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Analysis, CRM, Facts & Figures

What KPIs Should You Be Measuring?

Martina Mercer
June16/ 2016

When managing a sales team there are some key performance indicators that can give you great insights into how your staff are performing along with areas they can improve on.

Here are a few KPIs sales managers should keep an eye on in today’s fast paced web enabled world to give an insight into what KPIs should you be measuring?

Lead Responses

What is the lead response time of your team? It’s a fact that the better and quicker the response the better the reputation of a business. Customers believe that response times and communication go hand in hand with quality. Responses within one hour increase sales success considerably. See how your sales team performs.

Opportunities per Call Ratio

It’s not enough to look at the amount of outbound calls a sales person makes, you must also measure the success. As a general rule for every hundred calls made three should be profitable. If your calls aren’t producing these results it may be time to listen in to find out what’s putting the customers off.

Second Time Lucky

Some sales teams don’t try again after the first contact but following up on leads is proven to work. Sometimes a customer needs to be contacted three, four, five or even twelve times before they convert and studies show that 80% will after the fifth contact.

Connections with Marketing

For too long the marketing and sales departments have worked in different camps. It’s time to join these two together as sales teams can benefit considerably from using the content marketers have.

Measure the connections between your teams, see what content is being used and what is being ignored. You could find that there’s untapped potential just waiting to be presented to customers by sales teams who are unaware it’s even available!

Click through Rate

It’s naive to think that all contact will be made over the phone, many like to connect through the internet while sales reps should access every area to generate leads. They should be active on social media (in a professional capacity) and have content for follow up emails ready to send. These efforts should also be measured to see how many click through from the emails or shares, in order to replicate success.

These are just a few of the KPIs that should be measured in order to drive growth, of course, a good CRM makes this simple.

About the Author

Martina Mercer is an award winning marketing consultant, author, journalist and copywriter. She works with many brands such as Colgate, Harrods and Boots, alongside providing her expertise for start ups in the tech industry such as Motor Quoters, BrandStreet, Money-Mate and Autoficient.

 

 

Digital Marketing, Latest News, Your News

Manchester Digital Raises the Tech Bar in the North

Martina Mercer
June15/ 2016

Manchester Digital, the independent trade association for the North West’s digital sector, has today released its updated strategy, developed to outline and steer its upcoming activity and ensure that it tackles the issues its members say matter to them the most.
Infrastructure, the digital ecosystem, skills, leadership, and profile and promotion are the key priorities, spun out of research undertaken by Manchester Digital’s council last year to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the digital tech industry in the North, and what interventions are needed to support its growth.
The organisation already has a significant footprint in the talent and skills development arena, but has now set out a series of additional development priorities that it will focus on over the next two years, including:

  • Collaboration between different parts of the industry to encourage knowledge-sharing;
    A simplified procurement process and help for smaller companies to bid for larger projects;
    Providing a narrative that provides a true reflection of the North’s status and capabilities;
    Intervention to encourage retention of talent in the region, as well as in education to grow and develop the talent pipeline;
    Create a sustainable multi level mentoring scheme;
    Campaign to use the devolution opportunity to open up the infrastructure market.

The report also raises concerns that the work already being done in the region is under-represented by the public sector, and the fact that there is still a real lack of understanding about how it should support the industry.
Graham Benson, chair at Manchester Digital and CIO of Rentalcars.com, said: “Our analysis of the digital sector comes as a number of big companies start to move their digital and tech teams here, demonstrating the pull of the region – Sainsburys and Bet365 being just a couple of examples. It’s now up to organisations like us to ensure the sector fulfils its potential.
“The research we undertook last year has been refined and has resulted in us deciding to prioritise these five areas of focus where intervention is required – areas where we believe we can make the most impact. Now we must agree an action plan to ensure that we optimise the results of the intense interest currently being focussed on our region and work collaboratively with businesses, education, and the public sector to ensure we’re getting it right.”

In line with its refined focus, Manchester Digital is also currently welcoming nominations for new council members. Open now, nominations will run until 16th June. Voting will commence on the 23rd June, ahead of the new council announcement on 7th July.
Once elected, the new council will oversee the work the organisation does, which includes regular lobbying and efforts to tackle the current issues facing the growing digital sector.
.If you are interested in discussing a council position please contact Katie Gallagher at: katie@manchesterdigital.com.
To find out more about Manchester Digital elections and to nominate, please visit: https://www.manchesterdigital.com/elections-and-agm

YOU!

