Unique Client Solutions Confident Growth 100 Will Make a Difference

Unique Client Solutions, a customer acquisitions company with offices in Nottingham, is confident that the city’s new Growth 100 plan will be a huge help to new businesses.

The managing director of Unique Client Solutions, Simon Tomlinson, knows only too well how difficult starting a new business can be. Therefore he was delighted when he learnt that Nottingham was leading the way in helping new business owners to develop their skills. The new scheme, called Growth 100, has been set up by the city council to allow experienced business leaders to give management coaching and share practical skills with newcomers.

The council is currently inviting businesses, both new and established, to sign up to the scheme and the programme is set to start in early 2013. Along with local business leaders, academic experts will also be on hand to give out advice.  What does Mr Tomlinson of Unique Client Solutions think of the scheme? “Quite frankly I’m very impressed. This is exactly the sort of thing that helps businesses to survive and grow in an uncertain economic climate. Within our own company we have a strong business development programme and we find that guidance from those with more experience gives newcomers much more confidence and the practical skills to succeed.”

Nick McDonald from Nottingham City Councils Jobs, Skills and Business office has big plans for the scheme. He said, “We believe our Growth Plan has the potential to completely restructure this city’s economy.” The plan for the scheme is to equip business owners and leaders with the skills to help create more jobs in the city and Mr Tomlinson agrees that this must be a priority.

“At Unique Client Solutions we’ve seen the difficulties that people face in finding a job, particularly young graduates or school leavers. New businesses are far more likely to have entry-level positions available so I think that this scheme will help this group particularly.”

Businesses who are interested in applying to the scheme should email businessgrowth@nottinghamcity.gov.uk, or visit www.mynottingham.gov.uk/growth100 the scheme is free and open to businesses of any size.

Unique Client Solutions and Mr Tomlinson in particular, will be following the scheme carefully, “We’re delighted to have such a forward-thinking scheme going on in our city, at Unique Client Solutions we’re confident it’s going to be a success.”

Unique Client Solutions Discusses Business Bank Plans

Unique Client Solutions takes a look at Vince Cable’s plans for a government bank designed to increase lending to businesses. Do they think it will work?

In plans announced by business secretary Vince Cable in the last few days, the government has set out plans to create a bank with a £1bn fund to help to increase the amount of lending to businesses. Unique Client Solutions understands that the £1bn pledged by the government is hoped to be matched by an equal amount of private sector investment. The bank will operate via existing lenders and is expected to start within 18 months.

As a business specialising in customer acquisitions to a wide range of UK based clients, Unique Client Solutions has been well placed to watch the financial difficulties faced by businesses, particularly of small and medium size, over the past few years. A representative for the company agrees that lending to small businesses has slowed to a trickle, “At Unique Client Solutions we have seen many in our business community around Sheffield and Nottingham struggle in the economic downturn. In particular they have been unable to secure the necessary funds from banks to grow."

Mr Cable has promised to “get behind” successful firms looking to grow and Unique Client Solutions hopes that this is a serious attempt by the government to halt the demise of small businesses. Mr Cable believes that this is the first step to help get the UK out of recession. In his address to the Liberal Democrat Conference he said, “We need a new British Business Bank with a clean balance sheet and an ability to expand lending rapidly to the manufacturers, exporters and high-growth companies that power our economy.”

Does Unique Client Solutions believe this to be a viable plan? “Any money that is being directed specifically to the growth of SMEs is a step in the right direction. These are very early days but the plans look positive. Mr Cable is right in believing that the governments can sensibly with the right consultation “intervene and support enterprise.” Banks are averse to risk understandably at the moment, we hope that this will help to get funds to successful companies much more easily to help them grow. Business banks like these have already been used with great success in Germany, South Korea and the USA and we’re confident that the same can happen here.”

Unique Client Solutions Looks at the Best Cities in the World to do Business in

With an upcoming expansion to The Netherlands Unique Client Solutions looks at the best cities in the world to do business. Did the big names come out on top?

PriceWaterhouseCooper recently conducted a report to find the top 25 cities for business, life and innovation. Unique Client Solutions, a customer acquisitions company with offices in Sheffield and Nottingham, took a look at the cities that came out on top.

Johannesburg #25

Johannesburg came number one in affordability of business space and #2 in cost of living. They fell down when it came to broadband quality and health system performance. It was the only ranked city in Africa.

Mexico City #20

Bustling Mexico City scored highly in terms of cost of living (#1) and cost of public transport (#2) but your health might come at a cost. It came last in air pollution and second to last in purchasing power.

Madrid #15

Unique Client Solutions have frequently visited Madrid for business meetings and it's a fantastic city to visit and work. According to the report they agree. It’s easy to get to (#3 airport access) and came #2 in financial and business services employment. However it came second to last in ease of hiring and starting a business.

Hong Kong #10

This came top of the pile in a whole host of categories: Inflation, flexibility of visa travel, ease of hiring, crime rates. However it struggles when it comes to the price you pay for it. It is last in cost of business space, and third to last in cost of living. Hong Kong was recently named the freest economy in the world however, a very attractive title to big business.

