The workplace is evolving, and it’s time for us to evolve with it. Human Resources (HR) is one of the fields that’s changing most rapidly, and this is leaving a lot of professionals unsure where they stand. The good news is that while these...

So you’ve found yourself in the world of small business ownership. Welcome! Launching a startup company which has the potential to become a big success is exciting and exhilarating. Especially when it’s based on an idea that you have utter...

If you’re just starting out with your new company, you’re going to need some exposure. The internet is by far the most important tool at your disposal. There are literally hundreds of websites which offer you a place to start promoting your...

Hundreds of thousands of new startup companies are created every year. It’s no small task to get a small business off the ground with all that competition. You have to constantly search for ways to make your startup stand out from the rest,...

Building your very first website is a daunting challenge. But as a startup, you really have to have a site if you want to get ahead. If you’ve never built a site before and you don’t know much about the web, though, where should you start?...

Starting your very own business from the ground up is exciting and daunting. Every entrepreneur ventures into the world of business with a bold dream and high hopes for the future. But launching a revolutionary and successful company is not an...

Dropshipping is a great choice for anybody who wants to create a passive income and work from home. Even better, because of the way dropshipping works, you don’t have to handle any stock or personally send a single package. It sounds like the...

The time has come! You’ve finally decided to start your own business, after sitting on this great idea for months or years. You know what your product is, how you’re going to sell it and who you’re going to sell it to. Great! There’s...

Every year in the UK, over 600,000 new companies are born. That’s an awful lot of people making the jump from employee to business owner. And it’s easy to understand why: being your own boss sounds like an extremely attractive idea. Taking...

If you’re the owner of a startup, you’re probably considering launching an e-commerce site. So many new entrepreneurs are choosing to sell their products and services online, instead of opening a physical shop and accepting payments face-to-face....

The imagery that you choose to use to represent your business can make a big impression on potential customers. However, like most things, it comes at a cost. Having good quality, bespoke images created specifically for your company is not something...

We’re sure you’re all too familiar with the headaches of the interview process. It’s often time-consuming and frustrating. How many times have you sourced a candidate, set up an interview with them after a promising start, only for your...

So, you’ve screened your candidate, and they’re getting ready for their interview (at least, if they can be bothered to put the effort in!) Now it’s up to them to make sure they’re interview-ready… Isn’t it? Well, it is and it isn’t. Of...

Recruitment companies walk a tightrope. Set your fees too high, and you might scare away business; set them too low and you won’t break even. That’s why learning to negotiate with clients, and learning how to manage rate increases, is absolutely...

So: you’ve found the perfect candidate. They have the skills, they have the experience and they’re raring to go when it comes to interviews. Brilliant! But as you know, you’re never immune to a let-down, even if the candidate seems completely...

As customers, even as marketing professionals, it’s easy to miss the importance of newsletters. Picture your own inbox: you probably get quite a few, but how many do you really click through on, let alone engage with? Odds are, not that many....

LinkedIn is a unique and amazing solution for recruiters. Through one easy to use platform, you have access to a massive market of entry level applicants, career-ladder-climbing pros and industry leaders… All in one place. So doing everything...

Reference checks and background checks are two of the key elements you’ll use as a recruiter, no matter where you work. But what you might not realise is that now with the advent of better and better tech, the art of reference checking is getting...

Cold calling is difficult whether you’re in sales or in recruitment. Of course, it’s a little easier to ‘sell’ the idea that you’re offering a candidate a sweet new job- much easier than trying to sell them a vacuum cleaner! Even so,...

No doubt you will have seen and read plenty about CRMs, whether you’re in sales, marketing or recruitment. But HR and staffing firms have been relatively slow to adopt CRMs, no doubt because they’re most useful in sales and marketing. But...

Life in recruitment is complex. You spend so much time hiring for one position, but when that position is hired, all that hard work is gone- the candidates are shelved, email chains forgotten, and that’s that… But it doesn’t have to be...

GDPR is finally here. We’ve all had a couple of years to prepare for it, and in that time, there has been a lot of opinions thrown around on what it means: some accurate, some not so accurate, and some just plain confusing. That’s natural,...

If you work in sales, you’ll be no stranger to customers asking for discounts. It happens all the time. Sometimes an email will float into your inbox from a potential customer who is intrigued by your services, but doesn’t like the price...

It’s a question you’ll no doubt have asked yourself in many a meeting: what actually is the difference between a sales pipeline and a sales funnel? Don’t they measure the same thing, and give you the same info to analyse at the end? Well,...

Have you ever been in a meeting that just seems to drag on forever, with nothing getting done? If you’re not a fan of meetings, there’s probably a good reason why: a negative past experience, a lack of planning, or the simple fact that they...