New Business Energy Site Give Commission Back to the Business

Money Mate
May17/ 2016

Summary: Money-Mate, a new comparison and utilities company have decided to break the mould by giving the commission back to the customer.

In recent weeks comparison sites have been in the news for their manipulating tactics towards customers. The Telegraph reported that comparison sites take a huge chunk of commission from sales of products and while they offer a good deal at the outset, customers are left baffled when prices rise suddenly.

For over twelve months Money-Mate has understood this problem facing customers and has developed a platform to give the money back to the consumer. Money-Mate wants to eradicate the shock people face when prices rise on renewal while giving the customer complete control over their money.

Money Mate

Money-Mate aims to do this in a variety of ways.

The first promise is bold. Money-Mate claims that they can make any of their five star products free within twelve months. This could mean that Money-Mate customers pay absolutely nothing for broadband, travel insurance, gas, electricity, business energy and cyber insurance, simply through sharing their unique Money-Mate code.

The second promise gives allows for instant savings. On products such as health insurance, broadband, business electricity and gadget insurance Money-Mate instantly gives the customer one month’s credit. On top of this, when anyone else signs up to the same service, Money-Mate credits the previous customer’s account with their monthly premium. It sounds insane, it probably is.

What Do Customers Have to Do to Earn Free Business Energy? 

To make the products free, all a customer has to do is share their unique code with their friends. Every time a friend buys a product, the original customer receives yet another month’s credit. By the end of 12 months, customers could have enough credit to make their renewals on everyday products completely free.

What’s the Catch?

This does leave some customers wondering where the catch is? How can Money-Mate afford to give so much away in credit? The original article mentioned sums this up, as Money-Mate is giving the commission back to the customer instead of keeping it for itself.

Roopesh Patel is the founder of Money Mate and he explains the concept and his reasoning behind such a generous platform. He says, “I know that profit through the site will be small per customer and that’s fine. I wanted to give back to the customer and provide a service that listened to their feedback. Comparison sites have got away with charging these hidden premiums for too long and now they need to give the customers what they want. I’m hoping that the UK public will see the benefits of Money-Mate as the more people use us, the cheaper we’ll be. By keeping the profit low, I can appeal to everyone and bring in a larger quantity of customers who pay very little per product rather than a few that have to pay through the nose to fund the comparisons. It’s also important to me that we only offer high quality products, as there’s no point giving to the customer if our services don’t meet or exceed their expectations.”

To find out more about Money-Mate or to benefit from the five star products visit their website where you’ll be greeted by Lord Chumley and Buddy, the Money-Mate mascots.

Money-Mate is a provider of high quality products and utilities online. Along with their own gadget insurance, travel insurance, health insurance and business electricity, Money-Mate also offer products through vetted third party providers who share the same money saving, high quality ethos.

Money Mate Logo

Copywriting Services, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Outsourcing

How to Make Your Content Evergreen

Martina Mercer
March22/ 2016

By Martina Mercer Digital Marketing and Copywriting Services

You already know the importance of regularly updated content. Weekly blog posts and active social media accounts all play a great part in keeping your business and website fresh.

That said, there is a place for evergreen content, as, if it’s engaging and informative it will still be searched for by people on the search engines. Here are some tips on how to make your content evergreen.

What is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is information, views, reviews or posts that won’t go out of fashion. There are a few types.

The Annual Evergreen : This ensures the post is relevant despite the seasons, celebrations and holidays throughout the year

Forever Evergreen: This is content that will be relevant in 6 months or five years from now.

Titles could include (obviously depending on your industry):

  • How to know if you’ve fallen in love
  • The calorie counts of favourite foods
  • The best beaches around the world (unless something happens, as long as it isn’t a top ten, it’s a safe bet they’ll still be the same in five years time)
  • The cheekiest quotes from classical novels

Once you’ve created your evergreen content you need to decide where to put it. It could be swallowed in a blog as the date will automatically be attributed. There is, however, a solution as there’s a new way to publish in the cloud. A way to share content that’s feature rich and won’t go out of fashion. It keeps your news, blogs, articles and whitepapers on the top of the pile at all times, and doesn’t reveal the creation date. It’s called WOTO and it’s basically a supreme, interactive word processor that incorporates all social media and online tools.

