Business Insights
24.05.2022
What is effective leadership?
The world today is increasingly uncertain, which ramps up the pressure to succeed and the pace at which you're expected to react. This makes effective business leadership an even harder task. We're seeing the pace of change increase enormously with…
16.05.2022
Achieving your business vision
What ambitions do you have for your business? How do you perceive its progress into the future? Do you know how you'll translate this vision into a positive business strategy with clearly defined goals?
11.05.2022
Five top tips for marketing your business
At BHP we work with SMEs to help them drive profile, orders and profitability via their marketing activities. Here we pick our top five activities which make the most significant difference to marketing results.
03.05.2022
What defines an entrepreneur?
What do you see when you picture an ‘entrepreneur’? Most people might imagine someone like Richard Branson or Elon Musk; a larger than life character or a disruptor who can turn anything into profit. Or someone who launches a successful start-up,…
25.04.2022
Dealing with the ‘S word’: A practical guide to reducing workplace stress – part 2
The second part of our guide to reducing workplace stress focuses on how Managers and Leaders can reduce, not add to, the stress levels experienced in our businesses. So if you’re noticing signs of pressure or anxiety in your teams, here are a few…
20.04.2022
Dealing with the ‘S word’ A practical guide to reducing workplace stress – part 1
We all know that employers looking after their teams’ mental health has never been more important. And arguably we’ve never faced such a perfect storm of world events that could potentially have a negative impact on our levels of anxiety,…
20.04.2022
Dealing with the ‘S word’: A practical guide to reducing workplace stress
We all know that employers looking after their teams’ mental health has never been more important. And arguably we’ve never faced such a perfect storm of world events that could potentially have a negative impact on our levels of anxiety,…
12.04.2022
Three Motivational Tips For Your Team
It’s no secret that a motivated team delivers better results, and enjoys a higher level of job satisfaction and wellbeing. But knowing how to motivate your team is not always easy, especially if you don’t physically see them as often now hybrid…
05.04.2022
Is Your Business ‘Customer-Centric’?
All businesses are dependent on their ability to attract customers, satisfy their needs and retain them. But when we're focused on pursuing more sales and greater growth, we sometimes forget what really matters to our customers. When that happens,…
29.03.2022
Behind Every Successful Business is a Strong Team
Building a business relies on you creating and leading a team of able and committed people, who grow with the business and power its success. If you have real growth ambitions for your company, you can’t do it alone. You need to attract, develop…
22.03.2022
So, you think you’re good at multi-tasking?
I’ve often heard leaders and managers say with pride that they’re great at multi-tasking, or alternatively, worry about not having this particular ‘skill’. I’m going to come clean; I’m not good at multi-tasking, and it’s taken me years…
15.03.2022
Developing good habits to navigate change
Our recent business insights have looked at the importance of adapting to changing circumstances and how a constant barrage of information can leave us overwhelmed and, at times, unsure about how to move forward. So how can we focus on the messages…
08.03.2022
How delegation can be your business’s secret ingredient
In our previous post, we looked at priorities and in particular the challenges that the current market conditions present. To be effective, you must ensure you use all the tools available to you - and delegation is one of the most powerful tools that…
01.03.2022
Getting the balance right between urgency and importance
Our last blog post provided some useful tips to help you run a business at a time when there are many additional challenges associated with people resources and supply chain issues. We thought it would be beneficial to continue this theme this week…
25.02.2022
Top tips to help you navigate choppy waters
Running a business is certainly challenging with so many different factors to consider around resource, supply chains, the cost of energy and materials. However, now more than ever it is important that you spend enough time 'working on the business',…
15.02.2022
How to Adapt to Changing Circumstances
Life today is constantly changing and presenting us with new challenges. We're experiencing a period of unprecedented and rapid change, and something that worked yesterday may well not work at all tomorrow.
07.02.2022
The Value of Delegation
To succeed in business, you must know how to make the best use of your own time and how to delegate what can be done by others. While your team gets on with the day-to-day stuff, you can then focus on the tasks that no-one else can do.
