So, hopefully you read my last blog on how SMEs are defined and their importance to the growth of the UK economy. Now we will move onto the exciting topic of how you can use a BCRS loan for recruitment purposes (please note this is just one area that you can use a BCRS loan for)
The team you employ can affect the success of your business. Investing in building a strong team of skilled individuals will add value and longevity to your business.
Here at BCRS we support SMEs in and around the West Midlands where day to day we endeavour to deliver on our mission:
- Providing affordable finance.
- Realising the dreams and aspirations of businesses.
- Increasing our socio-economic impact.
- Future proofing your business and ours.
We pride ourselves on having a positive impact on our local economy and to date 31st July 2019 SMEs have been able to create and safeguard a total of 9697 jobs since 2002 with help from our loans.
Below are four ways to use your loan for recruitment purposes.
Business Growth
The best reason, for you as a small business, to recruit additional team members would be enhancing opportunity for growth. A larger team enables greater success in the future. Additional team members can aid towards increase in production which in turn will increase sales, gain a larger customer base and increase profitability.
Provide better customer service
Are you receiving too many customer enquiries etc than you just can’t handle but really don’t want to let anyone down by not being able to deliver on your customer promise? Having the wrong staff to customer ratio can be detrimental to your customer service efforts and the reputation of your business.
With that in mind it would be imperative to start thinking about recruiting additional team members to manage this influx of customers. By hiring more employees, you will be able to perform timely, thorough customer service. This improvement will be recognised by your customers which will kick-start positive word-of-mouth recommendations and increase customer loyalty.
Stay competitive
Is there a gap you have identified in your business that requires specific skills to keep up with trends in your industry?
For example, at BCRS we found that there was an ever increasing influx in digital marketing efforts within businesses around us. This is where my job role as Digital Marketing Assistant came to fruition to enable us to compete more effectively and to make sure our voice is being heard to our customers that need to hear from us.
It is important to look at current and future trends in your business’ industry to stay ahead of your competition and have a fool-proof plan to assess the skills you need for the future development of your business.
Relieve stress from other team members
Is someone in your team wearing too many hats to do each job role to the best of their ability? Maybe it’s time to think of recruiting additional employees to reduce the stress and pressure off those who are potentially the ‘jack of all trades but are the master of none’ due to resource constraints and ultimately no fault of their own. This will enable each aspect of the business to run at its best, with an added bonus of happy employees that are able to manage their workload effectively and efficiently.
So, now you know the benefits of investing in recruitment for your SME, head over to bcrs.org.uk to apply now to future-proof your business.
Come back next week to find out how you can use a loan from BCRS to boost your marketing efforts.
