UKBC


Newsletter no. 28	September 2008

Our previous newsletter was before the summer holidays, and it seems a long time ago. I hope that you enjoyed a good summer and are now back to work with increased enthusiasm for the the UK.

In this letter we will tell you what we have learned from the questionnaire, and bring you more useful information to help you when considering the UK as a market for your company.

England is the most crowded country in Europe

England, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, is now the most crowded country in Europe, with the exception of Malta.

The population of England has grown to 395 persons per square kilometre, up from 390 in 2006. At the same time, the population of the Netherlands has fallen slightly to 393 per square kilometre. The average for the United Kingdom as a whole is 253.

England is already one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has twice the population density of Germany, four times that of France, and twelve times that of the USA.

Your answers to our questionnaire are...

You may remember that we sent out a questionnaire with the most recent newsletter just before the Summer holidays. We are very grateful to all of you who took the trouble to reply and I thought that you might be interested in a summary of the information.

87% of respondents regularly read the Newsletter, and the same percentage said that they frequently found the articles useful. The main request for more information was for company success stories, so I will try to include one in the next edition.

Many recipients pass on the Newsletter to others, so that on average each copy is read by 1.6 people. This means that over 10,000 people read each edition. Of these nearly 90% are CEO or equivalent, or are Heads of Finance, Sales, Marketing or Export in their companies.

Only 12 % of respondents were female, which means that females were slightly under represented in the replies. However, the prize draw winner is a lady to make up for this.

Concerning age ranges, more than 75% of respondents were 41 years or over, and 16% were 61 or over. Manufacturing companies accounted for 45% of the responses, and 9% were from Chambers of Commerce, business organisations or Government agencies. IT companies accounted for 15% and the remainder came from a variety of businesses.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer our questions and to help us improve the UK Business Club.

The JMB Partnership Ltd: A New Service Partner

We at the UK Business Club are very pleased to be able to inform you that The JMB Partnership Ltd has recently joined the Bridge To Growth team as an additional service partner, continuing our growth in useful and practical contacts.

The JMB team have experience in helping to solve the difficulties faced by foreign-owned companies entering the UK market, and have existing clients from Turkey, Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, and Finland. JMB provide telemarketing and lead generation support, a vital step in the process of UK sales generation and a valuable addition to the Bridge to Growth offering.

Under the scheme the JMB Partnership Ltd will offer to Bridge to Growth companies:

Free data of 500 companies in a target market of their choice. This data on the open market is valued at over £350.
The JMB Partnership Ltd will also offer a 25% reduction for the first 20 days of telemarketing, offering Bridge to Growth companies an amazing rate of only £150+ VAT.

An example of the kind of services provided to foreign-owned companies is that of a large mirror manufacturer in China, who sought JMB to set up and attend sales meetings with UK furniture retailers. The JMB Partnership Ltd took a start brief from the client and got to work.

The first step of the process was to obtain the correct data of the target companies, which was added to the JMB Partnership online database. After telephoning the contacts in the database and working in partnership with the client, an email marketing brochure was sent out to the furniture retailers.

Telephone follow-ups with the contacts were made to the email recipients, which resulted in numerous appointments with large retailers. The JMB Partnership Ltd attended the appointments and won large contracts to supply companies such as House of Fraser, BHS, Harrods, and Dunnes Stores.

The JMB Partnership Ltd can work in any industry and has a proven track record of success, due to the structured approach it demonstrates with all of its clients. Most of the success derives from the programme listed below:

Step One: Understanding Your Business
The JMB Partnership Ltd will:

review the client’s current operations, products, and markets served.
analyse current sales activity, customers, and capabilities.
following consultation, establish a sales strategy to form the basis of the ongoing work schedule
generate ideas for sales promotion and set out clear objectives for the work programme.

Step Two: Establishing Your Unique Sales Database
The JMB Partnership Ltd will:

gather sales and marketing information to build a sales and prospects database on the JMB Partnership Ltd Contract Management System.
set up a CMS Database for the client and train the relevant staff in its use.

Step Three: Research New Markets and Prospects
The JMB Partnership Ltd will:

target prospective companies through telemarketing and other qualification techniques.

Step Four: Define Your Sales Action Plan
The JMB Partnership Ltd will:

initiate a sales campaign by developing a plan for contacting potential clients, and driving requests for quotes, sales leads, and enquiries.
qualify companies to establish target contact details.
make telesales calls in order to deliver the sales leads.
refer all sales leads to the designated Sales Colleague for further action and contact.

Step Five: Establish Sales Reports
The JMB Partnership Ltd will:

keep monthly reports logging sales contact activity.
establish a suitable process to transfer all enquiries to the client.
hold regular sales consultation meetings to review the programme of work.

The JMB Partnership Ltd offers the following terms to differentiate it from its competitors:

Flexible terms, including a one-month notice period to cease work. This demonstrates confidence in getting results.
Weekly reports detailing hours spent on the account, calls made, and sales.
Fully transparent activity: the JMB Partnership Ltd provides an online database of leads where clients can log in from anywhere in the world.
Better value day rate of £150 for the first 20 days of telesales for Bridge To Growth companies- 40% less than some competitors.

For further information, look at theirwebsite at www.thejmbpartnership.com, or contact James Blakemore direct at james@thejmbpartnership.com.

The Bridge To Growth Programme Continues To Be Popular

Over 30 delegates from 24 companies came to Birmingham in the most recent of the Bridge to Growth visit programme on 9th and 10th September. The next group of Irish companies will arrive this week.

The next series of seminars will be in the Nordics. The first will be in Oslo on Monday 20th October, followed by Copenhagen on Tuesday 21st, then Stockholm on Wednesday 22nd and finally Helsinki on Thursday 23rd. All the seminars are free of charge but advance registration is required.

Every seminar starts at 13.00 and ends at 15.00 on each day, and they will all be held at the British Embassy in each city. The usual team of speakers includes Alan Roden, Ulf Ström and Jukka Mansikka from Advantage West Midlands, Martin Williams from EBS and the British Ambassador and UK Trade and Invest team in each country.

To register please go to www.bridgetogrowth.co.uk and select your country flag. Of course we also welcome delegates from Sweden to visit the Oslo or Copenhagen seminars if that is more convenient, but please be aware that Copenhagen already has a waiting list.

Bridge to Growth will also be visiting Germany with events in Düsseldorf on 3rd November and Munich on 3rd December.

Those delegates in Finland who might be concerned that we will be a little tired after three seminars in three days can be assured that we will be properly relaxed by the time we arrive in Helsinki as we will be coming on the ferry from Stockholm.

We all hope to see you at our seminars. Please remember that they are free, but please register in advance.

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