You may have a great product, but not everyone is going to want to buy it .. So rather than spending lots of money promoting your services to anyone and everyone, it’s far better to be more targeted and promote your product / services to companies that are more likely to buy your services.

That’s why it’s important to know what an ideal customer for your business looks like.

Your ideal customer may have a job title in a specific industry types, in a particular postcode area, the company have a certain number of employees or turnover. But unless you know who the right customer is to sell your product to, you can’t expect to carry out a successful direct marketing campaign and gain more of your ideal customers.

What my video New Prospects

As well as knowing who your ideal customers are you may want to ask yourself…

• Who do you like working with? Believe it or not you can have a choice of who you want to work with… Demanding customers can drain your energy – its far better to work with pleasant customers who you enjoy working with.
• Which customers make it worth your while? Not only profitability wise but also who are prompt payers – Big named customers may look great on the books but if a company damages your cash flow that can hinder your whole business.
• Who are your repeat customers? Its good to build up strong relationships with people so they automatically think of you when needing your services.
• What do they want and need from you? Not only product wise but think of their other expectations such as delivery and customer service.

An ideal customer is one who has found an effective solution to their problems in your product or service. They doesn’t only purchase, but they enthuse and recommend you and your product.

Often good customers are ones who you really enjoy working with too, they may you feel good, energised and motivated to keep doing the good job…

When you are completely aware of your ideal customer and have a clear understanding of their characteristics, their requirements and expectations you are able to tap into this information and write a marketing message that resonates with similar prospects.

Other Blogs

10 reasons not to buy cheap business data

How is Consumer data collected

Getting a return on your investment 

List Brokers work for you  

For more details & help with your marketing please contact Joanne on 01274 483936

Let the adventure begin

Wednesday 3am – alarm went off – didn’t sleep much either perhaps in anticipation of the ride. So we eventually get over to Huddersfield on a coach to Yeovil…

The coach was very quiet all the way down – People getting some sleep -Arrived at Yeovil at 12pm all changed and ready for the off ….

Day 1 Yeovil to Bath (46 miles)

Setting off from Yeovil everyone was in high spirits – Local people waving and clapping as we leave the town..

The First 3 miles of the event seemed uneventful until we passed a fellow rider sprawled out having ridden into a van  ( broken his wrist and messed up his face a little blood was everywhere ).   I think we call came down with a bump as to the potential dangers of the challenge.

Ride into Bath – I found the ride into Bath good – apart from 100 yards away from the hotel – just about to stop at the roundabout and DOH forgot to unclip .. down I went ! landing on my ribs and winding myself …. Oh god Im in pain !!

A night in out in Bath was cut short, shattered from the lack of sleep the nigth before but also mindful that we had to get up early and ride 96 miles the next day.

Steve and I ready for the off

Day 2 Bath to Solihull ( 96 miles)

So head off we go from Bath .. Now there was a massive hill coming out of Bath that took us all by surprise!!   I was just waiting for Breakfast to reappear !!

After that it was on to the quiet country roads to out first stop of the day Tetbury. What a lovely town.

Around about 30 miles outside of Bath one of our team gets a puncture – So our team captain Steve helps with the puncture… Only to find out that having sat on a drain cover and put his foot down a drain … Yes his foot had slipped in to a hole!! So when he pulled it out he had a nice new ankle bracelet .. well we couldn’t stop laughing!

Steves ankle

So the trip from Bath to Solihull wasn’t exactly smooth. Again our team suffered another puncture which put us back a full 2 hours.. so we had some catching up to do !!

Unfortunately we got lost following the directions – As we were faced with a choice of Oxford or Cheltenham – as you can imagine a long way from Solihull!! Finally one of our group had a phone with walking directions to Solihull…

Unfortunately when we got to Evesham it started to rain.. and Rain hard it did – so for 4 hours we were out riding in the cold wet miserable conditions – having got lost we had missed the food stations, we were all a little low at this point.. Finally coming into the hotel at 10.10pm .. cold wet hungary … but with food being stopped at 10pm there was little to do except peel off our clothes have a hot shower and go to bed.

Day 3 – Solihull to Sheffield ( 96 miles)

So having peeled on out wet gear we headed out again – determined not to get lost, wet or a foot stuck!! So we head off up the A roads in search of t’ norf !!

