anderson bak

Great rates of pay for anyone who’s a class 1 HGV driver.

There’s pretty much continuous work, so expect to earn some good money, working for reputable companies who offer more than instructions.

If you are able to and genuinely looking for HGV work, then we would love to hear from you.

So call us today on 0116 2511600 or 07535 693385 and speak to Gary, Harry or Taj.

What is the X factor? Just a talent show? No.

A chance for someone from the general public to ‘make it big’.

Simon Cowell’s ego massage? Maybe

A money making exercise, using a talent show as a form of marketing to make people ring a phone number that generates large profits for the programme makers? MMMmmmm, sounds closer to the truth.

But if X Factor is a marketing show that markets phone lines, why do we put up with it. Why do so many people watch and vote? It’s amazing, But the glitz and glamour, the enormous PR that appears in the press and TV, generated of course by the programme makers, encourage the culture to see X Factor as news, as entertainment, as something to talk about on Monday at work/school.

I’ve always preferred direct marketing, that is what it is. But just like X factor, all marketing relies on something shiny to keep the prospects attention, the sugar lump to help the medicine go down. In telemarketing, your voice is obviously important. You can’t discuss a product or pitch whilst sounding bored and lifeless, and still expect people to want to talk to you.  I’ve working in telemarketing for over 20 years, and all the best exponents were brilliant at balancing the sugar lump/medicine equation.

Every call is an audition, every time someone here’s what you have to say, you need to make the right impression. Every time you write an email that supports your call, you need to get it right. We all know the clichés in sales, and the most important is “you don’t get a 2nd chance to make a good first impression“. But the reality is that this just doesn’t apply to the first time you speak to someone, it will be re-applied each subsequent time you speak to a prospective client.

Making calls isn’t for everyone, but if you are going to make telemarketing calls, it’s important to get it right. Not just for the sale, but for your brand.

There’s no point thinking like a spider, setting up your business and waiting for clients to fly through your doors.

That only works for insects. Make yourself known, find your target and approach them. I can guarantee you that your competition is already doing exactly that.

So how to approach them is the question.

Try telemarketing, supported by letters and emails. But only send letters and emails once you’ve spoken to someone.

Make sure your website is up-to-date. A company without a website is like a country without a flag. People like to see it and it reassures them of your brand.

No mthod is perfect - leters get lost, emails  can be filtered into spam folders and telemarketing can be tiring if you’re not getting what you want. That doesn’t mean you should stop.

Making your business grow is not always easy. New business does not always beat a path to you door. However, if you maintain a constant and consistent marketing presence you will always have new clients pending or ’signing up’ to buy your products and services.

Years ago, I used to attend network meetings. You know the sort, start at 6.30am, mingle, eat some badly cooked eggs and deliver the minute summary of your business and the referrals you’re looking for. I made some good friends, and indeed won a degree of business. However, it was very time consuming - as I took it seriously and prepared my minute the day before. I also ended up writing other businesses ‘minutes’ for them.  As a telemarketing business in Leicester I should be able to talk eloquently for a minute on any subject (well it’s certainly the perceived truth of the situation). I actually enjoyed that side of the networking, and maintaining a weekly presence was better than attending sporadically. However, I gave up networking for two reason,

1. It was just too time consuming (preparing, writing and following up apparent referrals)

2. I don’t like badly cooked eggs.

I market my business these days through email, telemarketing, referral, google, web listings, blogging, and thinking big.

So whatever your business, whatever you feel about the current economic climate, it is vital that you consistently market your business. Personally, I always advise using direct marketing as it gives a better more measurable return.

Any intelligence surrounding marketing and telemarketing can only be a good thing.

Follow the link and read a nice article about telemarketing when ringing ‘cold‘ leads.

My own personal approach avoids ideas of cold calling, and it is paramount to do everything in your power to limit how much buck-shot you fire. You should be much more of a sniper in your marketing.

Enjoy

Whilst walking the dog and my children, me and my wife noticed a lovely apple tree, then another then another. We were already planning on making a nice chutney with the ridiculously sized courgettes we’d still got lying around from our allotment, and a big bunch of apples would be a great addition.

My children decided to ‘help’ with the gentle scrumping. However, their sites were set slightly too high. My oldest child who’s a 12 year old boy through and through was intent on climbing to the top of the tree as that was where he felt the biggest fruit was. It’s true that there were some very large apples at the top, but he missed what my youngest two (5 year olds) had discovered! They were busy picking fruit that was near them, low to the ground. Just as big and just as ripe but a lot easier to get to.

If you are a business owner, or a sales director/manager or simply work in sales ,why not look to see who represents your low hanging fruit? Who are you approaching that is time consuming, slightly out of reach and puts you in danger of a fall? Who could you be approaching that might respond quickly and favourably to what you have to offer. A good comic will often tell a selection of jokes at the start of their routine to get a feel for the audience, and then focus their jokes around the material that what was well received. They are going for the low hanging fruit, the easier laughs. Make it your business when selling what you do to approach those who will be won over easily. You might not sell at such a high price, but you’ll sell more often and make money constantly. Which will even out some of the lows in the wave form of profits.

