Speakers at Brand Yorkshire

While attending Brand Yorkshire the other week, …. there were exhibitors and people to talk to, but Merewyn actually made time to listen to some of the speakers, which has always been a highlight in the past – but too busy chatting and taking selfies …

Read the other blog about the rest of the conference here – https://www.sayerssolutions.co.uk/blogs/2022/our-trip-to-brand-yorkshire-event-in-harrogate/

Here are some of the things Merewyn learnt in the sessions …

The first speaker was Judy Parsons, who put an emphasis on utilising LinkedIn as a go-to platform for attracting hot buyers to your business.

Did you know that the first thing that comes up when you Google a name is LinkedIn?

For most people, especially potential clients, first impressions matter. Therefore, taking the time to work on your LinkedIn online presence & effectively showcasing you and your business, can ultimately help you generate direct and indirect leads- making the process of a referral or being vetted extremely simple.

Due to LinkedIn’s smart algorithm, having a complete and active profile also pushes out your details in hopes of furthering your network, thus also being beneficial in attracting self-selecting clients straight to your door.

Sabrina, our current intern here at Sayers Solutions, can vouch for this advice, as she has been paying great attention to building her LinkedIn profile after finishing university. By listing her achievements and information regarding her education & skills, she has had numerous connections reaching out offering opportunities of internships & job roles.

Lastly, in order to have a noticeable and effective Linkedin profile Judy recommends to get active, building a large network – but not accepting or requesting random people – and work towards growing your engagement.

You want all those connections to be actively engaged with the content you are sharing (this is how you also determine the success of your profile/business).

If you would like to get in touch with Judy, her contact details can be found here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithparsons/ or email judy@judithparsons.com.

---

Joanne Tomlinson talked to us about protecting our margin. She told us that we are facing crosswinds and headwinds with a difficult economic situation. Joanne warned us to know our numbers and protect our cash.

The way you do this is to have a process for getting paid.

Don’t leave them owing you money!

• Check you’ve received it.
• Remind them.
• Chase them.
• Get paid.

Pick and choose who they pay, and make sure they pick you. If someone else took them out, would you still get paid?

As part of this, Joanne told the audience to have a Contract.  A letter of engagement = This is your promise!

Other great advice shared included –

• Don’t give discounts for the wrong reason
• Make sure you keep an eye on scope creep
• Set out a proposal of what is covered
• Include details of extras not covered, but could be available

However the key takeaway from the talk was the advice about making informed spending decisions.

Joanne reminded the audience that if you get business through marketing, if you cut marketing, you’ve got no business.

In cost of living crisis you have to do marketing.

If you would like to get in touch with Joanne, her contact details can be found here – jo@businessworksuk.co.uk or you can drop her a call or message on 01132864486.

---

Another key speaker was Glyn from RTC, who went off cuff, abandoning his 10 page presentation, which had been lovingly curated in preparation. Instead he used one of his current examples in the audience to demonstrate how innovation can activate even the most stable and traditional sectors; Tailoring.

Glyn placed a great focus towards the importance of innovating your business.

He talked about how the worst thing you can possibly do is remaining the same, and not embracing change. Doing the same thing over and over or offering the same product or service you’ve been providing for 10 years is not suitable any longer.

We currently live in the most fast-changing era or all time, technology at our finger tips has enabled trends to come and go & people have an abundance of information which can be accessed in seconds.

Not innovating your product or service will only limit yourself from achieving great results in both the short and the long term.

In short, Glyn stressed that you should embrace innovation in order for your business to thrive.

If you would like to get in touch with Glyn his contact details can be found here – glyn.selway@innovateukedge.ukri.org or you can drop him a message or call on 07593 929006. Alternatively you can check out his website here – www.innovateukedge.ukri.org.

---

Of course, there was much more covered throughout the day

Read our blog which discusses other parts of our time at Brand Yorkshire here – https://www.sayerssolutions.co.uk/blogs/2022/our-trip-to-brand-yorkshire-event-in-harrogate/

We think the event was a great success and totally recommend that Brand Yorkshire is in your diary for next year.

Merewyn also took the opportunity while attending Brand Yorkshire to run a social media campaign as part of our celebration for World Smile Day – check out our blog post here, where we talk about how the smiley face was invented and the reasons which small acts of kindness are celebrated each year.

If we met at Brand Yorkshire – or other networking event – and you would like to book a networking follow up chat, you can do so here, alongside the other sessions that we offer.

After Kirklees Conference we published this blog which gives our advice about what you should consider when attending conferences.