If you’ve ever signed up for a contract online, you might have come across a scenario where all you have to do is click a box to give your ‘signature’. And through the magic of technology, that box-ticking exercise can be linked directly...

Getting your prices right is something that takes effort. Unfortunately, not all businesses put that effort in before they start up- which leads to the awkward situation of having to review and change your prices. Changing all of your advertising...

If you’re only just starting to market your business or look for leads, you’ve probably seen reference to ‘white papers’ and how they can help you in all sorts of ways. Well, this is the guide for you. If you already know what white papers...

Running an email campaign is one of the most important things you can do to grow your customer base. Email, perhaps tied with the use of social media, is hands-down the most successful way to reach people in the digital age. But in order to use...

Did you know that some CRMs and email marketing software automatically sends mail from a no-reply address? It’s true! Unless you go into the settings to edit it to a real one, all of your mail will come from a no-reply address. It’s interesting...

Every business wants a good reputation. Unfortunately, not every business can have one… Especially if they water down their beer or sell shoddy products! Of course, you don’t do that- so how can you make sure that your customers know...

Whether your company sells products and services directly to customers or to other businesses, you need to make sure you have a good invoicing system set up so that payments can be made without hassle. Although on the surface, invoicing might...

It doesn’t matter what kind of product you sell, or whether you’re a business owner or a salesperson: you’ve got competition. Outshining your competitors is no easy task, especially if you work for a smaller business in a market where there’s...

Working in sales can be the most demanding, high-pressure job you can possibly have. Some people thrive on it and find their lifelong calling. Others work in sales for a while, and do well, but would prefer something a little slower-paced. There’s...

Commissions are far and away the best way to motivate your sales team. They keep every salesperson engaged through the day, and can even attract the best sellers from other companies to your business- in other words, you give a little, but you...

Rejection. The very word is enough to make you cringe. The idea of working so hard on a proposal, only for the client to say “no”, is an extremely depressing thought. You’ve spent all those hours slaving away for nothing! Unfortunately,...

When you’re considering writing a proposal for a potential client, the last thing you want to do is rush into it without being prepared. There’s no point spending hours drafting a project and then realising afterwards that you’re not the...

When you think email marketing strategy, one of the first words that comes to mind is ‘segmentation’, and for good reason too. But just as important as actually segmenting your email list is knowing how to do it with a minimum of hassle for...

All businesses want their customers to be loyal. Somebody who comes back time after time to your store, placing a huge order each time, leaving rave reviews? Yes, please! Well, when it comes to online stores, the concept of ‘customer loyalty’...

Welcome to the world of email list hygiene. If yours is anything like most businesses, you’ve spent plenty of time (and money too) on finding better and better ways to amass subscribers. Custom landing pages and opt-in forms, improved email...

There’s so much to think of when it comes to your email game: subject lines, avoiding spam filters, layout and design to name just a few. But what about your ‘from’ name? It’s small, but used right you can make it a tool that works for...

There is a huge amount of competition in Ecommerce and it’s becoming more and more important to stand out. One method is to provide a better customer service than your competition. A well thought out, returns policy can help to get you there....

In the complex and often confusing world of online marketing, automation is the word of the day. Many, though, don’t quite ‘get’ the impact of automation. Put simply, there are lots of myths about marketing automation that put businesses...

For any business today, being able to turn as many visitors into customers as possible is vital. That’s the case whether you’re talking about online or off. However, many business owners fail to do this properly. Why? Because they haven’t...

Get more from your audience by understanding the psychology behind successful email marketing campaigns and learn how you can use their success to increase the ROI for your own campaigns. This guide will steer clear from pseudo-science and show...

When trying to find the best options for cheap and effective marketing, one of the very first things you should think of is email. As one of the most powerful forms of marketing around, it’s up there with the most reliable tools that you can...

Scoring leads is one of the many uses of CRM software, but there are many pitfalls you can fall into if you’re not careful. In this article we’ll cover just how to get ahead of the competition when it comes to CRM and touch on the best strategies....

Black Friday is one of the most profitable times of year for online retailers. Originally an American invention marking the beginning of the Christmas shopping season with discount sales and promotions, Black Friday has begun to creep its way...

Ask the wrong person, and you might be put off using email marketing for life. Ask another person, and you might be led to believe it’s your sole marketing salvation! While the line is somewhere in the middle, email marketing holds immense...

Colour schemes aren’t all about looking pretty. Did you know that certain colours actually have different psychological effects? That’s right – without knowing it, you could be using entirely the wrong colours for your email newsletter...

For any business owner today the power of word of mouth – referrals – is still huge. Yes, you should be using online marketing and other forms of direct marketing to build a customer base. Still, nothing is quite as convincing to us as a...

If you’ve found that your candidates aren’t fully engaged during an interview, or your hiring process doesn’t leave you with the ideal candidates, it may be time to fine tune your approach. As well as the meaty questions you’ve already...