How should you approach the lower hanging fruit? Well, direct marketing is an obvious route and will produce instant results that you can measure. Also worth spending some time investigating is using the internet to publicise the services you offer so that when someone is browsing what you do (when they don’t know who you are) then they will find you. Remember, Google likes good content. not a shopping list version of your business.

Talking Solutions is a marketing company helping their clients to market themselves through

• Direct marketing activity
• Internet Marketing
• Optimising your business, not just your website

Call them today and talk to a human being! 0871 9712559

It’s simple. ring up a selected number of businesses each day and discuss what your business can achieve for them. If you are relaxed, conversational (but with an eye on your objective) and behave respectfully, I guarantee you’ll double your client base with 6 months.

If that’s not a way to beat the recession then I don’t know what is!

You need to optimise your business, not just your website. There’s no point sitting waiting to be found, waiting for the phone to ring or waiting for your fairy godmother to appear. You have to make it haoppen, and that means activity. Telemarketing is the quickest, cheapest and easiest form of direct marketing to maintain.

We’re a telemarketing company in Leicester, and despite the current downturn in the economy, we are constantly winning new contracts. Three guesses how we do it?

Getting found for the right reasons is of course very important. Being found for a multitude of reasons is a ‘nice to have’ for some businesses, but an absolute must have for others. The least interesting reason to be found, or perhaps the least useful reason to be found if your company name.

If you try a few searches for my business then you’ll notice a few results. But only if you type in searches based around what we do, not who we are.

Try typing ‘telemarketing Leicester‘ into Google. You’ll see us in the Google Maps, you’ll see our website 4th down on the organic listings and also a multitude of Listings all connected to Talking Solutions as a telemarketing business.  That’s how I want to be found. Not for my name, not just for the term of Telemarketing, as you’ll see there’s just too many damned results, 17, 200,000 in fact!

On average I receive 4 good enquiries a week solely from these listings on the internet. So my internet marketing is clearly paying for itself. What are you doing to get yourself found, and occupying lots of space on page 1 of google. Try typing what you do into google, and also add the town you’re in. Count the results and see if you are visible on page 1 of google.  If so, great, but how many times? If not, then give us a call and we’ll put you there.

0871 971 2559

As unbelievable as it may seem Christmas is 128 days away. That’s not long. And judging by how fast the year has flown by so far it’s time to get organised.

How do you celebrate Christmas in your business? Does the boss flounce about dressed as Father Christmas bestowing season cheer on all they pass, or do they complain about the ‘wind-down’ and that ‘as soon as we put that bloody tree up everything stops’?

Does your business have a party? Is there a sense of relief or excitement about the Christmas party? Where is it held? Do you move a few tables, put on the Phil Spector Christmas Album (an excellent choice might I say) and drink Lanbrini until you forget you’re married, or maybe you prefer someone thing a little classier in a venue around town?

I’ve always found off-site parties are always more fun and less like ‘more work’ than just converting the main office. Also dancing in a grand ballroom has something special about it, and your staff will remember you for it. Of course, good  food is always worth the effort, and at Christmas, a menu that is as rewarding for the vegetarians as it is for the carnivores is much needed.

If I could recommend a venue, (often used for conferences in Leicester) then I would point you toward The City Rooms in Leicester City Centre. They are friendly, professional, understand every request you could make of them, and the chap I spoke to Kiran Parmar, couldn’t have been more helpful.

So as September hits us, the nights start drawing in, and Halloween is really just a big stupid pumpkin shaped  footnote to winter, you need to get organised. Think who deserves your custom, is there a conference facility nearby with a bit of character, that would suit your business and ethos? And do you really want the nightmare of cleaning out crisps from your filing cabinet for the next 11 months? And what about live music for a change. There’s plenty of good live music which adds a real zing to an evening.

If all else fails and you simply don’t know what to do, then have a word with Kiran at The City Rooms in Leicester, and I’m sure you’ll find a solution to your Christmas Party 2009. (And don’t forget to invite me!)

What would it mean to your business to have 2 more sales people identifying news sales opportunities each and every day? New clients, increased profile, a big juicy pipeline of future sales too.

If you use the internet wisely and effectively then this can be achieved. We do it all the time for companies who need to be found for more than just their own website. Some companies will charge you a fortune for this, and they will try to persuade you that your website needs rebuilding in order for seo (search engine optimisation) to have any real effect.

We have a method that doesn’t touch your website, and doesn’t have expensive coding and guess what, it costs less than £400. Within 6 weeks you will be all over the internet, with multiple listings on many pages including the first page of Google and Yahoo.

Some companies are scared of new business. They worry about delivery and letting people down. Well, when the going gets tough the tough rise to the challenge. You’re never going to expand unless at some point you bite off more than you can chew. Because it’s forces your hand, it stops you being over cautious and raises the bar from  a ‘hobby that pays OK’ to ‘business’.

If you would like marketing that works while you sleep then feel free to get in touch on 0871 9712559

Paul