HR SPECIALIST GOES FOR GROWTH

A full service HR company is celebrating its second anniversary with ambitious plans to double turnover and staff numbers for the third year running.

Client demand has seen Gateshead-based Exclusive Human Resources add services including HR consultancy, leadership and management development, and employee communications to its core business of specialist HR recruitment.

Managing director and If we can, you can member Mark Ions founded the company two years ago to fill the gap for an independent HR recruitment company to serve the North East. The last year has seen the business evolve into a multi-faceted HR services expert, boosting staff numbers to six and sparking the launch of a Leeds office to service the Yorkshire market.

Three senior level industry consultants with a wealth of experience have been brought on board to lead the company's specialist business arms.

Mark Ions said: “We are delighted to celebrate a second successful year in business, particularly in such tough market conditions, and we have exciting plans for the next year.

“Demand for outsourced, integrated HR services is set to grow steadily and we intend to take advantage of that trend. Recruitment will remain a strong element of our business mix, but my vision was always to be an all-encompassing HR services expert, giving employers access to a full framework of HR tools, all through one trusted partner.

“The increase in demand for services such as post-redundancy support, training and coaching gave us the ideal opportunity to remain true to our fundamental business, and at the same time react to market opportunities by growing the company organically.

“Our three new consultants - Fiona Ward, Margaret Jewell and Rachel Hegarty - bring with them over 60 years of collective industry experience in very senior HR roles and has already helped to generate a raft of public and private sector business.

“The first two years of trading saw us double staff numbers and turnover year on year, and our aim is to repeat that pattern next year. Expansion into several other major UK cities should see us push through the £1m turnover barrier within the next three years and create further new jobs. We are very excited about the future.”

18 YEAR OLD ENTREPRENEUR LAUNCHES DISCOUNT CARD AT LADIES DAY

A North East teenager has officially unveiled his latest business venture at Newcastle Racecourse’s Ladies Day on Saturday.

Eighteen-year-old Jonathan Grubin, from Newcastle, launched his Live Newcastle card venture to racegoers with a trade stand at the event.

The Live Newcastle discount card, which is the brainchild of Jonathan, offers its members discounts at the top places to eat, drink and shop in the region.

Nearly 50 companies are already signed up to give their discounts to members, and include clothing stores, clubs, cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues.

The venture, which has been set up as a regional sustainability initiative, is designed to encourage consumers to spend money at independent retail and leisure businesses in the North East.

Jonathan commented: “I’ve been working on this venture for some time now and I’m happy that it has finally come to fruition and that we officially launched this at Ladies Day.

“During a recession consumers are looking to spend less without compromising on the quality of goods they purchase, likewise retailers and other businesses are looking for new ways to increase footfall.

“The Live Newcastle card aims to achieve both and will also help to boost the North East’s economy by giving its members an incentive to ‘think North East’ when it comes to spending habits.”

Businesses already on board with the concept include Tyneside Cinema, Tup Tup Palace, Nichols bakeries, nu-age medical spa and Starters and Puds, with many member outlets offering up to 20 per cent discount for card holders.

Jonny Tull, Audience Development Manager of Tyneside Cinema, commented: “The Tyneside Cinema is thrilled to be working with Live Newcastle. We hope that it will help us showcase the great work we do. We’re really impressed by the energy displayed by Jonathan and his team and can’t wait to start working with them.”

Membership to Live Newcastle costs only £15 per year, in return members will receive a unique card which they can use to gain exclusive discounts at participating businesses across Newcastle. Keen shoppers can sign up at http://www.livenewcastle.co.uk/

Jonathan set up his first business, MiniG Media Ltd, at the tender age of 14 and is already one of the best known young entrepreneurs in the region.

Search is on for the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year

‘Women into the Network’ is now in the midst of accepting entries for the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.

They are looking for women across the region that are running successful enterprises and deserve recognition for their achievements.

Log onto http://www.womenintothenetwork.co.uk/ where you’ll find information on the judging procedure and award categories as well as the all-important nomination form.

On the online form you can nominate a colleague, friend or even yourself, telling the WIN ltd exactly why the nominee deserves to win. Don’t forget to highlight all their (or your!) achievements, so the WIN judges can fully understand just how impressive North East women entrepreneurs are!

