RTA Business’ Top Five Tips For Boosting Creativity

The best, most lucrative businesses are built on creativity, and without it, you’re never going to attract a buyer and make a tidy profit. This is why RTA Business, this week, has decided to list its top five tips for boosting creativity!

The Importance of Creativity

A business isn’t built on knuts and bolts alone. You need a product and that product has to be capable of generating a significant amount of revenue over the long term. That’s why you need to be creative. You need to have the capability to dream up a product so useful that it’s capable of attracting a sustained customer base. No easy task.

It’s doubly important if you’re looking to build up your company, only to sell it off for profit one day. A buyer won’t be interested in a firm that merely stays above water. They want to buy a business that will make them a lot of money; the more profit avenues you can dream up, the more attractive your business will be when you decide it’s time to sell.

The Creative Top Five from RTA Business

However it’s easier said than done to get creative – that’s why writers so often have writers block, it’s all about inspiration, which isn’t something you can automatically tap. However, you can help stimulate your mind along the way with these top five tips:

1      Observe the World around You: How are you ever going to dream up a new product that will sell well if you don’t know the world you’re selling it to? Observe your customer base and let them inspire you.

2      Seek out a Little Help: Other people have fresh life experiences to bring to the table that you don’t. Use that different perspective to spark your own imagination. They may know something that you don’t that makes your impractical idea work.

3       Embrace New Experiences: Get out of your comfort zone. Travel to new places, listen to music you never have before etc. If you open your mind, you never know what you may encounter that will give you that ‘profit margin changing’ idea.

4    Get Imaginative: You need to think outside the box, and to do so, you need to ask ‘what if.’ Take a scenario and ask what the wildest possible outcome could be. You’d be surprised what practical ideas often come from the wildest of situations. Take the internet as an example!

5       Be Brave: This is the best possible tip we could give you, don’t be afraid to take risks. Do you think people like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs got to where they are by playing it safe?

Reach for the Sky: RTA Business on the Art of Innovation

The amazing news that Google is attempting to build an honest to goodness self-driving car, only highlights the need for creativity and ambition in business, and this week, the RTA Business blog will explore just why you need to reach for the sky if you hope to make a substantial profit on the sale of your business.

It’s not as easy as showing a potential buyer your profit margins and waiting for them to sign on the dotted line. Buyers want to know that they can use your business to build on profit margins in the long term. If you’ve developed a lucrative, innovative product that fills a gap in the market, they’ll be biting your hand off to gain access to a veritable gold mine. This is why you need to reach for the sky.

Google: A Case Study in Ambition

Google is the perfect case study to highlight the benefits of ambition. They’ve practically constructed their entre brand through sheer ambition. Time and time again, Google have attempted the improbable, or at last the inadvisable (such as introducing Gmail in a saturated market) and they have seen success that has spurred them on to new heights.

They’ve become so popular because they find gaps in the market where they can make the most money - they find the practical opening then ambitiously shoot for the stars to fill it. The numbers back it up. Since it was first created in 1998, Google, according to Forbes, has become worth a staggering $382.47 billion.

RTA Business Asks: Will the Self Driving Car Work?

So is the self-driving car a step too far. It’s certainly an ambitious project; a car that will have a start/stop button, but no controls, steering wheel, pedals etc. If it’s possible, and that’s a big if, we at RTA Business believe that it could be Google’s next highly successful project.

Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin explained why to the BBC, stating that it aims to "improve people's lives by transforming mobility". The amount of people this could benefit is sky high – disabled people, older people, people who can’t drive, blind people etc. There’s so much potential.

This is why you need to reach for the sky if you ever hope to sell your business. Find that gap in the market and truly fill it, and you have a gold mine on your hands, a gold mine buyers will flock to acquire for a tidy sum!

OECD Revises UK Growth Forecast

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has revised its forecast for UK economic growth this year, upping the figure to account for a strengthening financial situation. At RTA Business, we recognise that this puts you in a stronger position when you decide it’s time to sell your business.

Various reports have suggested that business leader confidence is stronger than ever this year, due to national economic recovery and expectations that growth will return to pre-recession levels by this summer. This latest report is set to further persuade business leaders that now is the time to buy your business.

