Business Link experiences

stphnstevey

Just wondered if people had any good experiences with Business Link or any good advice they have had they would like to share

Bismarck

mine were pretty good a few years ago...not sure how the funding works now though...worth a try though...don't expect them to share your enthusiasm as they can be a bit "seen-it, done-it, that'll never work...." but when I had some issues a couple of years ago they were a good, free, sounding board.

vivatifosi

I think what you get out of Business Link depends on where you live. It certainly seems to be run differently in different parts of the country. Where I live (Hertfordshire) they offer a great selection of free courses and send me useful regular updates, though for my initial mentoring experience I used WENTA, a local agency in West Hertfordshire, who were fantastic.

stphnstevey

Am I right in thinking the initial consultation is free, but further consultations you have to pay for?

Pennywise

The actual BL adviser himself probably won't charge for repeat visits, but they'll probably have little to add as you'll have exhausted their reportoire. What tends to happen is that they evaluate your needs and then introduce you to affiliated businesses to give you the expert advice in specific areas, like finance, HR, marketing, IT etc where you will pay a hefty price. They'll sell you their services on the backs of grants etc to claim through business link, but basically the grants are typically 50% of their costs which sounds good until you find out that you'd probably get that same expert service from other consultants for less than half the price! That's my experience anyway - like others have said, every area works differently.

robert_harper_2000

I had a guy come down and give me some good advice, also provide free training courses for all my staff (as they didn't have 5 x A-C GCSE grades or more). He was really helpful and puts you in touch with other people. Yes some of those people charge but I didn't get the feeling he was selling anything - the only thing I have done is taken the free training.

martindow

I too have used Business link over the years and stuck to free services. They are invaluable at start up and I have also had a business review after several years and input on web sites. It is useful to be on their mailing list to receive information on free courses which they run.