot of topics, but I’m especially looking forward to discussing the importance of staying focused: Four days into my tour in Iraq, a tabloid published fake photographs that led to a local cleric putting a price on our heads. That night, my driver and I were shot in a terrifying ambush. Staying focused was all that kept us alive.

Pursuing your goals

I’m also going to be sharing my thoughts on importance of pursuing a goal relentlessly – but not over-complicating a situation. In Iraq, as we became more skilled at disabling terrorist bombs, the bombers also became more skilled and determined.  My team only stayed alive because we didn’t cut corners and were relentless in seeing the task through to the end. But the bombers weren’t our only enemy.  Because of the intense heat and the harsh terrain, our kit and equipment often broke down right at the critical moment.  Our ability to improvise and think on our feet was the difference between instant failure and total success, and we quickly learned that it often pays to keep it simple. NASA spent $12m designing a pen that could write in space. The Russians took pencils! 

Overcoming fear

And finally, for those of you who get nervous at the thought of networking…I’m also going to be offering a few techniques on overcoming fear: ‘You’re going to do the world’s most dangerous job in the world’s most dangerous place.’ That’s how my bomb disposal tour in Iraq was sold to me, and I wasn’t overly enamored at the prospect…but I knew that fear can be your friend; and if you take nothing else away with you, this event will teach you to embrace and nurture fear – and how to gain strength from it to give yourself a competitive edge.  

Life is a daring adventure…or nothing at all.  See you there!

Chris Hunter

Register free for Sage World at www.sageworld2010.co.uk

I had a great day at Sage Connect, the Sage UK and Irelands Accountants Division event at the British Museum this week: buzz, interaction, vision and inspiration.

Now, I’m not grading my own paper here. Yes, as  Head of  Marketing for the Accountants Division, it’s my budget and my team’s responsibility – but that’s precisely the point. The team headed by Lisa Benner did an incredible job and enabled me to focus on the key aspects of the day: customer and partner learnings, Sage’s Cloud vision for accountants, iXBRL and compliance – and real humour from speakers Nick Hewer and Spencer Kelly.

Sage and Blackberry

Main sponsor RIM delighted accountants and our teams with the extent of business tasks you can get done on the BlackBerry – many were unaware that you could do your time and billing on the device, link to Sage 200 and Sage CRM Solutions as Taylorcocks Accountants described in a recent case study

Nick Goode, Sage Accountants Division

. Accountants always tell us: we are a time-bound profession and any savings on task execution means more billing time and faster resolution for customers. We enjoyed a dinner in London with the RIM team and there is real appetite for more mobile solutions for our accountant customers.

iXBRL

Doing new cool stuff on the Blackberry is always enticing – as is, for our customers and for us, tax, compliance and of course iXBRL. Julian Hatt from HMRC did a tremendous job of answering many questions about compliance, setting our customers minds at rest. For example, HMRC are adopting a “soft landing” approach where iXBRL filings will be treated leniently in the first two years after mandatory online filing in April next year. He also confirmed to the audience that expert systems such as the Sage Accounts Production product range are needed, that while HMRC does have an online tool it is only for “occasional use” for clubs, as an example. I picked up a question on the Q&A Panel regarding word tagging – that accounts prepared in Word and Excel will have to be tagged and that we will provide a product for this along with the XBRL enablement of our tax and accounts production software. Your views on outsourced tagging are welcome. With Companies House representatives also present throughout the day (a big thank you again), customers were able to get the information they need live and direct.

Future directions?

I also had the pleasure of welcoming Gina Dyer of AccountingWeb to one of my breakout sessions on Cloud computing and online solutions for Sage Accountants Division.

Through interaction with customers and partners during the sessions, I was able to draw pictures of customer needs: online collaboration between accountants and their customers; mobile access for onsite accounts review and editing; cool ideas like e-invoicing; the real demand for online payments leveraging the fast-growing Sage Pay solution; and most of all, the confirmation from our customers and partners that an “all cloud” position would be wrong; that our vast customer base means one size does not fit all and that our rollout of products and services online over the coming months and years is the right approach.

