GBS Consulting Blog

Do Small Businesses Make it Difficult for Customers to Buy ?

2011-10-22T14:18:00.005+01:00

When customers visit most large retails outlets - such as a supermarket, or clothes store, the buying process is remarkably simple and straightforward.

And the store owners help encourage the buying process in several ways :

* Helpful signs show buyers where to go to find the products they want
* Goods are displayed in a manner which makes viewing easy
* Additional information is provided, such as diertary guidance, and size information
* Clear pricing enables customers to choose the product which best suits their needs
* Access to customer service is available to deal with post-purchase queries.

The above applies whether the store is a physical one or an online store.

By contrast, I have found the buying experience at some small businesses quite different and often difficult - particularly with online shops.

Often it can be difficult to locate the products of interest - and the customer may have to hunt around to find them. It can often be difficult to find out the pricing for specific products and services. Either it's not available, or the business owner will advise that they need more information in order to provide a quotation.

And the process of making a purchase can be difficult too. In a recent case I encountered a business where I had to write and ask them about the process of placing an order for their services - because it wasn't on their site !

For business owners, its important to be aware, that any one of the above situations can be enough to deter a customer from buying from your business, and going elsewhere, and never coming back.

To avoid this situation I recommend you review your buying processes - whether you have a physical shop or a website - and test the customer enquiry, ordering, and support processes. Or better still get someone else not connected with your business to do it for you and give you some honest feedback.

Their feedback could mean the difference between you winning and losing future business.

For more business development tips, you can sign for for our free guide using the signup form on the right.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Have you Considered the Cost of Networking ?

2011-10-13T18:17:00.000+01:00

The theory behind modern-day networking is that you need to meet, like, know and trust someone (MLKT) before business can be done. If you consider a nominal charge rate of say £30 - 40 per hour for your time, then such a meeting would cost you around £120 - 160 + travel costs. That's the cost in unbilled time to your business for you to attend the networking meeting.

And interestingly, in a recent survey of salaried sales people, the cost of a sales meeting was found to be in the range £75 - £300 per meeting, so that stacks up with the earlier estimate. This is why people in these roles look to pre-qualify all sales meetings.

So is MLKT a necessary pre-requisite in your experience for business generation ?

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Tomorrow's Customers May be Different to Todays

2011-09-05T07:29:00.000+01:00

The customers you currently have (or are targetting) may be different to those you need in the future.

Over time your business will evolve, and change, and if successful grow - but your customer base will change too.

Their needs will change, their demographic may change, and even their locations may change.

So every business owner should bear in mind who tomorrow's customers will be and where they'll come from.

Particularly in changing economic times, this is an important factor to remember.

Is it in your business development plans ?

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Email Marketing Works - if Used Properly

2011-08-30T07:48:00.002+01:00

I recently cancelled my car insurance policy with a well known insurance provider.

A year earlier I had written to advise them that their double-digit hefty premium increase was unjustified because of my history as a driver with a good record and no claims, since being insured by them. I warned them I would review future policy renewals.

Yet, one year later I still received a renewal notice with a further double-digit premium increase. It was clear they hadn't read or responded to my concerns. I did not renew the policy this time.

But still a week later, I received a marketing email telling me that my insurance policy would soon expire, and to renew if I wanted to continue to receive the great benefits!

Their email only served to further reinforce my belief that this supplier was disorganised and did not listen to their customers.

It reminded me that Email Marketing can be a valuable and cost-effective means to maintain customer contact - but not if you send out generic emails and don't take account of customer feedback.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Have you Prepared your Autumn Marketing Campaigns ?

2011-08-23T16:50:00.000+01:00

As the summer holidays draw to a close, and with schools about to re-open, it's a useful time to check that your business is geared up and ready for your autumn marketing campaigns.

It's quite common for customers to defer decisons during summer holiday periods, and hence this is a good time to make contact and make them aware of your product and service offers.

So what should you be getting ready ?

Marketing Considerations

Here is a simple checklist you can use :

What is the scope of your campaign - who do plan to target ?
Have you got uptodate contact data for potential new customers ?
Do you have tempting product/service offers to use in the campaign ?
What is the campaign timing - will it relate to specific events ?
What channels will be used to reach new customers, eg email marketing, telemarketing etc. ?
How can you raise maximum awareness, though additional publicity ?
Are you geared up and ready to take and fulfil new orders ?

This check list is not exhaustive, and may need fine tuning for your particular business. But it will help you to focus your thoughts and make key recisions to ensure you business marketing gets off to a flying start this Autumn.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Has Networking Replaced Traditional Sales & Marketing ?

2011-08-13T16:01:00.001+01:00

Over the last decade there has been a hugh growth in networks of all kinds.

Online networks like Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter have provided an easy way to connect with friends and colleagues, spurred by the greater availability of broadand internet and smartphones.

Offline networks, like Chambers of Commerce, BNI, and many others offer the opportunity to network over breakfast, lunch, or evening snacks, with like-minded business people eager to make similar contacts.

It has been argued that the availability of such networks means that traditional sales and marketing is no longer necessary - because now the customer has the tools to seek out the right suppliers to serve their needs. The customer will lead the contact-making process, whilst suppliers need only wait to be contacted, provided their information and details are widely available. True or false ?

What Business Networks Offer

The current generation of business networks are like modern-day learned societies and institiutes. They are places where business people can meet, chat, exchange viewpoints and ideas, meet suppliers, conduct research, and discuss current practices. They serve a useful and important role.

But they are not primarily involved in business generation. That is an activity left to individual members to conduct themselves, in their own preferred way. Yes, a network may sometimes generate a referral for its members, but to rely soley on that route for business generation would be very risky.

Sales & Marketing is still Key

Networking offers business owners a useful toolkit to support their business, but it doesn't replace the need for business owners to have and operate their own Business Development processes, selecting from the myraid of marketing, sales, and customer service techniques, just the right ones to ensure their business survival and future growth. This is particularly important in the present Low Growth economy, where the fight for sales becomes ever more competitive.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

How useful do you find attending Business Exhibitions ?

2011-06-05T10:53:00.003+01:00

I ran a poll recently on the above subject a couple of weeks ago, amongst small business owners. They were located on Linkedin and on a Facebook Business Group.

I've summarised the results I got below.

Some 30 - 50% of respondents find them useful, and pick up one or two useful ideas or product / service suggestions. More so on Linkedin

Few respondents found them completely unspiring.

Linkedin users do recommend using them for business development - less so here in the Facebook group. But in the Facebook group there was a significant number – some 60% - who just don't attend these type of events - unless there's a specific person or seminar they wish to see.

Overall I didn't get a strong feeling that Business Exhibitions were rated as a 'must-do' activity - there weren't comments or feedback saying how successful people had found them.

I attended three business exhibitions in May - a national event, a local regional event, and a local networking event (at which I also exhibited). In this case the most useful was the local regional event - because I made a good contact who has since become a contributor to a business news magazine I edit. But it could be different next time.

At one time the majority of business to business exhibitions were mostly trade shows, where people in the same industry sector got together and updated themselves on the latest developments, and made new contacts. These ofocurse still go on, but more recently there's also a lot more general business exhibition events, and in this area its more difficult to measure ROI because the participants come from such diverse fields. It is something exhibitors need to focus on if they want them to succeed in the longer term.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

How good is your Customer Database ?

2011-06-01T08:12:00.000+01:00

One of the first things anyone discovers when starting up in business is that you begin to quickly acquire lots of information, both about the business activity in which you are involved, and also contact details of potential customers, suppliers, and other useful contacts.

These latter contacts can be used as the foundation of your business Customer Database, which becomes the means by which you generate both new sales opportunities and repeat business.

Unfortunately, in the early days of my own business, I soon found I ended up with piles of other people's business cards, which just gathered dust on a shelf and were little used afterwards. It's easy to accumulate several hundred such cards very quickly.

I soon realised that I needed to store this information in a more accessible way.

There are several ways in which this can be done.

Contact Management

These include using a business card reader to scan the card details for storage on your PC or PDA, or entering the information directly into a contact database using applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Google, and Yahoo.

Once done you can then search for individuals by name and organisation, send emails, makes notes, reference websites and more. You can also make backup copies to protect your valuable database.

Marketing Management

Very soon new businesses will want to start marketing their products and services to potential customers. This includes sending out business information, brochures, and newsletters, online website registration, and tracking prospects and customers by sector, buying potential, and product interest.

These features are available using online Email Marketing tools, which can verify prospect registration. They also allow recipients to de-register if they no longer want to receive your communications - and this is a requirement under current EU privacy legislation.

As well as sending out information, these tools can also track the numbers of emails which were opened, bounced, and unopened - and provide useful follow-up reports.Such systems can also be used to download data for use in physical Direct Mail campaigns, including letter writing, and bulk mailing.

Using these tools helps to make your communications more professional looking and easier to manage.

Customer Management

Once your business starts to make sales, its important to bear in mind the value in maintaining ongoing customer contact. This helps ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, increases the likelihood of generating additional sales, and retaining the customer for the longer term.

