Support and Training from 'Save The High Street'

You may be aware of Save The High Street, an organisation set up to support local high street businesses across the UK. We have met with them at various events in recent years and have been in regular contact with them during COVID-19. It is worth keeping in touch with their website to keep abreast of the latest research and advice to help you through this challenging time.

We wanted to highlight two initiatives that may be of interest to you.

The COVID-19 r ecovery and resilience health-check for local businesses

The first is 'The COVID-19 recovery and resilience health-check for local businesses', a survey based on the experiences of local businesses during this crisis. In return for inputing into this (a survey which takes around 11 minutes to complete), businesses will be given: a health check report and scores, highlighting vulnerabilities and opportunities across your business; 6 top recommendations selected for you, each with engaging content, step by step guides and more; and a telephone call with an expert consultant to discuss your report and recommendations (optional and for the first 1,000 respondents).

 

The first end-to-end COVID-19 support programme for local business owners

The Second initiative is the COVID-19 support programme for local business owners. The following is an extract from their email to the Chamber:

SaveTheHighStreet.org is offering a limited number of independent businesses every month the opportunity to join an intensive 12-week COVID-19 support programme, powered by Jo.

Together we will tackle the challenges and opportunities facing your businesses today.

Together, we will develop and implement a plan to weather the Coronavirus storm, while setting you up for success on the high street, now and for the future.

 

Who is this for?

This is open to independently-owned high street businesses of all shapes and sizes, on any street (or town-centre shopping centre), anywhere in the UK.

All local independents from cafes to retailers, salons, restaurants, newsagents, gyms, boutiques, galleries, florists, travel agents, pubs, butchers and much more.

Space on the programme is limited and offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. If the programme has already filled up before you complete your registration, we will notify you when we are able to re-open for a new intake of local businesses

If you’re a local authority, a local champion or a national trade association and would like to talk with us about making sure this support is available for your businesses, send us an email to [email protected].

 

What should you expect if you join?

We would become part of your team, working closely together to give you the best chance of success in 2020.

Everything below is optional, albeit recommended, and included in the programme:

• We will work together on a different goal each week from reducing your costs to selling through new channels, marketing during lockdown, collaborating as a high street, preparing for the future and funding your business
• We will give you access to experts across our team, all championing your success
• We will analyse your target market, competition and your current performance
• We will identify the total revenue available for you and work on targets together
• We will audit your business against the key factors impacting success on the Coronavirus-era high street
• We will develop a plan of action that we agree on together
• We will consider all the strategies and tactics we’ve found from multiple years of studying what works on the high street with hundreds of independent businesses and experts as well as the intensive research project we led through March 2020 to update this industry standard based on the impact of COVID-19
• We will send you new ideas each week, tailored to your plan and your personal business goals
• We will give you step-by-step guides to make each idea a reality
• We will identify potential suppliers and negotiate the best deals if you want to outsource any parts of your plan
• We will recommend (when appropriate) new tools, advertising channels and other third party services that are relevant to your plan
• We will help you set up tracking for all the metrics that matter
• We will monitor and report on your performance and progress
• We will give you a personal account on Jo that that you can access via joinjo.com 24/7
• We will engage your council and any active Local Champions to promote ideas that could help you and others on your street
• We will discuss any challenges you are facing with your landlord, your partners, your team and anyone else and explore how we might help resolve them with you
• We will invite you to regular webinars, covering the key challenges and opportunities for local businesses on the Coronavirus-era high street from negotiating with your landlords, to effective local delivery to high street collaborations and more
• We will offer you the opportunity to connect and, where relevant, collaborate with other business owners on the programme
• We will feature you on our website and promote you through our social media channels and in our newsletter
• We will produce content and videos about you and your experience with the programme, publicising your story to the media
• We will invite you to be part of the High Street Advisory Board 2020
• We will invite you to regular webinars, covering the key challenges and opportunities for local businesses on the Coronavirus-era high street
• We will schedule-in and support you on weekly mentoring and planning calls

We’ll be with you every step of the way.
We will work as a team and won’t consider this programme a success unless you’ve achieved your goals.

 

How much does it cost?

The total cost for the full 12-week programme is £192.

That’s just £16 per week.

At this price, it’s clear that our priority isn’t to make a profit.

Our motivation for this programme is:

• To ensure as many local independent businesses as possible receive expert, highly tailored, affordable support through this highly challenging period
• To turn you into an inspiring example of what can be done to succeed on the Coronavirus-era high street, presenting you as a case study to other businesses across the country
• To help you to achieve your potential, making another step to supporting the health and future of our high streets

 

 

What else would you need to do?

The amount of time you invest is up to you but the more we do, the more we’ll achieve together.

You should be open to putting new initiatives in place, with a clear focus and motivation to grow. We will do everything we can to help you protect, adapt and even grow your business this year, but we need to work as a team.

We will give you the option to outsource some of the work if you want to trade time for money while maintaining your dedication to the plan. This is always your decision and, ultimately, our priority is seeing your plan being put into action.

Would you like to get started?

Registrations are now open and will close as soon as we meet full capacity.

Once your payment has been made, your place on the SaveTheHighStreet.org COVID-19 support programme will be secured. Your Success Manager will then be in touch within 24 hours to book an initial call while setting up your Jo account and starting our review of your market.

Any other questions?

If you have any other questions, send us an email to [email protected] and we will respond as soon as we can.

If you leave your phone number for us to call we should be able to get back to you even more quickly.