Tips

Several startups and new companies are likely to attain an industry plateau fairly early within their lifecycles. They may have gathered sufficient new customers to build a moderate victory, but can still experience difficulties breaking from their comfort zone. To be able to break that bubble and reveal your organisation to prospective buyers or clients, you will have to take drastic actions.Below are five basic techniques to enable you to boost prospective client interactions and thereby making your company's sales grow:

1. Initiate a brand new marketing tool

Perhaps your client base is starting to stagnate? This implies your advertising tool is broken. Therefore, you need to fix it. To do that, you need to first sit down and think seriously regarding your prospective buyers you are aiming to market to and the exact location you are most likely to contact them. This may require a little bit of market study.Assess your industry competitors, and come up with a summary of how they are promoting their products. How do the ways their fundamental message vary from that of your business? After the assessment, then you will need to consider the way you could possibly develop upon the advertising approaches they are utilising along with the approach you happen to be following.To start, listed below are a few ideas that may introduce your business to a potential client:Organise a unique event: In fact, this happens to be a smart way of bringing several people together in an amicable and casual environment. Provide them with some refreshments, chat with them on what you want to offer and the reason why they really have to consider what you offer.Give bonuses: Offer a gift, discount or voucher to individuals who share your social media articles. To this, you can start a small free gift competition to generate some in-store and online buzz.For any new or existing marketing strategy ideas you are implementing, you should bear it in your mind how they might influence your present client base. Once you start an important transition, be sure that your new technique keeps important elements of the ideology that began gaining clients for you.

2. Provide a brand new product or service

Not only will launching a new product widen the attraction of your company, it will also bring about new product sales as well as more cash in your wallet. Nevertheless, how precisely will you create amazing ideas for the new products? The brainstorming procedure amounts to a couple of strategies:

• Study the competition: What plan do specialists in your industry possess for the future? Exactly where is the industry moving? Study the various items that other businesses are launching and consider the way you could also build and enhance upon those concepts.
• Research product critiques: Study the customer's reviews of your present products. Is there any recurring requests or complaints that may be taken on board? If you are able to consider a new product that occupies spaces in the present market, it is advisable to have an internal client foundation from the time of launching.
• Google it: Irrespective of the type of industry you are working in, you must read bloggers who devote considerable time and effort for analysing the market as well as everything regarding it. Read their experience, and put their thoughts into consideration.

Once you have discovered a space in the marketplace, then the time is right to start creating. Provided you are promoting your new offers in the proper place, you need to be able to increase your customer base significantly.

3. Strengthen your online presence

Several distinct social media sites are available that focus on an array of customers, with only some things in common. Regardless of your choice, you will need to develop a solid digital profile to expand your business, in fact the ideal location to accomplish that is with social media.Primarily, the base articles your organisation needs to be publishing on each website should be similar. You need not put up inane things for the purpose of appearing active. Rather, you should publish information and news regarding your products, business and upcoming events. Having said that, the manner you share this kind of information will significantly differ on every platform. For instance, Twitter restricts its customers to merely 140 characters per published piece ; consequently, you must connect your target audience into clicking into your articles by making use of one or two phrases. The ultimate war weapon in improving customer service(s) is social media. Therefore, use it correctly.

4 . Develop an excellent website

While building your website, there are many important elements you should definitely incorporate to make it have a compelling look to prospective and existing customers. A few of these are:Response to questions : Perhaps you would like to convert the casual website user into a devoted customer? You must start by visualising precisely who that individual really is by including things they need . Most of all, exactly what do they really want to know? Your site is the ideal destination to respond to questions, which may be discouraging customers from purchasing for the first time.Good copywriting : With regards to the web, website content is the master. Thus, your site will go totally undetected by the public until you are producing appealing content on your site . Internet users are unpredictable, and simple spelling errors or an absence of voice is sufficient to push them far away from your site. Scrutinise the copy you are putting on the internet, and make sure to create an impact.Use fundamental SEO : Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) is always a changing industry ; in spite of this, available are hundreds of methods you can utilise to ensure your site is always atop search engine results pages. Consider keyword phrases, metadata and also endeavour to develop natural backlinks between several other like-minded websites .

