How quick do you follow up leads? Do you respond as quick as you know you should? Do you know how quick you need to respond before a lead goes cold? Read on…

Research carried out by Harvard Business Review on how quick online leads are followed up shows that most companies, in most sectors, do not respond fast enough.  Spending by all sectors including financial services, cars, education, IT, health care, professional services, etc, on internet marketing online advertising to attract leads was $22.7 billion in 2009 and it’s growing.

Despite the huge amounts of time and money spent attracting leads, their research showed that many companies are guilty following up too slow, or even worse not following up at all!

(c) Harvard Business Review

Out of over 2000 companies based in the USA, to follow up a web generated test lead the results were as follows:

• 37% responded within an hour
• 16% responded within 1 to 24 hours
• 24% responded in more than 24 hours
• 23% didn’t responded at all

The average response time, among companies that responded within 30 days, was 42 hours.

In my experience their research is spot on, many of the businesses I’ve worked were guilty of the same mistakes. Reasons for not following up leads are varied, too business on day-to-day matters, disorganised, poor systems, unmotivated sales staff, etc. I even know of one company where the person responsible for qualifying leads gained from various sourced including exhibitions and advertising, and distributing leads to internal sales and external field sales people was in fact putting hundreds of leads in a draw in her desk as she was planning on leaving her job, the leads were only to be found when she left the company.  All companies big and small should do their own research in this area to see how they are performing, and hopefully it can be easily resolved and a quick win to winning more business and making more money.

Harvard Business Review goes further with their research and examined how quick online leads go cold. Their research showed that businesses that contacted the prospect within 1 hour of receiving an online lead were nearly 7 times more likely to qualify the lead as those that tried to contact the prospect an hour later and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or longer. This research shows how important it is to have good systems in place enabling prospects are contacted quickly.

Harvard are going to do further research to causes and identify possible solutions to the problem of failing to follow up leads quickly. This will probably consider a number of areas including organisational cultures, procedures, software solutions etc. Many large companies have very sophisticated software systems, but still perform poorly when responding to leads, and many small to medium sized businesses are not aware of affordable software available to help them with lead, for example Hubspot internet marketing software can provide lead visit notifications as well as the notification when a lead completes a form or sends an online enquiry.

Does your business need to improve its system for following up leads? Let us know!

The HMRC tax webinars are in small bite size chunks lasting around 30 minutes and are both live tax webinars and pre-recorded tax webinars. The online tax seminars cover a wide range of subjects, some generic to all small businesses and others to appeal to specific types of business. Subjects include:

• Expenses and capital allowances- allowable business expenses that you can claim, calculating tax allowances for vehicles and equipment when newly self-employed.
• Being an employer – responsibilities, reporting, statutory sick pay etc, annual returns, deadlines.
• The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) – taking on and paying subcontractors etc
• Self Assessment – employment status, telling HMRC you’re self-employed, National Insurance, bookkeeping and accounting records you need to keep, completing a self assessment tax return and paying tax.
• Limited companies – what a limited company is, how to establish one, and the obligations of a limited company .
• VAT – what VAT is, how it works, when and how to register, what to do once registered, items included and excluded in VAT, different VAT Accounting schemes

To view the online tax webinars all you need to do is register for the live webinars or enter your email for the pre-recorded webinars.

For more specific guidance and advise relating to your business you should always ask your accountant or business advisor.

Reaching top position on Google takes work and isn’t done over night. It takes a mix of on-page and off-page SEO, from writing content to making sure the pages are optimised correctly with url’s, headers, titles, links etc all containing the targeted keyword.

Below is the Softwood keyword in the top 2 positions! Having the top position is good, but the top 2 positions is even better and not surprising the website gets lots of traffic looking for this keyword.

Here is the all important Timber Merchants Liverpool keyword in first position in organic search. Since achieving first place on Google the website’s traffic has grown substantially because the keyword is so popular and often searched for.

The chipboard keyword below is in number 1 position even above the Liverpool Echo reporting on a Sonae chipboard plant story.

And finally, below is the Google search for keyword timber cutting which is another important keyword as the company has a specialist timber cutting service that it wants to promote. The client website is listed in the top 3 places which should definately drive sales.

