Business Support & Advice

Working With Business Link - What to Expect

However you contact Business Link – and there are a wide variety of ways: in-person at an access point, by phone, email, by call-back request or through their website – you’ll be taken through their customer service procedure to ensure you get the right help:

• A customer service advisor will take details about you and your business – this helps Business Link gauge at which stage of development you are (eg pre-start up, start-up, growth etc).
• The advisor may be able to help you with your specific query depending on its nature.  Alternatively, they may refer you to an account manager, a service specialist or a Tourism Skills Broker – whoever is most appropriate for your particular enquiry.
• The member of the team helping you may be able to do so over the telephone, or they may request that you arrange a visit either at an access point or at your workplace or home.
• In some cases you may have ongoing contact with a team member, who will work closely with you to meet your goals.

What Business Link cannot do

Business Link is a support service, designed to give you the information and know-how needed to effectively run and grow your business. However, there are approximately 4.5 million businesses in the UK and with the best will in the world Business Link cannot give every one individual help!  So what they cannot do is:

• Run your business for you – they can direct you towards information, advice and specialist consultants but they cannot get directly involved in running your business.
• Write business plans or marketing plans for you – again, they can advise and connect you with information, formulas and research but they cannot write your plans and in most cases they won’t be able to check them over for you.
• Provide continued one-to-one coaching – there is 24-hour access to the majority of information at the website and in appropriate cases Business Link can provide you with further information and direct help.  If you feel you need mentoring or coaching support, Business Link can supply details of management and business development consultancy firms.
• Fund you directly – but they can give information about available grants and advice about successfully applying for them.

Where to start

There is a great amount of support available:

• In the first instance, use the website.  It contains detailed information on a very comprehensive range of business topics and further links to other resources. It also has over 500 in-depth guides and 70 interactive tools.
• If you cannot find the information you need, contact Business Link by telephone on 0845 600 9 006 or email enquiries@businesslinknortheast.co.uk, or request a call back through the website.
• The customer service advisor will take details – ensure you tell them you are a tourism business - and advise you how to take your enquiry forward, putting you in contact with a specialist member of their team if appropriate.

Other sources of support

Don’t forget there are other sources of support too:

• See the Directory of Business Support for other north east business advice organisations
• Area Tourism Partnerships
• Banks, accountants, solicitors - see the Business Benefits pages
• Private sector business consultants