The BSGA Column Preparing for business uncertainty
With the rise of National Insurance contributions, the Living Wage, and now the international turmoil revolving around the United States and its game of poker with Tariffs, business security has become increasingly volatile. Thankfully, BSGA president, David Allen, has outlined a few suggestions that could help guide businesses through this growing uncertainty.
J
ust when we thought the worst was behind us, an election last year threw
uncertainty back into the midst. With the changes to National Insurance
and the Living Wage comes a whole raft of increased costs. Much has been written about the rights, wrongs, and the costs associated with these, but with our sector being dominated by smaller businesses, it’s safe to assume the impact will be felt widely among us. Business never likes uncertainty, but
we seem to have had more than our fair share, and at the time I’m writing, the United States has unleashed yet more uncertainty. While we might think it won’t affect a smaller sign or print company that doesn’t export, we all use equipment and materials that are provided by global companies. With all these changes to both
national and global trade, managing our businesses through an almost daily changing landscape can be a challenge, so what can we as SMEs do to improve our outlook in these uncertain times?
Knowing the market The easiest thing to tackle is getting your pricing and service right. Knowing your customer and their budgets will improve your success rate, save time, and reduce time-consuming mistakes. There’s no point in proposing a Rolls-Royce solution when the budget isn’t there, so knowing this from the outset will mean you save time by developing a solution that meets your clients’ needs. Just as important is spending time going through your proposal and explaining your offering; this all improves the chances of success. Having strong supplier relationships is
another key element in surviving times of change. A good supplier will help you navigate stock issues, pricing shifts, and material alternatives. Understanding lead times is also
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essential, as there’s nothing more frustrating than spending time on your solution, gaining the customer’s trust, only to find out that you can’t get materials in time. It’s also a good idea to review how long your quotes are valid for; when material prices move rapidly, it pays to keep on top of this to give you the flexibility to accommodate these fluctuations.
Knowing your staff The most talked about change we all face is the increase in National Insurance and the Living Wage. The combined pressures of these, along with the changes to employment law, mean there’s never been more pressure on a business to ensure wise team investment. Continual development of staff is one way to boost productivity and offset the increases in labour and material costs. Better still, having robust processes can also be a big help. Take a good, long look at your business’s operations; the temptation sometimes is to add a process to sort a problem, but look instead for processes you can remove, the less time spent processing a job, the more margin is left at the end. Look at the skillset your team has,
maybe there’s a skillset someone has that might open other avenues and revenue streams, this could bring new customers who might want your core products too. Don’t be afraid to diversify your offering. Becoming a ‘can do’ company can be a real boon when times are a little tougher. If worst comes to worst and the
work gets a little scarce, consider flexible working or part-time models instead of redundancies; it keeps the team together, and when things turn, you aren’t having to recruit new team members. Lots of companies reduced their headcount during COVID, only to struggle to fulfil orders when things picked up. The key is not to panic and rush into
decisions, and although it’s difficult to build up some resilience, plan ahead, review staff, products and services. Be across the detail, if you know your numbers, you’ll see trends and patterns and spot anything that’s amiss. Don’t get drawn into a price war; instead, upsell the positives of dealing with you and your company. We are fortunate in our trade to
have people who must be multiskilled to do the day-to-day stuff, so make use of that. Be the solution to a purchaser’s problem.
May/June 2025 | 45 |
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