The OECD Forecast

This week the OECD released its latest forecast for UK growth, in what was an upward revision of previous estimates. In November, the Paris-based organisation claimed that in 2014 the UK economy would grow by 2.4%. Now they’re suggesting that the country’s economy will expand by 3.2%. This contrasts with an OECD average national estimate of 2.2%.

There are several factors that led to this revision of OECD growth estimates and each individually and collectively suggests an economy in full-fledged recovery. This month the services sector, which has dominated in recent quarters, rose for the 16^th straight month, sterling rose to a five and a half year peak against the dollar, and economic growth rates have continued to impress.

It’s important to note here that UK growth has outstripped forecasts for not only the US and China but every country in the G7.  Furthermore, global growth is expected to measure 3.4%.

RTA Business Comments

These figures suggest one thing - that it could be the right time to sell your business, and here’s why. First, the fact that the UK economy is set to expand this year, means that buyers should have more capital and when they have more capital coming in, they tend to want to spend that to create more – what  better way to do so than to buy your business?

Secondly, these figures should boost buyer confidence in the strength of the UK economy, meaning they’ll be surer that they’ll be able to profit from your business after they’ve bought it. Finally, these figures suggest that UK companies are in a stronger position than their foreign rivals, which further boosts business leader confidence.

At RTA Business we realise that these numbers indicate one thing- you are in a particularly strong position to sell right now.

The Benefits of a Profit Boost!

Sometimes in selling your business, milestones mean everything. When you announce major profit gains, it can make your business look so much more attractive to a potential buyer and this week RTA Business Consultants outline why.

It’s an obvious conclusion to reach isn’t it? The more profit you are making, the stronger your business, the more opportunity there is for growth. Even then, there are levels of degree when it comes to how influential profit margins are with potential buyers.

The Differing Benefits of Profit

There are two types of profit boost- gradual and spontaneous. Both have value in any strategy to attract a buyer to your business. A gradual rise in profit margins suggests a long term business model that is perfectly positioned to make money sustainably. This is an attractive to a buyer because it shows them that purchasing your company will provide them with a secure opportunity to grow their own venture.

The benefits of gradual profit rises are obvious, however the benefits of spontaneous profit boosts are not to be ignored either. A company will see a spike in profit levels usually after the introduction of a new product or service that has diversified their business.

There are benefits to this type of profit rise too, and it all relies on timing. Timing is a key issue – when is the right time to sell your business? If you put it on the market just after a profit spike, it shows buyers that now is the perfect time to buy your business and capitalise on your heightened profit capability.

LG Electronics: A Case Study

We can see how this plays out in the case of LG Electronics. The technology company recently reported a profit jump of more than a staggering 300%! Consequently net profit at LG Electronics measured 93 billion Korean Won in the first quarter of 2014. It stood at 22 billion Won the previous quarter.

Notably, this profit boost came at a time of great change for the electronics firm, as strong demand for its smartphones and TV’s were responsible for sales. Plans to expand its product range and introduce its new G3 smartphone later this year are set to keep profits high.

It’s important to remember that because of this news, LG shares rose 2.9% to 71,000 Won in Seoul this week. We see a direct correlation – a bump in profits made the company much more valuable in the blink of an eye.

If this exploration of profit margins should remind you of anything, it’s that timing is everything when you are looking to sell your company. At RTA Business we always suggest waiting for the time you can make the most money from selling your business.

UK Productivity Is Picking Up but Has Long Way to Go

It’s been a grim few years for the UK productivity rate as the recession has hit every part of UK business, right down to the average worker’s hourly output. Good news then this week for the business community, as UK productivity rates are beginning to show signs of life again. What could this mean for you if you’re looking to sell your business soon?

Productivity refers to, literally, how productive your workers are. Productivity directly affects profit margins, which in turn affects your ability to sell your business. The recession hit productivity because it hit the resources workers had to carry out their jobs with. That’s why the recession wasn’t a great time for the business acquisition industry.

The economic recovery has been such a relief for everybody. A stronger economy means that more resources are available for workers to use to help expands the profitability of your business. However it also led to a rapid rise in the employment rate and one consequence was a sharp decline in productivity numbers.

