Business Money
Small Business Factors Conference
and Dinner
Birmingham 15 June 2006
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If the last conference
of this ilk was a big success, it has to be said that, despite the
near heroic endeavours of the team there, the hotel in which we held
it had seen better days and those were, regrettably, a long time
ago.
So this year, although we booked it last year before the
significance of the date hit us, we moved to the Copthorne.
The hotel was a big improvement though what we had not anticipated
was the England v Trinidad and Tobago world cup match and this
impacted upon attendance numbers. Nevertheless we arranged for a big
screen viewing of the game, with pre-dinner drinks courtesy of Dave
Totney’s Liquidity before the dinner. It was Totters who exemplified
our dilemma. He attended and played a very full part in the
morning’s proceedings then hopped on a train to Myles Halley’s
birthday party and another screening of that match.
If the numbers were down on last year, the conference quality
surpassed even the high standards set by the 2005 gathering and my
thanks to those who so positively contributed to the interactivity
that prevailed.
The lead chairman’s role was taken by Jane Seymour as a part of our
move to have our conferences chaired by someone with recent, and
very senior, hands-on experience. Jane added mightily to the
atmosphere and picked up one or two consultancy jobs in the course
of conversation with attendees.
In the same vein I know that several of our presenters have been
commissioned to undertake consultancy works for other attendees.
Given that the whole purpose of our conferences is to take the
industry forward, and one of the ways to do this is to identify
areas for improvement, I am delighted that we have achieved our aim.
The feedback forms reflected high levels of satisfaction and our
friends know us well enough to not pull punches when criticism is
called for.
We hold the Business Money Small Business Factors Conference in
Birmingham to bring the south and north of the industry together and
I took the decision to go for central Birmingham for ease of rail
and air communication. But the drivers had a bad time parking so we
will poll likely attendees next year to glean a consensus on the
venue. The Midlands offers some great countryside venues too though
often at some distance for a railway station.
The first three sessions examined outsourcing options that are now
available and the first of them, Dave Richards and his team on the
Heliium concept, set the tone.
Heliium offers a sales function, presenting finely tuned, well-honed
propositions to carefully selected invoice financiers. The aim is to
ensure that the choice is so good that the client stays with the
invoice financier for a long time.
Aided by Richard Keenan and Mike Bailey, the three of them picked up
the provocative heading “we can sell it better, at less cost, than
you can”. Having accused me of journalistic licence they then
proceeded to underline my point though the core of their mission
statement is the delivery of cost effective income streams to the
ABL market.
The boys livened up their presentation with some football skill
contests and awarded two £250 cheques to the winners to be donated
to a charity of their choice.
To date Heliium has delivered 41 deals to invoice financiers,
supplementing, rather than replacing, existing sales teams and the
degree of interest from the floor suggests that the boys have a hit
on their hands.
There are not many in the industry who do not know Richard Hawkins
and when his delivery on the contribution of his Atlantic Risk
Management Services wound up one third of the way into his allotted
time span I thought we were looking at a very early coffee break.
I need not have worried. The subsequent debate lasted until the
allotted time had been taken up and could give a clear indication to
those not attending just how lively and spontaneous much of the
discussion turned out to be.
The final presentation was made by Mickel Bak of Virtual Mail Room.
That the services of this innovative outsourced invoicing house are
used by two of the leading players in invoice finance, Bibby and
Cattles, is something that sells the service to many. Mickel
explained the way in which international laws on invoicing,
especially when employing e-mail, requires the kind of specialist
knowledge that, when added to the economies of scale and
efficiencies offered by Virtual Mail Room, makes for a viable
outsourcing option for factors. The coffee break gave delegates even
more opportunity to network, then it was time for Brad Liebmann to
speak – a man who has stirred up much controversy since landing here
with his Xbridge operation.
Some love him, some hate him, none are indifferent. Those who love
him do so because he has brought much business to their door. Those
who hate him are in two schools. There are those who he has upset
because of the boost he has given to their close competitors and
those who can be accused of shooting the messenger and fearing the
brave new world of the Internet that Brad has come to represent.
His was scored the best delivery of the day, he ran just over his
time, he was grabbed in the luncheon sessions by those wishing to
challenge – mostly unsuccessfully – some of the unpalatable truths
Brad laid before them. The gist of Brad’s message is that to succeed
with internet strategy, you must not lose sight of the basics of
service and professionalism.
“Proposition to funds in three days” was Brad’s theme, or you will
die. There was plenty more too but that is for those who attended to
enjoy and digest.
We then came to the open forum and I must thank everyone who took
part and made it so lively and so constructive.
I took to the floor with a skinny agenda to get the ball rolling and
the bright spirits of our industry did not let me down.
It was a far better session than that of last year and I was
delighted with the scores on the appraisal forms afterwards.
Lunch followed and, having made the delegates work hard in the
morning, the afternoon sessions were constructed for delegates to
listen to with a little more passivity.
Rob Horton delivered some more horror stories, I thought I saw a
pale face or two in the audience but will not name names.
Kate Sharp had given herself a tough brief. One to explain why the
FDA needs its smaller members and why they need the FDA. She told me
that we had done her a favour in making her extract numbers for her
presentation and, as a result, rethinking just what is a smaller
member? In terms of the business handled, Bibby and the old Alex
Lawrie book typify the small SME needing finance. One or two small
finance houses handle relatively few big deals.
The message was that we have common problems no matter what type of
business we handle and the laws relating to the finance of a big
invoice hit small invoices too so the lobbying work of the FDA is
vital to all.
We always try to finish a conference like this with an authority on
an area that is vital to invoice finance yet who comes from outside
of it.
Last year we examined the power of brands, their meaning, their
commitments, their responsibilities and their benefits. The session
was well marked.
This year I invited Chris Billington-Hughes of the Results
Corporation.
www.resultscorp.co.uk
Chris could have gone on for hours and held our attention. His
knowledge of the science of marketing, and I mean real marketing
with targeted lead conversion and well written advertisements, held
everyone spellbound.
I have seen him do this before with Lloyds TSB Business Banking Club
gatherings and it was no surprise to find that Chris picked up a
couple of jobs as a direct result.
I make no apology for repeating the theme of the conference here.
We believe our conferences should take the industry forward. Give
senior personnel a chance to hear what is happening in their world
at a venue well away from the daily grind. It works and it worked
very well this year. If people walk away at the end of the day
having identified things they can do better, more efficiently, at
less cost, and sales executives realise there are many new ways of
bringing business to the door and keeping it there, then surely that
is what we should be doing.
We then broke up to don the dinner jackets and long frocks and
returned to unwind and watch a big-screen showing of England v
Trinidad and Tobago whilst Liquidity’s drinks put us in a relaxed
mood for dinner.
Our evening’s speaker was, appropriately, Jack Taylor, the only
Englishman to referee a World Cup final and my special thanks to
those good friends who took tables and attended despite huge
competing attractions.
If Jack’s memories were a little drawn out, some avid football fans
enjoyed them and our table won the World Cup quiz and some free
liqueurs. Richard Hawkins’ encyclopaedic knowledge of soccer helped
us squeak through a high scoring contest by one point.
Sophie Grove not only put the whole show together, but she then also
stayed up until the last survivor vacated the bar.
What a woman.
What a conference.
The bar has been raised for 2007 and we will rise to the challenge.
Editor
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