Enterprise UK and Rockstar Group webchat: Take your business to the next level

Hello and welcome to today's webchat with Rockstar Group mentor Stirling Murray. Stirling will be speaking with us about all apects of growing and developing a business

Hello everybody - thanks for coming

Whats the best way of promoting a new innovative but highly effective product into an existing market ie exhibitions/ trade show industry

In terms of promoting a new but very effective prodcut - exhibitions and trade shows are a superb format - if it is targetted correctly you have a good chance of reaching your target market. Exhibitions can be quite time consuming, and costly, so the thing to remember before you enter into a trade exhibition is to visit the expo as a visitor. That way you can get some sense of what it's like from the consumer's perspective. My final advice would be to think very carefully before committing to participating because the cost, effort, and time required is going to be siginificant.

How do you strike the balance between extensive planning and foresight and being responsive when new opportunities emerge or things don’t go to plan?

There is a virtue in both extensive planning and foresight, and being repsonsive when things don't go to plan and new opportunities emerge. You need to have an opportunistic mentaility - you should be able to take advantage of things that are unexpected and be able to diverge slightly from the original business plan.

You can spend days and days and huge amounts of time on a business plan which then goes on a drawer and is never seen again. So just get on with running your business while keeping in mind the original strategy that you set yourself.

It is easy to become too attached to a plan. The reason for your business is to generate sales, and hopefully profit as well. Therefore a business plan has to be viewed as nothing more than a document that sets out what you would ideally like to happen.

When everything is so fast paced - how do you make a start on addressing the issue of moving the business forward and what is the first step to starting it?

Interesting question. It's an issue that every entrepreneur - in my experience- faces. There is a great quote from Goethe that says "just start it". The first step with any business is just to get on with it. That sounds pragmatic, but nothing is going to happen until you speak with customers and begin marketing and promoting.

So to start, just start! It sounds simple but it's the most difficult thing, or action, that an entrepreneur faces. It's the acid test: your customer's reactions in terms of whether your business has legs and is going to move forward or not.

What did you learn from working with Rimmel?

As part of the team with Rimmel we grew the business from 19 million to 45 million pounds. I was very fortunate to work in a variety of roles that gave me a very broad business experience across sales, marketing, and the supply chain.

I was also fortunate to work with a very committed team that is totally focused in the same direction. That latter point is probably the biggest learning experience - if you're working by yourself or with a team you have to have focus and know exactly which direction you want to head in.

I don't have a website or any online space for my clothes business. Should I get a website?or twitter?or facebook page?

Put simply, yes I think you do. I'm quite evangelical - for example - about LinkedIn. It has helped me tremendously with networking and presenting business opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise have know about.

Any business must have a clear marketing strategy that includes a website, or twitter, or linkedin. in the earlier stages of a business it is difficult to do all of those activities well. So early on - just focus on one or two and get them right so that they are appropriate to your target market. For example, of you're targetting people in their 20s then Facebook is the way to go. If your target - on the other hand - is business to business, then I would advise you to work with Linkiedin.

What ideas do you have to manage a marketing campaign on a shoestring budget?

This is an excellent and highly relevant question to any start-up. Honestly there isn't an easy answer - you have to have the attitude that every pound you spend has to really punch its weight, and that every revenue you get back from it is greatere than the pound you spend. You have to understand your target market so that you can reach them. You also have to network so that you can get referrals and recommendations for your business.

Finally - you have a guerilla approach and do things totally differently.

How can you keep yourself from being tied down to paperwork instead of getting out there to market your business?

Another question that every entrepreneur in start-up mode faces. The only way you're going to succeed is if you get out there and market your business. Paperwork is not going to build your business!

You've got to put all the bureaucratic stuff to one side - if you have to get up at 6 in the morning so that you can spend your actual day meeting customers then, well, that's life!

What you must never do is use paperwork, or the demands of paperwork, as an excuse not to market your business. It's an easy trap to fall into.

What are some of the problems you faced earlier in your entrepreneurial "journey" - how did you overcome them?