So what are we dealing with here? This week productivity started to grow again, as the rate of output per hour grew by 0.3%. This figure highlights the fact that Britain has faced a productivity problem for years; rising employment in the wake of the financial recovery has led to a rapid decrease in productivity. However we could be clawing our way out of it.

The issue is that productivity is still 3% below 2008 levels and 21 percentage points below the average recorded for other G7 countries. The widest gap since 1992, the slight recovery of output numbers disappointed many in the finance industry and highlighted just how much work we have left to do.

The Financial Times reported Philip Rush, an economist at Nomura, commenting on what the figures mean. Rush said that “It was a small pick-up in productivity, one that disappointed even my pessimistic expectations.” In fact the economy expanded slightly faster than the rate of UK productivity and this is a problem we need to address if we wish continue to recover from the ravages of the recession.

So RTA Business Consultants asks, what does this mean for you if you are looking to sell your business? Productivity is essential to any business model, and you can’t grow your business without it. These figures show that, yes, productivity is picking up, but there’s a long way to go. If you are thinking about selling your business right now, productivity is something you need to be thinking about. 

What Should You Look For in an Employee?

A business is nothing without the employees on its payroll; it sinks or swims due to the people who engage in running said business. This is why it’s essential to have the best possible team running your business. So what should you be looking for in your potential employees?

When you interview for a new position it can feel as though you’re lost in a sea of applications. You’ve sifted through the CV’s and weeded out everybody who’s made a spelling mistake or obviously lied about their experience, and you’re left with a talented crop of interviewees.

With more people than ever trained to degree level or equivalent, you have a whole host of potential employees to pick from. You don’t know where to start, but you know you have to get it right if this employee is going to be an asset to your business.

This is why you should be looking for personality traits. You know what experience the applicant has, however you can only assess whether their personality will be a good fit for your company face-to-face. So what personality traits should you be looking for?

The first is obviously intelligence; however this intelligence should be tempered with common sense. You need an intelligent employee to handle the work, but with the common sense to recognise when they should take things on their own initiative.

Measure this by talking about current affairs and seeing what insights they provide. This not only allows you to measure their intelligence but their understanding of the way in which the world we live works; therefore you get a fair measure of their common sense too.

Another key trait is ambition. Ambition may eventually prompt that employee to leave your company, but it will drive them to do the best job they can whilst with you. Measure this by asking them about their future ambitions. It’s also a great measure of honesty, as this is a notoriously difficult interview question and those with less integrity are more likely to deceive.

Kindness is another personality trait that you need in an employee.  It may seem an odd one in business, but it works in relation to office dynamics. This person is going to be in your office all day, every day, and if they’re the confrontational sort, it will have an effect on office harmony; which will in turn drive down office productivity.

The interview process is one of the toughest parts of owning your own business; however it’s also essential to growing your own business and attracting buyer. At RTA Business we really do know that any company is the sum of its parts, or in this case, employees.

How Can You Grow Your Profit Margins?

When a buyer is looking to but your business the first thing they look at is your profit margins. So how can you attract a buyer by growing your business’ profit margins?

It’s business acquisition 101. If you want someone to buy your business, you have to show them how it can benefit them. This is why they look at the profit margins; they want to see how much money they’ll be able to make from the business they are buying and the best way to do so is to see how much it is already making.

Therefore before you even think about putting your business up for sale you need to make sure that your profit margins are suitably wide. If you need a little help getting there then follow these RTA Business tips on increasing your profit margins.

The first is to diversify the leads you have on your roster. Leads are the people who have been or who have contacted the business over the course of a year. You can’t conduct a business without contacts and the more contacts you have, the greater chance there will be to seize on an opportunity to expand your profit margins. Its why people network!

You also need to conduct some analysis. You need to identify where you are making and where you are losing money. What’s your strongest asset and what’s your weakest? Where do you have room to expand? Focus your efforts on your strongest areas to increase profitability.

Also take into account the current costs of your business. Where can you streamline and make your operations more efficient. It’s important to work with balance here. Only cut costs where it is appropriate, don’t cut corners.

Also examine you and your employees’ time management. There’s a saying that ‘time is money’ and it really is the case. Where are you spending your time in concerns to business operations? Think about how much time you need to allot to each area and where excess time may be more efficiently spent.


