Free advice helped put fledgling finance firm on the money
AYOUNG entrepreneur has been given a boost thanks to an initiative which offered him free business advice.
Alex Heylings founded Nova Commercial Finance two years ago.
His finance brokerage business offers financial advice as alternative to the big banks.
But despite having developed partnerships with more than 200 commercial lenders he needed help getting more customers.
Alex sought the help of Enterprising Macclesfield, a venture launched in 2015 which aims to be a one-stop-shop for free advice and support to anyone wanting to set up their own social or commercial enterprise.
Alex was put in contact with sales and marketing expert, Ray Clarke, director at Shaping Business, who offered a free advice session.
It helped him define his ideal clients and ways of marketing the business. Alex was also helped with advice on updating his website.
Alex said: “I didn’t really know how to approach my customers. So I needed people who could support me, who would help me find my customer and help me understand my client better.”
Alex has praised the work of Enterprising Macclesfield, and has even signed up as an advisor to other people looking for help.
He said: “The advice we received through the Enterprising Macclesfield programme was excellent.
“It definitely helped us to focus our message better and has certainly saved us from wasting time and our marketing budget in areas where we were unlikely to see a return on investment.”
Ray Clarke from Shaping Business said: “As a result of the support from Enterprising Macclesfield, Nova Commercial Finance redirected mar- keting expenditure which had been planned into more focused marketing opportunities.
“In addition, the business successfully revised key marketing messages to focus more on how Nova Commercial Finance can address specific client needs.
“This included realigning the website around his target markets and focusing his service offers to be more relevant to each market.”
Enterprising Macclesfield is run by a Make it Macclesfield, a Community Interest Company which runs projects to raise the profile of the town.
For more information visit enterprising macclesfield.co.uk