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    How do I financially plan for new opportunities?

    You never know when opportunity will come knocking, so it’s essential to always be prepared for the next one. Although some opportunities may be in the form of speaking at an event or collaborating with a competitor, others can be more costly to find and then capitalise on. So that you never let an opportunity pass you by, it’s key to be financially ready at a moment’s notice.

    Ways to help you deal with it:

    Action plan

    Developing a new product or service

    Effort: High
    Impact : High
    Creating a new product or service for your business and not sure where to start? Follow our five-step action plan.

    ACTION PLANS are a structured list of steps designed to help you approach tackling a particular business challenge.

    • We explain why each step is important
    • Customise by setting your own completion dates and assign tasks
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available

    Action plan

    Planning finances during periods of growth

    Effort: Medium
    Impact : Medium
    Financial planning is crucial during periods of growth. Our five-step plan will help you manage finances and take advantage of the opportunity.

    Action plan

    Leveraging research to understand the business landscape

    Effort: Low
    Impact : Medium
    This action plan looks at how business leaders can use different types of research to build a better understanding of the business landscape.

    Action plan

    Building a network from scratch

    Effort: High
    Impact : High
    Building a network is about making valuable contacts who can provide guidance during critical moments. Our action plan will show you where to start.

    Action plan

    Developing a recruitment process for scale

    Effort: Medium
    Impact : Medium
    Improving your recruitment process increases the quality of your hires. It’s a crucial part of scaling. Here’s how to get started.

    Action plan

    Filling the skill gaps in your business

    Effort: Medium
    Impact : Medium

    Guide

    An introduction to financially planning for new opportunities

    Having a new opportunity can be tantalising, but how do you get your finances in shape? Our guide will show you how to understand the impact on your business.

    GUIDES break a challenge down, providing important context and real-world experiences.

    • Based on SME experiences, not corporate jargon
    • Filled with real-world stories
    • Achievable steps every business can take

    Other support that's available

    How to write a finance section

    How to write a finance section

    Key in any business plan is the finance section, but writing this part is easier said than done. Inc’s guide has plenty of tips and tricks to help you get started.

    Start financial planning

    Start financial planning

    This free financial planning template from Bplans depicts all the different elements required for a successful financial section.

    How other businesses have tackled something similar

    Real business story

    Your story, not your timing, is key to securing funding

    When many business owners are starting out, they’ll often need access to funding in order to scale operations and meet the demand for products and services.

    Real business story

    Sales targets motivate staff and help businesses reach full potential

    Targets are the key to maximising potential. Setting and achieving targets keeps team members motivated and ensures your business moves forward.

    Real business story

    Learn from competitors to avoid mistakes and spot opportunities

    Learning from competitors is vital to staying ahead of the pack. The successes and mistakes of rivals can provide valuable lessons that save time and money.

    The questions lots of businesses are trying to answer

    What issue is keeping you awake at night? A bit of targeted support is often all you need to overcome those challenges.

    Select a topic

    Digital

    How can I improve the digital presence my business has? How can I streamline and automate some of our business processes? How can I understand what digital tools or support my business needs? How do I effectively seek external digital support? How do I know if my technology is robust enough for growth? How do I assess and choose the right technology to improve business operations? How do I work out the best digital sales channels to use? How should I best budget and plan for new technology investments? How should I go about collecting data to improve my business? How should I use the data I have to improve decision making?

    Leadership & Strategy

    As a leader, how do I learn to trust others within my organisation? How can I balance short-term needs with long-term targets? How can I reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader? How do I learn to become a better leader? How do I improve the communication in my business? How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company? How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs? How do I get staff interested in our vision and values? How do I give my team autonomy and get better at delegating? How should my role as a business leader evolve with the company’s growth?

    People & Team

    How can I develop career paths for my staff? How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce? How can I improve my hiring and onboarding practices? How can I increase staff engagement and motivation? How can I keep my best members of staff? How can I reduce employee turnover? How can I run a better appraisals process? How do I deal with a challenging member of staff? How do I manage an effective remote workforce? How should I performance manage my staff?

    Planning

    How can I balance ambition with setting realistic goals? How can I get staff interested in the financial situation? How can I work out what required skillsets are missing in the business? How can I define and communicate my vision for success? How can I get better at looking internally at my business? How can I make my business more resilient to change? How do I ensure my business can navigate a dip in trading? How do I better inform my business plans? How do I know when to invest in my business? How do I know when to scale up my business?

    Sales & Growth

    How can I get a better return on investment from my marketing? How can I identify new customers to target? How can we better serve our most loyal customers? How can we develop new products and services? How do I create targets and KPIs for my staff? How do I benchmark my business against competitors? How do I build a network to support my business? How do I develop a clear unique selling point? How do I financially plan for new opportunities? How do I make sure my team and processes are ready for growth?
    All