Enterprise of the North

I have spent the past couple of days in the north of England; feeling its energy and discussing prompt payment, SME-friendly policy making, and how small firms can win more contracts. This week’s newsletter offers an introduction to the role of Number 10 North plus points and tips made by small business owners and their stakeholders.

Number 10 North

On Wednesday we hosted a roundtable discussion in Manchester to offer an update on progress of the Commercial Payments Bill to small firms and their support organisations including Greater Manchester Chamber, UK, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Greater Manchester Combined Authority Startup Coalition and Manchester Growth Hub. We were delighted to welcome Alasdair Hutchison from Number 10 North to introduce us to the role of the office. Key points:

• Number 10 North is being designed to be the ‘front door for business’ and is keen to engage with businesses, large and small, on sentiment, policy, and plans.
• Its role is national and focuses on three priority areas; delivering good growth, rewiring the state (there is an initial paper on this here) and public service reform.

The open approach to business engagement was welcomed and participants offered thoughts in response; suggesting partnership with the business community so founders don’t feel things are done ‘to them’ but ‘with them’ and the idea of testing policy before implementation with a small group of companies. Another point made was to ensure that as devolution accelerates, local bodies be supported with capability building.

Procurement

Small businesses welcome being part of policy-making but they also like making sales so on Thursday I spent time at SheChain Live in Blackpool which was focused on equipping founders with tips and techniques to sell well. Top tips from the panel I got to hear were:

• ‘Talk fast, but not too fast!’ – I loved this tip! It focused on getting to your USP quickly when pitching to a buyer, and doing so whilst being yourself and authentic.
• Understand the risk that a corporate champion of your brand might be taking when deciding to buy from you. This was a point well made from a buyer in a large hotel group. She explained that in procuring from a new and small supplier, she has to get buy-in from finance, ops, and brand as, if the contract does not go well, these teams would need to be involved in damage limitation ie step in the shoes of the buyer and help them make the case for your products or services.
• On that, a great suggestion from a founder who says she de-risks the decision for buyers by offering to do free or low-cost pilots to show her worth and then builds confidence to progress to larger orders.
• My tip (of course) was to check the payment terms of your contracts and negotiate with larger clients based on the changes set to come into effect that will see the UK move to 60 day maximum payment terms.

From policy to procurement, there is plenty going on to support small businesses and it’s good to see live events spotlighting this. The more we publicly recognise the value of entrepreneurs operating across the UK, the better.

Emma