Steve Sealy from Aquarius Equity Partners and Evan Davis

The Merseyside Innovation Awards, established twelve years ago, aim to recognise and reward innovation as a means of boosting growth and profitability. They are open to individuals or companies with less than 50 employees based within Merseyside.

Winners receive £10,000 in cash, £4,000 worth of legal, business, accounting or design consultancy; support from some of the region’s leading business advisors and publicity for the idea.

Judges this year included Evan Davis, presenter of Dragon’s Den and BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, AM Paper tycoon Steve Morgan, now of the Bridgemere Group and Steve Sealey from Aquarius Equity Partners.

Chair of the judging panel, Brian McCann, of Vanguard said: “Over the last few years the number of applications has soared. Merseyside is a breeding ground for many world-class innovations. I would urge anyone with a great idea or product to fill in an application form and see what happens.”

Each month from now until May a winner will be selected to join the shortlist before the grand final in July where three finalists showcase their products before an audience of entrepreneurs and other leading figures in the business community.

Apply on line at merseysideinnovationawards.co.uk or call Jean Hughes, Merseyside Innovation Awards on 0151 705 3520.

3tc, Merseyside Third Sector Technology Centre is a not-for-profit charitable company limited by guarantee that supports charities by supplying them with a range of services designed to bring equality of access to new technology.

3tc’s ICT department can provide hardware, software and peripherals, maintenance support and complete network and server installations; Conference Facilities manages a conference room, small meeting room and IT suite that are all available for hire; ICT Training offers a range of accredited, non-accredited, taster and bespoke training packages; the Print & Design department provides printing, copying, binding, booklet-making and laminating services; whilst our Web Solutions team uses the latest Content Management Systems.

3tc Solutions Limited is the charity’s trading arm, offering the above services to business, the public sector and private individuals. The trading arm is also involved in developing business activities including Virtual Office and our new Flexible Maintenance Plan. Any profits generated are used by the charity to help bring equality of access to new technology.

Find out more about 3tc and how you can help here.

CM Group UK has the solution

Credit Management Group UK can provide help to Liverpool Chamber members and all at a reduced cost.

Chamber members can now access the CMG Zone, the Online Credit Manager’s Toolkit.

This Toolkit provides online assessment,  short e-learning ‘movies’, factsheets and template letters and forms on a range of topics that cover the whole ‘order to cash’ process. These include credit risk assessments, collection strategies and how to take court action to recover debts. Other features include frequently asked questions, ask the expert and the provision of credit check reports on members’ business customers.

Jenny Esau, Director of CMG UK says “Businesses often focus on sales and forget to make sure their customers have the ability to pay them until it’s too late.

“Often we find, if a business had followed some simple steps and procedures at the beginning of the trading relationship, it vastly increases their chances of getting paid when the invoice falls due. Unfortunately we do get companies coming to us to help them get specific debts paid and we sometimes find we can not help them.

“We are very excited to be working with Liverpool Chamber members on this innovative credit management package that will help to create sustainability amongst the local business community after the 2008 boom.”

If you would like to reduce your risk to bad debt, protect your profit and make sure your business survives these trying times, take a look at the CMG Zone, the Online Credit Manager’s Toolkit here.

You can sign up for a free 7 day trial to see how CMG UK can help you get your invoices paid in full and on time.

Continuing our series of tips from Freedom Coaching on how to protect your business from these economic hard times, this week we look at the all-important cash.

Step 3

Focus on cash

If you want to stop worrying about your business prepare a weekly cash flow forecast. It works.

Spend an hour every week and update it.

Many of our clients feel that they cannot predict future sales because it’s not “real”. But a prediction or estimation is better than no plan at all. When we set sales figures, they represent a target, and we have something to aim for and measure. A key thing to remember is that we see better results when we can measure them.

If you don’t already have one, we can provide you with a simple step by step weekly cash flow template. You can see our contact details here.

Seven Recession-Proof Hints & Tips

If you are already in business there are some simple strategies you can use to make your business more recession-proof:

1. Cash is King - liquidate some assets and get rid of dead of stock. Start keeping some money aside in case the economy does indeed get worse. Invest in defensive stocks that have been known to hold their value in a recession.

2. Good Records - keep your business records up to date so that you always know how you are faring. The more robust your records are the easier it will be to move faster in the case of a down turn.

3. Speak to Your Lenders - this is the right time to keep communication lines open with the banks. The credit crunch is hitting them hard so it might also be a good idea to open talks with another lender just in case your bank pulls the plug.

4. Examine your Loans - in a recession interest rates tend to fall as the government tries harder to stimulate the economy. This is the ideal time to collate all your loans and possibly switch to longer payment terms and / or fixed rate loans.

5. Negotiate Harder with your Suppliers - ask for longer payment terms and demand quicker delivery times so that you do not need to have so much money tied up in stock.

6. Improve your Credit Control - cash flow is king in a recession so meet all your customers especially the ones that tend to pay late. Send regular reminders and statements followed by a phone call the minute an invoice is overdue.

7. Insure your Debt - in a recession more of your customers are likely to fail.

Next week, we’ll look at marketing.

Bob Evans, Freedom Coaching