It can be used to build webpages, for blogs, for newsletters or simply to send quirky messages to family and friends.

You don’t need WOTO to ensure your content is evergreen though.

A Place for Content that’s not Evergreen 

Of course, on every website, there is a place for current content, for news and blogs relevant to current trends and topics. The search engines love a website that is constantly updating with fresh new content especially if it engages the user. Topical content should never be overlooked, it’s valuable to every business, however, to beat the competition you need to be setting the trends or a first to follow the trends while ensuring you get the news out there quickly before interest wanes.

This takes some management and if it does feel like it is too much to handle, take advantage of social networks instead and keep updates consistent, interesting and on trend. My other B2C article on Should You Have Twitter and Facebook for Your Small Business will show you how.

Current content that is not evergreen includes:

  • References to current TV shows, Big Brother, the Great British Bake Off, Game of Thrones, 24
  • Discussions on events such as the Tower of London Poppies, the Olympics at the time, the budget and general elections
  • Celebrities in the spotlight
  • Fashion

How Perennial Content Can Boost Your Business Too

Perennial content is that which can resurface year after year. This can be great for search engines and for special events such as Christmas, Mother’s Day and Valentines.

It’s important to refresh the content when you do use it again, but try to keep the title and the link the same, otherwise, those that have shared in the past will be left with an error message.

As long as the copy is engaging, useful and entertaining, it will boost your profile while building your content portfolio which is essential for a great content strategy.

Perennial content relies on events that are guaranteed such as:

  • The Changing Seasons
  • Bank Holidays and Public Holidays
  • Events such as the Oscars, Remembrance Day and National Waffle Day

With over 50% of businesses admitting they have a content strategy this year and over 70% increasing their budget for copywriters and digital marketers, 2015 could well be the year when great content is the key to beating off any competition.

Evergreen content that is engaging and thought provoking won’t only increase your bottom line, it will also bring you new audiences while pleasing Google too.

No matter how many updates Google rolls out to prevent businesses from tricking their way to the top of the search engine with dodgy SEO techniques, great content will never go out of fashion.

As long as you have a commitment to providing useful, informative, entertaining articles, blogs and web copy to your visitors Google will reward you.

I first wrote this post for Business2Community and you can find it here. If you need award winning digital marketing or copywriting services please get in touch, I take on just two new clients per year

Commercial Premises, Health and Safety

Public liability insurance and why you need it

Fergal Bell
March16/ 2016

Picture the scene. A client visits you at your home office. The meeting goes well and you are planning the new project. As they’re leaving the client trips over a box you have left lying around. Catastrophe! They break their leg and have to be taken to hospital. A few days later the medical bill arrives and it comes to more than a thousand pounds. Or you go on a client visit and spill a cup of coffee over their laptop. A few days later the bill arrives. If you don’t have public liability insurance where do you find the money to pay for it?

Do I have to have it?

Public liability insurance is not a legal requirement for freelancers or small businesses. However you should give careful consideration to taking out a policy if you have any interaction with third parties. The examples above relate to clients but it also applies to any member of the public who might be injured or suffer damage either directly or indirectly because of you.

As with any type of insurance of course we hope that the worst does not happen. However, where public liability cases are concerned, if someone makes a claim the bills can soon add up. These could be for a person’s medical expenses, the cost of damage to equipment or belongings, or paying for legal bills. The costs can mount up and in some cases can be enough to shut a business down.

What does it cover?

Basically, any injuries or damage caused by your business. Standard public liability insurance policies cover injury to the public, legal costs and property damage. This will cover off the cost of hospital bills, legal fees and damage to that laptop. Legal cover can be useful if you are sued by a third party, especially if you have to defend against a claim.

Remember however, that public liability insurance doesn’t cover people who work for you. For that you must take out employers’ liability cover (a legal requirement).

Which locations?

You will be protected for any incidents taking place on your business premises (including home office) or at off-site locations at events or activities that you have organised.