London #6

Our own capital city came number one for sports and leisure activities, international tourists and financial/business employment. It came #2 in attracting job-creating foreign investment, cultural vibrancy, research from top universities and strength of currency. However as Unique Client Solutions can attest to, it came second to last in commute time, cost of commute as well as cost of owning space for business.

Sydney #5

Sydney was the best for city carbon footprint, ease of starting a business, housing, literacy and purchasing power. The only category they came dead last in was cost of public transportation. With such beautiful weather Unique Client Solutions thinks you might put up with walking or cycling!

Stockholm #4

With less than a million people Stockholm is one of the smallest cities on the list however it ranks best in a huge number of categories including: clean air, digital economy activity, entrepreneurial environment, green space, intellectual property protection, political stability and traffic congestion. High taxes and low work flexibility might put people off as well as a lack of foreign investment.

San Francisco #3

With a relaxed Californian lifestyle you might be mistaken for thinking that business would be slow. Not so. San Fran attracts businesses for the excellent education levels of its population, work flexibility, entrepreneurial environment and life satisfaction. It is known for having progressive social policies like paid sick leave.  

Toronto #2

This was our biggest surprise. It might be cold but it is the most popular destination for business trips and has a great quality of living and fantastic clean air. Less established than many other cities around the world Toronto is making waves in sustainability and innovation which Unique Client Solutions is sure will make it an attractive city of the future.

New York #1

Well the top spot didn’t surprise anyone at Unique ClientSolutions. With such an incredible reputation New York was bound to come top of the pile. The Big Apple came number one for cultural vibrancy, research universities, work flexibility and number two in entrepreneurial environment and international tourists. It’s a work hard play hard city that will always attract businesses.

Where are you favourite cities to visit and work? Let us know via our Facebook page!

Unique Client Solutions on Timeless Leadership

Unique Client Solutions looks at the fundamentals of leadership that never go out of fashion.

Keeping ahead of the game when it comes to customer acquisitions is fundamental to the success of Unique Client Solutions. We’re constantly mixing the tried and tested with the new to find the best possible techniques for our sales to ensure our clients the best possible results. We like to think of ourselves as great mentors too, and are keen to learn from others about the methods that they use to be great leaders. However, at Unique Client Solutions we believe that there are three aspects of being a great leader that never change.

Firstly mentorship. No matter how good we are at what we do, at Unique Client Solutions we believe in education at every level. Picking a mentor is something that you should take time over. What do you want to get out of your relationship? Have they been through the same things that you’re going to go through? Will they push you as much or as little as you want? When we’re mentors we aim to guide and encourage and help them to get everything they can out of the relationship.

Empathy is sometimes easily overlooked in any fast-paced business world. However the ability to spot when your team members are anxious or overwhelmed is an important leadership trait. In competitive industries like direct sales there are a lot of confident and driven individuals but everyone has a human side. At Unique Client Solutions we believe that you should remember to develop your emotional intelligence as much as anything else. Everyone has bad days and you need to know how to get the best out of people on every day. You’ll have to adapt your techniques accordingly.

Trust is essential for any relationship to develop. Do you have the trust of your team? Do you trust them? Trust is earned by being consistent in what you say and do. At Unique Client Solutions we value the trust of our clients and that ethos filters down through our company.

For more leadership information, visit our blog.

Unique Client Solutions Ask: Is Poor Maintenance Slowing Broadband?

Unique Client Solutions has recently read a report suggesting that businesses and homeowners are suffering from slow broadband speeds simply because they’re not maintaining them enough.

A report by internet provider TalkTalk has suggested that simple DIY maintenance of broadband networks in corporate and home premises could speed up their connections. Unique Client Solutions, who provide customer acquisitions to the broadband industry read the report with interest particularly considering that plans for super-fast broadband speeds are well under way.

TalkTalk’s chief engineer Dan Downham has said that faulty wiring and poorly configured routers are the cause of the majority of connectivity problems. He added that these problems can be fixed by businesses or homeowners very easily. “A bit of basic home maintenance and some re-jigging of the wiring…could speed up internet connections no end.”

The news comes as cities around the UK are finding out whether they have received the necessary funding to install super-fast broadband that will allow speeds of up to 100Mb. Unique Client Solutions were delighted when they found out that Sheffield and the surrounding area would be one of the regions to receive the new technology which will see some of the fastest speeds in the world as standard.

A spokesperson for Unique Client Solutions said, “Business leaders have been raising the issue of a need for faster broadband for some time now. There is no doubt that the introduction of super-fast broadband around the UK is a huge step forward and incredibly welcome, however this news from TalkTalk is something that all businesses and homeowners should take note of. Just like a well maintained car runs well, broadband should be looked after with the same care if you want your internet to work well.”

The report suggested that broadband speeds of up to 4Mb are being lost from peoples internet connections for an estimated half a million homes in the UK due to bad internet set ups. The spokesperson for Unique Client Solutions continued, “These are significant figures. Most broadband providers have helpful technology teams who are on hand to talk through any issues, if you think your speed is significantly slower than it should be then it’s probably worth giving them a call.”

Unique Client Solutions offers our clients a unique service to deal with all of their customer acquisition and campaign management needs. For more information please visit http://www.uniqueclientsolutions.org