Sincere thanks to all who contributed to the debates – our only regret was lack of time!

Celebrating Success

Jayne Archbold, the Managing Director of the Accountants  Division, awarded 12  of our customers and partners for innovation, business growth, customer service, beta involvement and more. As each winner took to the stage, a different “money” themed tune blasted out (Pink Floyd, Simply Red, The Beatles and the Flying Lizards – remember them?) – I think it worked, good fun and sincere thanks and congratulations to all our winners.

I loved the way that Gina was able to get a video of Nick Hewer from the apprentice during the drinks reception. Nick had given us the inside view on The Apprentice. I completely agreed with him that the worst ever task execution was the army guy who tried to sell Macro cheddar to the French and cook sausages over a baked bean tin… And thanks Nick for your comments about how Sage grew from a tiny start-up in 1981 to the global giant we are today.

Past, present and future: the iconic British  museum with its Egyptian obelisks at the head of the stairs leading down to the event, where we entered the very real business of accountants, representing every type of British business at work today and every day; and with us now and into the future, the new worlds of online filing, payments, collaboration and services for accountants.

Of the tweets (#SageConnect) and emails on the event, the comment I liked most is that our desire to understand exactly what accountant customers need is palpable. At our core at Sage is Extraordinary Customer Experience, in using Sage products to run your business and in the services we provide.  Feedback, as ever, welcome.

Nick Goode, Head of Commercial Marketing, Sage Accountants Division

The end of the tax year is a busy period for all employers and we constantly work to improve our payroll software and the support service, SageCover, we provide to make this time of year as simple and as painless as possible for our customers. One of the key things an employer needed to do was to send their payroll information to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), by the 18^th May.

Gary Ging, Sage Payroll Team (enjoying a Newcastle summer)

Online filing

This used to be a laborious task of having to produce two copies of the P14 form for every employee who worked for you during the year and the P35, which summarises all of the information on the P14s. This was all mailed in the post to HMRC (at the employer’s cost) or you went to your local tax office to deliver it personally. And don’t forget that you also have to give a P60, on paper, to all of your employees still employed by you at the end of the year.

The introduction of online filing has changed the way in which employers can send this information to HMRC and this year was the first year in which all employers, with a few exceptions, were required to submit their year end information online. Not only is this much easier than printing lots of paper work (it’s now just a couple of mouse clicks) but it gives you an immediate response from HMRC to tell you that they have received the information and if everything was ok or not.

How did we do?

We recently received our annual Vendor Report from HMRC detailing how our payroll products performed over the 2009/10 on-line filing period and we were once again very happy with the figures – 436,104 successful employer submissions for a total of 7,218,432 P14s.

Since the introduction of on-line filing we have always exceeded the previous year figures but the most pleasing aspect of the latest report is that it’s not just about the quantity of submissions but also the quality.

The Vendor Report doesn’t just tell us how many successful submissions were made using Sage Payroll software but also how many were unsuccessful, and this year there were 661. No, that isn’t a typo – out of 436,765 submission attempts there were only 661 failures.

This gives us a 99.85% success rate, which I think is pretty phenomenal considering the number of submissions made. And whilst 661 submission attempts were unsuccessful, this does not mean that 661 employers who use our products were not able to submit at all – our submission data shows that these employers did make a successful submission after correcting the original problem.

And I don’t refer to the number of failed submissions as ‘only 661’. We believe that this number is too high and so we have already set ourselves a target of improving these numbers for next year – not only on the number of submissions but we’re going for a 100% first time success rate.

On a final note, HMRC have changed their regulations and so from the 2010/11 year end it will be possible to give your employees their P60 electronically. Within Sage Payroll this will mean that you can either continue to print them on paper or email them directly to your employees, complete with password protection.

Gary Ging, Sage Payroll Team