A brilliant way to maximise sales and keep the customers rolling in is by understanding the psychology behind buying behaviour. So many retailers may think they know their customers, and the odds are that you already have plenty of stats in front...

I’m sure everyone has abandoned an online shopping cart at some point. You fill it with the things you need (or want) and then, for whatever reason, never make it to the checkout. It happens to every online retailer, and remarkably often: over...

Looking for a way to boost your email open rates? To help you come up with some fresh new ideas to get your customers clicking, we’ve put together a list of intriguing subject lines that you may find more effective than your usual suspects....

As the owner or manager of a business, you probably know your own company and brand very well. It’s also quite likely that you’re familiar with your target audience, and the general identity of your customer base. However, do you really know...

Coming up with innovative, fun, fresh ideas for tired old email subject lines can get increasingly harder over time in email campaigns. Yet with one-off emails, capturing the specific meaning behind your email in just a few choice words in the...

If you don’t put enough consideration into how you’re formatting your emails, now is the time to start. Just the way that your emails look can affect your company’s reputation, so you should invest time in finding out how detrimental email...

In business, one of the many challenges you can face comes from identifying a good sales prospect. If you are serious about improving how your business works and operates, then you need to know how to get to the right prospect. In this article,...

For anyone running an E-Commerce business today, finding the balance between risk and reward is a tough one. However, one of the main reasons why we recommend putting some thought and spending more time looking at your E-Commerce strategy is...

Being able to close sales fast is, well, important! It isn’t always enough just to be able to close a sale. Any business can close sales. What should separate your business from your competitors is your ability to close sales much faster than...

For anyone who wants to make a living from E-Commerce, you’ll likely run into the above problem more than once. Sadly, having a lot of traffic is not a clear indicator of consistent business performance. If you invest a lot of money into getting...

Did you know that most people botch their first attempt at launching an E-Commerce platform? The reasons why are varied and it’s hard to be super-specific as to why you might fail. However, to help you make the right call, we’ve got some...

Running a small business is easy: first you get a great idea, and then… Well, then you do everything else: tracking down leads, turning those leads into customers, scaling your business and a thousand other things. Okay, so, not so easy. But...

Following up on your leads is such an important part of sales, but it involves a certain amount of organisation on the part of your sales team. They have to keep track of who’s been in touch with whom, who offered what and how long it’s been...

Modern sales is all about data. Obviously, you’ll never be able to sell without a little bit of charm and some healthy marketing thrown in. But to really sell effectively, you need sales and relationship management software. Without it, you...

Email marketing is just as much about strategy as it is about the fine details. One such ‘fine-detail’ is your email signature. Now, not everyone chooses to have one: maybe you’re all about typing ‘Kind Regards’ manually. There’s...

The idea of a sales pipeline isn’t a new one, but in business it’s especially important to get the basics right. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to best practice, so that you can better target leads, minimise the number that...

With the ever-increasing amount of email automation strategies around today, it’s hard to keep up with the latest trends, what works, what doesn’t and what really makes a difference. That’s why we’ve put together a 101 on customer engagement...

When it comes to the success of your business, there’s precious little that can have the same effect as a happy and motivated sales force. At the end of the day, it’s the relationships they build with customers that create the core of your...

It’s pretty common knowledge that the run up to Christmas is one of the best times for a retailer to make money. But not all email marketers put as much effort into boosting their post-holiday sales. Christmas and the rest of the festive season...

Sending proposals and pitches is arguably the most daunting part of being a business owner or marketing professional. In previous articles we’ve looked at how to create the perfect business proposal, but here we’ll focus on something just...

As a small business owner, there may come a time when you come across a disgruntled client. No one is perfect and mistakes can and will occur. The key is to know how to deal with unhappy clients in a way that benefits both them and your business....

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the stories involving individuals in the office who hit “reply all” to that one email they shouldn’t have. Well, it’s definitely amusing when it happens to somebody else, but not when it happens to you!...

Every eager E-Commerce business owner and marketing professional is keen to grow their email subscribers lists. But using the correct methods to grow your list won’t just see more people subscribe. It’ll also improve the quality of your list...

As any business big or small knows, time is money. The more time that is spent on tasks that don’t truly advance the bottom line, the less time there is for your business to increase its profits and stay ahead of the competition. Take business...

As customer relationship management (CRM) software becomes more and more common, several appealing options have popped up that are seemingly free. CRMs can be of great benefit to practically any business these days, as they help save both time...

Owners of a small business have enough on their hands to deal with when it comes to generating new business, keeping existing customers happy, and navigating the market. That’s why it’s important to find ways in which you can save time wherever...

Recruitment can be a thankless task. Some days, you’ll put in a hard shift and get no luck; other days, everything seems to go your way. The trouble? It’s difficult to tell what will make one day a success, and another day… Not so successful....

