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Advice for consultants and clients starting a consultancy, networking for business etc
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News
£20 off Skillfair membership for IBC members
2008 Consultants conference 13th November, Early bird discount available Click Workshops for details
Quotes
"I have just received the “consultants who have joined or renewed with Skillfair and whose skills match your requirements”. Brilliant! Just like the photos of yourselves you sent earlier this week, the details of co-consultants makes it all real, and that encourages our loyalty. Everything I think of, you’ve either done it already or are about to – and everything you do is thoroughly thought through, too. Keep up the excellent work!!" , Stuart McCallum, The Fast Forward Group
To contact Skillfair call 0844 4457071 or click here to email us
 
 
Advice for Clients
 How can Skillfair help HR Managers?
HR is an increasingly challenging area, keeping up with new regulations and developing your existing workforce are just part of the role. When your organisation needs specialist interim help or consultancy Skillfair can help you find resources without soaking up time and extra money.  
 Choosing a Supplier
Large companies often have whole teams of people dedicated to purchasing and setting up relationships with suppliers. But if you're unfamiliar with the process it can be daunting to try to work out which supllier to choose - and they get a lot more practice than you do.  
 February Client Newsletter - Quality over quantity
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 How to find and work with external consultants
Businesses often put off bringing external expertise because they're too busy or are worried about being ripped off. Setting out with a clear idea of what you want achieve takes the worry out of outsourcing and will ensure you get good value for money.  
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Starting out
 Advertising Products and Services on Skillfair
Skillfair's database of consultants covers the whole of the UK and has a high proportion of small and home office based businesses. If this is your target market then our offer alerts provide a simple, easily tracked and cost-effective way to advertise.  
 Essential resources for consultants
Presenting a consistent, professional approach is critical to succeeding as an independent consultant. These are some of the key documents you should have at your fingertips ready for when a client calls.  
 Successful Presenting
One of the best ways to promote yourself as an expert in your field is to present on your favourite topic to interested people. Being in front of an audience automatically gives you status in their eyes and if the subject is one the audience needs help with it can lead directly to consulting opportunities.  
 Do you work for Tesco?
Have you ever looked at a fellow professional's beautifully designed business card only to see an email address that's a string of letters and numbers, or worse, makes it look as though they work at tesco.net?  
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Networking for Business
 Which networking group is right for me?
Most consultants will tell you that they get their best leads from networking, the difficult part is working out who to network with.  
 Networking Groups
We've classified networking groups into 4 kinds, technical, local, peer and virutal - to give you some ideas of where to start.  
Money, Tax and Admin
 Work from home and want to sell?
If you use your home for a self-employed business, you may claim some of the running expenses - heat, light, perhaps mortgage interest and council tax - as a business expense. This saves you income tax and NIC every year.  
FAQ
 How can I find a specific consultant
New features on Skillfair allow you to search for consultants by name, company and location as well as keywords in their profile or skills. Full members can also contact several consultants at once for networking purposes or add the list to their 'Watch List'.  
 How do Quality Points Work?
Skillfair's quality point system is designed to make clients feel more comfortable with contacting you via the internet. The process is quick and simple and gaining the full set of quality points will make sure you appear first when clients are searching for help.  
 What should I put in my profile?
The most important part of your profile is the first sentence. As with any piece of marketing material it's vitally important to attract your potential client's attention - if the first sentence tells them nothing interesting they probably won't read any further. At the same time, if you can offer a wide range of services you want to make sure that your opening words don't turn off everyone except those looking for a specialist.  
 How to avoid too many responses to a project
Clients sometimes tell us that they're worried that posting a project will generate too many responses. When you have limited time to sift through emails try using Skillfair's contact system instead.  
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Marketing
 Do you need a marketing specialist or a GP?
If your business isn't quite performing as you want - it can be hard to know whether you just need some tactical marketing help or a broader rethink. This article gives some pointers to help you decide.  
 Marketing your business - how can we help?
The success of any business depends on making sure you product matches what the market needs and that people know about your offer. An marekting consultant can help you with all aspects of marketing your business.  
Public Relations
 Getting publicity for your business
Your product is great, your service excellent - but customers just don't seem to know about you. A PR specialist can help you generate news and interest that will bring customers to you.  
Training
 Help for Trainers and Course Providers
However good you are at delivering training finding the next client can be challenge. Skillfair can help with access to public tenders, private clients, associate opportunities and other resources.  
 Training Managers - How can we help you?
We have a wide range of trainers and consultants with experience in management, staff and vocational training - plus a range of specialist technical training providers.  
 Websites for Training and Learning Professionals
A selection of websites with information to support training an learning professionals  
 Training Materials - Who Owns Them?
How does copyright apply to training materials and what do you need to do so that you have the right to use materials again?  
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News
 Re-charging your business batteries
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 The art of qualifying opportunities
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 Networking through Skillfair
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 Consultants Go Green
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Case Studies
 Case Study: Meg Abdy
Retail intelligence expert, Meg Adby, teamed up with an NHS specialist to win work for the NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement  
 Case study: Sonia Job, Marketing in Practice
If it hadn’t been for Skillfair, I would probably have given up self-employment by now!, Sonia Job, Marketing in Practice  
 Case Study: Jeremy Hurst
Many people enter self-employment for work-life balance - but landing clients outside your local area requires effort and persistence,as Skillfair member Jeremy Hurst has found.  
 Case Study - Selling Wisdom!
With a strong commercial and public sector background, John Thurlbeck has found Skillfair an excellent way to generate new leads.  
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Tenders
 How to win public sector tenders
Many small businesses, particularly those who are freelancers or consultants, assume that there's no point bidding for government work, so they don't even try. Other try but consistently fail to get anywhere and give up. It's certainly more difficult to win business in an open tendering situation, but if you're serious about working in the public sector, or for large corporate businesses, then you need to know how to bid effectively and make the most of your chances.  
 Consultancy Tender Alert Service
Skillfair's tender alert service is specially designed for copanies and individuals who provide complex, knowledge based services and solutions. We add value to the information by matching alerts to the skills required for each project.  
 Skillfair members pull in £1M worth of business
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 Tender Service - What does it cover?
European Journal tenders, smaller value tenders from the UK public sector and voluntary sector brought to you desk every day.  
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Partners
 Skillfair and UKITA Partnership
UKITA is the UK Association for IT suppliers. Skillfair members can obtain a discount off UKITA membership and UKITA members can access Skillfair services at a discount.  
 AMED and Skillfair working together
AMED is a charitable organisation that provides support, networking and education for its members to further their overall aim of promoting and encouraging management education and development. AMED and Skillfair members benefit from discounted membership for each other's organisations.  
 Skillfair Services for Partners
Skillfair provides a simple, transparent and cost-effective way of managing requests for specialist expertise that allows memebrship organisations to develop a consistent revenue stream without the admin and overhead associated with commission schemes.  
 Skillfair Partners
Skillfair works with many professional bodies, trade associations and networking groups to provide access to opportunities for their members.  
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