Advertorial: Brokers with a scheme to pitch – please take a seat

If faced with doing an "elevator pitch" for your business, how do you think you'd perform?

Summing up your unique selling proposition in a few words must be one of the greatest challenges in business that, on the face of it, appears easy.

It's a great discipline to really evaluate what makes your business tick and be able to convey it with conviction and the ability to persuade whoever happens to be listening.

That applies equally to a new business idea which you might need to sell to your fellow directors, investors and - if it ever gets off the ground - your customers.

Dragons' Den
Perhaps one of the most high profile and entertaining examples of this process is television's "Dragons' Den" programme, in which hopefuls with a business dream pitch their venture to a panel of successful entrepreneurs with an option to buy into the idea with hard cash.

I wonder how many of you, while watching the Dragons at work, have thought "I could do that - I've got an idea worth buying!"

Well, now you've got your chance.

Our latest initiative, The Schemes Seat, is a Dragons' Den-style process to find the next great idea for a general insurance broker scheme. And we're backing it with a £100,000 fund across the schemes ideas that make the grade.

Business plan
Brokers who believe they've got a scheme idea that will fly need only to put it down in a 1,000-word business plan and submit it online at http://schemesseat.ukgeneral.com by 25 April.

Those who get shortlisted will themselves have a Dragon's Den-style experience by facing an expert panel at the upcoming Biba Conference; that panel includes former Dragons' Den panellist, business angel and multi-millionaire tycoon, Richard Farleigh, UK General CEO, Peter Hubbard, schemes managing director, Karen Beales, and co-founder and director of Thistle Initiatives Limited James Dingwall.

In the insurance schemes world, we don't believe anyone else has taken this approach before. And we think it's a great way for brokers to focus on what they believe is a winning idea and have a chance of bringing it to life.

So, are you ready to take the Schemes Seat? Visit http://schemesseat.ukgeneral.com to apply.