Business Link advice 'helps new business succeed' (From Watford Observer)

Business Link advice 'helps new business succeed'

9:30am Wednesday 24th November 2010 in Business News

An independent survey carried out by Business Link in the East of England has revealed that entrepreneurs that seek advice from the service when starting out have an 84 per cent survival rate beyond three years, compared with a 64 per cent national average for those that choose to go it alone.

This percentage increases even further, to 96 per cent, when in-depth support is provided by a Business Link adviser.

During Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 15-21), Business Link is urging enterprising Hertfordshire residents to get in touch and take advantage of the free help available to help them start a sustainable business.

Pat Smith, Chief Executive of Business Link in the East of England said: “Global Entrepreneurship Week is about inspiring and supporting people to start a business; a movement that I back whole heartedly.

”To ensure that these new businesses have the best possible chance of long-term survival and growth, it is important that they are encouraged to access the support they need and for it to be provided when and how they want it. And that’s where Business Link comes in.

“What’s clear from the results of this survey is that Business Link is helping more new businesses to survive and that this survival is linked to the availability of high quality support. This is good news for Hertfordshire entrepreneurs and for the local economy.”

Last year, Business Link in the East of England helped create more than 3,400 new businesses, leading to the creation of 5,626 new jobs.

Businesses and entrepreneurs are extremely satisfied with the support they receive from Business Link; in the first half of this financial year, overall customer satisfaction was rated at 91.7 per cent. High customer satisfaction scores show that when it comes to finding the right level of support, Business Link is a valued service.

The information and advice that Business Link provides not only supports people to make a start in business, but also helps entrepreneurs make the right decisions when starting out.

Business Link offers the following tips to starting your business successfully:

• Research the market – your customers, your competitors and your business operations.
• Focus not on what you want to offer, but on what your customers want to buy - build a customer profile detailing who they are and their wants and needs.
• Do the maths. Before you start, put together a forecast of the income you expect to generate and all the costs you expect the business to incur. Make sure your pricing is viable.
• Be realistic – becoming profitable can take longer than expected. Build a safety net into your start-up budget.
• Spread the word – use the most cost-effective media that are likely to be seen or heard by potential customers.
• Don’t go it alone – starting and managing your own business will involve some tough challenges and difficult decisions. Use the support networks available to you - using the help offered by Business Link could improve your likelihood of success by 20 per cent.
• Pull everything together into a concise, focused written Plan.