Tracking these contacts is provided by Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, which are now available both as standalone and online tools, and at a price within the reach of smaller and even startup businesses.

CRM tools are useful to a wide variety of businesses, and cover the whole range of business contacts - including sales, delivery, and support.

Sales leads can be tracked from initial opportunity, through quotation and bidding to won/lost.
Once a project or order has been won, the CRM system can track the project delivery, with timings and deadlines for the tasks involved.

And finally the CRM system can be used to deliver ongoing support, including logging and handing of customer service calls.

So whether your need is for basic contact storage, marketing management, or ongoing customer management, having a good Customer Database is a vital investment that every business owner should make.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

When Did you last Review your Business Development ?

2011-05-03T12:29:00.001+01:00

What approaches are you currently following ?

1. Are you spending enough time and effort on marketing and sales ?

2. Are you focussing on a niche market you already know well ?

3. Perhaps your looking for new opportunities ?

If you haven't taken the time recently to look at your Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service, then I recommend you do so. It's something worth doing periodically - certainly at least once or twice a year minumum.
Such a review, for example, could reveal forthcoming potential market and technological changes that could seriously impact your future business survival.
Don't leave your business future to chance - plan for it!
You can take advantage of our free initial Business Development Review, which is available from our office in London. Alternatively we can also conduct a review online.

From the review you'll receive a summary report, plus our suggestions for ways in which you can improve your business development.

Use the following contact form to reach us >> http://www.gbs-group.co.uk/contact.html

Or simply telephone 020 8758 2364

Regards

George Montgomery

Growing your Business in a Downturn

2011-04-28T13:26:00.008+01:00

If I was to say that economic growth in the UK could be low and flat for the next ten years, would you laugh at me or take me seriously ?

The UK economy having emerged from recession, has now entered a period of low economic growth. By that I mean a growth rate below 2% per annum.

Within the last month we have had a budget, and in that the Chancellor reduced his growth forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%, Whilst the European, OECD group forecast UK growth at just 1.5%.

So I believe its safe to say that economic growth is highly likely to be low or flat certainly over the coming year or two.

What steps can businesses take to grow amd develop against this background ?

Growth Steps Businesses Can Take

During this period, businesses will continue to startup and customers will make purchases. But how do you position your business to attract MORE than your fair share of business ?

How do you STAND OUT in a more competitive business world and yet do it cost-effectively ?

Across most businesses, there are three potential growth areas, and these can be viewed as follows :

1. Marketing - Finding more new prospects

Typical marketing campaign conversion rates are around 1 - 5%. So marketing becomes a numbers game - reaching out to enough prospects to generate enough new leads.

One way to improve your marketing efficiency is to adopt a proposition-led approach - defining clear packaged offerings, often at a fixed price, with clear deliverables.

This has several benefits :

    * Allows volume marketing
    * Re-use of marketing and sales literature
    * Better customer targetting
    * Allows services to be marketed like products

The objective of this approach, which is particularly useful for service businesses, is to maximize the reach and use of all marketing and sales resources across multiple customers.

2. Sales - Sell More to Existing Customers

Whilst business owners experience joy in closing a new sale, often the initial sale is the most expensive to achieve - because a brand new customer has to be acquired, and there are costs associated with reaching that point.

By contrast, making follow-on sales is often much easier, and less expensive, and thus offers a further business growth opportunity, provided the business has suitable add-on products and services that complement that of the earlier sale.

Other approaches that can also be used include discounts and special offers for existing customers.

Remember, closing a new sale isn't the end of the sales process - it's only the beginning.

3. Customer Service - Retain Customers for the Long Term

How often do businesses take a new order, and then forget about the customer ?

The focus of attention becomes one of delivering whatever has been purchased, but the management of the ongoing service relationship is just as important.

The biggest factors why customers stop being customers of your business is likely to be a combination of poor service, broken promises, or perceived indifference. Paying attention to these areas is doubly important in a low growth period

By retaining customers for the long term, businesses can build up an ongoing revenue stream that survives downturn periods.

The solution is to view Customer Service as part of Business Development.
Amongst the steps you can take are :

    * Achieving a high level of customer satisfaction
    * Maximize customer-chargeble revenue opportunities
    * Ask for testimonials and feedback
    * Consider outsourcing non-core activities (e.g admin)

In a low-growth economy the finding, development, and retention of customers becomes a key focus of the business, and doing this in the most cost-efficient manner. Taking some of the steps above may mean your business can actually grow and proposer, even in these tougher times.

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

GBS specialise in helping businesses to develop and improve their performance. We provide business development services cover Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support. Examples of the types of businesses we work with including, IT & Telecoms providers, Contract Cleaning, Maintenance Businesses, Training Providers, the Professions, and more.

Contact us today to arrange a FREE, no obligation, Business Review for your business. Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.gbs-group.co.uk

Beware of being Overtaken by Events

2011-03-11T09:31:00.002Z

I'm seeing a lot of business people now asking themselves searching questions about their business right now. The pressure of a tighter economic situation and more competition has forced this re-think.

But for some businesses, the truth is they've been ignoring the warning signals for some time. It wasn't just the effect of the downturn, but also being overtaken by a changing market and new products and services. They had either not seen this coming or chose to ignore it and suffered the consequences.

Beware of being overtaken by events - it could leave your businesses stranded, and ultimately doomed.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

In the future the way you do business will change

2011-02-05T12:49:00.000Z

I was listening to a phone in recently on the subject of healthy eating.

The phone-in host explained that people could enjoy much healthier meals at a lower cost if they just prepared all the meals themselves from basic ingredients - as people did 30 - 40 years ago.

Then a caller rang in and said you can't advise people what to do based on the experience of past generations - they live in a different world.

It's a simple statement but has powerful meaning.

Whilst generations may be influenced by what happened in the past - added to that is the influence of other things like changing family and social behaviours, media, and technology that weren't around in that earlier time. And it's the combination of the two factors that influence how people actually behave now.

The same applies to the ways in which people do business and interact with customers.
As a simple example, just look at the hugh growth in smartphone use now by younger people in the 20 - 30 ish age range. At present that use is mainly for social interactions and limited commercial use.

But in just a few years time those people will become serious buyers of all sorts of products and services - and they'll expect to be able to use those smartphones to buy them online, and get all the information they need to make a buying decision beforehand, because it suits their lifestyles then.

Will your business be able to respond to that need, or will you tell them sorry I can't do that.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group

Bidding for Public and Private Sector Contracts

2011-01-07T11:33:00.003Z

1. Introduction

Whilst traditional sales and marketing can be used to find new business opportunities, in certain cases suppliers must go through a formal tendering process. This applies to most public sector procurement, and also in larger private sector procurements.

The main sources tend to be referrals from existing clients and contacts, via advertisements from official journals or websites, and by your presence on preferred supplier lists.

Larger bidding opportunities are advertised in the EU Official Journal, whilst many public bodies now use the http://www.supply2.gov.uk website to advertise contract opportunities up to a maximum value of £100,000.

There are also many specialist sites - e.g http://www.competefor.co.uk advertises opportunities for supplying to the 2012 Olympics - and many of these ARE within the scope of small and medium businesses.

Registering and accessing the above sites to search for tendering opportunities is free.

Tendering for any contract requiries a commitment of time and resources by both clients and potential suppliers - and therefore incurs costs, and should only be undertaken with serious intent to win such business.

2. Pre-Qualification

In public procurements, client organisations make use of a Pre-Qualification process to determine first, which suppliers are eligible to bid for a given contract. This is achieved by specifying the supplier experience criteria and requesting all applicant suppliers to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ).

Suppliers should also take the opportunity to qualify opportunities, by assessing whether they really have the necessary skills, expertise and resources to bid for a given contract, and whether they can profitably win and deliver such business.

3. Tender Production

Suppliers who successfully meet the qualification threshold will then be invited to submit a tender (or bid) for the supply of the required goods, services or works. Each submitted tender is then evaluated against pre-defined criteria, and the supplier who best meets the criteria will normally be awarded the contract.

Has you business successfully used formal tendering as means to gain new orders, or is it something you would consider doing ?

George Montgomery
Business Development Consultant

George runs Bid4Success and can assist businesses with identifying and qualifying bidding opportunities, preparing the qualification documentation - including responding to Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQ), and writing Tender Responses.

Visit to The Business Startup Show, Earls Court London

2010-11-30T20:40:00.002Z

I decided to brave the snowy weather today and visit the annual Business Startup Show taking place on 30 Nov and 1 Dec at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London.

This is a great free event, both for people considering starting businesses and for those who have taken the plunge already. There are a large number of free seminars available, including some from well know personalities - like Rachael Elnaugh, and Richard Farleigh, both ex-Dragons Den, and David Gold, current co-owner of West Ham Football Club. There's also the Midas Touch, a panel event, where entrepreneurs get five minutes to pitch their idea to potential mentors and investors - I found this a really interesting session.