Struggling to figure out why people keep unsubscribing from your emails? You’re far from alone. Marketing isn’t always a perfect paradise. It can be frustrating to put in the time and effort to set up email campaigns only to see them not...

Performing simple tasks such as regularly checking your customers email addresses is a vital part of email marketing house-keeping that you might be neglecting. In this article, you’ll find helpful tips that give you a greater understanding...

One of the easiest ways to alienate your customers is by badly using email automation. Plenty of companies out there don’t feel they need to spend the additional time or effort to personalise an email and would rather send out a basic template...

Time is precious these days, especially when it comes to small businesses. There is only so much that can be done on a daily basis, and you need to make sure you are focused on what is important at all times. The best way to keep people coming...

Knowing how to price your business’ services competitively is often one of the trickiest parts of drafting your business proposals. This article will highlight the psychology of your buyers and how your pricing models will affect their decisions...

If your B2B business isn’t benefiting from an effective email automation strategy, you can rest assured that your competitors are. In this article we’ll cover how to set up an effective automated email strategy for B2B business owners and...

Looking for a way to increase your return on investment with your email marketing strategies? We’ve put together this handy guide for E-Commerce businesses on each and every one of our top automated email strategies just for you. This article...

According to the Radicati Group, over 205 billion emails were sent every day in 2015. By next year—2019—that’s going to grow to 246 billion. That’s a whole lot of colourful spam emails and paint-by-numbers newsletters. If you want to...

Hitting the perfect wordcount is vital to the success of your email marketing campaigns. But how much is too much? How much is not enough? Sadly, you’ll never fit the answer on the back of a postcard. The right amount of content for you to...

Spam is a huge problem for us all, both as consumers and as marketers. As consumers, spam is one of the most annoying things about being online: a constant barrage of emails on the most ludicrous of topics. As marketers, spam unfairly tarnishes...

Email A/B testing, also referred to as ‘split testing’, is one of the best ways to determine how effective your email marketing strategies are. A/B Testing allows you to set up two variations of one campaign and test them both on a percentage...

Everyone knows how to send an email, right? Wrong. Being able to grab hold of your recipient’s attention and instil excitement or demand attention with a few choice words is a fine art. It’s not chance or luck that some recruiters and online...

Is your client data as accurate as you think it is? This question is only going to become more important as the deadline for GDPR compliance comes closer. That deadline means that now is the perfect time to start reviewing and changing your data...

Don’t want to leave your first proposal up to trial and error. We’ve put together a handy guide for business owners who are starting out. You only get one chance to create the best first impression. Our checklist will help you to avoid some...

When it comes to automated email marketing for new businesses, there really is no benefit gained from hanging around before you start to collect grow your mailing list and promote your new business venture. Alongside the obvious social media...

Marketing automation is a concept that you simply have to consider to take your business to the next level. That’s because as you continue to grow your business and obtain more customers and leads, it’s only going to be harder and harder...

Customer relationship management, or CRM, is when a business monitors all their customer or lead interactions and saves the personal information about them that was entered, such as their name, phone number, and address. A CRM will focus on capturing...

If you’ve ever bought something online, or signed up for an email newsletter, you will have received a fair few standardised service emails. These are emails that give a customer all the basic information about their transactions, subscription...

Email marketing has proven to be just as strong and maybe even more effective than any PPC, SEO or SMM (social media marketing) advertising campaign. Although it may not be the flashiest or newest approach to marketing, but time after time, companies...

As a marketing, recruitment or sales business, data on customers and clients is vital to your day to day operation. That applies especially to businesses which rely on cold contact like recruitment or call centre sales. GDPR is the latest in...

Email automation isn’t as simple as using a set of plug and play templates, and expecting that to be enough. If you’re only just starting out with your email marketing campaign or are looking for ‘triggers’ to optimise the effectiveness...

Have you ever received an email that was beautiful to look at… Chock full of graphics, tables, and rich text content? Sometimes these email designs can look as good as websites themselves because of the time and energy that went into them....

Getting through to new business clients as a recruiter can be a tough task. Picture your own inbox: a ticking off for skipping that meeting and a reminder about your upcoming performance review sit unopened, accusing you of being a procrastinator!...

Aside from headhunting, recruitment is very much a numbers game. After all, you could spend an hour crafting a perfect email—introducing yourself to somebody you’re completely convinced is perfect for the job – but if they don’t open...

Trying to recruit top dogs in sales, or the most talented creatives? There’s plenty of recruitment competition out there, so you have to be at the very top of your game. In this post we give you the best tips focused around how to headhunt...

It’s never too early to start contemplating your Christmas email automation strategies. Ecommerce businesses who don’t up their email automation strategies on the run up to the festive period are missing out on some serious ROI—and we hope...