50 tried & tested
business tips
From startup
to growth
Written by our customers
and business experts

50 tried and tested business tips
Introduction
At Sage, we recognise that every
business owner is an expert. We
also know that running a small
business can be isolating, so we
have created this guide to help
business owners share their
unique perspective on what it
takes to be successful.
Written by our customers and
business experts, this guide
contains first hand advice on
everything from starting your
business, keeping your finances
under control and growing your
customer base via e-marketing,
through to helping you keep a
healthy balance between
your work life and home life.
Read on for 50 tried and tested
business tips that will give you
the confidence and insights
to unlock the potential in your
business.

How to
start your
business
Starting a business can be both scary and exhilarating. Our tips will help you get off
to the best possible start. For those of you that are already in business, there are
some useful pointers that you may have missed first time around.

50 tried and tested business tips
How to start your business
Plan. Persist. Partner up. Promote. Blow your horn!
I have four essentials for anyone starting a business:
1. Plan. Work out your aims for your life and your business. Set
goals, and break them down into baby steps. This makes it
easier to know what you need to do next
2. Persist. Starting a business is a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Be
Always be enthusiastic about your product or service, because if
you’re not no-one else will be!
Emma Ball
Emma Ball Ltd
www.emmaball.co.uk
prepared to persist through the downs as well as the ups
3. Partner up. Whether you need help with bookkeeping, a
mentor, or simply to have a regular coffee with someone who
has business experience, support will help you succeed
4. Promote. Do one thing every day to spread the word about
your business
Antonia Chitty
Family Friendly Working and Sage Business Expert
www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk
Become your customer
Look at your business through your customers’ eyes, ears and all
their senses. Create a prioritised list and change everything that
might put a customer off.
Nigel Arnold
The Swan Pool & Spa Centre Ltd
www.swanpools.co.uk
Connect with your neighbours
Your neighbours are a vital source of encouragement, information,
advice and perspective. It feels good to offer support to others,
particularly those just starting out. Collaborate on local projects
together that help to make where you are a better place to live and
work. Pay it forward.
Ian Diamond
Luke & Jack Ltd
Help your suppliers to know,
understand, care and support
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal*Mart, had a great saying: ‘Share
everything you can with your suppliers. The more they know, the
more they’ll understand. The more they understand, the more
they’ll care. Once they care, there’s no stopping them’.
To find out more go to:
sage.co.uk/discover
I’m pretty open about the plans I have for Breckland Orchard - I
want my suppliers to help get me there. The more you share, the
more information and help you get back! If you don’t trust your
suppliers with your future plans, then you are working with the
wrong suppliers.
Claire Martinsen
Breckland Orchard
www.brecklandorchard.co.uk
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Every business needs a little help
along the way. Our award-winning
SageCover offers a complete
package of support services
designed to ensure you have the
help and advice you need, when
you need it.
www.sage.co.uk/sagecover

Grow your
customer base
From stepping into your customers’ shoes to making the best use of social media,
read on to discover ways to help your business compete, grow and succeed.