5 . Seek referrals

New customers will probably try out an item if it is suggested by an associate . Whenever real customers discuss your company, prospective customers are going to be attentive; hence, among the easiest approaches to get new clients is simply by tallying up constructive reviews.In this contemporary age of social media and SEO, word-of-mouth continues to be the strongest advertising tool available .There are some crucial techniques you need to apply so as to begin getting constructive recommendations for your company :Do not stop asking : The fundamental reason why the majority of small enterprises are unable to get customer recommendations is painfully simple : they fail to ask . The perfect time to demand a recommendation is towards the completion of a deal, when outstanding service was delivered and your company remains positively attached to the client.Ensure it is simple : Even the major devoted customers will never dedicate hours of their valuable time in order to advertise your company. Should you need them to give a good positive review, you will need to make it simple. For instance, include direct backlinks to a few of the evaluation setups on which you are available and incorporate a short, proactive approach. Even though you might appear on numerous review websites, never submit above more than a few backlinks. You don`t wish to bombard or pressurise clients.Remind customers: Make sure to maintain clients of both the present and past, and do not be afraid to put a casual recommendation reminder into the discussion. In any case, for the fact that you have asked them for a referral in the past does not mean they will never want to. A number of of your customers are have busy lives, and it may most likely would have escaped their minds.

The instant your company begins trading, you are supposed to have learnt ways to be a professional juggler. Between landing huge sales and promoting your products, there are possibilities that you are going to forget to post the odd invoice or maintain updated invoices with details. Nevertheless, should you let several items slip under the carpet; you are likely to get your company in trouble. And this is the reason why you would need to think hard about record-keeping techniques.Fortunately, there are lots of techniques that you can put into practice to make record-keeping a rather fast and easy exercise. Listed below are three among the several requirements to assist you in getting started:

Understand the law

If you cannot create specific constitutional records, you may end up paying a £3,000 fine.Few records may be worth keeping as they give insights into the techniques wherein your business is functioning; conversely, there are several other records that your company will be officially required to record and also report to the HMRC routinely.Consequently, wherever relevant, you are officially required to update and keep up adequate records of the following:

• Your company`s register of members, stakeholders or guarantors;
• Your company`s record of directors with their regular home addresses;
• Your company`s record of secretaries;
• All service contracts of directors;
• A register of penalty charges and instruments that brought about the charges;
• Minutes of every shareholders and shareholders` company board meetings;
• Copies of every resolutions and conclusions that are made at these meetings;
• A record of all directors` insurances;
• A record of the company shares` sales

Additional records you need to keep have to do mainly with your company`s effectiveness, which you need to report to HMRC in your yearly tax return. To realise this correctly, you need to really know what amount of cash is coming in and out of your company, and the ideal place to discover the movement of these funds will be by way of company invoices.Invoices are utilised to track your income and consequently, they are necessary in estimating your financial well-being. When operating a business, it is an authorised necessity to be certain that you are keeping every invoice for at least six years. Similarly, company directors and sole traders should hold on to their invoice records for a minimum of five years and ten (10) months. Maybe you are in a partnership or self-employed? These records must be kept for at least five years.Although that may seem to be a long time to keep track of paperwork, in as much as you stick to a set of organisational settings, it is very easy to guarantee your invoices are satisfactorily handled. The secret relies on making use of a no-nonsense, sequential filing system. It is essential that you accurately number and date each invoice and likewise keep them in two different files, one for invoices not yet paid and the other for paid invoices. When you pay an incoming invoice, record the date and method of payment and move it into the proper file. Receipts must be handled in a similar fashion.When in doubt, get in touch with HMRC and seek advice. Besides, if you are unable to produce certain constitutional records, you could end up paying a fine of £3,000. You could even be penalised more should the records of your company show inaccuracies. Concealed and deliberate inaccuracies may end up costing you a penalty loss of up to 100% of the possible tax revenues through your non-disclosure.