31.01.2022
More Tips for Supporting Employees’ Mental Health
We've previously emphasised the benefit to your business in supporting your employees' mental health. We saw that promoting an open culture is a key factor, along with monitoring situations that most often cause stress. Today we're sharing three…
24.01.2022
Supporting Your Employees’ Mental Health
The issue of mental health used to hover on the murky side of illness, but we're now more aware of the need for support. People today are less reluctant to acknowledge and talk openly about their mental health issues, and employers are accepting that…
17.01.2022
Finding the Perfect Pitch
Every business needs finance, and this means finding investors or shareholders who'll take a chance on your ideas. This is even more important in the charged climate of today's start-ups...
12.01.2022
More Pointers to Better Management
Being a business manager can be tough. You occupy a delicate intermediary position between senior management and the workforce, where you have to provide an effective balance to the needs of both parties. Here are some more tips for effective…
04.01.2022
Key Pointers to Better Management
There are some interesting philosophical questions that occupy those in business. One of these is whether management is different from leadership. Keen advocates exist on both sides, but the principal distinction is between thinking and doing...
16.12.2021
Is Your Business Vision Clear? Can You Translate it to Strategy and Concrete Plans?
When I meet a new client, this is often the first thing I ask them. Their answer will demonstrate the direction the company wants to take, and pinpoint the focus of its actions. From that basis, we can work together to help improve alignment within…
10.12.2021
Why Habit-Forming Behaviours are Important
As an entrepreneur launching your own company or a career in business, you probably set out with a vision of where you wanted to end up. You may even have achieved your primary goal and gone further. Have you ever wondered why some people succeed…
11.11.2021
Do you have a plan for future leadership?
Managing change in business is a challenge at any time. Over the last year or so, we have all had to adapt and become far more flexible as individuals and agile as businesses. …
11.11.2021
How can we connect more effectively with our team?
As we adapt to a mixture of office and remote or home working, making sure that your employees remain engaged is more important than ever. …
03.11.2021
In today’s world, why having focus is more important than ever
As we move into the Autumn it is increasingly apparent that one of the challenges we face and will do for the foreseeable future, is the reality of the “new normal’ and how we adapt to this environment as business leaders. …
25.10.2021
Setting the reset button to deal with uncertain times
A good proportion of business’s we speak to and work with, have been busier than ever over the course of this last year. This is the case despite facing tricky capacity and safeguarding challenges onsite, managing increasingly difficult supply…
18.10.2021
Creating the climate for greener SMEs – part 2
In our last Business Insights, we looked at why now is the time for SMEs to embrace action to reduce their carbon footprint and suggested some small but important first steps you can take. …
22.09.2021
Creating the climate for greener SMEs
As we navigate our way out of the Covid crisis, many are warning that the next crisis, that of global warming and a climate emergency, is just around the corner if not already here. …
22.09.2021
Dealing with the challenges of supply
Over the last few months, we have often written about your customers and the importance of meeting their requirements. …
22.09.2021
How healthy is your customer base?
The long term resilience of your business is of course intrinsically linked to the health of your customer base, the demand this will create and your ability to service this. So how do we make sure we maximise our revenue in the future?
22.09.2021
How social media usage has changed post pandemic and what this means to your marketing.
Yes, autumn is upon us. In the most strange and unique of years, it does seem to have reached that time of year extraordinarily quickly. Most businesses I’ve been speaking to have moved on from the dugout position of mid pandemic and are now…
22.09.2021
Are you suffering from ‘potential problem paralysis’?
Over the last few months, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of senior people in SME’s asking for mentoring support to help them overcome what could be described as ‘scenario overload’ or ‘potential problem paralysis’. Given the…
20.09.2021
Do you love your customers?
We all know the importance of attracting new customers to grow our business. But if we are losing our existing customers along the way, we must find more and more new ones to stem the tide and get beyond our existing size. And that’s expensive and…
15.09.2021
7 hot tips to make social media an essential business growth tool
How to make social media work for your business. Most business leaders know they should be using social media, however many are less clear why. …
08.09.2021
How to have that difficult conversation
If you’ve run a business or managed people for any period, at some stage or other, you will have had to have a difficult conversation with an employee or team member. These can be very difficult experiences. …
06.09.2021
Why it is important to think about tomorrow
During a recent discussion with a client, I was asked how could they go about more deliberately starting to grow their business? …
28.07.2021
Sales teams, a luxury or money well spent?
