An update and request for service ideas from our new Growth Specialist Stephanie.

I'm really excited to have joined Co- and with the help of Damion and the rest of the team I've quickly settled into the role and found my feet! One of my next steps is to really get to know our clients, their goals in business, and what we can do to best support them on that journey. In this blog I share some of the ideas for new services that Damion, myself and the team have developed. We would love to hear your feedback.

Co-nnect

The first initiative that we can’t wait to get off the ground is Co-nnect. We know that business owners are often working alone on their business with little support. We also know first-hand the power of co-working, collaboration and community. Co-nnect will provide our clients with a space and place to build connections with other business owners in our community, and includes ideas such as:

• The launch of a business club on Monday 30 October (watch this space for more details!). Each business club meeting would include a guest speaker, a mini-seminar and a masterclass where clients get to work on their business alongside others

• Regular social meetups at the pub or for a morning walk

• A buddy system or quarterly coffee roulette for interested clients

• A dedicated platform for Co-nnect, such as a client-only area of our website. This could include a resource library of useful business templates and other collateral

• An online discussion group where clients can ask questions of each other, and share contacts and other information

Improving the Numbers

ITN will continue to be the backbone of our business development services. Businesses vary in how they use this support and we are always looking for ways that we can improve and iterate. Options to build on the ITN offering include:

• Weekly Pulse calls - we would like to introduce a group call, say on a Monday morning, for clients to share their plans for the week and to offer and receive support from the group. This could potentially be followed up with an ‘end of week’ call to share achievements

• Metrics for success - being clear on your goals and drivers is important for any business owner. But how will you know that you are on the path to success? We do measure metrics with clients as part of the ITN meetings, but this only scratches the surface of this important area of work. We have a much more extensive methodology that we would like to give our clients access to, which includes Key Predictive Indicators.

Budgeting and Forecasting

Most of our clients are familiar with Fathom, the tool we use at Co- to report on business finances as part of the ITN meetings. These reports are important and tell the story of how the business has performed from quarter to quarter. What is also important is the forward looking financial position, including budgets and cash flow forecasts. We know that these can be difficult to manage in spreadsheets and are often quickly outdated. That is where we believe Fathom can provide enormous value to our clients. As well as being a financial reporting tool, it is a powerful and dynamic budgeting and forecasting tool that allows users to model in real time the financial impacts of business decisions. We would love to roll this part of the tool out to our clients. 

90 Day Challenge

Are you ready to double down on business development? The 90 Day Challenge would be an intensive programme of support to business owners ready to strengthen their commitment to business development. It would start with a Business Health Check to identify the options for areas of the business to work on. We would then work with the business owner to agree the aspects to be built into a 90 day road map, tailored to your business needs and stage of business growth. We will work alongside you to deliver the work and fast track your business development goals. We would meet twice a week to check in on progress.

Next Steps

We will be meeting with business owners in the coming weeks to share more about these ideas and listen to feedback. If you don’t hear from us and have any perspectives you’d like to share, please get in touch here stephanie@co-accounting.co.uk. In the meantime, please look out for more details of our business club launch on Monday 30 October - we look forward to seeing many of you there!