50 tried and tested business tips
Grow your customer base
Give potential customers the
confidence to try
Offering a full no-questions-asked refund with return packaging
included in the delivery will encourage the customer to try out your
site for the first time, or to place repeat orders.
For an e-commerce site, I think that making returns as easy
as possible for the customer has got to be a key incentive to
encouraging the customer to place an order. Providing an easy,
hassle-free method to return the product minimises the risks of
wasted time, money and effort to the customer, creating a more
relaxed and pleasurable online shopping experience.
Emma Donald, Metakinetic
www.metakinetic.com
Good social media = quality,
not quantity
By all means, utilise the web for e-marketing, but get the balance
right. Your Twitter and Facebook fans and followers don’t want to
see lots of similar updates from you in a small space of time.
First impressions count
First impressions are made in seconds, but can take years to
change. When dealing with new customers
or networking contacts, make that first meeting count!
Luke Hector
Astute Accountancy Limited
Make time to nurture and grow
your customers
Set aside two hours every morning to dedicate to keeping in
touch with your existing clients and seeking out new ones. Don’t
let anyone or anything stop you from this ritual (unless your job is
emergency care of course!). It is too easy to be complacent about
the contracts we already have, but in order to keep them we must
work hard to maintain the personal touch because to lose them
is a costly business. We must always seek out new opportunities
too - this takes time.
Gillian Monk
All Health Matters Ltd.
www.allhealthmatters.co.uk
Scott Bridgwater, Century Computing Software Services Ltd
www.centurysoftware.co.uk
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50 tried and tested business tips
Grow your customer base
Prepare your web strategy
When addressing the internet, be crystal clear about who your
target audience is. Avoid the trap of trying to be all things to all
people. The Internet is a rigged game. It is rigged in favour of
those who specialise. If you are a generalist the internet will kill
you. People search specifically not generally. People choose
specialists, not generalists. So when preparing a web strategy,
focus ruthlessly and achieve clarity about who you are trying to
reach.
Ian Dodson
CEO, Digital Marketing Institute
Reputation is everything
In our business, you are only as good as what your last client
says about you. Word-of-mouth and the maintenance of our
good reputation is of vital importance to the continuation of
our business, and the cultivation of a good reputation and the
provision of a good service is of vital importance.
We have found that doing someone a “good turn” will pay back
at least tenfold in goodwill and referral business in the future. We
have helped people that have been in trouble with the Revenue,
we have helped our local school keep their books, we have helped
charities – all of this work was done “pro bono”, but we do it
because it builds our reputation.
Tom Holmes
Let your customers know where
to go
A ‘call to action’ is the part of a web page that solicits an action
from a user, for example ‘buy now’ and ‘learn more’. Ensure
they are prominent on your website by drawing attention with a
sufficient size of message, a colour that stands out and sufficient
use of white space surrounding the message.
Also ensure it is above the ‘fold’ of the web page, so the user
doesn’t have to scroll to notice it. Effective calls to action are one
of the most important elements of converting a visitor to a buyer
or encouraging a user to take the next step. A compelling call to
action can have a dramatic impact on sales.
Sean Wilson
Ballymount Accounting
Set expectations you can exceed
If you set expectations correctly with your customers and then
exceed them you’ll always be the hero, even if these were set very
low to start with.
Jo Fulton
Datel
www.datel.info
Strike while the iron’s hot
MD, Sage Pay Ireland
People like to know they are being thought of. Immediately after
a meeting (the same day) find contacts on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Connect to them and you will stick in their memory for longer.
Use social media to reflect your
brand personality
Dr. Graham Clayton
We’ve relied on social media to promote our business and
communicate with existing and prospective customers since we
started in 2008. It’s an invaluable tool, not only to get your name
out there and be recognised, but to listen to consumers, position
your products and your messaging accordingly, and to get your
brand personality across. I believe social media is most effective
when it’s unfiltered and without hidden motives. Be yourself, show
the world what you’re about, and listen to what people have to
say.
Intelligent Formulation Ltd
Seek out advertiser offers
Use free advertising to promote your business and help reduce
costs. Small advertisers sometimes offer a free trial period so build
up your business profile by taking advantage of free trials.
Andrea Callow
Dipec Plastics Ltd
www.dipec.co.uk
Michael Kane
Chief Taster, Curious Wines
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50 tried and tested business tips
Grow your customer base
In the loop
Your customers know best
Keep your customers informed, from new products to progress on
their project (even if it’s bad news!).
Take the time to talk to your customers to understand their real
needs. Observe how they use your product or service or carry out
a survey of your customers to find out what they really think and
then use that information to customise your service offering to
meet their needs. Encourage your customers to give you feedback
and be open to listening. They can tell you what is good and what
needs improving, but be careful about listening to what you only
want to hear. A happy customer can be your best advocate. Not
all comments will be positive but you learn more from an unhappy
customer than from a happy one.
Shona Penfold
Thymebuild Ltd
Communicate with feeling
When you are communicating internally and externally, ask yourself
the question “Am I delivering the right message in the right way to
the right person?”.
By being more mindful over how you communicate, you make it
more likely that you will impact others with your message. Always
consider how your messages make the other person feel and not
just what it will make them think. Emotions produce action. Your
customers will be more likely to buy and your staff will be more
likely to listen if you pay attention to how you affect their feelings
with your message.
Owen Fitzpatrick
Owner, Owen Fitzpatrick International
Nigel Pim
Director, Pims Business Systems
To find out more go to:
sage.co.uk/discover
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Manage your
cash flow
In the current economic climate, more companies are facing challenges with late
payments and issues with suppliers. Here’s some advice from a range of experienced
entrepreneurs designed to help you keep the cash flowing.

