At BizVision, we're delighted to announce our new brand FreeLearn and with it comes a collection of online learning and skills hubs giving every business total free membership with access to 100's of learning videos and resources. Here's the FreeLearn launch news.

Free online learning for all businesses

"FreeLearn Leadership and FreeLearn Sales Training are now live," says Malcolm Gallagher of BizVision, " And launching on the 23rd August will be FreeLearn Supplier Training," he added

Mr Gallagher went on to say that FreeLearn will help thousands of small businesses who cannot afford to take time out from work for training and struggle to pay seminar fees.

"With public sector funding cuts, many businesses now find they have to pay for workshops that used to be free, or there just aren't any around, " continued Malcolm Gallagher, "with FreeLearn, which is online learning, all businesses can learn as they want, anytime, anywhere", he said.

FreeLearn Leadership focuses on developing entrepreneurial leadership skills whilst FreeLearn sales Training has videos in the three zones of Find, Winning and Keeping customers. FreeLearn Suppliers Training is aiming to be the flagship of the FreeLearn collection as it will have nearly 100 videos and resources to help SMEs bid for a win public and private sector contracts and encourage them to go global and export.

FreeLearn skills hubs are open to anyone. Each hub requires a separate  but free, membership sign-up. For details go to FREELEARN - free membership

I know it turns people off as possibly being "fluffy" but knowing your business strategy is vital if you want to win contracts. Quite simply to-day's buyer wants to know that his or hgers suppliers (vendors) and themselves are travelling in the same direction. Be prepared in a contract interview to answer the question of "what's the strategy of your business?"

Start your strategy seeking off with a SWOT analysis. OK you may have done this but have you asked deep, probing questions. Here's 3 for your Strengths and Weaknesses:

1. What do we do outstandingly well or badly?
2. What are our special abilities or disabilities?
3. What are our advantages and disadvantages compared with direct competitors?

More to come in future posts or pick up a free SWOT pack at my site  http://bizvision.co.uk/power_downloads

Keep your  public sector contract momentum
says Malcolm Gallagher

Whilst filming the success story of a Third Sector organisation this week (we'd helped them win a £250,000+ contract) we chatted between takes about the impact of the public sector cutbacks. The CEO told me that the local authority were seeking a whopping 40% saving on her contract whilst asking for the same quality and quantity of service. Come on!! Someone is trying to take advantage of the so-called "austerity" time. That local authority KNOWS the service cannot be delivered for such a lower cost otherwise it was in error when it first comissioned the contract!!

The truth is that local authorities, even in times of cut-backs, have a legal obligation to deliver their services and to a high standard. That means there are contracts around and opportunities for all with public procurement. Don't be misled by the doom and gloom and the apparent current inertia. Keep your own momentum with prospecting for opportunities at places like www.competefor.com  and www.supply2.gov.uk.

Also keep sharpening your ability to win public sector contracts and your skills in bid writing. Download some free help at www.bizvision.co.uk/procurement_downloads where I've posted some videos or join our Suppliers Academy. You can get a deal if you hurry by joining our 100 Group which gives you £1500 Total Support package for winning contracts and growing your business for just £97 - if we have any places left by the time you read this. Details at www.bizvision.co.uk/100Group

Above all, no matter what you do, don't just sit and wait for gloom to become darker - keep the momentum to win the contracts

This week will likely see another round of rash cost slashing as people and businesses react to the Budget. But the question you need to ask, or consider, is one that hangs over every cost-cutting phase and that is are you cutting enough or even too much? You need to aim for the right level of expenses or overheads. Those expenses should be for only three purposes. If you question your expnses or map them against these 3 purposes then you should be on the "right overhead" track.

In our SpotLearn Business Performance Academy we've been looking carefully at how nthese three purposes can give you a gauge or guide in cost cutting

The three purposes are:
1. Expenses that you have to incur as a result of your companies activities. These include payroll, accounting and so on. Question if those expenses are inflated by comparing them     against your leanest competitor
2. Expenses that increase your effectiveness and efficiency. Draw the line where the improvement in effectiveness doesn't pay for itself
3. Expenses that lay the basis for profitable growth. Question the level of anticipated growth.

So don't just knee-jerk react to cost slashing. Use the "three purposes" as your gauge.

In January, UK Government released an initiative which has to be good if you are a small firm wanting to win public sector contracts - but only if you are willing to do some measurement writes Malcolm Gallagher.

From the Spring of 2010, pubic procurement officers will have to show the OGC (Office of Government Commerce) the value of the contracts they have placed with small and medium sized enterprises. But they will also have to monitor and measure how many apprenticeships have been created through public procurement and the absolute number of suppliers who agreed to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, suppliers (vendors) will be asked to sign a new Supplier Charter which places voluntary commitments on both the procurer and supplier side take forward the policy priorities that are in the new Policy Through Procurement Action Plan (PtP).