Get the apps

HMRC creates a directory of safe and reasonable record-keeping apps, as well as simpler income tax apps.Nowadays, apps are available for almost everything – including company record-keeping. The majority of these apps can be downloaded free and some are easier to navigate than others. As you are technically not expected to keep a hard copy of receipts or invoices, you are perfectly advised to go paperless.In fact, doing this might even assist in reducing some of your printing and storage costs. To assist you get started; below are five among the most easy-to-use business record-keeping apps that are currently on the market:MyBizTracker: The creators of QuickBooks specifically developed MyBizTracker so as to provide small business owners with a fast, on-the-go snapshot view of their corporate financials.This app permits you to record income and expenses in real time and likewise also lets you snap photos of your receipts so that you have got multiple records of every trade. MyBizTracker costs nothing to download for every Apple gadgets.FreeAgent: another record keeping apps that boosts the same photo features just like MyBizTracker is the FreeAgent. However, FreeAgent is unique in that it is able to calculate a fairly accurate snapshot of your company`s tax liability at any given moment. FreeAgent is free to download for all Apple devices.Sage Record Keeper: Sage Record Keeper, created by Sage is one of the global most popular suppliers of enterprise resource planning. It provides business owners with an absolute accounting solution for daily use. The app has a number of advanced features and one among the most desirable aspects of Record Keeper is its ability to process Construction Industry Scheme reductions.Forbes Receipt Keeper: If you are an Android user, Forbes Pcs offer a sterling accounting product in its Forbes Invoice Keeper app. The Forbes Receipt Keeper have several of the same functions as the other applications listed; having said that, it enjoys a collaboration with the cloud service Dropbox that enables you to instantly back up every of your accounts.ZipZipBooks: ZipZipBooks is an Android app developed specifically for businesses operating in the construction or property sectors. That is because ZipZipBooks specialises in filing Construction Industry Scheme receipts that are not appropriate for several accounting apps.It is worth saying that not every record-keeping application is HMRC-approved. There are actually strict rules in place regarding cash basis and less complicated expenditures, thus it`s usually worth evaluating various recording specifications before investing time and energy into a record-keeping app.

Keep personal finances separate

It is not unlawful to make use of your personal bank account for business – however it`s absolutely more challenging.Several small entrepreneurs often treat their company's bank account like a personal income pool – but that`s the first step down a long and winding road to financial self-destruction.From the moment you form a brand new company, your company operations turn out to be their own separate entity in the sight of the law. This implies that your company need to have its personal bank account so as not to confuse its earnings with your personal finances.Furthermore, even if you are building a limited company, opening a separate account for it makes sense so as to separate business bank account due to the fact cheques issued out to a limited company usually cannot be paid into a personal bank account..Having said that, it is not against the regulations to make use of your personal bank account to operate a UK business. Though it results in a more challenging accounting circumstance, HMRC provides a bit of guidance on the kind of records you may be required to maintain in case you decide to go this route.

These records include things like:

• Bank and building society statements
• Retain duplicates of every bank statement and
• Passbook for every account containing cash from your business.

Personal drawings: In case you fail to have a different business bank account, you will have to maintain a comprehensive analysis of every bank statement outlining which cash withdrawals were business-related as well as personal.Source of funds: You are expected to record any private money introduced into the business and from where it came from – regardless of whether it was gifted from a friend or relative.

The current market scenario is moving at a rapid pace and requires businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to have an impressive capacity for innovation and adaptation. If they merge these elements, their stay in the market will be virtually guaranteed; if they fail the mission, then failure is imminent.In a process like this, the human factor plays a key role because their skills, talent and willingness depend on corporate development.SME`s require passionate, committed and staff that are willing to work together to hold a world full of opportunities, where technology has become a detonator of new success stories.Therefore, the strategic thinking of SMEs must not only concentrate on operating the business and the consolidation of a sound financial structure, but also in attracting talent that will match your needs and goals.