In addition there are a large number of exhibitors offering services that startup businesses are likely to require - including legal advice, accountancy, mentoring, web design, networking, software, office products and many others.

Missing are any ready-made business opportunities that entrepreneurs can buy into - so if you want new business ideas, you'll need to go to the Franchise Show.

The atmosphere at the show is generally friendly and informal, without much in the way of hard sell. It's certainly worth spending a couple of hours there and I lingered longer than that.

The Business Startup Show continues from 10am to 5pm Wednesday, 1 December.

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Marketing is Part Innovation and Part Habit

2010-09-20T08:54:00.003+01:00

Innovation are the new ideas and approaches that you offer customers to make your product or service attractive over other alternatives that are available.

It could be the features of the product, or the convenience of delivery, or price, or after-sales support. These are just some examples.

Habit is about regularly telling customers about your great product or service - its about getting your message out regularly, so that customers begin to think of you when they have a need.

Successful marketing is about combining these two important facets of business development.

If you are considering new marketing initatives take advantage of our FREE Marketing Advice Clinics to decide on the best way to develop and grow your business. Our next review sessions take place on 28th September in London.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group: Provides Marketing, Sales, and Customer Services solutions and consultancy to a wide range of service sector businesses. To find out more visit www.sellservices.co.uk

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What to Consider when Marketing your Business

2010-09-02T10:47:00.003+01:00

Every business should review their marketing from time to time to ensure you gain maximum benefit from the time and money you invest in marketing your business.

Important questions to ask about your marketing are :

· To which customer market(s) does my business offer appeal ?
· Can I regularly reach a sufficient number of these potential customers ?
· Am I keeping track of marketing efforts to new and existing customers ?

Your marketing will be most effective if it is constant and undertaken regularly – and not just because you lack new orders.

Ideally it should contain both raising of your business profile e.g by advertising and PR, and targeted marketing to your chosen customer base.

If you are considering new marketing initatives take advantage of our FREE Marketing Review offer to decide on the best way to develop and grow your business. Our next review sessions take place on 14th September in London.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group: Provides Marketing, Sales, and Customer Services solutions and consultancy to a wide range of service sector businesses. To find out more visit www.sellservices.co.uk

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Getting the Best from Email Marketing

2010-08-31T09:37:00.001+01:00

If you are contacting new potential customers for the first time, then your objective should be to create interest by offering something useful to readers - examples could include business tips, awareness of recent legislation changes, latest industry news, DIY advice and so on. It should be relevant and of real value to the reader. Just sending sales offers is highly likely to turn off potential readers and prospects.

Generally. you are not normally making a direct sales offer - but you can invite readers to contact you, or visit your website, for further information.

For regular comunications to existing contacts and customers - e.g a regular email newsletter, you should continue to provide useful and valuable information. In addition you can also send sales offers, either as part of the newsletter, or in separate emails.

Find out more about Email Marketing by signing up for our free
Email eCourse

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group: Provides Marketing, Sales, and Customer Services solutions and consultancy to a wide range of service sector businesses. To find out more visit www.sellservices.co.uk

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The Uses and Benefits of Email Marketing

2010-08-30T09:27:00.001+01:00

There are numerous uses for Email Marketing. The following are just some illustrative examples:

* Promotion of new product offerings
* Brochure registration and distribution service
* Sending out service updates and changes
* Automated distribution of periodic training courses
* Distribution of Newsletters

The emphasis is very much on marketing, and usually does not extend into selling. However recipients can be directed in the email towards an online site where they could then purchase goods and services, if they wish.

One of the main benefits of using Email Marketing is that it provides the ability to make contact with many target customers (perhaps hundreds or thousands) in a more cost-effective, and less intrusive way, than using traditional methods such as sales rep visits and telephone calls.

Find out more about Email Marketing by signing up for our free
Email eCourse

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group: Provides Marketing, Sales, and Customer Services solutions and consultancy to a wide range of service sector businesses. To find out more visit www.sellservices.co.uk

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Three Step Guide to Email Marketing

2010-08-25T18:43:00.002+01:00

As the use of paper mail has declined, email has grown to be the dominant means of written inter-personal communications both at work and for personal use.

But alongside that it also offers a wide range of other uses to business, not-for-profit, charities, and government organisations - through structured email marketing.

That can include applications such as newsletter distribution, charity appeals, club membership subscriptions, training course distribution, local roadworks updates, and more.

And with the widespread growth in the use of smart phones and handheld devices - use of email marketing is set to increase.

For an introduction to using email marketing try my free Email Marketing eCourse

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group: Provides Marketing, Sales, and Customer Services solutions and consultancy to a wide range of service sector businesses. To find out more visit www.sellservices.co.uk

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Does your Business Track Sales Prospects ?

2010-08-14T19:10:00.002+01:00

The most valuable resource that any business has is its list of contacts, prospect list, customer database, or whichever is your preferred descriptive term.

Without that information, a business is just like a new business with no historical customer data from which to grow sales.

The information to build such a database can come from a variety of sources – such as networking events, direct mailings, email marketing,commercial marketing data, newsletters, exhibitions, presentations, training events, referrals, surveys, and not forgetting existing customers.

Keeping such information in an easily accessible place – like your office network need not be difficult.

As a minimum, the information to store should include :

Contact Name
Business Name
Telephone Numbers
Email and Website Address
Business Type and Activity
Location / Address
Contact Notes

Beyond that other information may be added, such as quotations given, sales history, and customer service history.

One this system is in place, the business can then start to produce valuable management reports – that can be used to plan and direct ongoing marketing and sales campaigns, and monitor their success. It also provides a useful tool for business directors and partners to review regularly to ensure the business is meeting its sales objectives and not going off course.

George Montgomery

GBS Group: Provides Marketing, Sales, and Customer Services solutions and consultancy to a wide range of service sector businesses. To find out more visit www.sellservices.co.uk

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Lively Turn out at London Business Growth Show

2010-08-06T09:06:00.003+01:00

With a great mix of exhibition, free seminars, and speed networking, it was a combination that kept both exhibitors and visitors intersted and provided a lively buzz throughout the event, which ran from 9am to 3pm.

Some 250 visitors came along with a cross section of business interests, with some 24 exhibitors, covering , Business Networking, IT Technology Services, Sales Coaching, Marketing, Telecoms, Business Advice, Photography, Printing, Entertainment, Office Services, Promotional Products, Recruitment, and Video Production.

The venue, provided by the Business Environment Group, was centrally located in Fleet Street London and was spacious allowing room for people to see the exhibitions, and network over refreshments.

From the Your London Business stand, there were certainly lots of networking taking place, and several people I met had run out of business cards later in the day.

I know some people can find these events quite frantic, but it's certainly a great opportunity to make lots of contacts and find out what other businesses are doing and thinking about doing.

The organisers, The Business Growth Show team, certainly put on a good show, and I'm sure many visitors and exhibitors will return again for the next event in November.

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Boost your Business - Take a Holiday

2010-07-15T12:37:00.001+01:00

Having just returned from a weeks holiday (long overdue), I have been surprised and amazed at the benefits.

I'm getting much more work done for a start, my energy levels are definately up, and I'm thinking bigger.

All that just by taking a week's holiday - how come ?

Well it was the same after my last holiday (more than a year ago) - though I've only since remembered that benefit.

I'm not a doctor or psychologist, so I can't provide a sciientific explanation. But I feel it's simply the hugh benefit that comes from putting your business to one side for a time and doing something else.

But to gain the maximum benefit I've found you need to :

- Get away from your usual home, even if it's only a short distance away
- Try to do something that you wouldn't normally do, perhaps a sporting activity, camping etc.
- And don't be tempted to take business calls, check you email, twitter etc.

That really works for me.

Funnily when I was in full-time employment, I used to come back from holiday and need a rest. Now I'm self-employed, I feel re-energised.

So next time your wondering whether to take a holiday - perhaps ask, can you afford not to - I will !

What holiday recipe works for you ?

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Your are in Business until you are out of Business

2010-06-25T09:30:00.001+01:00

I know that's sort of obvious, but the thought came to me recently when I was reviewing my services.

What I was getting at was that if your business sells widgets, then you need to keep selling (or attempting to sell) widgets until you've got something better / cheaper / sexier etc to sell. In fact you may need to keep supporting those widgets even after you've stopped selling them.

Because if you only sell widgets, and you stop selling them, then your business stops at that point.

So when your choosing products to sell, it's worth asking yourself - 'are you prepared to keep selling these whatever happens ?'

Can you easily extend and refresh your product and service range to attract and retain new customers ?

What do others think ?

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Do you encourage customers to buy with Special Offers ?

2010-06-23T12:05:00.003+01:00

We've all seen in the retail trade the widespread use of special offers. Examples include Discounts, Time Limited Offers, Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) or Half-Price, and even Free Offers.

Such sales incentives can also be used by Service Businesses too, and are particularly useful to generate interest when new services are launched, and it provides the opportunity to remind existing customers about what you do.