Unfortunately one of the A road happened to be the A38 – this was one of the most scary parts of the journey – there we were cycling as lorries rushed past, caravans wafted in cutting us up, sales reps rushing home for the bank holiday … 30+ miles of this road of death was very scary. How we reached Derby Ill never know!!

The treck from Derby to Sheffield was the hilliest.. long sweeping hills that you just knew you had to climb praying you’d see a sign to Sheffield and home!

Eventually hitting Sheffield at 9.30pm we headed for our rooms to change and get some hot food. Curry  here we come!!

Day 4 Sheffield to Huddersfield ( 26 miles )

The trip from Sheffield to Huddersfield was great – people cheering us on our way,  beeping their car horns, waving and clapping showing their support, this was a very special feeling knowing you had finished a truly hard task and raised a lot of money for charity!

So we headed to Ravensknowle Park where we have a little party before heading off to Galpharm Stadium for our lap of honour.

 Finishing 

The reason for doing the bike ride was to raise over £1000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Huddersfield Town Academy – Every £1 raised 50p will be going to Yorkshire Air Ambulance and 50p will be going to the club academy https://www.justgiving.com/joanne-clayton

I wanted to do this challenge not only because it’s for 2 great causes but also as a personal challenge – strength and determination…
Now having completed it I have met some great friends on the way – understand the meaning of camaraderie and team work .. but above all I feel very proud of myself.

OUR - Lap of Honour 

And of course Special thank you to the support team – they were fantastic – never once telling you the truth about how far we had to go!! Thank you guys -

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far - Please show your support and donate what ever you can  https://www.justgiving.com/joanne-clayton

Secured Mail has signed a contract with BFPO allowing them to gain special access into their postal operation at RAF Northolt near Ruislip Middlesex.

Previously many ordering systems could not accept BFPO postcodes which meant that military personnel struggled to obtain some mailing and parcels. However following developments by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Mail a new specialist BFPO postcodes set have been produced and incorporated into the Royal Mail Post Office Address File allowing companies to send mailing and parcels to Military personnel.

So what does this mean?

Simply put it means that Secured Mail will be offering companies a full British Forces Postal Services allowing them to send mail and parcels to British Forces personnel and their families who are serving either overseas or in the UK.

The pricing is a simple tariff with a large 30 kilos (specific agreements)  being made available for parcels and packets.

For more details contact Graham Rothery – Head of International Mail Solutions on 07786 262851

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New Lucrative Market Sector – British Forces & their families.

Previously British Forces Post Office (BFPO) numbers were incompatible with many ordering systems and without a UK postcode, Military personnel struggles to obtain goods and services.

However following developments by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Mail a new specialist BFPO postcodes set have been produced and incorporated into the Royal Mail Post Office Address File.

This development allows UK business to include these postcodes into their ordering systems, which allows them to provide product and services to British Forces Staff and families around the world.

Lt Col Ian Stark, the BFPO head of policy and plans, said “The database opens up access to Internet services and the ability to carry out Internet transactions, whether it is online shopping, registering your car or applying for a mortgage or credit card,”

Companies will have access to promote their products and services to a potentially lucrative market sector that has been previously untouched.

Joanne Clayton of Data Bubble Consultancy Limited said “This is great news for clients wanting to target a previously ignored market sector. Using the consumer data we provide,  clients’ will be able to promote their services to a new and potentially lucrative market.”

For more information about consumer data and the BFPO Data available contact Joanne on 01274 483936

Other Helpful Blogs

20 helpful tips when creating a direct mail marketing campaign.

How is transactional consumer data collected?

Why List Brokers work for you.

Challenges

A Midlands based Hospitality & Catering Equipment Supplier wanted to expand into other industry sectors within the Midlands area.

Already supplying to local small hotels & businesses they wanted to expand their clientele. Having recently won a lucrative contract with a 5 star hotel they felt that this may be an area to expand into. The also wanted to promote their products and services to other ideal prospects such as conference and exhibition centres.

Current activity included direct mailing of special promotions, email broadcasting to bring customers to the website and telephone marketing for repeat orders.

