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Network with other businesses like your own – Competition
is healthy and it creates propulsion within your own industry.
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention”. This can mean survival of
the fittest in competitive industry and sharing and learning with your
competitors can lead to building better business. It will also help you
focus on the areas of business that are most profitable to your own.
Network with businesses completely different –
Whatever the industry type and whatever the pressures are; there are
always new ideas that you haven’t yet thought of. “Thinking
outside of the box” is a simple but effective way of keeping your
business at the forefront of competitive edge. This will lead to
new and profitable business.
Sharing Experiences – Going through a rough
patch? Business life can often seem worthless and you wonder why
you ever bothered. However, you are not alone. Hundreds of
thousands, probably millions of business people go through similar
experiences all the time, and yet we fail to share and learn. Discussing
issues that most businesses face is extremely rewarding and the learning
is all the more valuable because it really happened.
Sharing Ideas – Fed up with books and academics
telling you what you should be doing? Getting involved with people
and sharing ideas will help test your theories with those that have
tried and won along with those ideas that failed. Hearing from
business peers is time better spent than listening to those theorists
that never set foot outside their academic campus.
Access to Experienced Business Advisors – So
the business seems to be going well, but what could you do to make
things better? Sharing your experiences and ideas with peers was
great at the time, but now you need some help to implement those ideas
and put them into practice. BusinessXchangers get advisors
selected because of their business experience, not because they have a
few letters after their name and went to college. You need real business
advice from those that have been there, now you can get it and at a
reduced rate.
Lower Bills – BusinessXchange members can
negotiate better deals as a cooperative than as an individual. A
lower cost, for the same product doing the same thing as before.
Nothing changed but the price went down. Sounds too good to be true, but
its for real and includes gas, electricity, telephone communication
services and in excess of 20,000 business products.
Share Conferences/Exhibitions – You’ve wanted
to put on a show for ages but the costs were too prohibitive.
Welcome to the world of business. By collaborating with like
minded businesses, you have recognised the synergy that exists between
so many of you. Now, it just needs that final push to make things
happen. If you want it so bad, you can do it, and BusinessXchangers are those businesses.
Share Learning Events – The trouble with
training staff is it is so expensive. It doesn’t have to be.
BusinessXchangers collaborate and put together their own programmes and
hire their own trainers. By carrying out regular reviews, we know
what the most pressing topics of the time are and create learning events
that fit with those needs. No only do you get the training
you need when you need it, but BusinessXchangers get funding to
help them do it
Build co-operatives for better deals/leveraging with
suppliers/customers – Lower utility bills is just the start.
BusinessXchangers will soon start to be a force to be reckoned with in
almost every aspect of business. Stationary, vehicles, servicing, IT,
travel, any business related activity. And that is just the start.
There is nothing to stop suitable similar businesses starting their own
collaboration and start their own negotiations for lower materials costs.
Solely Business to Business – This is a SME
Business Society for SME Businesses and as time progresses will be run
exclusively by the SME participants.
No Red Tape – There’s enough of that already
without adding any more. SME businesses want simplicity. This
organisation is all about KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.
Build a Better, More Profitable Business - In the
not too distant future, BusinessXchangers will begin to realise tangible
benefits for their people and their business. Revenue and profits will
increase exponentially over and above the trend of those outside of the
organisation. There are already case histories and research to back this
up, but fundamentally it needs a small commitment to the organisation
for a massive return.
Extranet - Post up your own business issues that
you think others have probably experienced before you and be the helping
hand for others. The extranet is your gateway to reaching members
for advice in any business topic. It will also serve as a valuable
resource for exchanging ideas, creating buying co-operatives and trading
with others.
Build Consortia – Have you ever thought about
joining forces with other businesses? It could be like yours or
different but complimentary. By creating a force larger than just
your own you can share marketing, bid for work that would be out of your
reach alone and learn the pros and cons of being a bigger operation.
Create your own Resource Centre – Not
necessarily just for you, but one where there are many inputs and where
industry knowledge can be disseminated. You don’t have to
reinvent the wheel every time. Almost always, somebody has been
through it before you, the difficulty is finding out who and getting the
knowledge. BusinessXchange is the central point that brings you
and those resources you need together.
See How Others Do It – Ever wanted to go and
visit another business to see what they do and how they do it? BusinessXchange
members will have the opportunity to visit companies
that open their doors to share their own experiences and best practices.
See what they do well and what they could do better and take the ideas
back to benefit your own business.
Be a Mentor – BusinessXchange is not just
about learning from others, its also about teaching, or sharing.
It’s not compulsory, but you might want to help others you see going
through the pain and hardship you have already experienced.
Helping others gives you an extremely gratifying feeling, especially
when you see them adopt your suggestions and move forwards without
making the same mistakes you already have.
Business Buddying – “Trading Places” –
Ever wanted to be the fly on the wall in a business you admire or shadow
one of your contemporaries? BusinessXchange is your avenue to doing
this. Members will have the opportunity to follow the day to day
business activities of one of their fellow owner/managers, see what they
do and how they do it, what works for them and, lets face it, what they
could do better. You can then replicate selected activities in your own
style and procedures that give your business that extra impetus.
Back to the Floor – Up to the Boardroom –
Sorry, but this isn’t the opportunity to be on television, but the
ideas are the same. BusinessXchange intend to launch a series of
activities that give business benefit and one of these will be to ensure
owners stay in touch with what is happening at grass roots level.
A day back on the shop floor might be one solution, or inviting an
apprentice to a board meeting might be another. It’s what works
for you and brings you competitive advantage that is important.
Share Best Practice and Benchmarking – So, you
think the processes that have developed are okay because they work! Well
mostly. But how do you know and what are you comparing with?
Just because they work doesn’t mean there isn’t alternatives to
doing things better, quicker, more efficiently and most importantly,
more profitably. That’s what BusinessXchange will be offering
members, the opportunity to benchmark services and processes thus
ensuring you stay ahead of the competition. |