Level of cover

Many public liability policies for small business provide cover up to £1 million, although public sector contracts often require higher levels of cover – up to £5 million. It is commonplace for business contracts to specify the level of public liability insurance that a client must have. An insurance provider will look at factors like your business volume, the type of business you are involved in and whether you work on a third party site. All of these can either raise or reduce the level of cover deemed appropriate for your circumstances.

Editor’s Note:

We recommend Money Mate for public liability insurance as they give you back a lot of money making it free within 12 months (subject to status). They’re new but they have experience and can also offer you incentives to give to your own customers.

Visit them at www.money-mate.co.uk

YOU!

Easily Compare Business Gas and Electricity

Money Mate
March05/ 2016

This guest post has been written by Martina Mercer but sponsored by the business energy experts over at Business Save. Business Save work as a comparison service for business customers, finding the best rates and discounts on behalf of customers, saving them money and time.

Using their data, Martina has put together a quick guide on how to easily compare business gas and electricity saving you a LOT of time and money.

It is no secret that businesses have been hard hit over the past decade due to a struggling economy and rising energy prices. Many businesses have in fact struggled so significantly with constantly rising overheads versus lower sales that they have had to close their doors, resulting in redundancies across the board. Thankfully the government now reports that we recently regained our UK pre-depression economic standing and yet still businesses have to keep a close eye on their overheads.

The Knock-On Effect of Higher Energy Prices

Over the past ten years the energy prices forced upon the UK businesses and residential customers have risen substantially higher than previous trends have ever recorded. This is due largely to events concerning the world wholesale market and of course increases in wholesale prices are passed on via the supplier to the consumer.

Higher energy prices have served to elevate the overheads companies are having to pay out while the ill-timed, if there could be a good time, depression has resulted in a widening gap between income and expenditure and not in the favour of the businesses. Consumers have had less disposable income to spend and have become reticent to spend on anything which isn’t a bargain or lower priced. This has understandably had a knock-on effect on retailers and other businesses.

Things Are Looking Up

As before the economy has started to recover and while rates are still higher than before the rise and consumers are still being cautious when spending the gap between overheads and profits has shortened somewhat. This, added to the fact that additional changes in the wholesale energy market have lowered unit prices has made finding competitive business rates that little bit easier if you know where to look.

Using Experts to Maximise Savings

Here at Business Save we work on behalf of our customers (the businesses, not the utility companies) to find the best business gas and electricity rates available, maximising discounts and sourcing hidden benefits not usually offered as standard. Our expert energy consultants take pertinent details about a business and do the hard work, finding the best tariffs and deals while saving businesses time and money.

The service is free to businesses with a number of energy companies paying to be on our comparison list. Our aim is to work on closing the gap between overhead levels and profit margins, resulting in profits going up and energy rates coming down.

For more information on how Business Save may save your business time, money and hassle visit the website.

Beacon Technology, Copywriting Services, Digital Marketing, eSeller Guides

4 Ways to Generate More Custom

Martina Mercer
February24/ 2016

If you have a business that’s predominantly online you probably have a great website, a list of contacts and social media accounts. You may have optimised all areas to ensure your bounce rates are low but what can you do when you hit a plateau?

The best businesses don’t stop, they keep moving at a rapid pace to bring the customers in, to engage and to be a part of every conversation online.

Here are four ways to generate more custom.

Sales Letter/Emailer

A great sales letter can bring in new customers. Considering that only 2% of recipients will go on to contact you after reading a sales letter you need to send a few. A sales letter isn’t worth the time or effort if you send it to less than a hundred people. Your sales letter should also have:

  • An offer
  • An attractive heading for scanners
  • Reassurance that the customer doesn’t have to do anything to benefit
  • Clear calls to action
  • Time sensitive deals
  • Potential for follow up

It should also make the reader want to learn more, ideally so they click to visit your website.

Refresh Your Content

Any efforts you make to bring more customers to your brand are in vain if your website, social media campaigns and online presence aren’t optimised. Does your website tell them what they need to know? Does it have strong calls to action? Does it lead them to your contact or buy button? Is it updated with fresh content daily?

Are your social media accounts full of information? Does it have contact information? Do your updates show you as an authority in your industry? Do they make people want to act? Are your profiles full?