50 tried and tested business tips
Manage your cash flow
Make it easy to get paid
Always enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope when sending
invoices. This way they can’t say “I can’t find a stamp or envelope
just now - I’ll pay this bill later when I’ve found one”. Doing this
increased the speed my account customers paid me by up to 20
days.
Jennie Chappell
Willowbrook Farm Feed & Equestrian
www.willowbrookequestrian.com
Send a polite reminder
Email your customers five days before your invoices are due for
payment to remind them, and ask if they have any issues. Send
your second reminder shortly after the invoice is due, and you’ve
removed their non-payment reason that there were issues with the
goods or service.
Evan James
Vital Spark Solutions Ltd
www.vitalsparksolutions.co.uk
Goodwill helps good cash flow
Engage with creditors as early
as possible
It is important that where a business finds itself in difficulty with
paying its creditors (trade suppliers, banks, etc.), that it seeks to
engage and talk to the creditor(s) as soon as possible about the
situation.
From our experience it creates a good amount of goodwill with
the creditor if this engagement is initiated first by the business in
trouble rather than the creditor finding out elsewhere that there is
an issue. Once the initial problem is communicated to the creditor,
it is usually relatively straightforward to get an agreed deferred
payment arrangement with the creditor.
Tom Holmes
Director, Ballymount Accounting
Don’t be afraid to say “No”
Don’t be scared to say “no” to customers when they ask for
credit or extended terms. Cash flow is the life blood of all SME
businesses so, keep control, pay suppliers on time and don’t let
customers steal extra credit days.
Colin Halligan
Generate goodwill by making sure you pay your suppliers on time,
or preferably early in the case of smaller local suppliers. That way
they will be much more likely to help out if you ever run into trouble
with your cash flow and need to delay a payment.
Simple Solutions (Electronics) Ltd
Robert Lee
Keep on top of your reconciliation
Centre Ministries
www.centreministries.org
Volume for vanity, profit
for sanity
www.simplesolutions-uk.com
Reconcile your bank account every day to successfully manage
your cash flow. Any unrecognised transactions are resolved ASAP,
you’ll know if payments fail, and which customer invoices haven’t
been paid. Remember: cash flow pays the wages, not profit.
Catherine Segnatelli
Boccard UK Ltd
www.boccard.co.uk
Our business is typical of one that has a relatively small number
of high value customers and we are always seeking to grow our
customer base. A lot of managers focus on growing the volume
of their business, even at the risk of margin. If every deal does not
have a value proposition on its own merit, you are doing the wrong
deal. Don’t discount to win volume.
Robert Baker
Founder & CEO, Baker Security & Networks
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Sage accounts software will help you
keep on top of your cash flow by easily
identifying who owes you money, and
who you owe money to.
www.sage.co.uk/smallbusinessaccounts

50 tried and tested business tips
Manage your cash flow
Stand out from the crowd for fast
payment
When issuing invoices think about doing so on bright or
fluorescent paper as they will stand out on their desk rather than
be lost in the pile of paper that normally exists. If you then have to
follow up with a phone call, it’s also easier for them to find.
Roger Weeks
Jacksons Financial Services
Plan for deficit, plan for surplus
Spend time working on an effective cash flow plan. Plan for
deficits, if they occur don’t panic - prioritise, strategise and
communicate with your suppliers and your bank. Equally plan for
surpluses, make the extra cash you have work hard and gain a
return for your business.
Louise Rowe
Hawke and Hunter Ltd
www.hawkeandhunter.com
www.jacksonsfs.co.uk
Know your minimum
Always build a cash flow with no income to show you what you
need to break even. Always work in reverse with sales as it is too
easy to overestimate. Go with your head, not with your heart.
Richard Wain
Hive & Co Accessories Ltd
12

A guide to
controlling
costs in
business
With so many day-to-day tasks competing for your attention, it can be hard to keep
track of all expenditure. Here’s some tried and tested advice to help you keep control
of the purse strings.

