Accelerating delivery in high impact sectors
2026-03-11 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
Energy, transport and retrofit are the sectors where local authorities can make the biggest impact. Yet despite strong cases for action, delivery often faces familiar obstacles around capacity, coordination, financing, and the need for innovation in practice.
This webinar will focus on factors helping the Net Zero Living Programme places build confidence in and unlock local delivery.

An introduction to business strategy
2026-03-11 13:00 - 15:00
This webinar is practical, outcome driven, and designed to fit with the needs of small businesses in both B2C and B2B environments. It will help you develop a strategically led approach that can turbo charge business growth, identify the core growth strategy(ies) that are right for your business, and develop an action plan.
We will look at:

Your business today – identifying your strengths and areas for development
The key pillars of a business and why balancing all areas is essential for success
Personal and business ambitions and using these to guide strategy development
Ansoff’s Matrix as a tool for identifying core growth strategies
The core components of your business delivery
How to develop a methodical, strategic approach to developing your business for future success

After the webinar, you will understand:

How to undertake a balanced review of where your business is that helps identify areas for development
Ansoff’s Matrix and how to use it as a core strategic planning tool
How to create a strategic plan for growing your business

Branding & Pricing: Set Your Business Up For Growth
2026-03-11 13:00 - 18:00 | Forfar Community Campus, Kirriemuir Road, Forfar, DD8 3TG
Our Branding & Pricing workshop is great for business owners who want to build a strong foundation for their business. In this session our experts will guide you through creating a clear Branding Framework and an aligned Pricing Strategy Blueprint. By the end, you’ll have a personalised plan to define your brand’s unique value and price it for profit and growth.
In a competitive market, your brand isn’t just a logo; it’s a promise. And your pricing isn’t just a number; it’s a key part of your brand. This workshop brings these two essential elements together, ensuring they work in harmony.
You’ll work through a series of structured exercises to build a comprehensive blueprint for your business.
This workshop is highly interactive and provides a dedicated template that you’ll complete as you go, with plenty of time for group discussions, peer feedback, and one-on-one support.
What You’ll Learn

Clarify Your Brand Purpose: Define your ‘why’ to communicate with confidence.
Know Your Ideal Customer: Pinpoint who you’re targeting and how to reach them.
Stand Out: Shape a unique brand identity that sets you apart.
Price with Purpose: Explore pricing models and value-based strategies.
Create Pricing Tiers: Build a structure that attracts different customer types and boosts revenue.

It’s perfect for anyone who feels uncertain about what their brand stands for or how to price their offerings effectively.

Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) Innovation Notices and Guidance
2026-03-11 14:00 - 15:00
Scotland has a vision of becoming one of the most innovative small nations in the world over the next decade. This is key to our efforts to transform the economy, improve our Public Services and drive lasting improvement in Scotland’s economic performance. Public procurement can play an important part enabling innovation in our public services. Scottish Government policy note SPPN 03/2023 (Supporting innovation through procurement) makes provision for new functionality on Public Contracts Scotland to improve our procurement processes and reporting for the purposes innovation. Staff from SPPN will provide an over view of the functionality and guidance relating to the Policy Note.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from Scottish Government experts, as we discuss this recently added functionality to Public Contracts Scotland (PCS), which is the portal used by all Scottish Public Sector buyers to alert the market of ‘relevant calls for competition’. These new notice types are designed to help Scottish public sector to procure innovation more efficiently.
This short call by Scottish Government staff outlines those changes to PCS and guidance. Feel free to come along to the call and learn about the developments.

How to generate and increase sales
2026-03-12 13:00 - 15:00
Sales are the lifeblood of every business. This webinar focuses on a pragmatic approach to sales strategy and delivery and is designed to fit with the needs of small businesses in both B2C and B2B environments.
We will cover:

Why a clear understanding of what an ideal customer looks like, and a good understanding of their problems, needs and wants is key to sales success
How to develop your sales platform using digital tools, platforms, and techniques
The different motivations potential customers may have and how to identify which ‘buttons’ your business needs to press
The key phases in prospecting, qualifying, and converting sales prospects
The value of a ‘sales funnel’ and how it can be used to help plan and achieve sales
Why keeping the customers you already have is the best sales strategy of all
The importance of appropriate customer service in retaining customers

Preparing for travel trade shows
2026-03-12 14:00 - 14:30
Join us to gain an overview of the travel trade show activity for 2026/27, available to Scottish tourism businesses looking to work with the travel trade.
This session will share practical guidance on how to prepare for attendance, including the knowledge you need and the collateral to take.

An introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) for small businesses
2026-03-12 14:00 - 16:00
You’ve heard of Artificial Intelligence, but do you know how it can help you as you run your business? This practical webinar will explore how AI can help improve your business marketing to be more efficient and cost-effective, through the automatic creation of content for all your digital platforms; as well as helping you better understand your customers and business opportunities.
This webinar will cover:

What is Artificial Intelligence
Current AI tools and systems to use right now (including ChatGPT and MidJourney)
Automating digital content for blogs and social media
Using AI for business strategy and customer profiling
The pros and cons of AI for small businesses

This webinar will help you understand how you can integrate AI into your existing marketing, looking at the potential consequences (good and bad) of Artificial Intelligence, and its impact on small businesses and their customers.

Social media essentials: Instagram
2026-03-12 18:00 - 20:00
Thinking about using Instagram to communicate with existing and potential customers? Want to showcase your products or services using it? During this webinar we will cover:

Getting the setup right and benefitting from the available business tools
Best practice profiles, and some strategies to help your business stand out from the crowd
The types of audience you can reach via this platform and the factors and analytics such as cost and timing of posting images and how that can maximise impact
The various types of content you can post to Instagram, from regular posts to Stories and Reels

Business expenses – What can I claim?
2026-03-13 10:00 - 12:00
This webinar focuses on the main areas of spend that many businesses might incur, and provides a detailed and HMRC backed overview of what can and should be claimed.
This webinar will cover:

What constitutes a business expense
The HMRC rules around business expenses
What you can claim and more importantly what you cannot when submitting an accurate tax return
The main expenses that are claimable, what can be claimed and how they should be calculated

Cut your Energy Costs & Carbon
2026-03-16 11:00 - 12:00
[Energy costs are one of the biggest financial challenges for small and medium enterprises leading to tighter margins. Find out from Business Energy Scotland how you can reduce your energy bill and take advantage of energy efficiency support measures available for Scottish businesses.
Cutting energy contributes to the overall Just Transition to meet Scotland’s target for Net Zero by 2045. Scotland’s new Draft Climate Change Plan to 2040 sets out requirements on businesses to cut emissions and adopt carbon plans, this webinar will cover how small and medium businesses can cut energy costs and emissions through:

switching to renewables through green energy tariffs
energy saving technology
energy efficient measures such as building fabric insulation, double glazing, lighting upgrades and efficient heating
installing solar/wind power
upgrade heating (such as through heat pumps)]
decarbonising building heat systems
creating community warm hub spaces

Business Energy Scotland provides free, impartial support and access which has already achieved £200 million of savings for Scottish organisations.
This webinar is part of a collaboration between Business Energy Scotland the Scottish Business Climate Collaboration, who are both backed by Scottish Government and businesses.

How to build your brand
2026-03-16 14:00 - 16:00
This webinar will define what a brand is (and is not) and explain how it is more than just creating a logo. We will explore how a business can use their brand to show its identity, purpose, personality, message, and values in order to stand out from competitors, build a loyal customer base and make more sales.
This session will:

Provide you with a clear understanding of the difference between brands and branding
Help you understand what a brand is
Show you why branding is important
Look at your brand strategy, brand identity and action
Help you learn how to develop your brand’s positioning, character, and purpose to differentiate your business from its competitors
Demonstrate how to set up a brand kit and style guide to ensure consistency across websites, social media, business cards, posters etc.
Teach you how to create simple promotional graphics using a variety of tools including Canva
Highlight a variety of free tools including Google Drive, Hubspot and Mailchimp that can save time and simplify marketing tasks

Simple Steps to Get Your Business Online
2026-03-17 10:00 - 12:00 | The Montrose Playhouse, The Mall, Montrose, DD10 8NN
Discover straightforward ways to get your business noticed online. Everything is explained in plain language, with quick ideas you can put into practice right away.