Analysts assert that SMEs should consider the following topics:

1. Structuring systems with full awareness. These economic units have to define the structures and systems that enable them to fulfil their goals. From them, they must guide their search for talent.2. Create job profiles. The SMEs have to identify the characteristics, knowledge and attitudes that every area of the business demands. For example, look for staff to monitor and manage corporate finance; talent to ensure technological efficiency of the company or to develop marketing activities.3. Make a market survey on wages. The SME must identify what type of salary offered by their rivals. Based on that information, they should create competitive wage plans.4. Think about professional development programs. It is essential that SMEs develop programs such as these so that their partners can grow and move up.5. Find ideal candidates. Getting the best talent is the next step. To achieve this, SMEs have to prepare thoroughly their interviews and get the information they need about the tastes, experience and attitude of the candidates.6. Provide a great welcome. After weighing up the interviews and references of the applicants, and chosen your new employees, the task of SMEs is to give an excellent welcome. This includes giving a good induction process, where new workers are familiar with the productive activities and corporate business image.

Strategies for retaining talent in SMEs

Due to the corporate inexperience of SMEs, the learning curve to grow and the economic challenges they face in their first years of life will test their ability to deliver high-quality jobs and retain their talent.HR specialists explain that, despite the difficulties, SMEs have other alternatives to keep their employees build lasting relationships with them and keep the evolution process of corporate assets; all this without large cash charges.Among the options available to SMEs to retain their talent and provide a sense of belonging include the following:1. Personal Recognition. Experts in coaching and human development indicate that to communicate the value of their team`s work will directly affect their mood and conviction to achieve objectives. For employees, it is constructive and encouraging that they really matter to their leaders.2. Rewards. SMEs can also endorse its commitment to its employees through small actions such as the allocation of free afternoons, the realisation of recreation, outdoor work and so on.3. Training programs. Investment in the personal and professional growth of the human factor is an excellent mechanism for them to be loyal and increase productivity.Training solutions, both onsite and virtual, have adapted to the needs of SMEs, making them both affordable and practical.4. Relaxation of time schedules. Today, employees look comprehensively to balance their personal life with work, a trend that SMEs cannot underestimate. These economic units should analyse the qualities of its employees and the significance of their activities; they can perform management schedules that are mutually beneficial.

The entrepreneur usually has their business idea and goes in search of it, however it is advisable to reflect on the road ahead and question about their entrepreneurial skills, their strengths and weaknesses. Performing this step along the way, may have a great impact and help to facilitate your startups.

Basic questions for the entrepreneur

If you are an entrepreneur or are in the beginning of the creation of a small or medium enterprise (SME), you should be aware of the following:

What is the ease of starting a business?

Ask yourself this, since the procedures according to the type of business are sometimes very repetitive and require multiple visits, paperwork and negotiations.

What support is needed?

It would be desirable to have comprehensive support according to the segment of the company which can offer both onsite and offsite forms, bringing a new way of bonding between SME entrepreneurs and government.Among the main supports that an SME may require are having campaigns to encourage the consumption of their products, support through a wage subsidy of SMEs in growth, training, adequate funding and a productive network that allows access to markets.

Should I take into account the culture of the region?

Each SME has the idiosyncrasy of the region where it is located. Therefore, considering their culture can stimulate the consumption of products and services of the town to promote the creation of new SMEs. This regional domestic consumption and the recovery of traditional sectors that have long-established locally are encouraged.

Where can I receive care and support?

It is preferable to have support in one place; support. Having a single point of care where practical and concise solutions are offered, is essential.Ideally, the government will look to companies to offer services and not wait for these applying to receive support, which allows them to offer advice directly where required by the employer.

How to organise support for my business?

This can be answered by boosting business accelerators, incubators and schemes that generate the development of new processes to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs globally.It can be said that the comprehensive support to SMEs can be given in five aspects: training and assistance, financing, production linkages, technology development and market access. Considering these factors will help you to get better benefits and find support.

Where to establish my SME?

