A quick survey of our renewing members is showing that growing their business and having employees with the right skills are their key business concerns at the moment.

Scoring 30% and 15% of the votes respectively, these issues are currently way ahead of ‘traditional’ business worries of taxation, energy costs and cash flow.

Liverpool Chamber can help with these concerns. We help our members grow their businesses in a number of ways. Our regular networking events have helped members to make new contacts, generate business and entertain their existing clients. Liverpooltenders.com provides an early warning system for tender opportunities. It reaches across an extensive range of sectors and provides the support to help your business be in a position to successfully win these opportunities. We also offer a range of money savers from £65,000 legal cover to a utility auditing service to keep bills down.

Employee skills can be addressed through the Chamber’s business skills seminars and the array of work-based qualifications offered both through traditional learning and on-line, through Chamber4Learning and our training arm, Trident Training. Many of these courses can be provided at reduced costs through  SkillWorks funding that provide s   a 60% reduction in the cost of all levels of staff training.

If you would like to know more about any of these chamber services visit our main website or call 0151 227 1234.

We’re keen to know about your worries. If your business concerns are different from those listed, we’d like to hear from you. Please get in touch with Pamela.holstein@liverpoolchamber.org.uk

Liverpool Chamber’s Vice Chairman, Ed Oliver spoke last week on BBC Radio Merseyside’s business slot. Topics he covered included the closure of Lewis’s department store and the context of this with new retail developments in the city centre.

You can listen to the interview here. [MP3 6MB]