Business Help and Advice in Wales

There are three ways to make your business more profitable - increase sales, improve margins, or reduce overheads. The marketing strategy page explains a few of the ways Peter Cameron can help you address sales levels and pricing. It is also often beneficial to look at the business’ finances more generally and use tools like break-even and sensitivity analysis to identify the areas that would most benefit from efficiency savings. Contact Peter Cameron now to discuss potential costs and benefits.

A good business plan should clarify your main business ideas and define your long-term objectives. It is often vital for convincing your bank, and possibly key customers and suppliers, to support you. The business plan should be succinct and backed up by realistic and justifiable financial forecasts. Peter Cameron can help whether you are an entrepreneur planning to start a business, or a director of an established business. Have a look at the business plan page for more information or contact Peter Cameron now to discuss your requirements.

To be fully motivated people need to feel valued, secure, and interested. The Investors in People standard can help businesses achieve this by focusing on how employees are managed and trained. Currently about 31% of the UK workforce is employed by organisations recognised as Investors in People or working towards recognition. The standard is designed to be beneficial for businesses of all sizes as long as there is an employer-employee relationship. For example, Peter Cameron recently helped a business with just one owner/manager and one employee achieve the standard – by becoming an Investor in People the client overcame many barriers to future growth.

Peter Cameron delivers the Workforce Development Programme in Mid-Wales. This is a government-funded project designed to help Welsh businesses identify and fund appropriate training. If you sign up to the programme Peter Cameron can provide free advice on how to develop and improve your business; you will also be able to access grant funding to help pay for training your workforce and managers. To see if your business could be eligible have a look at Workforce Development Programme page or contact Peter Cameron now for further information.

Most businesses start as very small enterprises where one or two people are responsible for all day to day management decisions. As these businesses grow the owners/managers can become increasingly overworked. To address this, repetitive decision-making should be replaced by a set of systems and procedures; and management responsibility should be delegated. The business growth page explains how Peter Cameron can help with this transition from a proprietorially managed business to a sustainable, systematically managed one.

You may be considering family succession, a management buy out, or a trade sale. Perhaps you would like to retain ownership of all or part of the business but withdraw from its management. Any exit strategy will require careful and timely planning possibly including maximising the business’ worth, keeping employees on side, developing management skills, implementing management systems, and checking compliance with regulations. The business growth page contains more information on some of these subjects, but you may want to contact Peter Cameron to discuss your ambitions for the business and see what support is available to help you achieve them.

With the introduction of the Welsh Government’s policy “Economic Renewal, A New Direction” many grant funding opportunities have disappeared. However, the government remains committed to helping businesses develop workforce and management skills through the Workforce Development Programme. Peter Cameron delivers this programme on behalf of the Welsh Government.  Please get in touch using the contact details to discuss what funding is available to your business.