Why it makes sense to seek financial support

Good financial advice is crucial if businesses are to survive and the good advisers are the ones who pride themselves on working with their clients in a way which makes them feel comfortable.

They start by finding out what a business needs; it may be help with better financial management or it may be support applying for loans or grants to buy equipment or take on new staff.

Bringing in the specialist advisers is crucial because they are the ones who know what opportunities are available.

That means an initial meeting when the adviser, be it a specialist financial services company or based within a bank, sits down with the client and draws up a detailed plan based not just on current needs but also looking to the future - maybe even doing a little dreaming with the client!

Key to that is agreeing priorities. What does the client want to achieve in the short term, where do they want to be in the mid-term, what is the long-term vision? Where do they see their company in ten years and what kind of finance is required to make that possible?

Through talking things honestly and sensibly, adviser and client can work together to come up with an action plan which is based on a solid financial platform.

The good advisers are flexible: they know that, as life progresses and businesses meet changing situations, their client’s needs and priorities will change. That means a financial plan that can be adapted when necessary.

Once that initial plan has been drawn up, the process moves onto the next stage, obtaining the finance to make things happen.

One way of obtaining finance is going to the banks but another way for businesses requiring injections of funds is approaching venture capitalists, who are well versed in assessing prospective partners’ financial needs and dovetailing them with their own.

Even in difficult economic times, such an approach should not be dismissed out of hand because a bright idea remains a bright idea and can attract funding to turn it into reality.

Indeed, there are those who argue that difficult economic times are the most important time to invest in new ideas because innovation is a key way of bringing the country out of recession. The history of British business is scattered with tales of innovations that arose out of the need to create new markets.

None of it can happen without finance - and that means calling in expert help.