Member, Leeds Chamber of Commerce

Associate, Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (YABA)

Rated Six Star Provider, The Yorkshire & Humberside Supplier Register

Listed in the UK Learning Provider Register

Member, Leeds Business Forum

Member, Yorkshire Business Development Group

Member, Complete Business Solutions Group

Mandarin speaking Einar Figenschou, Director of Special Projects, lives in Shenzhen, ten minutes from Hong Kong and heads up this office.

Next Level Business Solution Ltd

Hong Kong Branch

Suite 01 – 03, 66 Floor

The Center

99 Queens Road – Central

Hong Kong SAR

Einar can be contacted by email einar@nextlevel.org.uk

If you are calling from Europe, please use our UK office numbers (+44 from outside UK):

Tel 01423 550787;  Fax 01423 550788

From China or Hong Kong please call:

Tel +852 3960 6449;  Fax: +852 3965 3222

For example, we are currently working with a UK company to license their technology on a worldwide basis across a number of major business sectors. We have also advised on strengthening their legal protection before we made contact with potential licensees.

In another case we are working with a company to introduce them to a global supplier in a specific market place.

If you have a technology or a product you want to bring to market, we can assist you in structuring potential commercial arrangements and introduce licensees and we can also bring in legal and financing professionals if required.

This work is handled from our UK and Hong Kong offices.

Put simply, Marketing is the generation of leads or enquiries and Sales is the conversion of those leads into closed business.

I can lead you through those processes to help you develop an effective marketing plan with cost effective marketing strategies for your business and a sales process which will optimise your sales and profit.

There are many proven strategies for marketing and for sales which can make a huge difference to the results you achieve. You owe it to you and your business to have the very best engine driving you forwards so contact us today to arrange for a meeting to discuss how we can help you to improve your results.

One knows that if they keep going they will hit America and head down a bit for New York.

The other one has a chart, knows the expected currents and winds, checks their position twice a day and adjusts the course as required.

Which do you think will get to New York first?

Which ship are you on?

Do you go into work each day and do what needs doing, ending up wherever you end up at the end of your year?

Or do you have a longer term vision and aim for your business with a plan of how you will get there?

Do you monitor your monthly management accounts against your plan?

Do you have a sales and marketing plan to generate the leads and close those leads to hit your sales and gross profit target?

Do you have an Operations plan to deliver the sales you are targeting?

A personnel plan to ensure you have the right people, properly trained, with new people coming into the business when required?

Do your management information systems give you the KPIs you need to manage your business?

Are you monitoring the right KPIs?

Do your systems support all areas of the business and increase your efficiency?

Could your business planning be better? If so – contact us now.

Einar Figenschou and Brian Allmey  have a range of leading edge nanotechnology products to clean, seal and protect surfaces including glass, healthcare/sterile environments, marine sector including hull treatments, textile finishes, domestic surfaces and many more.

We shall be launching a franchise programme for this business – contact us now to register your interest in working with us in this exciting business.

Would you like to increase your margins and profits by sourcing from China or Hong Kong?

Would you like to sell into the massive Hong Kong and China markets?

We can help with both of these.

Einar Figenschou, Director of Special Projects at Next Level Business Solutions has lived in Hong Kong and China since 2000 and in Singapore for 2 years before that. In addition to 6 European languages he speaks Mandarin.

Einar heads up our office in Hong Kong with a team including a Chinese Lawyer and they have extensive connections across the Far East as well as in Europe and will source reliable suppliers or customers for your business.

Next Level Business Solution Ltd
Hong Kong Office
Suite 01 – 03, 66 Floor
The Center
99 Queens Road – Central.
Hong Kong SAR

From Hong Kong or China: Tel: +852 3960 6449; Fax: +852 3965 3222

From UK & Europe Tel: (+44) 01423 550787; Fax: 01423 550788

To discuss your requirements contact us today.

They will show you how to develop your business without using your own resources, valuable information in this present economic climate when borrowing is difficult and if you have cash resources you would be wise to conserve them.
Start Time: 09:00
Date: 2010-03-24

Booking Form

Contrary to popular belief, Charles Darwin did not talk about survival of the fittest. What he actually said was “It is not the strongest of the species that will survive, nor the most intelligent; it is those who adapt the best to change who will survive” and this is true in business, especially when times are tough.

Those who want to not just survive but thrive need to constantly review what they do and how they do it and when the economic climate is challenging it is even more important to seek and implement new ways to be leaner, deliver better service, cut out inefficiencies and focus on the most profitable areas of the business.

It is recognised that most innovation comes during difficult trading times as a result of businesses being forced to make changes to survive. I believe there are two types of change – healthy change and unhealthy change.