No digital experience? No problem. This workshop is for absolute beginners, and we’ll guide you through everything at a relaxed, easy pace. You’ll learn simple ways to help people find your business online and keep them coming back.
You’ll learn:

How to keep customers informed and engaged online
What to post, how often, and how to increase reach
Simple promotions and ideas to encourage footfall
How to build customer loyalty and repeat business
Quick online improvements you can implement right away
Tools, templates, and content ideas to support you

Book now and get fresh ideas, useful tools, and a plan you can use straight away.

Earned Settlement: What employers need to know
2026-03-18 09:30 - 10:30
The UK Government has announced significant changes to the path to settlement for most international citizens. This will impact sponsored workers and also their sponsors, who now face an extension of sponsorship costs and compliance obligations for workers on a longer path to settlement.
Join Rebecca Engel-Morton and Catriona MacDonald to find out what we know so far and what steps sponsors and employers should take now.

A step-by-step guide to building your business plan
2026-03-18 10:00 - 12:00
New and established businesses will require a business plan for getting a loan, grant or just to consider the direction they wish to go in. This webinar will teach you what you need to include and how. We will walk you through what should be included within a business plan, how a business plan is used to improve your prospects for a loan or a grant, and how you can develop a business plan to meet your needs.
We will:

Provide a structure for a business plan
Review each section of what should be included within the business plan
Explain when and how to use a business plan
Explore the connections (and importance) between the words and the numbers
Look at how to identify and manage cashflow within the business planning process

Responding to Tender Policy Requirements - Power of Procurement
2026-03-18 13:30 - 15:00
Public sector procurement in Scotland is guided by several policy requirements that were put in place so that organisations, operations, and procurement exercises achieve specific, desirable outcomes. So, what does that mean for suppliers?
During this training, you will get an overview of the most common policy requirements including Sustainability, Community Benefits, Fair Work Practices, Community Wealth Building and Net Zero targets. These topics are extremely important to buyers; so much so that the public sector expects businesses of all sizes to demonstrate how they are meeting these policy requirements in tender documents.
Please note: Even though a buyer may not specifically ask suppliers to provide evidence of how the business is meeting policy requirements, it is still expected to be included within a bid.
Policies can be daunting, but help is at hand for Scottish SMEs, supported businesses and third sector organisations through the Supplier Development Programme.
Join this webinar to become ‘tender ready’ and find out how you can provide the most up-to-date policies on your bids. You will also get advice on how to record and evidence what your business is doing to meet these requirements. By successfully providing evidence on how you are implementing policy requirements, you can improve how high your bid scores go and also stand out from competitors to buyers.
You will learn:

How to put the theory of the public sector’s common policy requirements into practical terms.
What sustainability is, as well as examples of what sustainability could mean for your business.
What Community Benefits are, and ideas for and examples of Community Benefits you could implement into your business.
What Net Zero is and how you can work towards meeting your Net Zero targets.
What Fair Work First is, what it involves, and tools available to help you implement the five aspects of Fair Work into your business such as the Living Wage and other practical steps.
How to record and evidence these key common policies into your bids.

You won’t just come away from this training course with good ideas: you will learn how to turn those ideas into a workable plan of action your business can use to get ‘tender ready’ for your next bid.
At the end of the session, there will be an interactive Q&A session where you will have the opportunity to ask SDP’s expert trainers any questions you may have and hear what other SME businesses in Scotland are asking, too.
This event is suitable for Level 2 (Intermediate), for businesses which understand bidding concepts but need to develop and refine specific knowledge and skills.

Future-Proofing Your Business: Next Steps and Practical Tools
2026-03-18 14:00 - 15:00
Final webinar in the megatrends series brings together the key themes from across the programme & focuses on what your business can do next.

This final session will concentrate on practical tools and techniques that you can use to anticipate future change, test strategic options and respond with confidence in an uncertain environment.
It will also feature the ACS Group’s business growth journey, exploring how they have proactively responded to emerging trends and opportunities in their market.
This free session will:

Introduce practical futures tools and techniques used by leading organisations
Help you turn insight into action
Explore real world examples of transformative change
Support longer-term strategic thinking and resilience

The webinar will be introduced by Ewan Mearns of Scottish Enterprise.
The webinar will be led by Alister Wilson of Waverley Management Consultants and author of the UK Government’s Futures toolkit. Alister will discuss practical approaches to futures thinking.
This session is ideal if you’re looking to prepare your organisation for future change, including:

