UK Business Forums (part of the Sift family) is the largest forum for startups and small businesses – it is an active and passionate community engage in lively debates, discussions and general chat on a wide range of topics.
You don’t have to scroll through the 1,500 new posts last week, as we have picked out some of the highlights to give you insight into what people running small businesses are talking about.
This week there was some intense discussion around the benefits of using local accountants:
“Does it really matter anymore whether you can pop in and see your accountant, or in this day and age of cloud based accountancy software and emails does proximity make no difference?”
The responses are fascinating, with plenty of support for both face-to-face and online interaction depending on the particular needs of individual businesses, and input from accountants themselves. “I haven’t met with an accountant in well over 10 years, probably 15 years, or even spoken to one in all that time”, says one contributor, while another points out that face-to-face meetings are vital for picking up interesting local intelligence.
Whether you deal primarily with customers in person or online there’s sure to be some insight there to inform the way you operate.
Next up is a question about the point at which businesses ought to approach an accountant, prompting a range of advice. Before you start trading says one commenter, while others suggest using with a basic bookkeeping service in the early days.
There’s lots of insight here into the experiences people have with accountancy firms, both positive and negative, all with the potential to trigger lightbulb moments in the way you do business.
Finally, there’s a thread which highlights an issue around communications: it seems we’ve all become so paranoid about scam emails, and especially emails purporting to be from HMRC, that we no longer trust the real thing. How trustworthy do your emails look, and are you asking clients to click links that make them wary?
Has this given you food for thought? Get in touch to talk about how you could use these insights in planning your client communications.
