Staff training is integral to running a business successfully, but this learning comes at a cost. And finding the money can be particularly difficult when times are tough. Alternative finance can help SMEs afford the training they need to thrive.

Training is essential to growth. Invest in it and it will help you raise employee satisfaction levels, retain staff, introduce new skills and ideas, attract new talent and stay ahead of the competition. However, offering the kind of training that delivers these results can be challenging for small businesses with small budgets.

Difficult market conditions, caused in part by Brexit-related uncertainty, make affording training even tougher. But small businesses shouldn’t stop prioritising staff development, no matter how attractive it might seem from a short-term financial point of view. Indeed, addressing skill-gaps may be more important than ever in a post-Brexit working environment.

Of course, training isn’t just about sending employees on courses or to seminars and conferences, attendance at which often comes with a significant price tag. There are alternatives, such as online courses, which are now concise, comprehensive and easy to use, and mentoring, with older, more experienced staff members teaching newer, unskilled colleagues. The important thing is to invest in learning.

But whatever approach you take, there is always a cost. So, how can small businesses afford essential staff training? Alternative finance can help.

Alternative finance is redrawing the small business finance landscape. With traditional lenders remaining cautious, services such invoice finance, asset finance, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding are offering small business owners an alternative means of accessing funds for critical investment, such as staff training.

With the help of expert advice, more and more small businesses owners are finding the right finance relationships and using alternative finance to grow their businesses. This is how a Sussex small business used peer-to-peer lending, through a commercial finance broker that specialises in alternative finance, to raise the capital to buy new equipment.

A failure to train staff properly will hurt your business. At the very least, it will make growing and succeeding much more difficult. That’s why investment in this learning is so important. Alternative finance can help small businesses afford it.

Want to know more about what A&T Business Associates can do for your business? Contact Tony on 01903 602211 or tony.hedger@atbusinessassociates.co.uk.