It can be very expensive to build your own sales team. However, sales are the lifeblood of any business. Without a successful sales organisation and sales performance, it is very difficult for a business to hit its profit targets. …
26.07.2021
Why KPIs are catnip for the delivery of your marketing strategy…….plus, the top seven…
Catnip: When cats smell catnip they run towards it, rub their heads and body on the herb; jump, roll around, and vocalise. …
21.07.2021
‘Timeboxing’ – is it time to throw out your ‘to do list?
As a previously self-confessed fan of the ‘to-do list,’ this is a tough question to consider. But a few years ago Daniel Markovitz published an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled ‘To-do lists don’t work’, and it got my…
19.07.2021
Tame your ‘to do list’
I admit it, I’m a list person. Not just in business, but at home too. When I’m under pressure I feel more in control as I tick things off the list. When things are less fraught my list gives me structure and focus. …
14.07.2021
Three steps to having a persona-led marketing strategy, and why it matters.
Every business is a business run by humans, selling or interacting with other humans, which is why it’s important to have a person-based approach at the heart of your marketing strategy. …
12.07.2021
The art of successfully Managing succession
Managing change in any business can be a challenge. …
07.07.2021
Why good delegation is a vital ingredient for growth
Delegation – it’s probably one of the most useful tools for a business owner – and potentially the least well-executed. …
05.07.2021
How to make yourself more effective
One of the first questions we get asked is often, “how can I become more successful?”. …
30.06.2021
Is communicating the art of understanding or being understood?
Over the last year, businesses through necessity have had to increase their use of technology for business communications. …
28.06.2021
When should I make my first marketing hire?
This is a question I’m asked most frequently by startups and SMEs. …
23.06.2021
Habit-forming behaviours: why are they important
When you started out on your career or first set up your own business, you probably did so with a vision. It’s likely you had an idea about what you wanted to achieve or where you’d like your chosen path to take you, even if you weren’t yet…
21.06.2021
Learning to love ‘Sales’ – Part 2
Last time we looked at how sales can get a bad rap and some ideas to overcome ‘sales phobia’ in your teams. Here are a few more ways to help your teams learn to love sales and contribute to your sales effort.
16.06.2021
Learning to love ‘Sales’ – Part 1
‘Sales' can get bad press. But no matter how innovative your product, or amazing your service, if you’re not selling it then you will never have a thriving business. …
14.06.2021
Choosing the right technology – Part two
In the 1st part of Choosing the right technology, we covered the importance of capturing the business requirements and identifying potential suppliers. In this blog, we continue the process.
09.06.2021
Choosing the right technology – Part one
As we move into the Summer and businesses begin to look longer term, you might be thinking about changes. …
07.06.2021
Kick starting your business again
As we slowly move out of lockdown we thought it would be useful to share some ideas on kick-starting your business again.
02.06.2021
Why putting your customer front and centre really works
What’s the secret to successfully growing a business? Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to that question. But we have put a few thought-provoking top tips to help you in our latest blog.
26.05.2021
Re-energising your sales pipeline
Business owners and leaders are busy people. So, managing your time is a vital ingredient to being successful and developing your business. …
19.05.2021
Leading in today’s world
It’s not easy being an effective business leader in today’s fast-paced and often pressurised and uncertain world. …
17.05.2021
Acting as a leader
In the last of this series, we look at the challenges of being a leader in today's world pose.. Not only are you facing the high expectations of your workforce, but you have to deal with unexpected circumstances such as lay-offs, returning to work…
17.05.2021
What does good leadership look like?
We have looked before at some of the skills that make a good leader. Like most things in life, though, there has to be a balance. Good leadership is all about compromise, and juggling the different priorities presented by your business. …
12.05.2021
Want to become a better manager? – Here are our top tips – Part Two
Over the next five emails, we are going to take a more in-depth look at leadership. …
10.05.2021
Want to become a better manager? – Here are our top tips – Part one
Over the next five emails, we are going to take a more in-depth look at leadership. …
05.05.2021
Six things you should do before you hire, or grow, your marketing team
So you’ve reached that critical point when you know you need to let go of running all the marketing yourself, or you’ve decided to increase the size of your marketing team. …
28.04.2021
Getting the best out of yourself
We cover a wide variety of subjects during our emails, including Marketing, Business strategy, Developing and leading teams. However, as always, if you want to implement your strategy effectively, the impetus must come from you. …
27.04.2021
Top Tips to help you lead in today’s world
It’s not easy being an effective business leader in today’s world. The Covid world is unpredictable, fast-paced and there is a relentless need for efficiency improvement. In addition, customer demands increase, and it is vital that you meet your…
22.04.2021
How can I kick start faster growth?