This can be performed in industrial parks specially designed for your type of company, where they can link the incubators, business accelerators, as well as the exchange of services among SMEs.For office based businesses, there are now numerous managed or serviced office spaces available to rent for companies. These can be especially beneficial to start-up businesses due to competitive packages that take a lot of the pressure off of the new business owner. These packages are flexible and can be tailored to your own budget and requirements.

Additional issues to the entrepreneur

What purposes do you have for your business in the coming year? Where should you start? What comes first, what will follow, and which of them is most realistic? what goals are aligned with the mission of the company? Which can generate a competitive advantage?Considering all these factors, make every effort that your SME is not left alone in wishful thinking, but remember that one of the main advantages of being a small or medium business is the flexibility to meet challenges.The work of an entrepreneur is hard, but the positive results after good analysis of these questions, can help the company to succeed in the future.

The general perception of employees in a company is that working meetings can be tedious; it will last a long time and will have little effect, since the conversation invariably departs from the main objective.However, you can change your employee`s personal thoughts on the meetings in your company if you modify just the first and last five minutes. It`s a well-known phenomenon, used by stand-up comedians who must ensure a strong start and to also end in the same way. Therefore, we recommend you try and apply the following recommendations to the meetings of your business to allow them more interaction and stimulate the interest from your staff.

Set the example

If your goal is that the staff of your company show genuine interest and energy, you must be the first to show these characteristics from the time you head to the boardroom. In case at the start of the meeting you encounter a negative environment, lead with your body language and tone of voice and stay focused. If you have come prepared, you should be able to reconnect the group.

Make eye contact with everyone

It is common for each meeting to start with the leader reading the topics and for others to perhaps read too, without making eye contact between them. The challenge at this point is to meet up face to face with your employees, so one of the priorities of the board should be to build and maintain understanding, so that collaboration can be always healthy. To overcome this point, we recommend allocating no more than three minutes to explain the reasons why you met and make eye contact with each of the participants.

Follow up

Before ending the meeting, make sure your team know the steps and instead delegate or say who is responsible for what; ask everyone to say a few words about what they are responsible for. This will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and gives you an opportunity to listen and observe.When a person speaks, pay attention to what they say and how they say it. Do you really understand the idea? Is your body language congruent with what they say?

Recognise the work of others

For your company to have a positive culture, you need to recognise the work of each of the members of your team, so the recognition and rewards should be on your to-do list for each meeting. You can always find someone who is doing a good job. Say, "I love the attitude Mark" or "Thank you for your valuable contributions Beth.” This positive language can generate very positive results. It is important that the meeting leaves on an optimistic note.

Ending where you started

It is imperative that you have an idea of what you will say before the end of the meeting. The idea is that closing arguments reflect the opening, so it must reinforce the vision and the bigger picture.If you found this blog interesting make sure you favourite this on your social networks. Your Virtual Office London are the leading virtual office and business address service provider in the UK.

Inventory management is an operation that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should not exclude from its sales strategy if you want to generate profits and avoid economic losses.Inventory management is the efficient handling of raw materials, manufacturing phase items and finished products. This process requires the involvement of the entire corporate structure, in order to perform specific actions and to facilitate proper handling of the goods.Here are the kinds of tasks that each corporate division must run to meet that goal:

1. Procurement

This sector is responsible for relations with suppliers. The duties are:a) Check the availability of delivery agents by type of manufactured item.b) Manage the delivery time of the requested orders.c) Negotiate the price of inputs.d) To process credit with suppliers and define their terms.e) Report the difference between the prices of inputs to cash and credit.2. ProductionThe request for purposes of inventory management is to provide information on the number of items that can be manufactured every day and spending inputs required for that process. This area is also responsible for recommending the use of racks or shelves for storage of merchandise.

3. Storage

This segment must be designed and the necessary space to store supplies and products to be installed, depending on the goals and production requirements.