It's not something you need to use everyday or week - but it can be a valuable part of your business development portfolio.

What incentive offers have worked for you ?

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Your London Business Networking - now on LinkedIN

2010-06-12T14:40:00.003+01:00

Your London Business (YLB) is an active business network serving people who are based in, or trade with the Greater London area. It exists to promote active direct networking between members - both online and face to face, where appropriate.

It's the local network for all London businesses - and as that means it serves a group of over 300,000 businesses in London alone, it's a substantial number indeed.

Our main network is located at www.yourlondonbusiness.co.uk, and as well as networking, provides a wide range of useful business information and resources.

In addition there is now a YLB group on the LinkedIN business network, enabling members to connect and network there.

LinkedIn members can join us at Your London Business on LinkedIN.

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Book Review: Rich Dad Poor Dad - The Cashflow Quadrant

2010-06-09T10:15:00.009+01:00

I first read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad - the Cashflow Quadrant by Robert T Kiyosaki and Sharon L Lechter a couple of years ago. I found it a great book for any budding entrepreneur, and have often re-read sections several times since then.

Rich Dad Poor Dad are a series of books by the same authors, of which the first was just called Rich Dad Poor Dad. Other titles in the series include Rich Dad's Guide to Investing and Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid. The underlying title Rich Dad Poor Dad is used to recount the different advice he received about how he should best develop his career from both his own father (the Poor Dad) and his friend's father (the Rich Dad).

The Cashflow Quadrant is the subject of our review and is based on the view that how we earn our incomes will determine where we reside in the Cashflow Quadrant shown in the diagram below.

This at first sight may seem like the flag of some obscure country - but it's not. The four letters stand for :

E - the employee (working for someone else)

S - the self-employed person (being your own boss and
selling your own skills)

B - the business owner (harnessing the skills of others to
make a viable business)

I - the investor (making money work for you)

The book is about the four different types of people you'll encounter in the world of business, and it helps you plan a course for your route to financial freedom. Kiyosaki explains at the beginning that the book is for those people that work on the E and S side of the quadrant (the left-side), and want to move their earning capacity to the B and I side of the quadrant (the right-side). The advice and the journey he proposes is not a route to an easy life but to greater financial independence and rewards.

Ofcourse many people have successful and high-earning careers and remain as Employees (his own father being one such example). So the advice given in this book does not apply to everyone. But it is still a useful way to reflect on the differing personal career choices that each of us can and do have to make in our lives.

The book divides into three parts :

Part 1 - is an analysis of the core differences between people and their attitudes to making money. Your relationship with money does influence the directions that your career will take, and how you see the world of work and business. But the analysis goes deeper than money and looks at the the differing fears and motivations that influence people in different sectors.

In attempting to become Entrepreneurs, people will often follow different paths. Many will take the E -> S route (becoming self-employed), others E -> B (starting a business), and yet others will attempt S -> B (from self-employed to business owner) at a later date. But not all these changes are successful because the individuals may lack the different skills that are needed. However as many as nine out of ten start up businesses fail within the first five years of startup - most often due to either lack of experience or capital, or later lack of energy by the entrepreneur due to taking on too many tasks, particularly for single-owner S-type businesses.

Kiyosaki's key recommendations to reduce failure risk is to invest in a proven business system - either one that you have developed yourself or one developed by others that has been proven in the market. He cites franchises as one route where this can be achieved.

Part 1 ends with his frightening observation that the average American is less than three paychecks away from bankruptcy - and I'm sure that could equally apply to people in many other developed economies today.

Part 2 - In this part he explains the battle that takes place in the mind of the Entrepreneur - between the passion for his or her idea and the fear of failure, of loss of money, and access to all that our society offers - if you can pay. His recommendation is - build a system around your passion. This will become your template for moving your frame of action from the left to the right side of the quadrant. How in practice you actually achieve that transition is less clearly explained in the book. As in life generally it's the doing part that always poses the biggest challenge.

His other major piece of advice is to become the bank and not the banker, by which he means that through property investment and charging loan interest on your own investments you can become a provider of credit (which is therefore an asset to you) rather than a user of credit (which is an asset to your bank). The examples he uses are based in the USA and may not be applicable in the same way in other countries and business cultures.

Part 3 - The final part of the book deals with becoming a successful Business Entrepreneur (B) and Investor (I) - a bit like those panel members on Dragons Den, perhaps !

The core of this approach is to move your earning capacity away from job-based earned income from which taxes and expenses are paid to an asset-based one, which delivers dividends, capital gains, and residual income. Yes, I heard you say - but how !

He recommends first gaining control of your own personal cashflow - by moving to reduce and finally eliminate interest you are paying to the bank through credit card loans and overdraft payments. Next begin to plan your own fast track - an area in business that solves a problem others have and in which you can become an expert and offer that expertise to others - for a charge. He also advises not trying to do it all yourself - but to seek out the help of real mentors who can advise you and share their experiences - someone who has been there and done it before. Be prepared for some disappointments - and be kind to yourself.

And he ends the book with his parting advice - Take Action !

The book is published by Time Warner Books, and retails for around £8 ($12) in paperback. It's available both online and in business book stores. I can certainly recommend it as a good read - even on your summer holidays if your keen enough.

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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UK Entrepreneur Network - May Group News

2010-05-29T09:00:00.009+01:00

As you look forward to the May Bank Holiday, here’s a quick update on the Group.

You'll need to be logged in to LinkedIn for the links below to work.

1. Developing the Group

Join our active discussion on developing the Group to benefit member interests. We’ve already had several excellent suggestions - but we need more, see - Discuss Developing the Group

2. Promoting your Business in the Group

By taking part in our discussions you can make valuable contacts with other members and in turn raise awareness of your business. See - Latest Discussions

You can also join our Members Marketplace and directly promote your products and services. The Marketplace now has a direct link from the main group Home Page.

Join this subgroup and you can also receive a regular summary email update on the latest member offers. See - Advertise in the Marketplace

3. Jobs & Opportunities to Promote

Make other members aware of jobs or business opportunities that you have available. Also use this section to discuss and seek career advice. Simply post an entry in our Jobs Section. See the - Jobs Section

4. News

If you have a Business Blog or Newsletter, a forthcoming Event, or wish to share other news items that may be of interest to other members, then post in our News Section. See - Member News Items

We have over 130 members and growing steadily – if you know of other friends or colleagues who could benefit from being a member, please tell them about us. Here’s our LinkedIn Group ID.

Join UK Entrepreneur Network

Remember, the group is here to help promote members and their business interests, so please take advantage of our facilities.

Have a great weekend.

Regards

George Montgomery

UK Entrepreneur Network

Tel: 020 8758 2364

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UK Entrepreneur Network - now on LinkedIn

2010-05-27T16:51:00.003+01:00

If you have a UK-based business or an interest in doing business with the UK, then you may be interested in joining the UK Entrepreneur Network (UKEN) - hosted on the LinkedIn network, which has circa 60 million members worldwide, including an active community in the UK.

The group exists for entrepreneurs and business people who want to achieve success through the use of your enterprise, ideas, business skills, and commitment. The club is available for networking, sharing ideas, providing support, finding expertise, collaboration and making money !

Membership of the Group is free at the entry level of LinkedIn.

To join click on the following link :

Join the UK Entrepreneur Network

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Setting Prices to Win

2010-05-20T14:02:00.001+01:00

When presenting a price for your services to a new or existing customer, getting it right is critical to the liklihood of winning that business.

But what price should you offer the customer ?

Understanding Customer Requirements

The key to setting the right price is to fully understand your customer's requirements. For example, they may have a specific need such as commercial cleaning services, or site security coverage that you can find out about. Their need may be for a given level of service, in terms of tasks to be completed. In addition they are most likely to have a budget within which the service must be funded. If you are providing a support service, then hours of coverage are likely to be an important customer criteia.

It's important to establish a full list of customer requirements, and also customer priorities in meeting these requirements.

It may not always be possible to discover all of the requirements at the outset - but having a checklist that you can run through will help.

In commercial or public sector tendering situations, the customer requirements will normally be defined in a document issued with the tender, and to which potential suppliers must respond.

Initial Pricing

The initial price offered to the customer should be set to meet, but not exceed, their mandatory requirements.

For example, when quoting for an IT Solution, the price should not include additional services such as support. Where appropriate optional extra services can be priced and shown separately.

This approach allows the supplier to offer the lowest compliant price to the customer, and this maximize their chances of being selected or short-listed.

Fixed-Price Packages

In situations, where the requirements are straightforward, it may be desirable to offer fixed-price package services.

Typically these will include a fixed amount of time or number of tasks to be completed, and will include any materials that are required to perform the service. Such an approach could be used for services like IT Support, Telephone Answering, Garden Maintenance and similar services.

Also fixed-price packages lend themselves to being more easily promoted and sold online.

Time and Materials

This pricing scheme is more suitable where customer requirements are not fully defined, and the service is typically delivered and charged for at a set hourly or daily rate, plus the cost of any materials supplied.