“A critical friend can be defined as a trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides data to be examined through another lens, and offers critiques of a person’s work as a friend. A critical friend takes the time to fully understand the context of the work presented and the outcomes that the person or group is working toward. The friend is an advocate for the success of that work”. Costa, A. and Kallick, B. (1993)

Critical Friend…

• Confidential
• External perspective
• Air ideas
• Business support
• Trusted advisor
• An accountability partner
• And much much more!

The Critical Friend as an accountability partner can be crucial in helping small business owners reach goals and maximise performance. Research has shown that 95% of business owners and managers achieve their goals when they have somebody holding them accountable, whereas only 43% achieve their goals and success without it. Deadlines can drift, focus can be lost, excuses can be made, etc, but being accountable can make all the difference.

Critical Friends can be difficult to find as friends give praise but often aren’t very good at criticising, whereas people who aren’t friends are good at criticising but not very good at being supportive. A John MacBeath; Professor of Education Leadership, Cambridge University explains this concept…

The Critical Friend is a powerful idea, perhaps because it contains an inherent tension. Friends bring a high degree of unconditional positive regard. Critics are, at first sight at least, conditional, negative and intolerant of failure. Perhaps the critical friend comes closest to what might be regarded as ‘true friendship’ – a successful marrying of unconditional support and unconditional critique.

Own a small or medium sized business in Liverpool, Southport, Preston Manchester or the surrounding area? Why not get in touch today to see how a Critical Friend could be your true friend and support you and your business?

Strong Business Services Ltd

Liverpool Office: 51 Sandhills Lane, Liverpool, L5 9XJ

Tel: 0845 838 7101

Sage Accounts

With over 50% market share, Sage Accounts is the market leader in accounting software for small businesses.

If you are looking for a new accounting system or someone to manage it for your business, we can work with you to establish the most appropriate system, obtain discounted prices, install it, and if required operate the  bookkeeping for your small businesses.

Being bases in the North West, we work businesses in the Southport, Liverpool, and Preston areas, from project management and manufacturing companies, to training and event companies.

Hubspot Internet Marketing Software

HubSpot is an innovative company based in the US and quickly expanding worldwide due to the success of their Internet Marketing software that is used to help get websites get found and convert web visitors into customers, while at the same time making the whole task easier to understand.

As well as the software, Hubspot as a company provides huge amounts of educational webinars, white papers, blog posts etc to help business people understand best practice and keep up with the fast moving pace of the Internet.

Being one of the only Hubspot Certified Partners in the UK, we can help with the installation, training, and ongoing management of the system.

“Richard is an asset to us at Unique Improvements. His skills and insight have enabled us to progress with some very challenging projects that we would normally have struggled with. Alongside this, his professionalism and businesslike approach has dovetailed nicely with our company culture.”

Linda Henry, Director
www.uniqueimprovements.co.uk

Good People Services Ltd

“Richard is proving to be a great help to me on a range of projects. He is helpful, competent and a great sounding board. Top qualities: Personable, Good Value.”

Michael Sweeney, Director
www.goodpeopleservices.com

Vogel Project Management Ltd

“Richard is an excellent asset to have if you own or manage a business. Whether you need help with accounts, marketing or general business support, Richard always goes the extra mile to provide a quality service. I would not hesitate to recommend his services to any business. Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity”

Stephen Vogel, Director
www.vogelpm.co.uk

Knowsley Timber

“I have worked with Richard for some time now on a number of projects and have always found his services resourceful, flexible and excellent value, and also effective in adding value to my business. He is a creative, conscientious and competent professional, and I am happy to recommend his services”.

Andrew Holgate, Director
www.knowsleytimber.co.uk

Get in touch…we’d love to have you as a happy customer too!

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Failing to listen – whether it’s because of enthusiasm or out of desperation entrepreneurs often don’t want to hear any other view than those supporting their idea. After all, if they listened to somebody telling them not to pursue their big idea, and if they were right, what would they have to do…stop their beloved project? The thought of that can make people proceed only to find out later, when they have lost money, they should have listened.

Try to think with your head, not your heart, listen to other views, not that other people are always right, but their gather opinions along with your own and try and think through the pros and cons logically so that you have a more rounded picture. Mistakes still happen, and we all make mistakes, but doing this will help you in your decision making.

A number of entrepreneurs and business owners find our critical friend service a help in this area to provide that external sounding board that is so often an essential element in decision making.