4. Finance and Accounting

The objectives of this department are:a) Valuing inventory, determining production costs and defining sales prices.b) Determining the prices of finished goods on credit.c) Assess the availability of resources to purchase inputs and store all types of inventories.d) Define the right time to hire financial solutions such as Credit Card Working Capital, designed to meet operational needs as inventory management.e) Calculate inventory turnover and create strategies for managing surplus or missing supplies.f) To establish the balance between revenues and expenditures associated with the handling of goods.

5. Administration

This division is responsible for plotting escape routes to the unexpected, such as the absence of a supplier, the lack of key inputs, production equipment failure, reduction or the occasional increase in productive capacity.

6. Sales

This department is responsible for establishing direct contact with consumers and implementing strategies for placing manufactured products and even agree to acquire items in progress.Read more helpful and insightful articles brought to you by Robert Carter from Your Virtual Office London on our startup and business blog.

Statistics of the latest reports conducted in 2014, indicated that the UK has 22 million households (84%) with Internet access, up from 57% in 2006. Various consumer profiles showed that around 76% (38 million) people in the country used the internet every day and a similar percentage (74%) made purchases through the internet, up 23% from 2008.Given this scenario, the micro, small and medium businesses (MSMEs) must develop online sales strategies, such as e-commerce to capitalise on this massively growing industry in the country.To develop a successful strategy into online commerce, it is necessary to make good market research and create a profile of the current buyers who have entered into sales and made online payments.The recent study by an e-commerce portal produced an analysis of the different profiles of users who make purchases on the Internet and we will share the results.

Detective

This is a person who likes to surf the internet and find out where they can get the best price for the product they want. The detective therefore spends a lot of time visiting all pages of online stores.

Critic

These examine in great detail the whole process of purchase. They also rate customer service and delivery procedures etc. and are inclined to give positive or negative comments about their experience so as to pass the information on to others.

The fan

This is a person with active profiles on social networks and who knows and is convinced of the benefits of electronic commerce. Moreover, unlike the detective, the fan does not inquire much about deals.

Impulsive

These are people who are driven by their instincts and are regulars to making purchases online.

Bargain hunter

This user will only take advantage of purchasing the product if it`s at a lower price. They will not necessarily value the additional services such as delivery, customer service and technical support.

Rational

Their online purchase process is balanced, and will not make any sudden, rash decisions - similar to the detective type, but less analytical in approach.

The cautious

This person has little or no experience in online shopping. They will buy only from highly recognised websites or brands and will not make the payment without being sure of the reliability of the site.

Boost profits

As an entrepreneur, one of your biggest challenges concerns how and when to make your customers pay more for products or services of your company. This is because the way you increase price or reduce it can mean the potential loss of customers and put you in a vulnerable position before your main competitors.However, in most cases your company has no alternative but to continue with rising prices. Therefore, here are some tips and smart alternatives to raise prices.

Do not delete promotions

While most consumers know the exact price they paid for an item, it is common to remember if it was a good purchase decision and from that generate a position on the product or service.According to the business section of the newspaper Wall Street Journal, companies must maintain their prices and reduce the time in which they offer promotions or discounts in order to prevent rising prices and mitigate the decline in earnings caused by offers.

Keep or raise the quality and quantity

Never try to make more profits by lowering the quality of your main products or services, because that attitude will irritate consumers of your brand.In this case, experts recommend that you keep the quality of your product and serve to market a cheaper, lower-quality product online, so you can meet the needs of other sectors of society.Another initiative that rarely succeeds is to reduce the amount of product that the customer receives but in a similar package at the same price. A soft drink can lose a few millilitres or there may be a few less biscuits in a packet. The price does not go up, but what you pay per unit.The reason this does not work is that most of the cost of a product is usually with the packaging, transportation and other aspects of production outside the product itself. As a result, reducing the amount is unlikely to influence the results of the company.

Price Up

When you decide it is time to increase the cost of your product or service, you will need to take into account the expenses that you incur at the time and how they may affect you in the future.Companies should also make it as clear as possible the reason for the increase. They should tell customers if it is due to higher costs of ingredients or transport, for example.Research shows that consumers respond not only to the price, but what they believe is right. If they feel that a price increase is linked to your desire to increase their profits, they will consider it unfair.