Typically this pricing approach would be used for Call Out, and similar services who's need occurs at random or for a short non-repeating jobs.

Final Quotations

Once the pricing has been agreed in principle by the customer, it's important when finalising the order to show any additional costs, such as materials to be supplied, travelling expenses, and VAT, giving the end billable price.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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The Power of Email Marketing - Part 2

2010-04-29T10:37:00.003+01:00

The email marketing systems available today offer much greater power than just sending basic emails to your friends and work colleagues.

Whilst basic email will continue to provide the backbone of people to people contact services - in addition alongside these - can be run a whole range of managed email services that can be used to send out and control a wide range of business information to customers, suppliers, employees and other interested parties, with costs starting from just £50 per month for an email campaign.

Uses of Email Marketing

There are numerous uses for Email Marketing. The following are just some illustrative examples:

* Promotion of new product offerings
* Brochure registration and distribution service
* Sending out service updates and changes
* Automated distribution of periodic training courses
* Distribution of Newsletters

One of the main benefits of using Email Marketing is that it provides the ability to make contact with many new target customers in a more cost-effective, and less intrusive way, than using traditional methods such as sales rep visits and telephone calls.
It can also be very effective in helping to retain and develop existing customer relationships through the use of newsletters and other regular mailshots.

But it is most effective when integrated with your overall business marketing strategy, and not used as an isolated contact tool.

Current Regulations

The sending of all electronic marketing communications in the UK is subject to “The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003” – which covers telephone, email, fax and text communications.

In general this should not be a bar to business to business marketing communications, but it is recommended that a permission-based approach is the right one to take.

These regulations apply to you, even if you use third-party suppliers to provide email data and services on your behalf. For further information visit the Information Commissioners site at www.ico.gov.uk

Email Tools

There are a wide range of tools that can be used to enrich your Email Marketing Campaigns and help to generate interest, including :

* Video and Podcasts for sending multimedia messages.
* Autoresponders can be used to automatically send one or more emails to a pre-determined list of recipients over several days or weeks
* Surveys enable you to obtain feedback, viewpoints, and reactions to your products and services.
* Management Tools enable you to track the recipients who opened your emails and even particular links they clicked onto.

Preparing your Campaign

For those new to email marketing, it is worth running a trial campaign to assess the effectiveness of this channel for your business.
Here are some tips to help in preparing your campaign :

* Plan a campaign running from around one week to a month with up to 3 to 4 emails
* Choose target customers who you feel will be interested in your offer
* Ensure you have permission to email the selected customer group
* Write your email content around one clear offer or message
* Include one or two links that you can use for tracking
* Personalise each email to the named recipient
* Include an opt-out option in every email sent out

Once your campaign is underway be ready to fine tune your message based on feedback / response, and use other contact methods such as telephone contact to gain additional feedback from selected recipients.

To find out more about Email Marketing you can register for our FREE Email Marketing eCourse

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Do your Sales Proposals usually get accepted ?

2010-03-30T14:08:00.002+01:00

Producing a good sales proposal can be a worthwhile, and rewarding activity - if it gets accepted.

If not it can turn out to be a time-consuming exercise with no meaningful result at the end - and you may just end up giving away useful business information. Some people have told me they don't produce proposals at all !

I ususally produce sales proposals only when I am confident that the customer actually wants one, and I have a good chance of having mine accepted. Ideally a Sales Proposal should confirm the detail of a 'deal' that is already agreed in principle.

That situation can be achieved by qualifying the customer's real interests (or not) right at the beginning, and could include both the scope of what they want and price ranges.

Ofcourse in certain situations, such as Government or Local Authority procurement, it may be more difficult to do such qualification beforehand - although there are often opportunities to ask questions before deciding to bid.

What approach do you take ?

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Top Tips for Preparing Your Marketing Campaign

2010-03-14T11:42:00.010Z

• Marketing Tip 1: Decide if your going for niche or mass market appeal.
• Marketing Tip 2: Identify the Market Challenges you need to address.
• Marketing Tip 3: Decide on your objectives and keep them SMART.
• Marketing Tip 4: Decide How will you qualify your prospects into buyers.
• Marketing Tip 5: Clearly describe your offer, benefits and pricing.
• Marketing Tip 6: Determine how you’ll make contact with customers.
• Marketing Tip 7: Ensure new customers can easily reach you.
• Marketing Tip 8: Ensure you can handle customer objections and issues.
• Marketing Tip 9: Design your marketing material – online and offline.
• Marketing Tip10: Decide when your campaigns will start and end.
• Marketing Tip11: Follow-up all contacts and measure the results.
• Marketing Tip12: Fine tune your campaigns based on customer response.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Is Networking Misleading Business People ?

2010-03-03T14:01:00.004Z

There is a belief gathering pace that just by being on a social business network you can expect to access business contacts and potential new business that you would otherwise miss. By being a member of such networks, you can build up a contact network of hundreds or even thousands of people who you would otherwise not know.

But does being on such networks and having thousands of such contacts mean that you no longer need to promote and sell your business products and service in the more traditional ways ?

In short the honest answer is 'No'.

Many business people embracing this new medium may have done so because they thought it was an 'easier' way to get business. A way to lighten their load.

But, whilst social business networks are a new phenomenon, in a relatively short timescale they are becoming saturated with many millions of people all seeking opportunities they perhaps didn't find using the traditional ways - and soon the reality must hit home that there is no alternative for a business than to actively seek customers and promote its products and services.

That ofcourse is not to say you shouldn't take advantage of the Web2.0 technologies to build online relationships - ofcourse you should. There are many excellent tools which can be used to leverage your online networking presence.

But relationships are not the same as prospects and customers - the latter still need to be identified, contacted and offered the opportunity to buy your great products and services. Only at this point does being on a social business network translate into a tangible business benefit for you.

Just being on a social business network doesn't mean that you have outsourced your business marketing and sales to a kindly online service that will do it all for you - and that includes all those times that you log in to check for new messages.

The responsibility for growing your business will always remain with you - and it is wise to always operate on that basis.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Top Tips For Marketing your Service Business

2010-01-08T15:40:00.004Z

There are around two million service businesses in the UK – that’s 37% of the UK SME sector.

They provide every conceivable type of service, including - technology support, facilities management, training, business support, estate agents, finance, transport, education, entertainment, household and trade services, and hotels and restaurant services.

The key to success in marketing any business is in researching and understanding the types of customers you wish to reach, providing services that can truly benefit these customers, and having a system to reach out and make contact.

In addition, for service businesses, you need to help potential customers really touch and feel your service.

Here are some top tips to help you connect with your target customers :

• Describe to customers the before and after effect of using your service
• Package your service offering into different quality and price ranges
• Provide demonstrations of your service that customers can try out
• Explain the convenience and problems that using your service overcomes
• Provide reliable access to your service via a range of channels e.g. phone, website
• Explain what happens if there's a problem, and how quickly you will respond.

The more 'tangible' you can make your service feel, the easier it will be for potential customers to visualise, and want to try your service.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Organising a Marketing Campaign

2009-12-07T19:18:00.003Z

There are three important ingredients for a successful marketing campaign :

1. A great Product or Service Offer
2. Accurate Customer Data
3. System to track customer responses.

We explain each of these steps in more detail in the following short podcast. Just click on the link and listen - Organising a Marketing Campaign

[NB You can also right-click and download to your MP3 player]

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Have you got the Right Products & Services ?

2009-11-24T11:33:00.009Z

Having attractive products and services is an essential ingredient
in growing your business and prolonging its life.

But who is your product aimed at, and is the price right ?

In this article we consider the different types of product that you
may be offering to customers. In the descriptions the word
product is used to refer equally to both products and services.

Value Leading

Value-for-money products, that deliver what it says on the tin -
but usually no more. They are generally lower in price that
standard offerings, and cannot easily be extended or modified to
provide extra features. Including these in your product portfolio
enables you to compete on price, and offers new customers a
lower-risk way to try out your products. Low cost retailers and
airlines fit into this category. Customers who buy these products
are generally looking for best prices.

Product Leading

Top-of-the-range products, with better facilities than the standard
range. Generally a higher premium price is charged, and the buyers
are particularly attracted to the market-leading features offered,
and they like the flexibility to buy upgrades and add new features.
High technology businesses and upmarket fashion retailers fit into
this category. Customers who buy these products pay a premium to
get the best.

Service Leading

Dependable and reliable services - that are not necessarily the
cheapest, but are of good quality. The results delivered are
consistent, and the service can usually be adjusted to meet the
customer's changing needs. Customers get the service they expect,
and are prepared to pay for it. Most Support Businesses, and
Premium travel operators fit into this category.

Your Marketing

So it's important to work out your particular business market
profile, and then build your product strategy around that. This
will help you to target the right types of new customers for your
business. And ofcourse you may choose to include more that one
product-type in your portfolio.