From this they established that they wanted to conduct a direct mail and email campaign targeting the senior named contact followed by a telephone marketing program to these new business prospects. -

Watch my Video on Direct Marketing & selecting the right data for your campaign

Solutions –

A couple of databases were presented including -

The Hotels database

With over 4900 hotels in the UK this database is one of the most comprehensive databases available – collected via telephone on a 6 month rolling basis additional information is gathered about the hotel including the star rating, the number of beds whether they are part of a chain or independent, plus facilities within the hotel such as spa, beauty treatment rooms, gym swimming pool etc

The Leisure Database

With over 100,000 key decision maker records UK wide this database is one of the most comprehensive and accurate leisure databases available on the UK market. The data is collected via telephone research which is conducted on a 6 monthly basis.

From both of these databases we were able to select 5 star hotels, Golf clubs, Conference and Exhibition centres.

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Results

A direct mailing campaign was conducted to introducing the company, their products along with a discount voucher off their first order. A follow up email was sent a few days later reinforcing the awareness and directing customers to the website

The telephone sales staff then made follow up telephone calls contacting the key decision makers to introduce the company, build rapport, establishes current suppliers and gain new sales.

New sales increased by 15% in the first 3 months with repeat orders to come making the campaign a great success.

If you want to be part of the next success story contact Joanne at Data Bubble on 01274 483936

Related Blogs

10 Reasons why not to buy cheap business data 

20 Tips for a successful direct marketing campaign

Why list brokers work for you 

Watch my Video on Direct Marketing

Thanks to for the Picture

I recently connected with someone via twitter –I liked their tweets and felt comfortable in contacting them direct to ask for a quote. So I dialled the telephone number and was surprised by the call diverting direct to a standard O2 voice mail. Unfortunately the image and credibility of the company was dashed.

I can now understand the figure of 79% of callers will not ring back if their call goes unanswered!

As a company I help companies to gain more new customers by providing data for their direct marketing activity whether that’s direct mailing, telemarketing or email broadcasting.

However it doesn’t matter how much time you spend on your marketing plans or how much money you spend promote your business if there’s no one there to answer the telephone then what’s the point?

How many calls have you missed? I would welcome you comments

For more marketing updates & tips you can follow me on twitter -  http://twitter.com/#!/JoDatabubble

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Many companies are contacting people or companies outside of the UK – with trade barriers come down trading becomes easier. Howevers its just as important to ensure the data you hold is accurate and up to date.

Here are some ways to help you

International address validation & correction

We are able to quickly clean and format files according to international postal standards for many countries world wide. The address processing identifies and correct addresses in over 200 countries quickly and efficiently

We analyze and verify every address, completing any missing information such as city names or postal and postcodes to make sure the addresses are complete and, therefore, deliverable.

Benefits

• Shows company professionalism by correct spelling mistakes
• Improves delivery rates by amending any missing address elements
• Improves direct marketing response rates by ensuring the direct mailing piece gets to the right place
• Protects your companies reputation

International De-duplication

This service is also aimed at saving you money on printing and postage. Ensuring your message reaches any potential customer only once. The matching process allows us to sift out hard to find duplicate records and variations.

Making de-duplication part of your direct mail marketing budget will do more than just reduce direct mail costs – it also prevents the awkwardness and embarrassment of sending multiple mailings to the same person for a relatively small cost.

Cleaning your data prior to a direct mailing can pay huge dividends for a relatively small cost.

Benefits 

• Saves you money on print & postage cots
• Improves response rates as people only receive one direct mail piece
• Reduces complaints

We are able to verify or add new telephone number on to international data for many countries worldwide. The processing can verify an existing telephone number held or can append a new telephone number where available quickly and efficiently

Benefits 

• Saves money on telemarketing costs contacting only the right people
• Reduces frustration of wrong numbers
• Improves telemarketing campaign conversation rates

Knowing the quality of your data can be the key to a successful direct marketing campaign, which is why we provide you with a free data quality audit prior to your telemarketing or direct mail campaign. We advise the improvements and changes we can make along with recommendations allowing you to assess the benefits of cleansing your database. Call 01274 483936 for your free data audit.

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Data Cleaning

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 European Suppression file

International Mail Check list from Royal Mail 

Are you TPS Compliant?

If you are a making telesales and telemarketing telephone calls then you are required by law to check the telephone numbers against the telephone preference service.

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 UK  companies, charities and individuals are required by law to check telephone numbers being used for sales and marketing calls every 28 days. They are required to remove numbers that are registered against the Telephone Preference & Corporate Telephone Preference and not to make any unsolicited sales calls to those numbers that are registered.