Failing to understand the legalities – Starting a business and legal frameworks go hand on hand, whether it be business structure, taxes, health and safety, employment law, the list goes on and every business owner needs to either understand it or know where to turn to get advice, e.g. accountants can help with the business structure, accounts and bookkeeping.

Failing to understand legalities or failing to get advice can prove costly. Choosing the right business structure save money via lower taxes (sole trader, partnership, and limited company are the most common but there are others), and failing to adhere to other regulations can be costly in terms of fines and other legal charges, so it’s important to get it right.

Failing to get a grip of the finances – Businesses can’t exist without sales, and of course the operations side of the business needs to be run effectively and efficiently, but all businesses can easily be doomed if the finances aren’t managed.  Businesses can be profitable but run out of cash causing them to close down. Remember, turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is reality.

The problem here is most entrepreneurs and small business owners hate the numbers part of the business, they didn’t start up to be an accountant, but some don’t like to pay for it to be done either. All businesses should monitor their finances. Get a good bookkeeper and accountant! Cutting back in this area is false economy. It’s no good looking at the accounts once a year to see how the business has performed; it might be tool late then. It doesn’t cost a fortune to get monthly or quarterly management accounts products, and if this is done the cost of the final accounts should be cheaper.

Another fault is business owners try and take on the management of the bookkeeping themselves to try and reduce accountant costs, but this more often than not diverts their attention away from running the business, or robs them of valuable leisure and family time which should be just as important.

Failing to manage growth – many business start-ups that are successful in growing sales, and profits, go out of business because they grow too quickly. This is linked to the previous point about finances because it means they run out of cash. They take on too much work forcing them to employ more staff, invest in equipment, overspend on marketing, basically overspend which reduces their return on investment and ultimately leads to cash flow problems. Investing is fine in the short term and if it’s planned with finance available, but all too often it isn’t planned which leads to problems.

Thinking of starting a business, we provide a excellent business support services from business development, marketing and internet marketing support, to bookkeeping and accounting specially designed for smaller businesses in our local area of Southport, Liverpool, Wirral, Merseyside, and Preston, Lancashire and across the UK.

There are numerous mistakes budding entrepreneurs make when starting a business, from marketing, planning and research, to the finances bookkeeping and accounts, here are just a few:

Failing to qualify the business idea – People setting out in business are often enthusiastic (and sometimes desperate e.g. after losing their employed job they rush to find something, anything) and hastily rush into business thinking it will succeed without considering if there is a market for their idea, if it will appeal to customers, if it is profitable, or if they have the skills, experience, drive and determination.

Failing to do research – Do you know what market and niche you are targeting, size of market, demand for the product or service, competitors, logistics, financials, pricing, margins, legal aspects, etc? In their enthusiasm or haste many entrepreneurs fail to do research and it comes back to bite them later.

Failing to be focused – Many people start in business without being focused, they try to be all things to all people, and constantly change their course when they hit the smallest obstacles. What is your vision? What do you want to achieve? What differences do you want to make? When? Think about this before starting. You can then be focused and also track your progress, and set goals and objectives.

Failing to write a business plan – Writing a business plan is often seen as a chore instead of a help, and if a plan is done at all it ends up in just being put in a draw to gather dust. However, poor planning can result in failure.

If your business needs to raise money then it will need a plan, but even if that’s not the case all businesses should have a plan as it will help you reach your goals.

Writing a business plan is sometimes avoided because some people do not know where to start. If you are writing the plan to raise finance then external advice could be recommendable, but a business plan that is a working plan written to help your business, shouldn’t be long and complicated, anyone should be able to do it. It is the thought process that is important, not the length and complexity. It should be short and to the point, no more than 10 pages in length, detailing its proposed products/services, market, competitors, financial requirements and forecasts, etc. It should very importantly have measurable goals as this will bring the plan to life and help you measure your progress on a regular basis and make the necessary changes if things aren’t going to plan.

Like any other plan, a business plan should be achievable. It’s no good forecasting impressive financials if they are not achievable. Equally, you should think about worst case scenarios, e.g. what happens if sales forecasts are a lot lower, would that mean the business runs out of money quickly?

More reasons why many start-ups fail >>

Thinking of starting a business and need support, someone to use as a sounding board / critical friend, a flexible and affordable service to help research your idea, help with the finances, and much much more? We work with startups and small to medium sized business locally in Southport, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston and also across the UK and overseas. Why not contact us today?