50 tried and tested business tips
Control your costs
If you don’t ask, you don’t get
Think: “Every single pound”. Here at Aqueduct we have
encouraged our staff, when ordering supplies, to always ask for
a discount from the supplier. We estimate that this will reduce our
costs by 1% in the current financial year equating to £40,000. If
you don’t ask you don’t get.
Ronan Phillips
Aqueduct Design & Advertising
www.aqueduct.co.uk
Paying up-front? Ask for a
discount
If you are being asked to pay up-front for goods, you should be
asking for a discount of at least 2-3%. Most companies will give
you this discount and over a year the savings can far outweigh
overdraft costs.
Maria Whitehead
Hawkshead Relish Company Ltd
www.hawksheadrelish.com
Hold out for a better deal
Never accept the first deal you are offered - there will always be a
better deal. If you are currently with that provider tell them you will
leave. Remember - you don’t actually have to.
Robin Dinerstein
Italguide Ltd
www.itguru.co.uk
Negotiate energetically
Business energy contracts are automatically renewed. Make a
note of contract dates and give the required notice to allow room
for negotiation.
Robert Harper
A Coombs Ltd
www.acoombs.co.uk
Understand the sacrifices, focus
on the future
A freeing and important state of mind to reach when setting
up your own business is to accept that you’re going to have
less money, time and freedom than all of your friends who are
employed. Roland and I find that it doesn’t really bother us when
we can’t afford something.
We hope we will be able to afford it soon but we don’t mind that
it’s not possible right now because we chose to put any money we
have into Muddy Boots. We’re going to feel pretty chuffed when
we can afford it again... probably a lot happier than we’d feel at
the moment wishing it were cheaper or trying to compete with our
friends who can afford it.
Miranda Ballard
Muddy Boots Real Food and Sage Business Expert
www.muddybootsfoods.co.uk
Sage is the market leader for small
business accounts software in the UK.
Find out how we can help you keep your
finances healthy, and plan for the future.
www.sage.co.uk/smallbusinessaccounts
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The secret
to creating
a great work
life balance
Despite your best intentions, as a business owner maintaining a happy balance
between your work life and your home life can be a challenge. Our top tips will help
you keep in control, planning for tomorrow so you can enjoy the rest of your day.

50 tried and tested business tips
Create a great work life balance
Time to manage
One of the advantages of working for yourself is that you control
your own time, so take advantage of this. It can be a better use of
your time to do the supermarket shopping straight after nursery
drop off, when the shops are quiet, and work on a Saturday when
the shops will be busier. Be realistic about what you can achieve
in the time you have, and don’t be afraid to call in favours. A play
date on a Sunday afternoon can give you precious time to catch
up!
Hit the ground running,
every day
Last thing at night, before leaving your desk, make up your ‘to do’
list for the following day. That way the day starts well organised.
Brian Blacklaw
Isoplan UK Ltd
www.isoplan.com
Antonia Chitty
Family Friendly Working and Sage Business Expert
www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk
Take time to think
Never put anything off!
Allow at least two hours every week for thinking and planning.
You run the business. Don’t let it run you.
Always do your least favourite task first so you don’t have it
hanging over you, then the day can only get better!
Saleem A Choudhry
Trish Goose
www.jobskin.co.uk
Jobskin Ltd
Smith and Reed Recruitment
www.smithandreed.co.uk
Know where you’re at
Manage your email better
Create inbox sub-folders for different categories of email according
to action needed; for example “Inbox - Respond To,” “Inbox To Process,” “Inbox - Not Important”, etc. If an incoming email
doesn’t need an immediate response, move it to the relevant
sub-folder.
Now you can focus on email which needs a response in the near
future (i.e. important and urgent), without being distracted by other
non-urgent items. It also avoids the risk of emails which need a
response being missed because they’ve been pushed ‘out-of
sight’ by your other less-important email.
Always keep up-to-date. Don’t leave tasks until the end of the
week or the end of the month. You should be able to get an upto-date picture of debtors and creditors and the bank accounts
at any given minute to enable you to make the correct business
decisions.
Wendy Savill
Sygnet Signs Ltd
www.sygnetsigns.com
Roger Banfield
Human-IT Solutions
www.human-it-solutions.co.uk
16

50 tried and tested business tips
Create a great work life balance
Plan, plan, plan and plan some
more!
Planning gives you the solid foundation to make sure your
projects are solid and will help reduce risks. It allows you to make
mistakes ‘on paper’ and therefore not waste cash on things that
won’t work. At the same time you have to know when to stop the
planning and move forward. Analysis paralysis can kill projects
dead as they run out of time. So be sure to get the balance
between execution and planning just right.
Ross Dundas
Rosco IT Solutions Ltd
www.roscoit.co.uk
Gain the knowledge, skills and confidence
to help you get the most out of your
software using Sage Training Workbooks
- all at a pace which suits you.
www.sage.co.uk/training

A step by step
guide to
employing the
perfect person
If you’re an employer, or you’re at the stage where you need to recruit, our advice will
help you find and keep happy, productive staff.