Whilst both may be forced upon a business, healthy change is directed towards improving outcomes for the business and is done wholeheartedly with the belief that it is worthwhile. It could be argued that it is reactive but in my view, having been put in the position where change is necessary, healthy change is pro-active as when it is done, the management have taken control and are directing change.

In contrast, unhealthy change is often left to the last minute and has an air of desperation about it, action being taken reluctantly and only being taken as management perceive they have few choices left to them. They have a defensive attitude, often referred to as a bunker attitude, making a final stand, which often it is since unhealthy change is often left until too late when it has little chance of succeeding.

So why do some management teams make healthy change and others make unhealthy change?

Having worked with businesses of various sizes across many sectors, I believe the factors include:

• Culture of the business

• Mindset of the chief exec

• Strength of vision for the business

• Customer focus

• Engagement of the management team and staff

Businesses with a CANI (Constant and never ending improvement as promoted by the Eight Principles of Quality management) or Kaizan (the Japanese equivalent) are constantly reviewing what they do and looking for better ways of doing it so when faced with challenges they will naturally be looking for solutions with a positive outcome.

Businesses where improvement is not encouraged and things are done the way they have always been done will often meet challenges like a rabbit facing headlights. They do not know which way to turn, they have no experience, systems or processes to review what they are doing and identify positive options for improvement.

The mindset of the chief exec or business owner is probably the main factor as the culture of the business will be a reflection of that mindset. A chief exec who is open to new ideas and encourages his/her team to recommend improvement will have a positive culture in the business and strong team members who are able to contribute.

The dictatorial chief exec or business owner will have stifled original thinking, encouraged yes-men and probably driven away the type of manager who is needed when times are tough, those capable of original thinking and strong enough to say what they think and debate new ideas.

Businesses with a strong vision of their future have something to focus on. Without a longer term objective it is difficult to make short term goals. You cannot set a direction of travel if you don’t know where you are trying to get to. Without this focus, businesses often get distracted by trivia and become bound by routine – they come in every day and do what they always have done.

Having a strong customer focus is a constant reminder that the business must set out its stall to provide products and/or services that customers need and value and must provide a consistent high level of customer service as well as make a profit. Without this external focus businesses are internally focused and tend to do things to suit themselves, forgetting that if customers do not like the changes they will vote with their feet, adding to the problem.

Lastly, if the management team are not fully engaged with the business or with a strong vision of where the business is going then many will react to challenge by looking for better opportunities.

Remember – it is the rats who can swim who leave a sinking ship first!

You will be left with those who lack the skills, expertise or confidence to get another position – hardly the kind of team you need to get through difficult times!

So where do you go from here?How do you protect and increase your market share?

• Regard challenges as an opportunity to make improvements – this might sound cheesey to some but how often do you hear business owners saying they emerged stronger after a tough period? How often are new ideas generated as a result of having to do things differently.

• Encourage new ideas – have regular team meetings and brain-storming sessions – don’t wait for tough times, do it regularly.

• Bring in an outside pair of eyes – acting as a virtual non-exec director I often spot opportunities that are missed by management teams – it’s the nose too close to the glass, woods and trees syndrome. Often, the thinking that got you into a mess is not going to be the thinking that gets you out of it.

• Act before it is forced on you – be prepared to reset objectives and think the unthinkable but keep a positive approach so that you end up stronger, leaner, fitter, more focused – ready to take advantage of the up-turn when it comes.

Make a step to Healthy Change – contact me today for a free Business Review.

• Graduate pharmacist.
• First Directorship 1972 – Operations Director of business which grew from 3 pharmacies to 2^nd largest drugstore group in UK.
• General Manager of £96m business.
• Run businesses from start-ups to £15m pa turnovers.
• MD and owner or significant shareholder for last 20 years.
• Three start-up businesses.
• Raised £5m in City in 80s.
• Brought a USA franchise to UK.
• Franchised two of my own businesses, both from start up, taking one international.
• Built and led teams from start-up to 100+.
• Hit hard by recession – came back.
• Run businesses in a wide variety of sectors.

Expertise available to your business includes

• Strategic Planning and Business Planning
• Increasing bottom line profit
• Marketing & Sales
• Developing new products and services and opening new markets
• Building and motivating great teams
• Leadership skills
• Raising finance, dealing with banks and funding sources, improving cash flow
• Producing business plans
• Improving systems and processes
• Improving business models
• Improving financial controls
• Business rescue
• Buying and selling businesses
• Surviving in a recession
• Everything else that happens across 30+ years of running businesses!

Services provided include:-

• Non Executive Director and Virtual Non Exec services
• Mentoring chief execs and/or their teams
• Training & Consultancy – tailored to suit each client
• Workshops incl bespoke in-house workshops

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… CY: wait… I: wait… YCat: wait… I: wait… Top: wait… I: wait… L: wait… C: wait…