Made simple…  this is a list of consumers & companies who have registered stating that they do not want to receive sales and marketing calls.

So why should you screen against these files?

Companies including charities not meeting their legal obligations can be fined up to £6,500 for each registered number they call.

So what are the differences between The Telephone Preference and the Corporate Telephone Preference service?

The Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) is a register of corporate organisations (Limited & PLC Companies, Schools, Hospitals, Charities and Government)  who have registered their telephone number wishing not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls to all their organisation’s telephone numbers.

It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to the numbers registered on this list.

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a register of individuals, sole traders & partnerships who have registered their telephone number wishing not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls.

It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS.

So should I check against The TPS, CTPS or both?

If you are only calling domestic numbers you only need to check against the Telephone Preference Service.

If you are calling businesses, then you must check against The Corporate Telephone Preference Service, however you may also need to check against the Telephone Preference Service as well, this is due to the act that sole traders & partnership are registered on this file. If in doubt then you should screen against both.

Can I call my exiting customers that are listed on the TPS file?

The regulation states that you should not make any unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals or corporate who have listed their telephone number (s) on the TPS file unless the subscribers has told you directly that they do not object to you calling them. i.e. they have taken positive action or given an indication that invites or opts in to receiving calls.

Where a customer subsequently registers with the TPS, companies can contact the customer however it is good practice to clarify that they do not object to such calls.

Data Bubbles Data Services 

All data purchases via Data Bubble – whether that’s Business Data or Consumer data is TPS / CTPS screened prior to output

Further Information

Please see the Information Commissioners’ Extract available at www.ico.gov.uk

If you would like to keep up todate then please connect to me on linked in http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jodatabubble

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Tips for telemarketing Success

Data Cleaning – Make sure you contact the right person

Do you screen your data every 28 days?  Have you been fined? I would welcome your comments

“This number is not recognised” …

“Dead landline”…

How frustrating are these types of calls for your staff?

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These types of calls cost companies thousands every year …. Not only in wasted time but frustrate staff !

How would you like to identify these records before your telemarketing campaign?

Well we can help!

Data Bubble can provide you with a landline telephone validation service that can accurately identify dead or unproductive landline telephone numbers on your database. The service runs a legal enquiry on a landline telephone number at the network exchange level. This identifies non-productive and valid telephone numbers and at no point is the telephone subscriber contacted.

Landline testing can identify the following

• Dead numbers including – dead lines / numbers that are out of order /incorrect number /number not recognised
• Highlight that this number does not receive income calls / Subscriber rejects calls
• Identify number not accepting incoming calls
• Identify landlines with a “number changed” announcement
• Number in service (normal working order)

The service is 100% legal, fully compliant with Ofcom rules & regulations and adheres to all DMA guidelines.

Ideal service for Telemarketing companies, Market Research Agencies, List owners, Companies with Call centres plus more

If you want to save money on your telemarketing then contact Joanne 01274 483936 for more information.

HLR Lookup also known as Mobile Database Cleaning or Mobile Number Verification validates the mobile subscriber, verifying if the mobile telephone number is valid and switched on, Answerphone or Incorrect / Invalid number.

Suitable for clients of all sizes, in all countries, the advanced HLR Lookup can correctly identify the live status of mobile numbers in over 200 countries.

Jason Bromley – MMG European Sales Manager comments;  “We have seen significant growth in the use of our HLR Lookup product suite in the past few months, as advertisers, marketers and brands look to harness the power of mobile communications, either via SMS or Tele-marketing. HLR Lookup enables clients to only contact Live Numbers. Call Centres are now cleaning their databases to ensure they are not wasting time trying to contact invalid or dead numbers. Marketers using SMS as an advertising / contact channel, are now screening their lists, before deploying their campaign. Our latest enhancements to our HLR Lookup product range, have enabled the simultaneous real-time validation of mobile numbers, for all industry types wishing to use mobile in their marketing mix”.

HLR screening service provides complete coverage of all UK telephone numbers and is ideal for Fraud Prevention, and accurate consumer marketing, either telemarketing or SMS.

So to increase the response rates and boost the ROI of your mobile marketing campaign

For more information contact Joanne a free no obligation trial 01274 483936

picture thanks to mobile blogs