Are You A Member of Our Tax Club?23/07/10
It was recently reported on the Accountancy magazine website that….. “HM Revenue & Customs is set to raise an additional £4bn in 2010/11 through more aggressive tax investigation work and tougher powers, according to UHY Hacker Young. From analysis of the published business plan for 2010/11, the firm calculates HMRC is looking to raise £16.1bn of tax through compliance activity. This represents a 33% increase on the £12.1bn collected this way in 2008/09, taking the total for the next year to £16.1 bn. UHY Hacker Young believe that to achieve such a high yield, HMRC will need to widen the scope of its enquiry work to include marginal cases, and says this increases the risk that innocent businesses are caught up in the net.”
It has never been more important for our clients to join our Tax Club as we will waive our fees incurred in dealing with an HMRC enquiry. For more information call the office on 01223 832477.
Godolphin Claim the Tyrrell & Company Maiden Fillies Stakes22/07/10
Sunset Avenue owned by Godolphin won the Tyrrell & Company Maiden Fillies Stakes at the Newmarket July Course.
Sophie Ball and Darren Purcell presented the prizes to the winning connections and are pictured here with the jockey, Ted Durcan.
HOLDING ON!13/07/10
Not all companies are seeing their sales drop during these turbulent times, some are doing really well. There are many examples of successful small and mid size companies so what can we learn from them?
Our research shows that there are a number of areas businesses should focus on or try out, below are 10 of these for you to consider, most importantly hang in there!
- Keep overheads light and eliminate unnecessary expenditure;
- Set realistic and achievable budgets and measure how you are doing on a monthly basis;
- Be aware of the fundamental shift away from the “Offline” to the “On line” economy and access how you can move your business “On line” as quickly as possible;
- The buying patterns of customers do change, be flexible in your pricing and offerings ;
- Make sure you have systems in place to keep existing customers “Happy”, they should be your biggest fans!;
- Regularly review whether you are offering “Value for Money”, it is the most important factor right now in helping potential customers decide whether to buy from you or one of your competitors;
- Experiment. Throw out the rule book and every so often try something different. A good example would be “Pay what you think it was worth”, done by a number of restaurants recently;
- Make sure potential customers know you exist. Get some publicity (see also above), sponsored charitable activities generate interest, write to other local business who have a success story to congratulate them. Whatever you do plan for time to make it happen;
- Do not lose sight of why you started your business, rekindle your ambitions every so often, take time out to think about what you want from your life and remember the purpose of your business is to help you achieve those ambitions;
- Never give up. Someone famous once said “If at first……”!
Office Closed on Friday 16th July06/07/10
Please note that the office will be closed on Friday 16th July. We will be open for business as usual on Monday 19th July at 9.30am.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
THE EASIEST WAY TO GROW A BUSINESS IS TO KEEP WHAT YOU’VE GOT HAPPY!25/06/10
You can only lose your reputation once. Research has shown that if you upset a customer they may tell 11 other people about it!
If you keep a customer happy they are likely to tell 4 other people about their positive experience and they are highly likely to refer you to others. Remember referrals cost nothing to market. The most important business system you can put in place is customer satisfaction.
So here are some of the things to think about when designing a system for keeping customers happy and getting referrals:
- Regularly review your customers needs and wants, either by survey, face to face or telephone, be prepared to adapt your products or services to changing circumstances.
- Install customer care as the number one system in your business, discuss this with all employees and agree a system that puts the customer first.
- Get regular feedback – ask customers “How are we doing?”
- If the response to the above is positive – ask them “Do you know anyone else we could help?”
- Measure how many referrals are given to you, it is quite simply the most cost effective form of marketing you can do.
- Regularly review your policies.
….and what happens when you have built up that reputation?
- Deliver. The easiest way to build and keep a good reputation is to promise a high-quality product or service and then to produce the goods consistently well.
- Keep everybody in the business “Onside”. It is not enough that owners and employees are simply aware of the importance of reputation. Unless you all buy into it completely and with conviction, it will not work.
- Plan – for the worst. The easiest way to turn a minor crisis into a major disaster is not to know how to handle it. In every area of your operation, ask what could happen that would be most damaging to your reputation. Then, plan for that worst case scenario (and any other less fatal but still damaging possibility).
Kerstin Meeson Smith attends 11 Downing Street23/04/10
Kerstin Meeson Smith recently attended an event at 11 Downing Street to discuss ideas on improving tax administration and how HMRC can support our clients better
Tyrrell & Company Sponsors Cambridge United FC24/03/10
We are delighted to be the sponsors of the family stand at Cambridge United Football Club. We are proud to support our local community.
