National Standards
for Business Link Brokers
Core Business Support
Standard
Unit 1 Maintain effective business
relationships with clients
Unit 2 Help the client to analyse the business and decide the way forward
Unit 3 Enable clients to implement
the changes in their business
Unit 4 Encourage business support
clients to act for themselves
Unit 5 Develop business support
networks to provide access to information
and other resources
Unit 6 Evaluate the quality of your
own practice in business support
Unit 7 Develop your own ability to
provide business support
Unit 8 Monitor the performance of
the business support service
Business Link Broker
Standard
Unit 1 Maintain Effective Business Support Relationships
with Clients
Unit 2 Assess Business Needs and Performance with the Client
Unit 3 Develop Your Ability to Provide Business Support
Unit 4 Broker Clients to Business Support Services
Unit 5 Manage a Client Portfolio under the Business Link
Brand
BUSINESS LINK BROKER STANDARD
Unit 1 Maintain Effective Business
Support Relationships with Clients
Summary
This is
about building an effective rapport with individual clients and trust in the
Business Link brand and the organisation that you
work for:
NB – The
requirements detailed below are in addition to the Core Competencies as
detailed in SFEDI Standards for Business Support – Unit 1
You need to show that you:
(a) Prepare
and hold meetings with clients in ways that they are likely to find acceptable
and make
effective use of resources.
(b) Agree
and maintain protocols for communicating with each client that make best use of
resources.
(c) Manage
client confidentiality in accordance with the requirements of the Business Link
brand and your organisation
(d) Explain
the limitations on client confidentiality to the client and obtain consent.
(e) Explain
to clients who do not consent to the Business Link confidentiality procedures
the limitations of the service that you will be able to offer.
(f) Explain
the situation clearly to clients who are not eligible for the Business Link service that they
have requested and recommend suitable
constructive alternatives.
Unit 2. Assess Business Needs and Performance with the Client
Summary
This is
about enabling clients to gain new and deeper insight into their business needs
and the current
performance of their business. This
involves exploring with them new and more powerful ways to see their businesses
in order to deepen their understanding of their business needs and personal
aspirations.
NB – The requirements detailed below
are in addition to the Core Competencies as detailed in SFEDI Standards for
Business Support – Unit 2 (Much of the inference contained in this section
matches SFEDI Unit 2 although wording slightly different)
What you need to know and understand:
Business analysis techniques
How to
evaluate· problems and opportunities
How to
enable· clients to make sense of the business analysis process and
the results
(for example, doing it themselves with feedback from you,
using another staff member or
external
resource).
Business performance
Providing
business support
· How to choose and use a range of
client-led consulting styles including acceptant, catalytic, confrontational
and perspective
Unit 3. Develop Your Ability to Provide Business Support
Summary
This is
about developing your performance, in terms of your skills and knowledge in
supporting clients. There are a number
of different areas of business support.
These can be defined, for example in terms of:
(a) Support
functions (for example, marketing, finance, e-business or information
technology);
(b)
Business sectors (for example, construction, bio-tech, voluntary, retail,
health or creative);
(c)
Business life cycles (for example, pre-start, start-up, growth or steady
state); and
(d) Business
types (for example, freelance, trade, professional, franchise, high investment
led or social enterprise).
Your
practice may be focused in a particular area of business support or be more
general. Whatever the limits of your
current practice your aim should be to continuously develop your skills and
knowledge in supporting clients.
NB – The
requirements detailed below are in addition to the Core Competencies as
detailed in SFEDI Standards for Business Support – Unit 7
What you need to know and understand:
Business support:
How to
judge the strengths and weaknesses of different types of small businesses, for
example, by looking at:
The market
sectors those businesses are in;
The
businesses’ potential for growth;
Their stage
of growth; and
Their management abilities towards people, finance and physical
resources.
How to help
small businesses identify and build on the unique selling points of their
business
How to support business start-ups and more established businesses.
How to give personal support to people starting up or developing a small
business.
What other
individuals, agencies or organisations provide
business support; the scope, benefits, limitations and costs of the support
they provide; and referral processes.