Recently a client asked me how they could grow their business more quickly. They wanted to grow but weren’t sure where and how to start. …
19.04.2021
The Importance of Forward Thinking
When you contemplate the role you play in your organisation, are you working in or on your business? This may sound like an odd question. What does it mean, and what is its importance in business strategy?
14.04.2021
Planning for Your Business Future
When you think about the future of your business, how do you see it progressing? Are you able to translate this theoretical vision into a sound plan, directed by a coherent business strategy?
12.04.2021
Successful businesses are powered by your team
Team-building is critical to a successful business, and fielding a solid team becomes even more crucial if you hope to grow. …
30.03.2021
Your path to growth
We are always talking about the business leader's role, and how they can most effectively utilise their management team to develop and optimise performance. Factors contributing to this theme that we’ve discussed in the past include how best to…
24.03.2021
Pitching for Perfection
Every business needs investors or shareholders who are willing to invest. This is especially the case with the fast turnover of today's start-ups. The most common procedure for finding investors is to pitch them with your idea. This means you're…
22.03.2021
Making Your (Zoom) Meetings Productive
Meetings can be the bane of business, as people are required to devote a sizeable amount of their day to them. Are these meetings really necessary? Do they deliver any tangible results and, if so, do those results justify the amount of time spent in…
17.03.2021
Simple steps to help you when exporting to the EU
Towards the end of the 1st Quarter of the new trading relationship with the EU, we thought it would be helpful to address some of the key issues that have arisen.
15.03.2021
How well do you listen to your customers?
Our customers are the lifeblood of our businesses. Yet all too often when meeting prospective new customers we can be so keen to win their business we jump in all guns blazing, eager to convey what we can offer, why they should use us and why we’re…
10.03.2021
Maximising success in your digital marketing strategy
Lockdown has meant that many of our customers can only be reached online, meaning that digital marketing has never been more important, and potentially more powerful. …
08.03.2021
Good leadership – what does it look like? – Part Two
Last time we looked at a few of the skills necessary to become a good leader. Like most things, however, leadership is a balancing act and one size rarely fits all. …
02.03.2021
Good leadership – what does it look like? Part One
More than ever before businesses need good leadership to navigate them successfully through the current challenges and be ready for the ‘post-pandemic' era. But what is good leadership really, both for your business and your people? And how do we…
01.03.2021
How ‘customer-centric’ is your business?
Especially in the present circumstances, all businesses stand or fall on their ability to attract, satisfy and retain customers. …
24.02.2021
Looking After Your Team’s Well-Being in Lockdown 3.0 – Part 2
Last time we considered why it might not be ‘lockdown business as usual’ in this latest lockdown, the importance of a continued commitment to communication and being aware of the dangers of ‘Zoom fatigue’. …
22.02.2021
Looking After Your Team’s Well-Being in Lockdown 3.0
We’ve endured lockdowns before and come through it. However, it’s probably also true to say after almost a year of uncertainty, anxiety and stress, both at work and at home, some in our teams may be suffering from higher levels of…
17.02.2021
How Can You Become More Effective?
Our emails often cover important areas for the business such as sales or e-commerce strategies but ultimately the success of the business is down to successful implementation and in most cases, it is you who has to implement them.
15.02.2021
The Power of “adaptive leadership”
It’s no secret that the Coronavirus pandemic has sometimes pushed our ability to adapt to its limits. But even before the words lockdown, furlough or ‘new normal’ become depressingly familiar, the benefits of adaptive leadership were well known…
10.02.2021
Struggling with Succession? Our Top Tips and Self-Help Plan
Managing change in business is a challenge at any time. The last few months have taught us all the importance of being flexible and having the ability to adapt to changing situations. …
08.02.2021
Adapting to Changing Circumstances
The world we live in today is full of change and new challenges, we only need to look at the impact of the pandemic to realise this. Now more than ever, just because something worked yesterday, doesn’t automatically mean it will work tomorrow.