At RTA Business we’ve seen how profit margins affect the likelihood of a buyer’s intentions to carry through a business sale. Profit margins are essential because they show how said buyer can use your business to expand their own.

The Construction Sector is Growing

If you’re in the construction business, now might be the time to sell and make a profit as this industry is booming in 2014. Why is it booming and what does it mean for buyers that would make them want to purchase your business?

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) released data this month that suggests that in the last month of 2013 the UK construction industry finally returned to growth. This growth was attributed to the increasing recovery of house building that is a result of the housing market recovery.

The ONS recorded that construction output rose by a rate of 2% in December from the month before. It fell by 4% in November. This indicates that an industry that was hit by the burst of the housing bubble pretty hard back in 2008 is experiencing growth, even if it is unsteady. Furthermore construction output in total rose 1.3% throughout 2013.

Specifically private sector house building saw a surge of 5.1% as 2013 closed. This indicated that this particular sector saw a massive jump of 21.6% from the same time a year earlier. Other areas of the sector saw growth, even if on a smaller scale.

These figures indicate that that the construction industry has finally gathered the momentum it needs to recover from the ravages of the housing bubble burst. This is because according to the ONS they indicate three consecutive quarters of growth. A phenomenon like this hasn’t been recorded in the construction industry since 2010, the height of the recession.

House building has been cited as a major reason for this revival. House building itself has been aided by government schemes such as Help to Buy, which were introduced to help first time buyers onto the property ladder. Also the holding of interest rates at 0.5% by the Bank of England is thought to have contributed to sector growth.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight has commented on what these figures mean. He said that "improving house building is particularly welcome news, given that a shortage of properties is a major factor, repeatedly putting upward pressure on UK house prices." This indicates that in order to hook in new buyers, construction is only going to increase further in 2014.

At RTA Business we see this as evidence that if you are in the construction industry it really could be the right time to sell. These figures are better than they’ve been for many successive quarters and there’s also a large capability for expansion. These are two things that lure buyers into purchasing your business. 

2013 Sees Shop Vacancy Rate Fall

Shop vacancy rates saw a slight fall throughout the country in 2013; however these numbers vary drastically from region to region. What do the latest figures on shop vacancy rates indicate about the rising number of small retail businesses?

This month the Local Data Company (LDC) released its latest figures concerning retail store vacancy rates and these figures showed a slight fall in overall vacancy rates across the UK. However this fall has been somewhat concentrated in certain regions.

According to the LDC shop vacancy rates slipped to below 14% for the first time since July 2010, the height of the Great Recession. The rate in for December of last year stood at 13.9%, up from a high of 14.6% measured in February 2012.

Economic experts are citing an improving economy, along with collective government efforts to aid shopping activity in town centres for these positive numbers. These conditions have actually seen the national average for shop vacancy fall to 12.2%.

Despite the average some areas are still suffering heavily from shop closures. The North West recorded the worst figures, standing at 17.3%. Areas in the North West including Morecambe, Bolton and Bootle were measured as the worst in the nation.

In contrast London recorded the lowest rate of shop vacancies with the capital’s figure standing at 8.1%. Other areas in the South also saw falling shop vacancy rates.

The Guardian reported that Matthew Hopkinson, director of LDC labelled 2013 a “pivotal year” for the nations shopping districts as vacancy rates finally held steady. He also noted that it is "clear from LDC's latest report is that there is a significant and growing divide between the north of the country and the south.”

Government backed schemes centred in small town have aided in the fall of overall UK vacancy rates. Schemes such as Future High Streets Forum and revival efforts under the Portas Pilot scheme have channelled funds and resources into town centres to aid the growth of small businesses and this is what has caused the vacancy rate, alongside economic growth, to fall.

A fall in shop vacancy rates suggests by its nature a rise in the number of successful small business we are seeing on Britain’s high streets. This is no surprise, as in order for a shop to stop being vacant, it needs business to fill it; the government backed schemes were designed to foster small business activity.

At RTA Business we believe that these numbers suggest that small business growth is leading to a stronger business acquisition market. After all more small businesses and economic growth lead to larger businesses looking to expand. It’ll be interesting to see how vacancy rates continue as the year unfolds.