The main issues that affect small
businesses:
The main issues that affect business start-ups and growing businesses.
What will
help some small businesses succeed when others fail.
What
outside factors are affecting small businesses, such as:
Government
projects;
Economic
trends;
industrial
trends and developments;
Geographical
features;
Political
and social issues; and
Information and communications technology.
Business practices:
The major
functions that are required in a small business, such
as business planning, finance, management, personnel, production, operation,
sales and marketing.
How
business functions link to and support each other. The
challenge for small businesses in successfully managing the different
functions.
Ethical and professional considerations.
Unit 4. Broker Clients to Business Support Services
Summary
This is
about helping clients impartially to choose and use the services and service
providers that they need to achieve their business goals.
You need to
show that you:
(a) Identify
a range of service providers who are able to meet the client’s requirements
for business support
services.
(b) Advise
clients on appropriate methods for choosing and using suppliers, including any
criteria
that have to be met if public funding is to be used.
(c) Provide
assistance to clients, as and when required, to specify their requirements for
business
support.
(d) Enable
clients to provide an effective brief to potential suppliers in order that
comprehensive and realistic quotes can be obtained.
(e) Enable
clients to develop and use criteria for selecting suppliers that are most
likely to provide them with the service that they require and provide best
value.
(f) Monitor
the support programme to make sure that it meets the
legislation, advisory regulations and organisational
guidelines that apply to business support.
(g) Help
clients to fund their requirements for business support using the sources of
finance most appropriate to their needs.
(h) Record
management information on the chosen brokerage solution appropriately on the
customer relationship management system.
(i) Ensure that at all times the responsibility for choosing
and using suppliers is retained by the client.
What you need to know and
understand:
1 The range
of relevant internal and external business support services and how they can
help to provide focussed and relevant support and
expertise.
2 The
various sources of information about suppliers offering business support
services that you can help the client to access through the Business Link
brand.
3 The
procurement rules and brand values around impartiality and independence of advice and guidance.
4 The range
of potential funding opportunities and methods for accessing and applying for
these.
Unit 5 Manage a Client Portfolio under
the Business Link Brand
Summary
This is
about managing a case load of clients that reflects the objectives of the
regional economic strategy and ensures effective use of resources for business
support. The portfolio should be well
balanced with an appropriate rate of churn.
Client journeys through the business support pathway should maintain
momentum. Exit strategies should be
developed for all clients.
It also
covers your role in implementing principles and practices required by the
Business Link brand when providing an information, diagnostic and brokerage
service to clients.
You need to show that you:
(a) Provide
all clients with a single point of contact to help manage their experience of
business
support.
(b)
Maintain contact with all clients in order to track emerging needs and update
them
with new
opportunities that may be relevant to them.
(c) Manage
a balanced portfolio of clients, consistent with the priorities and objectives
of the
regional
economic strategy and your role.
(d) Use
effective strategies for taking on new clients and exiting from clients who
have
completed
their business support journey to ensure that your portfolio is effectively
managed.
(e) Ensure
that all clients in the portfolio are making appropriate business development
progress.
(f) For any
clients who are failing to make adequate progress strategies are
in place to
either
accelerate progress or remove them from the portfolio.
(g)
Difficulties in maintaining an effective portfolio are identified and
addressed.
(h) Provide a service that is client focussed
at all times, delivering targets for regional and national stakeholders only
when you believe they are in the best interest of the client.
(i) When national and regional policy objectives influence
the type and nature of the support you can offer the client under the Business
Link brand this is explained constructively and positively.
(j)
Internal processes and procedures (including data collection and recording)
provided to support the Business Link brand are used effectively
and consistently.
(k) The
customer relationship management system is used to research the client’s
history
and to
record the client’s progress.
(l) All
service provision for which you are responsible meets Business Link brand
requirements for conduct and professionalism, is independent, impartial and
client focused.
What you need to know and
understand:
1
Understand the principles of relationship development and how good customer
service
principles
can contribute to building long term
client relationship.
2 How to
keep up to date with new business support products and services under the
Business Link brand and within the wider support network.
3 Applying
good practice portfolio management techniques to client case loads.