Your business probably has the people and tools in place to react to new leads and inbound enquiries. But you might lack an actual strategy for getting those conversations in the first place that generate new leads and enquiries. This can be a gaping hole in your sales funnel that you don’t even realise exists. And it can have a negative impact on your – Volume of new leads an enquiries Sales team’s productivity The missing link is that all-important conversation starter with existing clients and new prospects. You Have to Be in It to Win It “Think of it in the same way as face-to-face ..read more

Choosing the right outsourced telemarketing partner is a business-critical decision. The horror stories circulating about incompetence, hardball tactics, and spammy ‘stalking’ don’t make the decision any easier. It’s the stuff of most business owner’s worst nightmares. After all, investment in outsourced telemarketing is supposed to generate results – not alienate existing clients and send new prospects running a mile. Besides results, reputation is at stake when a telemarketing company is entrusted to be what’s often a prospect’s first touchpoint with a business. Paying for the privilege of ..read more

Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. It’s true about exhibiting, because visitors – the ones you want to speak to anyway – don’t have the time or the inclination for fluff and niceties. When preparation is lacking, too many exhibitors are deflated when closing time approaches and they haven’t got any genuinely red-hot leads for their time and efforts. But, be honest if this rings true. How well did you prepare for your conversations with visitors? Did you prepare at all or did you just launch in to pleasantries or a full-on sales pitch as soon as you got eye contact with a passing visitor? It ..read more

In simplistic terms the act of marketing is letting people know about the products or services you have to sell. It leads to sales. But sales and marketing aren’t one and the same thing. David Lomas, CEO of M3 Media Publishing, has been probing the difference between sales and marketing with businesses exhibiting at the Business Revival Series taking place at Excel London, on 9th & 10th March 2022. M3 Media Publishing is the media partner for the show. As part of this deal, David and his team are working with 350 exhibitors who are participating in his established Thought Club online event ..read more

In the information age, telemarketing has come on in leaps and bounds. For appointment-setting experts, Toucan Telemarketing, data and technology go hand-in-hand, despite favouring the more ‘traditional’ approach. If there is one thing that the ongoing pandemic has taught us, it’s that we need to be adaptable. Nobody knows this better than Toucan Telemarketing founder, Paula Bates, whose agency has weathered the storm while larger competitors struggle. “We’ve seen a lot of our competitors in hot water – either making redundancies or declaring profit warnings,” says Paula. “Much of this is down ..read more

As Britain’s workforce continues to transition back into the ‘new normal’, things have changed for Toucan Telemarketing. The appointment-setting experts, based in Congleton, have weathered the storm of the pandemic and are looking forward to the future. “We turned 19 recently and have lots to look forward to,” says founder Paula Bates. “Things are picking up and a lot of clients are coming back in.” So, what is the secret to staying afloat during COVID-19? As Paula says, it’s about being flexible. “In many ways it’s much better to be a smaller company as you can absorb impact better,” says Pau ..read more

Industry exhibitions are great for meeting existing and prospective clients as well as raising and maintaining brand visibility. However, for all their worth, exhibitions are expensive and time-consuming – not to mention the energy that goes into planning, travelling and following up. It was this realisation that led Mark Young, Founder of the Virtual Machine XPO and MD of John Walton Machine Tools, to find a better way of bringing together industry experts. Trade Fairs Today “It just struck me that the trade fair, per se, was becoming old fashioned and dated” Mark Young, Virtual Machine ..read more

As the whole nation adapts to new and varied working patterns, one team is prepared for the changes. Paula Bates, Managing Director at Toucan Telemarketing, has been prepared for this scenario since the business was born. Working remotely as part of their clients’ teams, Toucan Telemarketing helps acquire face-to-face meetings for sales managers. “We don’t like to call it working from home,” says Paula. “We like to call it being a remote part of the team.” Naturally, with the ongoing governmental changes, Paula’s team have had to adapt, and are well-positioned on how to advise others. Be Sen ..read more

As an industry that relies on the coming together of people, hospitality is one of those hit hardest by COVID-19. With many global destinations impacted by travel restrictions, and signs of light at the end of the lockdown tunnel, what is the key to hospitality turning things around? “The worst thing that hotels can do is stop marketing,” suggests Nick Wagg, Managing Director of corporate destination management company, All Points North. “While it is our responsibility focus on the wellbeing of our staff, we must also ensure our prospective customers know we are there” Nick Wagg, All Point ..read more

We are living in unprecedented times and all of us are making significant adjustments to the way we live. This continues to be true in the business world, with many people’s livelihoods at stake, not just for business owners, but for their staff as well. Whilst it’s certainly difficult for businesses to find ways of remaining competitive and keeping afloat, one of the challenges many companies face is customer communication. “With lots of people self-isolating, and with non-essential workers being advised to stay home, many customer-service centres are left understaffed and ill-equippe ..read more