Those responsible for strategy, innovation or long-term planning
Anyone looking for practical ways to prepare their organisation for future change

Social media essentials: Facebook
2026-03-18 14:00 - 16:00
Get to grips with Facebook – the world’s most popular social networking platform.
In this webinar you will:

Learn how to get the most out of Facebook and how it could fit into your business’s digital marketing strategy
Better understand the algorithm behind Facebook, and how to create great content that achieves a bigger reach and impact
Learn from the stats and data you can get from the system and discover who your most interested customers/clients are
Understand the power of Facebook advertising, and other selling options available to you
Discover other business opportunities presented by Facebook, including how to promote and sell products and services
Be introduced to ‘Business Suite’ – a free Facebook dashboard to manage all your business activity

How to write funding applications
2026-03-19 10:30 - 12:30
Securing funding can be a game-changer — but writing a strong application takes more than just filling out forms.
This webinar will offer tools and insights to help improve your chances of a successful application, including:

Clarifying and communicating your funding need
Building a persuasive business case with clear objectives and costings
Understanding your funder’s priorities and tailoring your language
Presenting evidence that demonstrates impact and credibility
Avoiding common mistakes that lead to rejection
Structuring your application for clarity and relevance

Market Research Made Simple
2026-03-19 18:00 - 19:30
Are you feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start you’re your market research? Not sure how to stand out in a competitive market?
Market research doesn’t need to be complicated. This workshop will give you the tools, structure and confidence to understand your target market, analyse competitors and spot real opportunities so you can make smarter business decisions and grow with clarity.
You will learn:

What market research is and why it matters
The difference between primary and secondary research
How to clearly profile your target customer
How to analyse competitors meaningfully
How to identify trends, gaps and opportunities
How to turn research into practical business decisions

Book your place now and leave knowing exactly how to gather useful insights and turn them into confident next steps.

How to improve your Google search rankings - Part 2: Off page optimisation & technical considerations
2026-03-24 10:00 - 12:00
Join us as we take a further, more detailed look at how the Google search engines indexes and ranks websites based on a number of external (off-page) and technical factors. Implementing this learning will increase your chances of customers discovering your business through Google – the world’s leading research tool.
We will cover:

How to block or control what websites are allowed to ‘index’
The importance of a fast loading mobile website
How security and usability influence Google
What “off-page” optimisation means, and tactics to generate back-links
The importance of Local SEO, and why a “Google Business Profile” is vital

Scope Busting: Getting to Grips with Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions
2026-03-24 11:00 - 12:00
Confused about what we mean when we discuss scopes 1, 2 and 3? Join this webinar to find out how to reduce your carbon.
This Scottish Business Climate Collaboration Webinar will introduce the concept of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and outline the differences between the scopes.
This is aimed at organisations who are starting to look at their carbon reporting and want an introduction to the different types of emissions that contribute to an organisation’s carbon footprint.
Join this session to find out:

What we mean by scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
What the difference is between the three scopes
How your organisation can start thinking about reducing and reporting your own carbon emissions and how reporting works across a supply chain.

Embedding public partnerships in MRC funding applications
2026-03-24 14:00 - 15:00
Medical Research Council (MRC) is encouraging its research community to consider how public partnerships can inform and improve research and be of mutual benefit.
By public partnerships we mean all the different ways that people and the research community can come together to shape and share scientific research.
Agenda:

why public partnerships matter
the difference public partners can make
when and how to include public partnerships: including considering opportunities throughout the research cycle and guidance on integrating public partnerships into research applications
questions to the panel

When registering for the webinar you can submit advance questions for the panel and you can use the question and answer functionality at the webinar.

How to start a business: The basics
2026-03-24 18:00 - 20:00
Whatever your reasons may be for considering being your own boss, we are here to support you and help you decide if this is the right path for you.
We will cover:

Personal finance
Planning – how much do you need to earn?
Researching your market – who your customers are, understanding your competition and what the trends are within your chosen field
Business structure – what are the core business structures? How to decide which is right for you and how to register as a business
Creating your start-up action plan – an outline
Marketing
Pricing
Naming the business
Basic bookkeeping
Forecasting
Financing, banking, insurance, and VAT
Tax

Bookkeeping essentials
2026-03-25 10:00 - 12:00
At the end of this session, you will be able to:

Implement basic bookkeeping skills across your business
Create a profit and loss account
Understand what expenses can and cannot be claimed
Use financial management to increase revenues and profits
Understand capital and revenue costs and how they are treated

You will also receive a workbook on excel to help you manage and monitor costs and sales.