Before starting your next marketing campaign consider the types of
customers you wish to attract, and then build their key interests
and issues into your marketing material and campaigns.

What's their main interest - Price, Product, Service ?

Once you have decided on that, you can focus on presenting your products in the most attractive manner.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Services

Tel: 020 8758 2364

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Using Customer Surveys to Grow Your Business

2009-11-16T15:46:00.006Z

Getting feedback from customers and potential customers is essential, if you want to build a long term business relationship, and retain and grow the custom they provide to your business.

Maintaining this contact should be viewed as a key part of your customer service - every bit as important as the initial sale and delivery.

Surveys provide a flexible and cost-effective way of obtaining customer feedback.

They can be undertaken using a range of methods - including email, web-based, telephone contact, and street level interactions.

Surveys have several benefits, including :

- Allow detailed feedback to be obtained
- Useable for both Customers and Prospects
- Objective
- Results can be analysed and summarised

Surveys can be used in a wide range of feedback situations, including :

- Product Surveys
- Customer Satisfaction Surveys
- Market Potential Surveys
- Support Service Surveys

Customer surveys can be used as a standalone tool, or as part of ongoing account management, and sent to a customer before a periodic sales or account visit. In this way the survey results can form part of a general account review.

Generally it is beneficial to your business to be proactive with customer contacts, rather than waiting for a problem to arise and having the customer contact you.

Smaller businesses can have an edge in providing this more personalised type of service.

And ofcourse having obtained the feedback it is recommended to act upon the results and feed the outcome back to customers.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Services

www.sellservices.co.uk

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What's in a Great Sales Proposal ?

2009-11-04T09:56:00.005Z

1. Why Produce Sales Proposals ?

How many of those sales proposals or quotations that you produced have generated orders ? Do you even produce sales proposals ?

A sales proposal does NOT have to be long. Indeed the longer the proposal the more there are opportunities to make mistakes.

A good proposal will really respond to the customer's needs and pain, and explain, simply, why your offer is so appealing and compelling.

Even for the most straightforward of sales, a proposal is often both necessary and desirable. For example if you are having a new boiler fitted at home, then a sales proposal will confirm the price, and also the warranty and support arrangements.

But isn't all that writing just a costly overhead ?

As a supplier, if you already know what your going to supply, then you can simply phone the customer and confirm if they are happy with the price ?

There are several reasons why this is not good business practice. Firstly the person you spoke to on the phone may not be the same person who pays your bill. Hence there is potential for disagreement and delay on receiving payment. Secondly a verbal agreement often will not include details of how the job will be done e.g. who will dispose of waste materials after a building job, and who's responsible for accidental damage that may be caused ?

2. What Information should a Sales Proposal Contain ?

A sales proposal can be an email, a one page letter, a larger document, or a presentation, and it's an opportunity to re-market your products and services in a manner focussed on a particular customer. I use the terms sales proposal and quotation to mean much the same thing in this article.

The following is a list of the information that it is recommended to include in your sales proposal :

• A short description of the proposal scope (could be just a few paragraphs);
• The body of the proposal describing the benefits and features and problems it will resolve (eg new boiler offering all round temperature control);
• Core Price for the solution. Extra options should be listed and priced shown separately to offer the most competitive price;
• Warranty terms and scope of support service;
• Examples of similar solutions delivered, and customer testimonials;
• General terms and conditions, delivery charges, validity period, VAT (if charged), and payment options;
• A signature page, slip, or on-sceen button which the customer can use to place an order.

Longer proposals should include a management summary that covers the key elements (including price) to enable your offer to be read quickly.

3. Points to Remember

Your sales proposal will often be assessed alongside several others from your competitors, and therefore quality of presentation, spelling, and grammar is important - as well as price !

Don't forget to personalise your proposal - address it to an individual, and refer to their specific needs.

PS. And remember your proposal is a marketing document that can go on working for you - as satisfied clients will often show or refer it to their contacts.

See more articles and information by visiting our website at http://www.sellservices.co.uk

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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The Power of Email Marketing

2009-11-02T17:34:00.003Z

1. Introduction

The email marketing systems available today offer much greater power than just sending basic emails to your friends and work colleagues.

Whilst basic email will continue to provide the backbone of people to people contact services - in addition alongside these - can be run a whole range of managed email services that automatically send out and control a wide range of information to customers, suppliers, employees and other interested parties.

The most commonly used tools include Autoresponders and Surveys. Such services are widely used by supermarkets, banks, online stores, cinemas and others.

These tools, and others, offer business owners a lower cost way of maintaining regular customer contacts than using traditional methods such as sales rep visits and telephone calls.

2. Autoresponders

As their name suggests, Autoresponders allow the automated sending out of email communications to customers and new potential customers, days, weeks, or even months after you've spoken to them - by which time they may then want your services. It's an effective and powerful way to keep in touch.

With Autoresponders, you can provide a range of customer-facing services, examples include the following :

* Promotion of new product offerings
* Brochure registration and distribution
* Sending out service updates and changes
* Distribution of periodic training courses
* Distribution of newsletters

Another great benefit of autoresponders is that people can manage their own subscriptions to receive your communications - allowing them complete control over what they receive. In this way it stops unwanted spam being sent out.

3. Surveys

Surveys offer a complementary service to autoresponders - because they allow you to invite and record customer feedback, viewpoints, and reactions to your products and services.

The information provided by customers can be stored and used to generate valuable market reports to better inform and target your future business development.

Applications for surveys include :

* Service Product Surveys
* Customer Satisfaction Surveys
* Market Potential Surveys
* Support Service Surveys

The combined use of Email, Autoresponders, and Surveys offers a powerful and cost-effective combination of tools that can be used to enhance your marketing and improve your customer service - and it's available 24/7 - even when your on holiday and asleep !

You can see demonstrations of these tools by visiting our website at http://www.sellservices.co.uk

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Tips on Providing Sales Quotations

2009-10-26T13:08:00.007Z

You are contacted by a potential new customer who wants a quotation for a service that you provide - e.g contract cleaning or IT support services.

The following is a list of potential answers that you might give.

1. Your standard list price for a job of that size ?
2. Your standard hourly rate ?
3. A summary of your services and a guide price ?
4. Arrange for a sales visit at which you will provide a firm price ?

Which one of these would you or your sales team provide to the customer ?

Answer : You are likely to use a range of pricing information within your business - including for business planning, marketing campaigns, and special offers. In this case you may have the opportunity to get outline details of the customers requirements - e.g if contacted by telephone. And therefore you can provide a brief summary of your services and a guide price, if appropriate - ie answer No. 3. If the customer requires a firm price, then you can determine if further information, or sales visit is needed.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Growing your Business - Part 3 : Researching your Market

2009-10-19T09:48:00.003+01:00

Before embarking on a marketing campaign, it makes sense to research your market, and by taking this important step, it will enable you to discover more about your potential customers, and whether they'll be interested in buying your products and services.

In addition this knowledge will help you to avoid wasted investment in marketing and sales activities that are not likely to generate business for you.

The research process can be divided into three stages :

1. Deciding on your target market
2. Finding out about the target market
3. Market search to identify the available prospects

1. Your Target Market

It is important to identify the your target market - the sort of prospects that may be interested in buying your products and services.

Examples of a target market are :

- small businesses in a specific location
- a vertical sector, e.g training companies
- consumers in a given age profile

By identifying your target market it will help you to focus your marketing and sales activities, and avoid a scatter gun approach.

2. Find out about your market

The next step is to find out about current trends and issues affecting the customers you wish to sell to.

You can do this by reading relevant publications, conducting internet searches, and asking people you know in this sector.

This will enable you to build up a profile of your customer, their characteristics, likely business issues or problems they may face, and their interests.

In certain situations, using simple surveys is a useful way to get market feedback.

3. Market Search

The third stage in the research process is to find out how many potential customers are located in your target area. Targetting a specific location or post code area will enable you to limit the size of your initial marketing, and enable you to obtain feedback to fine tune your campaign.

The search process involves making use of online searches of commercial databases such as Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

Using these databases it is possible to search for businesses using several criteria - e.g. Turnover, No. of Employees, Location, Industry Sector, Legal Status, plus several others. Consumer databases can be searched in a similar fashion.

For example you could search for Training Businesses in a given city or town, or businesses with a turnover up to say £1 million, or a combination of both criteria.

The search process will provide a count of the numbers of businesses or consumers that match your search criteria. And you can then licence this data for use in a variety of marketing campaigns - including direct mail, telemarketing, or surveys. Alternatively if there is insufficient target numbers, you can avoid marketing into that given location.

The benefits of researching your market is that it will help you to really understand your target customers, and make best use of your marketing and sales efforts.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Have you introduced 'Value' Products & Services ?

2009-10-02T16:08:00.005+01:00

Changes in the economy over the last year or so have had a significant impact on the way that customers make buying decisions and view prices, and this has affected many businesses - large and small.