Interesting question. The reality of an entrepreneurial journey is that you face problems every day. Some of the questions on here have looked at those and we've spoken about how to overcome them.

I believe that the two most important attitudes you need to have fromt he very beginning of your journey is reillience and tenacity.

The reality is that no matter how great you are and how brilliant your idea, you are going to fall over at some time. There is a great quote from Mchael Caine, who plays Arthur the Butler in Batman Begins, who says "we fall down so that we can pick ourselves up".

Problems are not going to go away - we have to live with them all the time.

What has motivated the entrepreneurs you have come across: freedom? Money? Turning something you love into a profit?

All of us have different motivating factors: for some it's the freedom to control their own diary, for others its the opportunity to make loads of money, whereas for ohters its the opportunity to build a legacy. Some want to enjoy the challenge and overcome the difficulties in growing a business.

I've met many entrepreneurs and I would say the one mark of commonality is that all of them have an immense passion for their business, and belief in what they're doing. That belief comes immediately across to you - it is transparent and you can see it in their eyes. I also think that without that belief and passion - that could get you through the difficult times - no entrepreneur will succeed.

would you say "employing yourself" is Business? Or is employing others and making a profit what business is?

If you're employing yourself, YES, it is a business because you're doing that because you want to make revenue. If you're not doing that then, well, I'm not sure how you're going to live!

I've met very successful people who employ themselves through their businesses or through a portfolio of businesses and there is no question that they run businesses.

I'm launching a Medical Holiday website and wanted to know if you think cosmetics companies would work or spend marketing money with a company promoting cosmetic surgery when they have many creams that profess to make you look younger

This requires some careful thought and strategy. One of the biggest developments in the cosmetics market is practitioners selling on their own creams - they retail at a high price because they have the integrity and endorsement of a medical pracitioner.

it is unlikely that one of the major cosmetic companies would look to promote a medical website unless their was a strategic tie-in. The key to building this is, firstly, to talk to as many of the companies as possible, and then plan to launch - if you do not have strategic joint ventures - your own brand that will have the endorsement of the website and will have the integrity from the company that it keeps with other brands.

My business is ticking along nicely, but I need to do something flashy to draw in new customers. Any ideas?

I have lots of ideas - but it needs really to depend on who your customers are, whether business to business or business to consumer.

Let's assume that it's business to consumer for a second...

You could look to do an innovative viral campaign or a PR stunt that is going to grab some attention from the daily press - they're always looking for wacky or flash visual ideas to feature.

For example, a suncare brand had an event at Kings Cross station where they had highly attractive male and female models dispensing product samples. The reality is that pretty people sell products effectively!

If - on the other hand - your product is business to business you could attend a relevant exhibition and make your booth or site look exciting and different. You could also attend one of an increasing number of online exhibitions, which save a great deal of time and physical effort...and money! You could do something very interesting on that.

When's the right to sell equity?

I think the right time to sell equity in your business is when it is at its strongest point. This is counter intuitive because the time when most people need to raise money and therefore give away equity is when the business could be at its most vulnerable.

I think you have to be very jealous of your business, what you've created, and its potential. Therefore - if you can - you should look to be as strong as possible on what you give up for equity. Very often for an entrepreneur raising equity is the only way that the business is going to grow into something substantial. it is important - therefore - to get into bed with the right equity provider who not only understands your business but is also going to help you to grow it without putting a stranglehold around you.

Stirling is going to finish with a few words...

My thoughts on the entrepreneurial environment are as follows:

I am a great admirer of the creative process. I love reading, arts, music etc. I am always astonished at how an artist can create something of beauty from a blank canvas or blank page - an entrepreneur is no different.

The manner in which a business can grow is very different. A business in its early years treads a very fine line between failure and success and requires much of a similar creative process to keep the business growing.

My final words - a paraphrase of the great Winston Churchill - is "never ever give up".

Thanks Stirling. Stirling is part of the Rockstar Mentor Group, so do please look at the website www.rockstargroup.co.uk and do think about attending some of their exciting events, including the speed mentoring evening on the 24th February.