03.02.2021
The Business Case for Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a term we've used a lot recently and particularly how insufficient engagement among employees can lead to the business disruption that is sometimes critical.
01.02.2021
5 More Motivational Tips That Cost You Next To Nothing!
In our previous blog, we suggested three tips for team motivation at no cost to you. Today, we're offering two more highly effective but still low-cost ways to increase your team's motivation.
27.01.2021
5 Team Motivational Tips That Cost You Next To Nothing!
People work better when they're motivated, and at BHP we have first-hand experience and research to prove it. It's not always easy to know how to motivate your team, but our five top tips will really help. In this blog, we'll look at the first three…
25.01.2021
Want to Strengthen Employee Engagement? Communication is critical
In our recent blogs, we've been discussing various areas of strengthening employee engagement. These include sharing your vision, organisational integrity, and the importance of effective management at all levels. In our final look at employee…
20.01.2021
Want to Strengthen Employee Engagement? Here is how to become an effective manager
In our previous blog, we looked at strengthening employee engagement by sharing your vision and establishing mutual trust with your employees. Today we're exploring another key element that's critical to achieving a fully engaged workforce, and hence…
15.01.2021
Want to Strengthen Employee Engagement? Here’s how…
Employee engagement is when people do a job because they love it rather than just because it pays their salary. It's where everyone in your organisation is on the same page and your performance and productivity start to demonstrate significant…
12.01.2021
More Tips on becoming a better manager
It's sometimes tough to be a manager in the business world. You're slotted in between the workforce and your senior leadership, valiantly translating future strategy and business direction into the clarity of purpose and tasks for your teams to…
11.01.2021
Want to become a better Manager? Here are our Top Tips
Is there a difference between management and leadership? This has long been a subject for debate, and depends largely on the difference between thinking and doing.
09.12.2020
Do you Import? – answering your key questions on changing terms within Europe and beyond
As a business improvement consultant working primarily with manufacturing, retail and logistic businesses, you could say I have very much a ‘real world’ view when it comes to the import of goods, which is why I wanted to share the questions that…
09.12.2020
Exporting – Your key questions answered as Brexit draws near
As we approach 2021, and many changes to our terms within Europe and other areas when it comes to exporting, there’s a huge number of questions all businesses are asking about where they should direct their focus.
26.11.2020
What makes an Entrepreneur?
Many people see entrepreneurship as an attitude of dogged determination in pursuit of the big buck. It's perceived as a fast track for talented individuals to succeed in business, but for most entrepreneurs that's not really true.
26.11.2020
Top tips for getting the most out of millennials
Arguably millennial's have had a bad rap over the last few years, variously described as entitled, ‘Snowflakes’ and difficult to manage. Clearly this generation, generally described as those born in the 1980s and 1990s, are not all the same and…
18.11.2020
What has top level sport taught us about leadership?
You might be surprised by the connections to be found between business and sport. These utilise business know-how in the sporting field and sports inspiration in business. …
18.11.2020
How can I explore and deliver a new opportunity?
Running a successful business brings many different challenges. How often do you set out to achieve one objective and find yourself dealing with something completely different? …
18.11.2020
More ideas to support your employees’ mental health
In our last email we highlighted the importance of supporting your employees’ mental health and how promoting an open culture and keeping an eye on the things that can most commonly cause stress can help. …
18.11.2020
The business benefits of supporting your employees’ mental health
Understandably this year health is at the top of everyone’s agenda. Allied to this there’s been a big increase in the awareness of the importance of promoting mental wellbeing, and of the need to support those who find themselves suffering from…
18.11.2020
What are your future ambitions for your business?
How do you see your business progressing? How can you translate this vision into solid plans and a clear business strategy? …
18.11.2020
How to get your marketing mojo back
During the pandemic I’ve noticed that a few businesses have lost their marketing mojo or spark. It's a symptom of the pandemic business malaise that after grappling with the challenges of implementing multiple government support schemes there's…
18.11.2020
Why is the business not delivering the results I want?
When I first speak to a business owner, one of the first questions I ask them, is what are their aims and goals for the business? …
20.10.2020
How to use social media to win more customers
With 70% of SMEs saying that they believe marketing is more important than ever to communicate with customers, where do you start in shaping a marketing plan that works? *source MTM 2020
08.10.2020
What is effective leadership?