There has been a distinct move towards 'value' products and services, as companies respond to this customer demand. Major supermarkets, such as Marks & Spencer introducing the £10 meal and bottle of wine offering, and Waitrose introducing its new 'Essential' range of quality products at affordable prices. These are just two examples, but many more abound.

Such changes not only affect these sectors, but also establish trends across the board, which customers then look for.

The 'value' approach is something that perhaps your business should consider to strengthen its customer appeal.

Value does not mean cheap, but rather cost-effective or value-for-money. The product or service you are selling must be able to meet the need or do the job - otherwise it will fail and damage your reputation.

Whether your business operates in a price-sensitive sector or not, you ought to consider the merits of adding a value-package to your product or service range.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Using Twitter for Business

2009-10-01T10:39:00.005+01:00

Here's a useful short video with ideas on using Twitter to develop your business

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Tips for Selling your Services

2009-09-25T09:00:00.018+01:00

Try the following in your promotions to help customers make easier buying decisions :

1. Describe to customers the before and after effect of using your service

2. Package your service offering into different quality and price ranges

3. Provide demonstrations of your service that customers can try out

4. Explain the convenience and problems that using your service overcomes

5. Provide access to your service via a range of channels eg phone, website

6. Explain what happens if there's a problem, and how quickly you'll respond.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Growing Your Business - Part 2 : Keeping in Touch

2009-09-23T12:19:00.020+01:00

Consider the benefits to you of keeping in regular contact with your customers and potential customers. Probably the main one is that it helps keep awareness of your business, and how you can be of help, fresh in their minds. Other benefits include :

Enables you to find out early about new potential requirements where you can help
Lets them know about new products and services you have launched
Gives you early warning of potential product / service problems that may be brewing
Allows you to answer any product / service questions that have been on their mind
Enables you to keep in touch with recent prospects who may become future customers

Surprisingly many businesses pass up on this marketing opportunity - why ? Probably due to time and resource constraints.

You may not be able to regularly phone or visit each customer - although personal calls to your best customers can be very worthwhile. And using this approach with prospects can simply be too time consuming, because of the numbers involved.

A good solution to keeping in touch is by using an Email Marketing Service that will allow you to send out information, keep track of responses, and store and maintain a database of all of your contacts. With Email Marketing you can run both one-off and repeat contact campaigns to existing customers and contacts - and these can be targetted to relevant industry or business sector customers.

In addition you can allow new prospects to register interest and then send them automated campaigns that will keep in touch over days, weeks or even months. Such information can be sent on a non disruptive basis and will always offer a simply opt-out to stop receipt of further emails.

Email Marketing can be used in a wide variety of business types, and are particularly useful in Service Businesses to help maintain and promote customer contact.

And once set up, Email Marketing requires a surprisingly low level of effort to keep it going. Examples of uses include :

* Promotion of new product offerings
* Brochure registration and distribution service
* Sending out service updates and changes
* Automated distribution of periodic training courses
* Newsletter distribution

You can see a simple demonstration of how Email Marketing may be able to help your business using our sample email campaign, see the following link -
http://www.sellservices.co.uk/emailmarketdemo.html

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Growing your Business - Part 1 : Target Market

2009-08-13T15:23:00.019+01:00

What factors do you consider when growing your business ?

Knowing more about your target customers will help your business in many ways. Not only will it help you acquire new customers, but it will also help you to retain existing ones.

Your target customers are the ones you see as most likley to need, want or benefit from using your product or service. They may not be the only ones who'll buy - but they are the ones you will be marketing to.

How much do you know about your target customers ?

Information such as :

- Their locations and contact details
- The size of their business by turnover and number of employees
- The market sectors they are in
- The current problems or issues they face
- The likely budget they spend on similar products and services to yours

...plus other use profile information.

You can find out more about how to better target your market, and get other useful business growth tips by taking our FREE Online Business Review.

It's free and anonymous to take, and you will get useful business tips as you work your way through the review. You can also request an optional free business growth report at the end.

To proceed just click on the image below :

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Handling Lots of Niggling Customer Queries

2009-07-30T10:44:00.017+01:00

I read a blog recently which stated that a business can take up more time than they ever expected handling minor niggling queries from customers - even on low value or free products and services.

I have experienced that situation both as a supplier and as a customer myself.

As a customer, I have ordered services, and then discovered that I needed to organise the supplier to get the services properly delivered, calling them to fix missing bits etc.

As a supplier I have had customers who ring up for the simplest query, whilst others rarely call - and when they do it's to offer really useful product improvement suggestions or ideas.

Anyone else had similar experiences ?

In extreme cases the effort involved in handling these types of queries can become very expensive.

There are two ways in which the smaller business can better manage the effort involved :

1. Providing things like upfront User Guides, and Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) on their websites to which customers can refer - or be referred.

2. Provide all customers with a Service Agreement, which lists the extent of support provided, including methods and hours of coverage. This would apply to all services - free and paid for.

Ofcourse all customer contacts can offer potential new sales opportunities, and its always worth having direct contact from time to time.

But by having the above type of support arrangements in place you can ensure that you provide great customer service, but don't spend hours on the phone or online handling minor queries.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Setting Prices for your Service Business

2009-07-27T16:07:00.015+01:00

The setting of prices for a service business can often be more complicated than for other types of business, such as retail. This is because, even for the same type of service, the price can vary from customer to customer – eg because of the work involved or the location where it is required. Thus the cost of contract cleaning varies with the size of the building, and cost of servicing a vehicle varies with the type of and spec. of vehicle.

Pricing is rarely the main reason why a customer does not buy from you, but it is still an important factor for consideration in ALL sales situation, and good presentation of pricing can make the difference between winning and losing an order.

The price that you set may vary depending on the sales situation, including the following :

- one-off price for a single job
- repeated price for an ongoing service, eg weekly or monthly
- a bid for a larger project or tender

There are several ways in which you can present a quotation or proposal to improve your win chances. This includes :

1. Pricing to deliver the required service only, and offering additional services as optional extras.
2. Listing exactly what the customer will receive with the delivered service.
3. Explain what happens if there's a problem with the service, and how quickly you will respond.
4. Ensure any VAT, delivery or other mandatory charges are shown in the total price payable.
5. Specify any validity terms and timescale within which the customer should respond to take up the offer.
6. Always check your proposal and correct any typographical, spelling and layout errors

By not over-pricing your offer, and making it simple to understand, this, in turn, will make it easier for the customer to make a buying decision, and increase you win chances in competitive sales situations.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Is Networking Misleading Business People

2009-07-04T18:43:00.007+01:00

There is a belief gathering pace that just by being on a social business network you can expect to access business contacts and potential new business that you would otherwise miss. By being a member of such networks, you can build up a contact network of hundreds or even thousands of people who you would otherwise not know.

But does being on such networks and having thousands of such contacts mean that you no longer need to promote and sell your business products and service in the more traditional ways ?

In short the honest answer is 'No'.

Many business people embracing this new medium may have done so because they thought it was an 'easier' way to get business. A way to lighten their load.

But, whilst social business networks are a new phenomenon, in a relatively short timescale they are becoming saturated with many millions of people all seeking opportunities they perhaps didn't find using the traditional ways - and soon the reality must hit home that there is no alternative for a business than to actively seek customers and promote its products and services.

That ofcourse is not to say you shouldn't take advantage of the Web2.0 technologies to build online relationships - ofcourse you should. There are many excellent tools which can be used to leverage your online networking presence.

But relationships are not the same as prospects and customers - the latter still need to be identified, contacted and offered the opportunity to buy your great products and services. Only at this point does being on a social business network translate into a tangible business benefit for you.

Just being on a social business network doesn't mean that you have outsourced your business marketing and sales to a kindly online service that will do it all for you - and that includes all those times that you log in to check for new messages.

The responsibility for growing your business will always remain with you - and it is wise to always operate on that basis.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Recession can be good for Customers and Business

2009-06-28T07:29:00.010+01:00

A recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a sustained period of time, also defined as a time of negative growth. It is characterised by a downturn in business, rising unemployment, and fewer job opportunities.

So how can that ever be good news ?

Well it usually means that businesses start to take a much closer interest in their customers, for a start. Look around in this current period and you will have seen price reductions across many items - such as retail goods, cars, property, and in the service sector. Retaining customers becomes more valuable - and so service levels often start to improve, as businesses start to listen to customers gripes and issues.

For startups it can mean new opportunities, as more customers look around for alternative products, services, and suppliers, as well as there being lower setup costs for these new entrants.

A recession causes customers to look more closely at what they are buying, and businesses look closely at what they are selling - and that is good for both parties.

A good example has been the rise in the sale of 'value' items by supermarkets, covering everything from food to cleaning materials. Not only do these value items offer a lower price point, but they also set a benchmark against which customers can compare the prices of other brand name goods, and so this encourages lower pricing generally - even for higher quality goods and services.

In times when there are plenty of customers around, businesses can become more casual in their approach, they allow their overheads to grow more than they should, and prices tend to rise.

A recession often causes people and businesses to think the unthinkable - and that is always a good thing to do from time to time.