50 tried and tested business tips
Employing the perfect person
A new route to recruit
Appreciate to motivate
Recruiting people for your business? There are many ways to
advertise your roles, from the local press through to online job
boards. But these cost money, so why not try recommendations
from your current workforce or use social media channels like
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn?
Make your staff feel appreciated and acknowledge their service
by celebrating their anniversary in your company. If you have
numerous staff simply put a notice up for that calendar month,
i.e. “This April we celebrate Natalie’s 4th year with the company.
Thank you for your hard work.”
Michael Moore
Esther Beresford
Recruitment Team Manager, Sage UK
Miller & Isaacs Dental Surgery
www.cleevedental.co.uk
Hire people who are better
than you
The best piece of business advice I got was “Don’t be afraid to
hire people who are better than you are”. I liked that. Be humble
and you’ll get great people on board who can maybe even teach
you a thing or two along the way.
Gavin Duff
Amplify Marketing
Praise is free
“Well done... Brilliant job.... I really appreciate it” can motivate
better than any pay rise could ever do. Well-motivated staff have
a positive influence on your business in more ways than you can
imagine. So show you care.
Sadie Lloyd
Encourage employees to focus on
the company... not you
Although your intention is not to come across as a pushover,
presenting yourself as an authority figure only opens up room for
resentment between you and your employees. The key in such
relationships lies in being smart and showcasing your ability to
build a successful company.
During meetings make the company the focal point rather than
you - using the company in the forefront will help employees feel
a sense of belonging and a desire to seek the company’s best
interests. Besides ensuring that your employees are strategically
aligned with your company’s goals, it is equally important to
provide incentives when the company has achieved a particular
goal.
Motivating your employees is one of the business tips that will
save you a lot of time, hassle, and frustration in the long run.
Caroline Baxter
www.caroline-baxter.com and Sage Business Expert
Paull & Co Ltd
www.paulls.co.uk
Happiness? Productivity? Cake!
Motivate your staff with cream cakes - the rationale:
1. Encourages communication - buy a selection
2. Ensure production doesn’t slow down due to drop in blood
sugar levels - serve with morning coffee
3. Include chocolate in the selection - boosts dopamine levels,
therefore happier staff
Lynda
Apollo Creative
www.apollocreative.co.uk
19

Sage Payroll software takes the
complexity out of running your payroll.
Find out why it’s the UK’s most popular
way to pay employees.
www.sage.co.uk/smallbusinesspayroll

A guide to
beating your
business fears
Lots of people have a business idea, but fear of failure stops one in three workers
from starting up on their own. Here are some insights from people who have
succeeded despite the doubts...

50 tried and tested business tips
Beat your business fears
Step out of your comfort zone
Less stress
Everything that you desire, wish for, dream of, everything you want
is outside of your comfort zone, so you need to step out to get it.
Here are the keys to stepping-out:
The best way to deal with stressful situations successfully is to
tackle the cause of that stress - so open those bills, make that
phone call, have that meeting. Get it over with and you’ll feel so
much better afterwards!
• Accept, face, embrace, and push through your fears to break
through your comfort zone
• Learn how to embrace the uncomfortable every day with daily
actions
• Every time you will stretch outside of your box, you will grow
(it is a never-ending process)
• It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone, so have
someone to stand by your side as you do
Your ability to move forward depends on your ability to make
decisions and on your ability to step out of your comfort zone:
take actions and make it happen.
Lyndsay Waymont
Acies Group LLP
www.aciesgroup.co.uk
Bad news first
Never delay in delivering bad news and always do it in person,
never by email. You can often defuse a bad situation by dealing
with it early and in person.
Jim Newbigging
Capital Vehicles
Frederique Murphy
CEO, Frederique Murphy Ltd.
For more information or to buy any
software or services, call:
0800 33 66 33 - Existing customers
0800 44 77 77 - New customers
Or visit www.sage.co.uk
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