If you’re feeling stuck for words, plenty of information on past winners, their challenges, successes and goals can be found online.

This year’s award categories include: The Susan Dobson Award for Entrepreneurship, Best New Business, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Best Small Business, Best Social Enterprise, Best Creative Business, Best Home-based Business, and the Innovation through Technology award.

As well as these awards, there are two ‘Recognition’ awards. The One to Watch award is for individuals thinking of starting up and who are no more than 12 months away from trading (Unfortunately nominees cannot nominate themselves for this award). While the Inspirational Role Model award invites nominations from anyone wishing to recognize the individual who has been an inspiration to their business.

Here are some of the experiences of previous winners:

“I felt euphoric! It was definitely the highlight of my year and a fantastic confidence booster.”

Delyth Raffell, Twins UK (Best Newcomer)

“Winning the Susan Dobson award is an honour I will never forget…it made me look at my business and myself in a completely different perspective, giving me confidence to take on new and even more exciting challenges”

Donna Wilson, Logistics Teesside Ltd (Susan Dobson Award for Entrepreneurship)

“I felt incredibly honoured to have won. Winning the Award has certainly made me feel that my efforts have been recognized by others who don’t know me.”

Rebecca Jayne Philipson, UR-InThePaper Ltd (Young Woman Entrepreneur)


Closing date for entries is 5pm Friday 11th September, with the awards presentation and dinner taking place on Friday 20th November (from 7pm)

For further information or to nominate, please go to:
www.womenintothenetwork.co.uk

Footwear Designer Steps into Recycling Venture

Trainer design company MES Footwork is creating a new service
of trainers which are made from recyled clothing.

And already, only weeks after launching the Threads to Treads service, MES Footwork founder and winner of last year’s ‘If we can, you can Challenge’, Matt Scott is in negotiations with some of the biggest names in the retail and charity sectors over potential link-ups.



The creation of the range is now widely tipped to catapult the company, which began in 21 year old Matt’s bedroom, onto an international stage.



Matt has already struck a deal to supply six designs of his custom made trainers to former Sunderland footballer Djibril Cisse’s boutique, Pr9ject, in Newcastle, as well as designing skull embossed shoes for the striker’s personal use.



Rock star Dave Stewart is another of his celebrity customers, who ordered a pair adorned with his own designs.



The business has expanded into a manufacturing unit in South Shields, South Tyneside, to accommodate demand, and employs two people – a seamstress and a footwear development graduate from the London School of Fashion, who helps design MES Footwork’s range.



Matt, who started MES Footwork in 2007, has since invested £12,000 into a website – mesfootwork.com – where people can design their own fantasy footwear for Matt and his team to turn them into reality. Matt said the business – which he started after making a pair of customised trainers for his girlfriend’s birthday – is going from strength to strength.



“Things are going really well. I’ve now got two people working with me, and the unit is operating five days a week to accommodate the orders we’ve already received, so everything is pretty positive,” he said.



“The Threads to Tread service is really attracting a lot of attention, and we feel really ready to tackle the big world of retail.”



“We’re looking at developing more styles to add to the range, which will help in negotiations with some of the bigger retailers.”



“We are in talks at the minute with a big name in the charity world, as well as two big names in the retail sector, so I’m hoping that they will secure orders. We’ve already sealed a deal with Djibril Cisse, which we have based around his infatuation with skulls which are everywhere in his store, and vibrant colours and quirky styles.”



“It’s all very, very exciting, and very new to me. I’m definitely learning as I go, but I have to learn very quickly!”

Fishing around for business improvement with Chris Baxter

Although there are signs that the worst of the recession is passing, businesses are still finding their world a much tougher place from what is was 12-months ago.

Yet despite these challenging times, not enough businesses are sufficiently systematic or structured in their approach to sales and marketing. Too often it is disjointed, lacking in strategy or planning, without anybody taking the helm and navigating a course to success.

Professional business coach and If we can, you can member Chris Baxter of GENI Coaching has come up with an analogy to help businesses review the performance of their sales and marketing and identify areas for improvement.