Increase Your Appeal

Improve the image customers will have of your business, develop stronger brand assetts, show off a prestigious office location and show the value you can offer to your clients.

Keep an eye on the competition

When you take a new product to market, ask yourself if it is a good time to raise your prices, because consumers will know that your business is doing its best to meet their needs.At this point you need to keep an eye on the decisions of your main competitors, as the rise can be converted into a price battle where no one wants to take the first step, even if the whole market is facing the same cost pressures.

Between 60 and 63% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Britain suffered a hacking attack last year, according to a recent study. The report by the firm specialising in cybersecurity notes that the lack of interest is the main reason for the attacks, since most SMEs think that they won`t be targeted because of their size. Therefore the situation is exploited by criminals to steal information.The report's findings ensure that smaller organisations implement less IT security measures than that of larger companies. Only 19% of small companies and 15% of midsize companies are reactive against cyber-attacks.In order for your business to prevent and mitigate IT risks, we share the following recommendations.

Delimit access

To prevent leakage of information or hacker attacks, you should define which employees have access to certain applications.

Put in passwords

This requires each of the members of your team using passwords on all devices from which to access information in your company. To reinforce this activity, you need to explain to them what consequences there would be if information is stolen from the company.

Always alert

Make sure your employees are aware of the most frequent threats to prevent them from becoming lackadaisical. This can be done through small notices by mail.

Protect

Ask the manager of your business systems to install data protection tools on mobile devices and so blocking the download of applications from dubious sources.

Say no to public networks

Prohibit your staff mobile devices from connecting to corporate and public networks that are risky. This is best done from the cellular network, whilst using a virtual private connection.

Ask to report any eventuality

Explain to your staff that it is their obligation to immediately report any suspicion of a security incident.

Put locks on social networks

To do this you must restrict disclosure of corporate information on social networks, unless it is through the manager. This avoids the danger of clicks on malicious links that have appeared.

Get cyber insurance

Businesses can now obtain specialist insurance to help limit the damage caused from breaches in cyber security. More firms are now choosing to take up insruance to ensure they can help mitigate any potential breaches with a well covered insurance policy.

The capital of a company is one of the first things that you must obtain to crystallise your dream of opening a business. Therefore, it is important to know how to attract investors to your start-up.The creator of iRobot, Rodney Brooks, had the idea of building a low-cost robot that could collaborate with workers in a safe, intelligent, low-cost way for companies who purchase the invention.It may only be an idea, but Brooks made an analogy between computers and robots with the argument that the adoption of worker robots would be similar to the introduction of personal computers in workplaces. This would result in higher office efficiency, more productivity and more jobs. This is why investors gave him $62 million to fund its start-up.So that your business idea has the support of more investors, we share a list of tips to help you create a connection with them.

Talk to the right people

The first step is to understand the interests of each investor, so we suggest you investigate your potential investors before talking to them about the ideas you have.This step will help you know if your company can adapt to and will thrive in the investment industry.

Create contacts

Once you determine who may be interested in investing in your business, you should look at ways in which the manager of one of the start-ups can present you with the investor.

Make a presentation

This refers to when you agree to an interview with the prospective investor and make a presentation that will tell your story in non-technical terms. In the presentation, you should talk about your team, the opportunity in the market, the need for the product, its value to the customer, your position against competition, how much capital you require to create the company and have a financial plan to present also.

Acknowledge your areas of opportunity

During the interview with the potential investor you must be honest in answering each of the questions you ask. If you do not have an answer, you should admit it and not lie about something you know about.

Listen carefully

It is possible that in the first meetings with potential investors, you fail to capture the interest of any of them; however, you should not discard the tips that they share.The best practice in such cases is to listen to feedback, absorb information and tailor your pitch.If you enjoyed this blog from Your Virtual Office London you can read more business tips and advice in our startup blog.