Grow Your Business Programme

Please note:  This course is designed for people who are in business for at least one year.   This course would not be suitable for pre-start up or start up businesses.  Booking onto the course does not automatically guarantee you a place on the course. The Local Enterprise Office will be in touch with you regarding your application to attend this course. 

This series of 8 2-hour online webinars is designed for business owner/managers who have a real desire to grow their business. It encompasses a mixture of strategic planning tools along with a focus on some of the common areas impeding growth on a day to day basis. Participants should be prepared to complete a number of exercises for their own business and in addition to the 8 webinars there will be a number of online workshops designed to help participants through this work. Finally, a number of 1:1 mentoring sessions may also be provided as required.

Facilitators

The 2 facilitators providing this course previously worked together building a start-up business from €0 to €1m in annual revenues, and profitability, before selling it to a UK competitor and today they own and run their own advisory business, working on a daily basis with businesses of all sizes and types providing guidance and mentoring through the challenges of business growth. Some of the common challenges they observe or hear said include the following:

• Businesses that are struggling to grow beyond a certain size/ceiling
• “No one in the team can really do it as well as I will”
• “I have a long list of urgent tasks that I can never seem to complete”
• “I don’t have the time for Strategic Planning”
• Not having a clear picture of how all of the aspects of the business hang together
• A lack of tools to help mange price and margin, the sales process or longer-term objective management.

Modules

Module 1 – Introduction to Strategic Planning and understanding why businesses Fail to Grow, or simply fail

Understanding the stages of a Strategic Plan, starting with Why your business exists and feeding all the way down to a detailed action plan by the end of the Programme. Understanding why business struggle and how this might relate to your business and how this feeds into your strategic plan.

Module 2 –An Introduction to Lean Start up and Understanding your Business Model

Working through a business process titled Lean Start-up, which equally applies to the growth of existing companies, and is designed for these fast-changing times.  We will help you map out your Business Model utilising the Business Model Canvas.

Module 3 – Pricing your product for growth

We will look at a number of pricing models for your product or service, paying particular attention to Value Based Pricing and explore how pricing feeds into your margin and breakeven analysis. We will also cover other pricing related topics such as the pros and cons of Discounting.

Module 4 – The Place of Marketing within your Business Growth Plan

Helping you to understand the importance of marketing within the overall business model, with particular emphasis on your customer value proposition.

Module 5 – Managing an effective Sales Process

Outlining the components, and the importance, of an effective Sales process.  Emphasising how selling is a Science and not an Art. Understanding your pipeline, buying influencers, and customer relationship management (CRM) tools.  

Module 6 – A better Understanding of Financial Management and Cash-flow

Touching on some of the most important aspects of good financial management, the importance of knowing your numbers, understanding financial statements, the importance of forecasting and reviewing financial performance, margin analysis and cashflow management.

Module 7 – Personal Effectiveness

Under this broad heading we will work through some common challenges we see in owner managed businesses, including time management and holding yourself accountable, highlight how urgent often overrules important (when it shouldn’t) and explore some common traps in decision making.

Module 8 – Developing and Implementing your Business Growth Plan

Taking all the learnings from each of the previous modules, we will guide you through the process of  how to identify the key Strategic Objectives necessary for you to achieve your growth goals and show you how to build these into an actionable plan.

Dates for this Course are as follows:

19 January (9.30am - 11.30am)

26 January (9.30am - 11.30am)

2 February (9.30am - 11.30am)

9 February (9.30am - 11.30am)

10 February (9am to 12 noon) Workshop

11 February (1:1 mentoring)

16 February (9.30am to 11.30am)

23 February (9.30am to 11.30am)

2 March (9.30am to 11.30am)

9 March (9.30am to 11.30am).

10 March (9am to 12 noon) Workshop

11 March (1:1 mentoring)

Priority will be given to participants from County Offaly.