Be Part of the Conversation

There are many forums on the web that allow you to take part. Just joining the conversation can raise awareness. For instance if you’re a holiday lettings company you can answer all questions (with authority) in tax forums about second homes – appealing to the exact customers you need at the same time.

Network

Online networking is essential for any business. Staying within the same theme you can connect with second home owners through LinkedIn. You can attend owner’s events. With Google at your fingertips you can gain access to every customer you need. If you can’t find a networking event close to you via LinkedIn, launch your own. Have a party, invite holiday home owners and bring the networking to you.

These are just a few ways in which to bring more business in, there are many more. For example, your social media accounts have a host of potential yet they must be interesting.

They must share useful tips and advice, news, blogs, images and videos to give people a reason to follow or like you.

Your website meanwhile can appeal to many searchers in the demographic you’re targeting by having daily or weekly blogs that set you as an authority in the industry. Staying on the same theme for holiday lettings companies this would be subjects such as:

  • Tax breaks for second home owners
  • How to decorate a second home on a budget
  • When do you keep the damage deposit?
  • Bes ways to communicate with holiday makers
  • The top five pubs for a carvery in XXX area
  • Walks to do with a wheelchair
  • Events to look forward to in XXX this summer

And so on.

In short, you need to keep the momentum going and never stop, ever. That’s when people will want to jump on the train to share the journey with you!

Analysis, Commercial Premises, Digital Marketing, Engage, Engagement, eSeller Guides, Featured, Loyalty, Marketing, Promotions, Technology, Your Store

An Introduction to Beacon Technology for eSellers

Martina Mercer
February15/ 2016

By now, as an accomplished eSeller, you will have heard about the new wave of intelligent commerce technology that’s causing a splash online and off.

Beacons are quickly becoming the next big thing for brands and consumers and their rise to fame shows no sign of slowing down. With some experts predicting a market value of £3billion in just a couple of years, is it time you considered beacons for your business?

What Are Beacons?

You may already have a firm grip on what beacons are, however, for those just entering into our marketing world, here’s a quick low down.

Beacons are small, (mobile phone sized) gadgets that fit onto a window, a door, a wall or even a product. Bluetooth enabled they are extremely low energy and can calculate, store and transmit data in an innovative way.

One beacon is impressive, with this in your doorway, you can reach customers up to 70m away, and you can send them messages directly to their mobile phones and you can greet them personally as they enter the store.

All of this information gels with the user experience online, connecting your customers like never before and delivering a supreme personalised shopping experience, but there’s more…

Double Up for Double Impact

If you have four beacons, these can communicate with the app to map the layout of your premises, they can connect to your customers as they browse and send specific messages based on their location. They are so finely tuned that if your customer picks up a dress from the sale rail, your beacon could (depending on how you or your marketing team set it up) send a further 10% off discount direct to the palm of your customer’s hand.

The possibilities are endless and this market is growing at an astonishing rate. In the US, beacons are used for brand/ customer games, point collecting, rewards, reviews, opinions, live barcode scanning, real time deals and much more. In the UK, they’re generally used in store to transmit offers as shoppers browse but that’s all about to change…

Beacons estimote Brand Street

The Future of Beacons in the UK

I’m working with a company that is almost ready to go public. This company is the leader in beacon technology integration in the UK. This company will enable global and local businesses to benefit from beacon technology while streamlining all online social marketing to offer a truly unique, profitable for you, customer experience.

With the use of beacons, the other original features and the incredible people behind this business, you’ll soon be able to use beacons to their full potential by doing very little. If you already have beacons in store, you can easily add them to this company with a single phone call and reach their impressive users along with using beacons for customer loyalty, increasing average basket value, driving sales, creating daily deals, personalised marketing, online advertising, customer acquisition, customer retention, and raising awareness of your brand.

For now, it’s under wraps but if you are considering beacons to boost your brand, stay in touch. In the meantime, follow me for tips and advice on how to use beacons in store and online.

 

eSeller Guides, Health and Safety, Offices, Outsourcing

5 ways employees can avoid trips in the workplace

Fergal Bell
January20/ 2016

Workplace safety is mainly down to the employer who has a duty of care to take all reasonable measures to make sure the area is safe. However, it is important for employees to be mindful of their own safety and to take ownership of minimising trips and falls. Having an accident is never fun, as anyone who has slipped or gone over on their ankle will quickly tell you. Here are a few things you can do to help keep the workplace safe.