If all this sounds a bit complicated then can you imagine its implementation!! But the message to all suppliers is clear. If you want your share of the near £200 billion UK Government annual spend on goods and services, you are going to have to embrace the aspects of compliance, including inclusion, health and safety and environmental matters, much more than ever before. within our Biz-Pulse.com programme.

In the SpotLearn.com Suppliers Academy are all the videos that you need to help you be a compliant suppliers and we are soon to launch a new Compliance Scorecard that will help you measure and manage these challenges. E-mail if you want to get early details.

If you want a copy of the Policy Through Procurement Action Plan please e-mail kim@bizvision.co.uk and she'll e-mail you it. Improve your knowledge, embed compliance and sharpen your ability to compete to win has to be key goals for 2010 if you want your share of those lucrative public procurement contracts.

The Magic Bid Triangle© of Winning Tenders

Now is the time to ramp up the competitiveness of your organisation to win public sector contracts and the Magic Bid Triangle can bring you a winning edge writes Malcolm Gallagher of The Suppliers Academy.

If you have attended my procurement workshops you will have heard me say many times, (too many times??!!) that winning is not about “filling the tender form in”. That’s just paperwork which anyone can do. You need to be focused on winning the contract.

So how to get a winning edge. First you need to get “Get Fit to Compete”. That is just the first of what I term as the three stages of winning. The next two stages are “Competing to Win” and “Aiming Higher” and that’s where I want to take you in this blog.

My belief is that the secret of success lies within what I term as the Magic Bid Triangle©. The triangle is three components which are truly embedded in your organisation.

I’ve arrived at this triangle as a result of our continuous work of interviewing and working with over 100 buyers across the UK and studying winning bids. So the Magic Bid Triangle is not all theory!

The three components of the triangle that need to be embedded in your organisation are:

• ·         Innovation
• ·         Added Value
• ·         Continuing Improvement

When all three come together and shine out of your tender then you are truly about winning tenders. Here’s  just a quick indication of what’s behind each three.

Innovative suppliers or providers are sought by the public sector. Whilst they welcome new suppliers they really don’t want more of the same. Show your difference and what that innovation can do to help improve their services to their customers – internal or external. Innovation isn’t about re-inventing the wheel. It doesn’t have to be revolutionary but it does have to show your difference.

Added Value is a recurring theme within my conversation with buyers. There is always opportunity for you to communicate added value and improve the efficiency of their spend. Do remember that added value is not listing what you do – that’s just “so what”!  Added value delivering that important extra. If you are a training organisation then added value may be where you can signpost the customers of your public sector client to further fully-funded training.

Continuous improvement is the third component in the Magic Bid Triangle and one with which so many smaller businesses struggle. The answer is a clear view of your organisation through the four perspectives of Operational Management, Business Management, People and Customers/Markets. Within each perspective you set performance indicators and look to improve in each indicator perhaps using traffic lights measures of red, amber and green.

If you are serious about winning contracts (including private sector) then embedding and measuring  Continuous Improvement should be a vital part of what you are about.

If you do not have a basic set of performance indicators then send me an e-mail to support@spotlearn.com and I’ll forward you a Small Organisation list in a template format for you to use as a starter.

Putting together a tender takes time and you want a result in the form of winning the bid! The Magic Bid Triangle should give you the edge but do also remember that public procurement is evolving and you need to keep gaining new knowledge.

Do you agree? What challenges you on winning contracts?

Hi Malcolm Gallagher here. Okay I've been off blogging for a while as we have had a very heavy video production schedule over the summer.

But now it is time to get down to it and this is part-rant, part-advice.

Government is trying to convince us that the recession is over and the sun will soon be shining . However sensible business people who live in the real world (you and me!) know that most of this is just political speak for their own benefit. The challenge is NOT the recession it is the RECOVERY time - and this one is set to be long and deep.

Often more businesses go bust during the recovery than during the recession. They may have cut back so far in the recession that they don't have the resources and capabilities to manage the turn-around. With credit lines tight, they have a problem.

And customers are nervous! Let me give you an example.


We have recently filmed (for our new online SpotLearn Suppliers Academy) the purchasing team at global company Drager Safety (they make amongst other things the breathing apparatus for fire brigades) and they told me that for the first time ever, they were undertaking credit checks on suppliers. They were nervous about their supply chain. Then I met again this last weekend with Peter, the purchasing manager, who told me that sicne we filmed him a few months ago, three suppliers had gone bust. Now he and his company, who are passionate about quality and make a life-saving product, cannot afford such problems and so are nervouse about all suppliers.

Now is the time for you to bring comfort to your customers. Tell them about your business, reassure them so they can get on with worrying about other suppliers. Oh, and this reassurance may just mean they will refer you to other opportunities!