Understanding Your Role in Contract Management – Critical Success Factors
2026-03-26 13:30 - 15:00
So, you’ve been awarded onto a contract, now what?
You now need to manage the contract in partnership with the buyer to deliver on everything you promised in the bid. This training will explain how to successfully deliver on your contract, what to do if things go wrong, and how to win again when it is retendered.
Overview of what you will learn:

What is the Contract Management life cycle?
Critical success factors of maintaining a good relationship with the buyer.
How to make data driven decisions.
How to manage risk.
How to manage the change over the life of the contract.

At the end of the session, there will be an interactive Q&A session where you will have the opportunity to ask any burning questions you may have. As well as have the chance to hear what other SME businesses in Scotland have to say.
This event is suitable for Level 3 (Advanced) if you have a very good understanding of public sector procurement (completed Level 1 and 2 or have equivalent experience) & you have bid for a public sector contract on more than one occasion.

Understanding Package Travel Regulations and recent updates
2026-03-26 14:00 - 15:00
This extended webinar, will provide an introduction to the Package Travel Regulations and the latest government updates.
We’ll take time to explore the changes and consider practical implications.
We’ll also be joined by guest experts in package travel regulations, who will share insights and guidance to help you plan your next steps.

Social media essentials: LinkedIn
2026-03-27 10:00 - 12:00
No longer just an online CV, LinkedIn can be an incredibly powerful – and profitable – business tool.
During this webinar, you will:

Learn how to create a LinkedIn strategy to boost your business reputation via marketing and brand promotion initiatives
Learn the difference between personal and company profiles and how to optimise them for both maximum visibility and brand awareness
Understand that content is king on LinkedIn, and we’ll show you how to plan and produce captivating content that enriches your brand

An introduction to business websites
2026-03-30 14:00 - 16:00
This webinar will take you through all the steps required to design, build and host a business website. You will learn about:

The need to determine website objectives
The importance of knowing who your audience is and measuring results
Setting clear calls to action and creating engaging content
Creating your brand’s visual identity online, your site’s blueprint and how you can structure your site map
What’s involved in registering your domain, maintaining your site content, and options for hosting it

This webinar will also offer guidance on when and how to outsource your website development, covering topics such as choosing a suitable content management system, what to organise first and costing for the work.

Adding a Wellness Experience to your Enterprise
2026-03-31 10:00 - 16:00 | Bengairn Country Lodges, Castle Douglas, DG7 1QN
Adding value to your business by introducing a wellness experience.
This meeting will focus on different wellness options, upselling wellness products and services to the existing customer base and standing out in the marketplace.
Our host is Fiona Wallace from Bengairn Lodges, who is looking at developing wellness experiences instead of adding on more accommodation.
Jo McNichol from Drift will join us to talk about her Sauna.

Expanding to sell into the wider UK market
2026-03-31 13:30 - 15:00
Do you want to grow your business by exploring new public sector markets?
Wider opportunities are not always as easy to find, so you need to commit time and resources into investigating them. Businesses may be surprised to learn that the procurement rules in Scotland and the rest of the UK are currently largely the same. So how can businesses based within Scotland find and win public sector contracts within the rest of the UK.
At this training one of SDP’s expert trainers will show you where to find opportunities in new public sector markets, including searching the Find-a-Tender Service portal.
Advances in technology is making it easier for businesses of all sizes to work in other locations, our trainer will give an overview of what considerations your business needs to take into account before you start to expand.
Overview of what you will learn:

How to find new opportunities in the rest of the UK.
How to set up a business development strategy.
What considerations your business need to think about when working further a field
How to adapt to new opportunities
Common mistakes businesses make and how to avoid them

At the end of the session, there will be an interactive Q&A session where you will have the opportunity to ask the questions you have and how to navigate expansion of your business through public sector contracts.
This event is suitable for Level 3 (Advanced) if you have a very good understanding of public sector procurement (completed Level 1 and 2 or have equivalent experience) & you have bid for a public sector contract on more than one occasion.