1. Report any accidents or near misses

This type of information is very useful for employers because it informs them about problem locations that they may need to address. Nine times out of ten it is the employees who are best placed to know where trips are likely to happen. This means that workers are often the ones who can highlight hazard spots and bring them to the attention of managers.

2. Damaged flooring

Cracked tiles and upturned carpets will often go unnoticed by casual observers, unless misfortune sees them taking a fall. On the other hand, workers who pass through these areas on a regular basis will usually spot any damage straight away. If you see any problems underfoot, let managers know so that they can sort it out.

3. Untidy floor areas

Other potential problems in the workplace are trailing leads and cables. These can be very dangerous as they are sometimes very hard to see but easy to trip over. You can help prevent falls by tidying cables and leads out of harm’s way. This goes for loose paper on floors as well, which is a common cause of falls, as are boxes and other types of packaging that sometimes get strewn about.

4. Food and liquids

Liquids spilled on floors are an obvious hazard but where foodstuffs come in it is not just banana skins that can send us flying. If you see that something has spilled or fallen on the floor, don’t leave it for someone else to sort out. The next person who comes across it could end up seeing it at floor level after they end up on the flat of their back. Take preventative action.

5. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Workplace locations that require PPE carry an inherent risk so if employees are given equipment like safety shoes it is essential to wear it on-site. If you are told to use PPE and are unsure why it should be used or in which areas then ask your manager. Additionally, if you notice any damage to the equipment or it doesn’t seem to be working properly, let your employer know. When PPE is used it is because a known risk has been identified and it is important for you to understand the nature of this risk. Stay safe!

Money Mate provides great deals on employer insurance, visit their website to benefit.

Copywriting Services, Digital Marketing, Web Design

How Do SEO and Web Design Impact the Lead Generation Process

Martina Mercer
January08/ 2016

Summary: Search engine optimisation (SEO) is as essential for increasing the visibility of a company as web design is for pinning down customers once they do find the website. The SEO and web design consultancy business you employ should and likely will understand how these two must work together.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is widely used to enhance the visibility of a brand online. No-one is likely to buy from a company they have never come across and whose website they can’t find. Those in the SEO consultancy business will tell you that in order to gain further growth and sales that they need somewhere to point their SEO efforts towards.

It makes perfect sense for a business wishing to build its popularity online to have a website. The website needn’t necessarily be an ecommerce site however it does still need to serve a purpose. A website that is attractive, functional and gives something back to the visitor is a website that will work best with regards to increasing custom.

Whether the business is an online shop or service or a bricks and mortar shop, it is important that not only do people know where it is; they need to know what it does, what it offers them and encourages them to keep visiting and bringing others with them.

A website that is easy to look at, user friendly with regards to navigation and which has added features such a blog or similar with interesting content will draw people in. Particular attention needs to be paid to the front page of any website as first impressions are paramount. The most successful  SEO consultancy company in the world will not make a visitor to the website into a genuine lead if the home page is poor quality and doesn’t offer them something such as a sale or money off code, something of interest to read or even something to watch. There has to be something to catch the attention on a website, otherwise the SEO work that has gone into a project is defunct.

It is clear that in order for the lead generation process to be a success, namely for the SEO to work brilliantly, get traffic to the door of the website and then for the web design to take over and entice them in, keeping their attention long enough for them to decide to buy or use a service, that the web design needs to be top notch.

Without all of the links in this chain working effectively it is highly unlikely that there will be a significant enough increase in the number of successful leads being generated to equate to any real growth in sales or similar.

When having an initial consultation with an SEO expert it is likely that they will look at the company website, assuming they haven’t already in the lead-up to the meeting. Unless your website is already well designed, customer friendly and likely to turn visitors into customers you will not doubt be advised that some work needs to be done prior to the commencement of the SEO campaign. It is the testament of a professional and reputable company that will inform you of this as strictly speaking, if the aim of the campaign is to increase the number of people that hit the first page then that is perfectly achievable. What a good SEO consultant will want for his or her clients is for them to receive the full benefit that being recognised online and having a good website will allow for this when combined with a nifty SEO plan of action.

Copywriting Services by Martina Mercer

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