It’s not easy being an effective business leader in today’s fast paced and often pressurised and uncertain world. …
28.09.2020
Business Masterclasses
2020 has been a challenging year. At BHP Consulting, our team of experienced business leaders have been working hard with clients to help them through the initial crisis.
Download PDF14.09.2020
BHP launches innovative support service for SMEs
Leading accountancy firm BHP is launching a free and innovative support service to help SMEs drive post lockdown growth, tackle challenges and pioneer new approaches to help them get to the next level.
12.06.2020
Getting your business back to work
Every business will have faced different challenges due to Covid-19, but one thing we all have in common is that it is perhaps now, as restrictions ease, that we face some of our most difficult decisions.
03.04.2020
The importance of wellbeing in the ‘new normal’
In our last few articles we’ve looked at how to aid transition to home working and tips for managing remote working teams. This time, we’ll suggest more ways to help maintain wellbeing and positive mental health in your teams.
31.03.2020
Managing the ‘new normal’ of a remote team
In our last article we covered the transition to home working. This time we’re going to focus on some tips to help you manage the team once remote working has been established.
27.03.2020
Remote working – the ‘new normal’
With a large proportion of our collective workforces now working from home, knowing how to support and manage them effectively is becoming increasingly important for most businesses.
24.03.2020
Four C’s to help you lead
Aside from the direct health implications, it is perhaps the uncertainty around the duration and severity of the impact of Coronavirus that is one of the most serious issues we face - for individuals, our businesses and the broader economy.
16.12.2019
How effective are you?
One of the first areas I explore with a new client is their “effectiveness”. What do we mean by this?
16.12.2019
Am I creating the right environment for my business to perform?
How often do you ask yourself that question?
16.12.2019
Not enough hours in the day?
We’ve looked at how to focus your sales activity and how your e-commerce and digital marketing strategy are integral to your success in this area.
16.12.2019
The power of your thinking.
Successful businesses initially develop through ideas and thinking. When was the last time you thought about your business and how to develop it?
16.12.2019
Struggling with succession? Our top tips and self-help plan.
Managing change in any business can be a challenge. You have probably successfully grown the business operating in a certain way and relying on a core team to support you and make it happen.
16.12.2019
Getting the right people “on the bus”.
Growing your own talent is a great way to motivate employees who will see there are progression opportunities for those with the necessary skills, commitment and passion for the business.
16.12.2019
Scaling up your business? Then you need to scale up your team.
There are many things to consider when you’re looking to grow your business as we have recently covered.
16.12.2019
Maximising my sales resource.
Developing your sales department can easily be one of your biggest expenses when starting or developing a business.
16.12.2019
Does your business have a strong elevator pitch? Tip – it’s not just for when…
There are times when a business needs investment, we see this regularly...
16.12.2019
Have I nailed my sales process?
Sales are the life blood of any business. Without a successful sales performance, it is very difficult for a business to hit its profit targets.
16.12.2019
Do I really understand my customer?
We are often asked, what is the secret to successfully growing your business?
16.12.2019
Effective delegation: High octane stimulus for the growth of your company.
Delegation is a greatly underused resource, yet it’s arguably one of a business owner’s most useful tools. It’s also the one that’s most often poorly executed.
16.12.2019
5 Things that will motivate your team and won’t cost you a penny!
Based on the latest research, and on what we have seen work first hand in our own businesses, here are the first 3 of BHP Consulting's 5 top tips on what works to increase motivation - and you won't need to break the bank to deliver them!
16.12.2019
Not enough hours in the day?
We’ve looked at how to focus your sales activity and how your e-commerce and digital marketing strategy are integral to your success in this area.
16.12.2019
Effective leadership: Substance or Style?
It’s not easy being an effective business leader in today’s fast paced and often pressurised and uncertain world.
16.12.2019
The importance of looking forward.
When you think about your role in your company, do you work in or on your business?
16.12.2019
Your business’ secret weapon – the ‘s’ word.
In recent emails we have focussed on achieving growth and how your people strategy can support that.
16.12.2019
Looking to scale your business?
As you begin to think about how to develop your business, it is vital that you understand some of the key elements that continue the growth of your business.
