The Pitch 2009 judge profile: Nicola Fleet-Milne, Fleet-Milne Residential

Running your own business for just five years would not traditionally qualify any entrepreneur as a business expert, but the success and recognition Nicola Fleet-Milne has accumulated in this time has set her apart. One of the hottest, up and coming business stars in Birmingham, she has agreed to sit on the judging panel for her local heat of The Pitch 2009.

In 2004, dissatisfied with the operation of the residential lettings department in the company she was working for, Fleet-Milne decided to strike out on her own. She had already established a reputation among her existing clients as a reliable, trustworthy operator, and wasted little time in establishing herself as a major player in and around Birmingham.

"Where I was working, my department was billing far more than some of the company’s other divisions, yet wasn’t being considered seriously," she says. "When you enjoy doing your job, you want to be taken seriously; so I decided to set up on my own."

With a sound understanding of her market, but little knowledge of how to run a business day-to-day, she admits that the initial phase was a steep learning curve. "For me it was accounting," she says. "When you first start up, you don’t want to pay for stuff if you can get away with it, and I thought to myself, ‘how hard can it be?’" In fact, it was pretty hard.

"I learned that sometimes, by not paying for decent advice at the beginning, you can end up paying out a fortune later in correcting things," she explains. "The nature of my business means you can’t wing it; you can’t do it wrong."

However, that didn’t stop the fledgling company, Fleet-Milne Residential, completely blasting past its projected first year income by over 200%. "I think I was lucky as the market was incredibly busy at the time," she says. "But I’d like to think that judgement came into play with the people I employed and the way I dealt with my clients and my tenants."

People buy into people

From day one, the business has benefitted from extremely good word of mouth recommendations. "Even before setting up on my own I recognised that people buy in to people," she says. "That’s one of the reasons I took so many of my clients with me when I moved. People knew me and knew the way I dealt with them made them feel important, and that with me the job is always done and done correctly."

Five years later, the recipient of multiple awards for her business performance, Fleet-Milne is looking forward to assisting other entrepreneurs as they try to turn their ideas into viable businesses. She’s confident in her ability to spot an idea’s potential through simple gut instinct. She’ll be looking for people with a credible, well thought out business proposal.

"There’s a big difference between a good idea and good execution," she says. "And an idea can be good, but if it won’t make any money, then it’s not viable as a business and no one will invest."

However, the strength of the idea is only half the battle for entrants attempting to win over this judge. The competitive Birmingham go-getter is on the lookout for the X-factor, a dose of charisma that will enable entrants to sell their product to consumers and investors alike. It’s a quality she feels is incredibly important in today’s business world.

"There was a time when you could be making something, and you never actually had to see your clients," she explains. "They wouldn’t care who worked at the company, what the company ethos was, they didn’t care about CSR, nothing was important apart from the product.

"But now with the generation of people brought up with computers and instant communication, there is a greater emphasis on people buying into not only the product, but also the people involved."

In order for contestants to demonstrate the viability of their idea, she says, they’re going to have to demonstrate their sales side. They’ve almost got to imagine that with their pitch, they’re not only explaining what they do and why they’re great, but that they’re talking to potential customers, Fleet-Milne adds.

"You must have seen Dragons' Den, and you think, 'did your parents not even tell you to wear a nice suit?'" she says. "It will shine through immediately if someone has the kind of outgoing personality, and can clearly demonstrate from speech alone.

"Not only is my product brilliant, but I will shout from the rooftops that it’s brilliant and this is why," she adds. "It’s no good mumbling into your crisps."

Nicola Fleet-Milne is a judge at the Birmingham heat of The Pitch 2009. Birmingham joins Bristol, Manchester, London and Glasgow as the five cities in which entrepreneurs will pitch their business to panels of successful entrepreneurs for the chance to win business support prizes worth £50,000. For more details and to take part, visit the official website