Regards

George Montgomery
GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

www.sellservices.co.uk

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YourLondonBusiness.co.uk

2009-06-22T10:16:00.012+01:00

Your London Business is a network for business owners and entrepreneurs, covering the Greater London area. If you are actively involved in owning or running a business or business service, considering starting a new business, or developing business ideas, then this is the network for you.

Membership is currently FREE you can visit us at :

www.yourlondonbusiness.co.uk

Regards

George Montgomery

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Customer Loyalty is vital to your Success

2009-06-16T16:02:00.014+01:00

Service businesses, particularly, depend on customer loyalty to maintain their revenue flows. Whether you run an IT Support business or a Contract Cleaning company, or any other type of service business - you depend on regular work to maintain revenue flows.

And yet businesses often overlook their existing loyal customers in the rush to win new clients.

An example I often witness is the discounted offers made to entice new customers - but not made available to existing clients.

An existing customer who visits your website could well see these special offers, and wonder why they continue to pay more for the same service. It may well cause them to think when your service contract is due for renewal.

I have seen current examples of these special offer schemes operated in two Telco and ISP businesses, and I do not believe it presents best practice to clients.

If you are going to provide special offers to new clients, then it is vital that you also have loyalty schemes to reward your existing customers - examples include reward points for additional orders and customer-only discount offers.

If you want your Service Business to continue to enjoy customer loyalty (and the revenues that flow from that), then investment in loyalty schemes is well worthwhile.

Regards

George Montgomery

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Have you got a Personalised Marketing Plan ?

2009-06-12T19:32:00.014+01:00

A Personalised Marketing Plan will enable you to grow and develop your Service Business.

It will enable you to target the customers you want to reach, qualify those that are interested in buying, and present compelling offers that'll really make them want to become your customer.

It's not something that will deliver results overnight, but once it starts working it will provide you with a steady source of new business leads. Its critical to the future success of your business.

It consists of :

1. A growing and uptodate list of contacts that can benefit from your services.
2. A range of your services that will deliver clear benefits and quick wins to these prospects.
3. Regular channels that you can use to contact these prospects - including mail, email, telesmarketing and web, plus close up opportunities, such as events and exhibitions.
4. Professional-looking sales offers that you can quickly put together and provide through the customers preferred channel(s).

Combine the above with an ongoing progress review - looking at won / lost opportunities and fine tuning of the plan going forward.

Because its personalised, it works best for your business and your customer base - yet includes the essential elements of best practice marketing and sales.

We combine the above elements in our GrowthPlan Service to provide every client with their own Personalised Marketing Plan - and help them implement it successfully - and we'd be happy to do the same for you.

Call us for a chat today on 0845 345 7039 or 07882 566499.

Regards

George Montgomery
Business Development Consultant

www.sellservices.co.uk

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Do you provide Service Agreements

2009-06-10T15:48:00.008+01:00

If you run a service business - such as, IT Support, Contract Cleaning, Facilities Management, or Professional Services - providing your customers with a Service Level Agreement demonstrates your commitment to the successful operation of this service.

By having a clear and professional SLA, your saying to your customers - these are the ways in which we'll ensure you receive a great service from us. In addition, the SLA allows your business to better manage the customers expectations for the level of service they will receive, and thereby minimize complaints about services you haven't included or other misunderstandings.

Large organizations have used SLA for many years, in both the private and public sectors. Initially these were used to state the limits on the service being delivered, eg the time taken to respond to an IT problem, the number of cleaning visits per week, the operating hours for an outsource call centre, review dates for professional services, and so on.

More recently they have been extended to cover the whole customer relationship by including provision for regular account manager contacts, and providing information about future new service plans and products. In this way your business can build a longer lasting relationship with customers - and thus minimize customer loss and respond early to their evolving needs.

Smaller businesses are particularly well placed to make use of SLAs, because they already offer a more personalized service, and the SLA is a natural extension to that approach.

• George Montgomery specialises in helping Service Businesses to develop and improve their performance by providing a range of services, including, customer surrveys, marketing support, sales proposal writing, service level agreements, and bid management to customers throughout the UK. For further details of our GrowthPlan service, see our site at at www.sellservices.co.uk.

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Make your Selling more Effective

2009-06-10T15:36:00.011+01:00

1. Why Produce Sales Proposals

How many of those sales proposals or quotations that you produced have generated orders ? Do you even produce sales proposals ?

A sales proposal can be an email, a one page letter, a larger document, or a presentation, and it's an opportunity to re-market your products and services in a manner focussed on a particular customer. I have used the terms sales proposal and quotation to mean much the same thing in this article.

A good proposal will really respond to the customer's needs and pain, and explain, simply, why your offer is so appealing and compelling.

Even for the most straightforward of sales, a proposal is often both necessary and desirable. For example if you are having a new boiler fitted at home, then a sales proposal will confirm the price, and also the warranty and support arrangements.

But isn't all that writing just a costly overhead ?

As a supplier, if you already know what your going to supply, then you can simply phone the customer and confirm if they are happy with the price ?

There are several reasons why this is not good business practice. Firstly the person you spoke to on the phone may not be the same person who pays your bill. Hence there is potential for disagreement and delay on receiving payment. Secondly a verbal agreement often will not include details of how the job will be done e.g. who will dispose of waste materials after a building job, and who's responsible for accidental damage that may be caused ?

2. What Information should a Sales Proposal Contain

A sales proposal does NOT have to be long. Indeed the longer the proposal the more there are opportunities to make mistakes.

The following is a list of the information that it is recommended to contain :

• A short description of the proposal scope (could be just a few paragraphs);
• The body of the proposal describing the benefits and features and problems it will resolve (eg new boiler offering all round temperature control);
• Core Price for the solution. Extra options should be listed and priced shown separately to offer the most competitive price;
• Warranty terms and scope of support service
• Examples of similar solutions delivered, and customer testimonials
• General terms and conditions, including payment options.
• A signature page or slip which the customer can use to place an order.

Longer proposals should include a management summary that covers the key elements (including price) to enable your offer to be read quickly.

Finally remember that your sales proposal will often be assessed alongside several others from your competitors, and therefore quality of presentation, spelling, and grammar is important - as well as price !

PS And remember your proposal is a marketing document that can go on working for you - as satisfied clients will often show it to their contacts.

Copyright GBS Group

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultancy

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The Opportunity for Service Businesses

2009-06-10T13:14:00.011+01:00

The service sector in the UK has grown to become one of the largest business sectors, accounting for around 37% of the UK SME sector, representing around 1.8 million businesses.

Businesses within this sector include, financial intermediation, real estate, transport, education, technology, facilities management, business support, entertainment, and hotels and restaurant services. It clearly represents a wide-range of business activities, with diverse services. The growth in franchising has been achieved largely through the growth in the services sector. There is every likelihood that this sector will continue to have growth opportunities during a recessionary period.

Much of this growth has come from a public demand and willingness to pay for a wider range of quality in the services available, and the entrepreneurialism of the SME sector in being able to develop and offer a diverse range of services, that would be uneconomic for larger companies to develop and deliver.

The Challenge in Selling Services

However, selling services requires a different approach to others, such as retail, for two important reasons - firstly your potential customer may often be unable to 'touch and feel' your service, and secondly they often cannot try your service before they buy it.

In addition, many service businesses are not located on the high street, and therefore the additional challenge is one of marketing your business to potential customers.

So how do you establish a level of trust with potential customers to encourage them to use your services ?

There are several ways in which businesses can present their services to help customers to make a buying decision :

• Describe to customers the before and after effect of using your service
• Package your service offering into different quality and price ranges
• Provide demonstrations of your service that customers can try out
• Explain the convenience and problems that using your service overcomes
• Provide reliable access to your service via a range of channels eg phone, website
• Explain what happens if there's a problem, and how quickly you will respond

The more 'tangible' you can make your service feel, the easier it will be for potential customers to visualise, and want to try your service.

• George Montgomery • specialises in helping Service Businesses to develop and improve their performance by providing a range of services, including, customer surrveys, marketing support, sales proposal writing, and bid management to customers throughout the UK. For further details, see our site at - www.sellservices.co.uk

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How well do you know your Customers ?

2009-06-10T12:59:00.006+01:00

This applies to both existing customers, and the ones who are your target market.

How much of the following ten things do you know about your customers :

1. Their locations and contact details
2. Size of their business by turnover and employees
3. Problems or issues they face - that your product or service resolves
4. Where they go for help and information
5. The likely business goals they have
6. Business networks that they use
7. The sort of budget they want to spend on products & services like yours
8. Their age profile, family and demographics
9. Other suppliers from whom they purchase similar products & services
10. The biggest business issues they are facing in the 3 - 6 months.

Taken together these ten areas deliver a valuable profile of your target customer and will help you to reach out to them.

Find out more about your target customer from our Online Business Review

Regards

George Montgomery - Business Development Consultant
www.sellservices.co.uk

Tel: 0845 345 7039

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