Business fishing:

1. What kind of fish (customers) do you want to catch? Check that you're going after the right kind of fish. Some fish are hard to find these days, whilst other are not worth as much as they were last year. Take time to look at the other fish in sea and work out whether your business would do better by casting a net and looking for other fish to fry.

2. Is your boat (your business) up to the job? In what seas is your boat capable of fishing and what kind of fish can it catch? There's no point in deciding that you want to fish in the Atlantic Ocean if your boat is a small inshore vessel. Although trading the old boat in for a new model is not a realistic option, you might be able to improve its performance by adding some extra capabilities and developing your crew. So take a critical look and take action to improve the crew's ability to bring in a good catch. There are fewer fish in the oceans these days, but no shortage of boats trying to earn a living so if you want to first-rate catch you'd better recruit, train and develop a strong crew.

3. Where will you find these fish? (Marketing) So you know what kind of fish you want to catch and you've got a crew capable of catching those fish; now you need to figure out in what part of the ocean are you going to find your fish. There's no point sailing to the Mediterranean, casting your net and hoping to catch some North Atlantic Cod. So figure out where your chosen fish congregate. In very simple terms, if your target market is plumbers then you need to market your business in plumbers' trade journals, plumbers' merchants, and through trade associations.

4. How good are you nets? (Marketing Communications) You need to have a good net, in perfect condition, and cast at the right depth to catch the fish you’re after. In marketing terms, this is about ensuring that your marketing describes what you do in compelling and attractive terms that makes it very clear how your customers will benefit from dealing with you.

5. Getting the catch onboard? (Sales follow-up) By now you should have a net that's bursting with fish. But just how many of these fish will you land and convert into sales? That depends on how quickly you process the catch (leads and prospects). If you leave your nets in the water too long unfortunately you find that some of the fish will die (lose interest) or be stolen by other crews (competitors). So be prompt and systematic in processing your catch to ensure that none of your catch gets away.

6. How much of your catch did you land? Finally, you need measure the effectiveness of your whole fishing process (sales and marketing). Are you netting enough leads and prospects and are you converting enough of these into sales? Sales and marketing is a process that can always be improved and the interactive nature of this discipline means you can learn something from every customer interaction. So after every marketing campaign and every week of selling, get your sales and marketing team together to identify want went well and where there is room for improvement, and work together to continually improve results.

Explain Expansion

EXPLAIN, the market research agency based in Newcastle, has opened a new CATI centre in South Gosforth. The company has moved 12 staff from its head office to a new facility equipped with the latest in telephone technology.

The move frees up two floors of the current office, allowing Explain to make further additions to the senior team which it recently split into strands of quantitative and qualitative expertise.

The new centre was officially opened by John Mowbray, a director of Northumbrian Water and a client of Explain for over 10 years.

Commenting on the move David Shiel, Explain Managing Director said:

“2 years of continued growth meant that we had outgrown the current office. Ideally we would have liked to have moved into larger premises but we were advised against trying to sell Leazes Park Road in the current downturn. The next best move was to rent additional space and move the CATI (computer aided telephone interview) department, lock stock and barrel.

The last two years have seen record growth in the business. We are still recruiting and have not ruled out acquisitions provided any opportunity keeps the cost base competitive and adds clients in new sectors. In 2006 we did not even provide social marketing interventions but now we are a key specialist consultancy to the Health Service throughout the North West, Yorkshire and the North East.

It is important we continually consider how we sustain our growth and remain aware of the many opportunities out there that can develop from nothing. The benefit in being small means we can move really fast when it matters.

The company has many years expertise in the utilities market and we punch well above our weight with companies in the water, electricity and electricity distribution sectors.

Northumbrian Water was one of our first blue chip clients and we were delighted when John agreed to open the new office. They regularly market test our service so he will see first hand why we will try and justify a price increase in the next negotiations!”

John Mowbray commented:

“Explain is at the heart of everything we do to understand our customer’s view and they provide a key service to Northumbrian Water. It is wonderful to open this new facility and see the growth in their business here in the North East.”

You can read David Shiel's inspiring entrepreneurial journey by clicking here