Liam Kane is the MD and owner of TAB and has over 30 years’ experience working with SMEs across the UK. He has been facilitating Peer Advisory Boards in the North East since 2021, and is a qualified Executive Coach passionate about supporting local business leaders. He tell us all about the benefits of having an alternative board in our latest blog…

As a business owner do you ever feel like you have no one to talk to about the issues that you are facing in your business?  I suspect the answer to that question may well be yes and in those circumstances what do you do?

Help and support may well be at hand via The Alternative Board.  To give you some background, at The Alternative Board (TAB) we have cultivated a thriving community of forward-thinking business leaders who share collective wisdom and inspiration to radically improve performance in ways that change their lives.

For over 30 years, we have been helping leaders and their teams improve their business and change their lives. We do this in a couple of ways:

1. Peer Advisory Boards

As a business leader, all too often the big decisions fall to you and you alone, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Each month a small number of like-minded leaders meet to help one another make better and faster decisions.

But the boards are a lot more than that…

• They provide an environment to receive honest, supportive, and non-judgmental advice.
• You are surrounded by your peers who are on your side, emotionally invested in you, and want to help you succeed.
• You have dedicated time to work ‘on’ your business rather than ‘in’ it, giving you the opportunity to be strategic rather than tactical.

2. Business Coaching

Private one-to-one coaching sessions to give you renewed clarity, keep you accountable to achieve your goals and become an even more successful leader, allowing you to live the life you work for. Feedback from clients in the Northeast reinforces the value in working alongside a coach who’ll:

• Listen to you without judgement.
• Empathise with you.
• Challenge you using great questions.
• Support you without directing.
• Encourage you to think and reflect.

3. Gain Accountability, Expertise and Momentum

Joining TAB means joining other busy entrepreneurs committed to giving and receiving the candid guidance that can only come from peers following the same path. Tap into the power of like-minded leaders, leverage global membership insights, run your business more strategically and outpace your competitors. For more information, contact me, Liam Kane, on 07368 534427 or lkane@thealternativeboard.co.uk.

When should you use a debt recovery service? 

• The time to use a debt recovery solution is when your invoice is due for payment.
• So, whatever your payment terms are, if that’s 30 days, then a soon as 30 days has expired, consider using CC Recovery Solutions.
• This won’t be an aggressive chase and as it’s completed correctly this should work with you as an extension of your business in order to maintain client relationships. 

Why do debt recovery services have a bad reputation? 

• Debt recovery can be a taboo phrase but ultimately it shouldn’t be.
• Debt recovery is simply about recovering what you are due when you provided a service.
• CC Recovery Solutions can be used to recover invoices that are due on time maintaining good client relationships.

Who Are CC Recovery Solutions?

• CC Recovery Solutions are a sister business of CCBS Group.
• Formed in 2017 to offer clients help and assistance with debt recovery.
• Find out more – Commercial Debt Recovery and Receivables Management – CCBS Group

In what ways are CC Recovery Solutions different? 

• It can be used as an extension of your credit control arm, or we can act in the placement of a credit control team if you don’t have one.
• This is done by highlighting to your customers that invoices are outstanding and in a lot of cases this will be enough with letters being sent out along with phone calls, texts, and emails.
• We have found we have a very high success rate in recovering balances owed which doesn’t need to be aggressive although we can certainly escalate that upon instructions from the client.
• See our latest successes here.

What steps do CC Recovery Solutions take to ensure business relationships are maintained? 

• It’s about ensuring invoices are chased in a consistent and timely manner when they fall due and ensuring correspondence that we send out on your behalf is professional.
• Professionality goes into every approach that we take, and we don’t take steps without the client’s instruction in order to maintain comfortable client relationships.

How much experience does CC Recovery Solutions have in recovering debts for clients? 

• CC Recovery Solutions have decades worth of experience, more importantly we have clients who trust us with their credit control and come back to us. As an extension of the credit control service, we also have experience in dispute resolution.

Once you decide to use CC Recovery Solutions, we handle everything. Contact us today to have an initial chat with our team.

We were proud to see one of our deals win Corporate Finance Deal of the Year 2023 at the North East Accountancy Awards earlier this summer.

As you will know we are not corporate finance advisors, but we collaborated with Gateshead-based TIG Corporate Finance on the transaction which supported a Management Buy-Out of Washington-based NA College.  Barry Gill, Managing Director at TIG, provided corporate finance advice to the vendor and CCBS sourced the funding through Shard Credit Partners, who facilitated the transaction. It involved a number of corporate partners working together and this collaborative approach is what led the judges to award it Deal of the Year.

Mr Gill said of the win: “It was an important deal for the region and one I am personally proud to be part of. Investment for the MBO was supported by Shard Credit Partners and led to a female-led board of directors taking control of NA College whilst the ownership of the company remained in the North East.”

Peter Cromarty of CCBS Group said: “It was a real pleasure to work on this deal with the management team, TIG Corporate and Shard Credit Partners to deliver a great deal all around. I look forward to seeing the business go from strength to strength.”

We’re very pleased to announce the winner of our grassroots sports competition as… Harton & Westoe Under 8s Yellows! 

The mixed ability team have played together since they were 4 and 5 years old, but were left without a team or a coach when stronger players left for group teams. They continued to train and with the support of parent coaches, their resilience and enthusiasm paid off and they gained a league place in the RF U8s Division 9 for last season. The boys have never lost their enthusiasm despite mixed results – including a 16-nil defeat – and they are continuing to develop and enjoying every session – which has led to a recent mini league game win (16-nil!).

Their nominator said: “The group is made up of mixed backgrounds and mixed abilities, but they have really bonded as a group and are looking forward to moving up to 7-a-side/U9s for this coming season. This funding will go a long way to get new strips and training gear as the boys have grown a lot since this time last year. Thank you so much CCBS Group.”

We will be supporting them with a financial donation towards their team needs this coming season.

In addition to this, the second prize went to Gosforth Rugby Club. Not only will we be sponsoring their beer festival but have agreed that some of the funds will be made available to the Gosforth RFC Under 10’s who submitted a very compelling application indeed.

Finally, we have agreed the match day sponsorship of Birtley Town FC and will be bringing a contingent from our business network to enjoy the game with us.  

Well done Harton & Westoe Under 8s Yellows and Gosforth RFC U10’s! We’ll be cheering you on in your new kits later this year.