We’re delighted to have a guest blog this week is from the head of Businesscomparison.com Philip Brennan, who left his job in financial comparison to disrupt the business banking market. Here he explains how it’s been a rollercoaster year of meeting with policy decision makers and vandalising taxis to get his message across!
Personally, I’m not a disruptive person. I abide by the law, pay my taxes and none of my school reports alluded to particularly worrying behaviour, however, when it comes to business, I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing to challenge the status quo.
It was whilst I was working for consumer comparison website MoneySupermarket.com that I started to focus my mind on comparison for businesses. I was in a Relationship Managers role with high street banks and building societies and saw first-hand the need for enterprises to have a designated resource which focused on financial business interests. Many of us don’t think twice about comparing car insurance, holidays or energy however, the process of comparing deals online is not yet commonplace for small businesses. A massive 82 per cent are unaware of alternative funding options and 60 per cent are currently spending less than an hour researching lending providers. My instinct told me that if the partnerships were strong enough and the website itself was easily accessible then this could be a successful business.
Since setting up Businesscomparison.com in April 2015 the need for a fair and transparent financial marketplace for SMEs has been thrust into the limelight. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have carried out a comprehensive investigation into consumer and business banking and highlighted the need for a site where businesses can compare loans and alternative finance options. At Businesscomparison.com we don’t stop there as we also facilitate business owners comparing commercial mortgages, business energy rates and insurance. I would say that for business owners often it is hard to spend time looking at how can save money when your focus is making money. Time is money, so the saying goes and every hour you are not doing your job by trying to sort the best finance or energy deal is costing you more money. Most business owners will then often go with the quickest and easiest option. This may be going to their own bank or sticking with their current energy provider. So we try to make this process as quick and painless as possible to save money and time. We come from a generation who what to have all the information at their finger-tips. This is not currently possible for all business decisions but we are working with our partners to make this possible in the near future.
Starting up your own business is undoubtedly hard work and seeking to disrupt a market and change the way things are done is harder still. Not only are you selling your product or services but you’re also selling the concept behind them. Even though it’s now been recognised that comparison is the way forward to make banking fairer for small businesses I continue to play my role as disruptor by meeting with MPs to discuss the findings of the CMA report and striving to highlight comparison as a positive step forward for businesses. At Businesscomparison.com we recently rebranded the entire website and ran a marketing campaign with radio adverts and taxi banner advertising. The tide is changing and we currently have 20,000 users a month to the site.
As a disruptor the drive to get recognition and understanding of what you do is ongoing but worthwhile.