Welcome!

Take part in our survey and WIN!

In this issue we want to know your thoughts, experiences and attitudes to winning business in our new survey. Take part and you could win a fantastic theatre break for two in London!

Read on for more information.

We've also got news on our new upgrades to the site, plus advice on the importance of validating new business enquiries.
We hope you find this issue of interest, and please do tell us about your experiences in the survey.

The Seed team

Know your Customer

When you receive a lead from TheSeed.com it is vital that you contact the enquirer by telephone as soon as possible. Not only that, but it is important that you have a good level of knowledge about your enquirer.

Ensure that you thoroughly read all of the in-depth information provided to you by The Seed and prepare yourself prior to calling the enquirer by doing a bit of research. Take a look at their website and gather as much background information as possible. Demonstrating an understanding of the clients needs will create the right impression and improve your chances of winning business.

Here at The Seed we value the feedback received from all of our clients. We have therefore made some upgrades to our systems, which will result in a noticeable difference to our customers' lead generation service, offering improved targeting, qualification and response management.
We've introduced an enhanced pre-qualification process, based on questions specific to each market sector. This allows customers of The Seed to quote more accurately to prospects, thus improving the chances of new business generation.

In addition, the upgraded service offers more flexibility within the individual Management Area and allows you to choose whether or not to receive a range of alert options, including Lead Awaiting Validation and Low Credit alerts. The streamlined process also gives you the option to view the value of leads awaiting validation and those that have failed the qualification process.

This new system has been developed in consultation with our customers and is designed to help you win more business cost effectively. If you have any question about The Seeds new upgrades, please click here to contact us.

You know the situation. You get a new business call and are so glad someone wants to talk to you that you set off like a bloodhound without qualifying the prospect. Before you know it, you've travelled from Scotland to Essex for a half hour general chat and a cup of tea with no real chance of any business coming your way!

Far better is to validate any new business enquiries before you put precious time and money into business meetings and proposal preparation. Look at who the prospect is, what they do and where they sit in the market. What exactly are they looking for and what can you do for them? Do you know what their budget is? Can they afford you?
It's also worth considering how much the prospect knows about you. Where did they find out about you and do they really know what you have to offer? How well are your products or services suited to what the prospect is looking for?

TheSeed.com can help you in this area by only providing leads which have first been pre-qualified, saving you valuable time and eliminating the risk of calling back poor quality or bogus leads.

When you receive a genuine lead, the trick is to qualify this lead as soon possible to show your commitment to the potential customer. Telephone the enquirer immediately to acknowledge receipt of the enquiry and let the prospective client know that you are interested in their business.
Businesses ensuring a fast response by phone report conversion rates of up to 200% higher, compared to when they simply email the enquirer or put off phoning until later. You can then go on to validate your prospect properly before you take things further and commit to a business meeting.

It is also important to gather relevant information about any business meetings you decide to take part in. What kind of information is the prospect looking to receive and what do they hope to get out of the meeting? Will you be expected to present? Do you have enough information to enable you to provide the prospect with costs? Will you be pitching against anybody else?

These are all vital questions to ask before heading to the meeting. So follow the process of validate, research and plan, and you'll be sure to maximise your chances of developing new business opportunities.

Payroll Services / Outsourcing

Monday 16th of April 2007 14:53
Company : The Walt Disney Company
I am investigating our options with regards to payroll systems. This enquiry covers our UK set up, although I would be keen to understand which countries you have demonstrable capability in. We currently operate five payrolls, the largest covering 1,200 store staff. The second largest covers 1,000 staff and the remaining cover approx. 500 staff. I would be keen to hear what our options are, what other retailers are doing and what the market is generally doing in terms of outsourcing.
Many thanks

Additional notes from TheSeed.com:
Telephoned by Liza on 16.04.07 @ 14.59
She would like to make a decision on this by the end of the month, all of her staff are monthly salaried apart from the store staff who are weekly paid. All of the staff are paid by BACS and she would like it to work the same with the pay slip coming back to the companies and then distributed from there.

Telemarketing

Tuesday 3rd of April 2007 12:46
I would like to enquire about the possibility of using your company to generate leads (set appointments) for our team of field agents. We are seeking to set up a pilot in the North East of England (Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and Teesside) to accommodate our two area managers currently operating in designated areas North and South of the Tyne.
We would be looking to contact small to medium sized companies in the construction industry, Builders, Plumbers, Joiners, Electricians and Painters etc and create appointments for our agents to sell our service. For information about our service you can visit our company website.

We would be looking to sustain two field agents on this pilot campaign over a four day week with a minimum of three appointments a day. Therefore we would be looking for 24 qualified appointments a week.
We currently have a staff of telemarketers earning commission on qualified appointments and sales which equates to £20 per sale (£365 package).
I would appreciate it if you could contact me with as much information as possible about the procedures, cost structure and time frame we could expect if we were to use your services.

Additional notes from TheSeed.com:
Telephoned by Liza on 03.04.07 @ 13.28
Neil already has a Telemarketing team but is looking to expand this urgently, please could you provide Neil with quotes ASAP.

Web Design & Development

Tuesday 17th of April 2007 14:24

The brief is to provide a simple 7 page website for our Mortgage Brokerage. We need a clean, corporate design with a web 2.0 look. The pages should be as follows:
Home
About Us
Residential
Buy to Let
Bridging
New Build
Contact Us
If you have any further queries - please just call or email
Mant thanks,
Bruno Newman
Director

Additional notes from TheSeed.com:
Telephoned by Phil on 2007-04-17 at 14:25.
Phil Spoke with Bruno who advised that their existing site is outdated and they would like a completely fresh design doing.
The site is essentially going to be a brochure website, it does not need to have any excessive functionality other than a Form Mail script for contact.
He would like the design done as soon as possible and is particularly looking for a slick, outstanding design. When asked if he had any other sites in mind he advised that he wants this to be a one off design but he does like the clean look of www.TheSeed.com.
Bruno told me that he is very fussy and is looking for a company who can show excellent flair and creativity. Although he has a budget in mind he would rather see what sort of designs you can come up with before advising you of this and his final decision will purely be based on the quality of design.
Bruno is available most of the time and you should try to contact him on the above number first. If you cannot get hold of him on that number then his mobile number is available from TheSeed.