BOND CONTINUES TO BUCK THE RECRUITMENT TREND

Business solutions specialist Bond continues to buck the recruitment trend with the appointment of a marketing executive.

Jerri Murtagh, 22, has a degree in Public Relations and joins Bond from a Newcastle-based communications agency. She also works in the press office at Newcastle United Football Club on a matchday.

Jerri, who is the third addition to the Bond team this year, will be responsible for helping to devise and implement the company’s marketing and communications strategy, and manage customer relations.

Bond provides and develops a range of business management software solutions, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and accounts packages, and is currently ranked second in the UK in the Circle of Excellence - an award established by Sage four years ago to recognise Business Partners who provide outstanding customer service.

Speaking of her new role Jerri said: “I am very excited about my new role with Bond and all of the staff have been very welcoming.

“My aim will be to build on Bond’s current reputation and ensure that customers and businesses are kept up to date with the latest news and developments within the company. I think my previous experience will really benefit me in my new role and I am keen to help Bond establish its long-term goals.”

Bond’s managing director Derek Curtis said: “I am very keen to ensure that current and potential customers are kept up to date with all of our company information and appointing Jerri will allow us to do this.

“Being ranked second in the Circle of Excellence Awards is a huge honour and I believe that Jerri’s appointment will help us to enhance our customer service and take us a step closer to winning the award. The Circle of Excellence has never been won by a North East company and winning this would really help put the region on the map.”

Bond to raise £3,000 for Action for Children

The staff at Bond have pledged to raise £3,000 for charity in the next three months.

Our staff will all be undertaking a range of activities where all of the money raised will be donated to Action for Children.

Technical director Peter Clark will be cycling the Coast 2 Coast (C2C) route with three friends on August 7. The journey, which begins at Whitehaven and ends in Sunderland, spans over 140 miles and will take two days to complete.

Peter said: “I thought that the C2C would be a great way to raise money for the charity, although I am a little worried as I haven’t cycled anywhere near this distance before. I’m very excited and think it will be a great challenge, although I’m not looking forward to sharing a dormitory with the other guys.

“I think it is really important for businesses to support charities and give something back to the community and hopefully we exceed our fundraising target. Action for Children play an active part in our community and it is vital that businesses support them.”

In addition to this, our financial controller Julie Curtis will be participating in a 10,000ft skydive at Peterlee Airfield on September 12.

Julie said: “I wanted to challenge myself and do something a bit different and the idea of skydiving seemed great as it is something I would never have considered doing.

“Although I am nervous, the jump is for a fantastic cause and will be a once in a lifetime experience so I am really looking forward to it.”

Bond is also participating in Byte Night this year where our staff will sleep outside for a night to experience what it is like to be homeless. As well as raising as much money as possible, we are also hoping to raise awareness of the good work that the charity does within the local community.

Bond’s managing director Derek Curtis said: “We think Byte Night is a great way to raise money for Action for Children and when they approached us to help organise the event we jumped at the chance.

“I think Byte Night is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to understand exactly what some young people in the region go through and why Action for Children’s work is so important. They have a huge presence in the North East and they need local businesses to get involved and support their projects.

“As we are on the board for the event, we aim to get as many volunteers on board and make sure that Byte Night a huge success.”

If you would like to help us reach our target, please visit our Justgiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/bond-solutions/.

My Time at Bond Solutions

My name is Emma Curtis and I attend Bedale High School, North Yorkshire. Last week I had great time at Bond Solutions where I was studying for my work experience. The team were really friendly and made me feel extremely welcome. I was paired with Jerri Murtagh the Marketing Executive, who helped me to overcome my shyness as she was so interesting and patient, teaching me lots about the Public Relations industry.

Jerri was busy finishing the e-newsletter, and during the morning I enjoyed watching her make the final few tweaks to the interactive newsletter, which had links to all their social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook. In the afternoon we were working on computer software called SalesLogix. At first the software seemed complex and difficult to use, but after some guidance from Jerri I began to understand it, and I even filled in a page of opportunities.

On the second day of my visit I watched Jerri send out the e-newsletter. We checked that all the contacts had proper names, before sending it out to over 1100 contacts. Once sent we could look at really cool software and see who had opened our emails and clicked on the links. This enabled the Bond team to see how successful they had been, and ultimately how effective the e-newsletter is.

My two days were extremely enjoyable and I would like to say thank you to Derek and all his staff for making me feel welcome. I feel I gained a lot of experience about working in an office environment and how important it is for you to have a nice atmosphere in the workplace.

The Importance of Customer Service

As a Business Partner to Sage we are required to work to a high standard of customer service, however we strive to ensure that we exceed our customers’ expectations.

Good customer service is vital to any successful business and I believe that both the before and aftercare service are as important as each other.

One of my biggest pet hates is companies who, once they have my money, switch off and suddenly become extremely unhelpful– I’m sure that everyone has similar experiences and this is definitely not the way I like to do business.

When I established Bond eight years ago, providing an efficient customer service was at the forefront of my mind and I have passed this ethos down to all of my staff.

From a customer’s perspective, working with a Business Partner can bring with it many benefits, as well as allowing local businesses to support each other through the tough time the economy is currently experiencing.

We can offer our customers the personal touch. We take time to understand their business and make sure that there is always a consistent team working on each account.

When we are asked to do a business solution consultation, our main priority is finding out what product best suits each individual business. We want to streamline our customers’ business processes and selling them a product which is not viable for their company means that we are not doing our job properly.

In addition to this, we are occasionally able to pass significant discounts onto our customers which are not always available through Sage themselves. This allows us to ensure that our prices always remain competitive and of course keep our customers happy.

Our team is fully committed to providing customers with a service that we believe is second to none. This has been recognised by Sage as we are currently ranked second in the UK out of over 2,500 other companies in the Sage Circle of Excellence Awards. The award is based on independent research into how many of our customers would be prepared to recommend our services to others and we are very grateful for their support.

The award only allows 15 businesses in each year and we are always very conscious of building on this success.

Our service doesn’t stop after we have installed or trained users on our products. We offer support on everything that we supply to ensure that our customers always have somewhere to turn to if they should experience any problems with their products.

We are very passionate about our customers and we are always looking to utilise our resources to ensure that they are kept informed. We will be launching a new website, regularly updating our blog and sending out monthly e-newsletters to ensure they are informed of the latest industry and product news.

With this in mind we are always keen to hear any comments on how you think we are doing and what we could improve so please do get in touch! Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin for the latest news and special offers.

Test Drive Sage software

We now have an online "Test Drive" facility available for you to try out Sage products for free simply follow this link and follow the instructions to test drive ACT!, Sage 50 Accounts, Sage 50 Forecasting, Sage 50 Payroll, Sage Instant Accounts and Sage Start up.

What price customer service?

It seems that lately everyone is busy but when I speak to customers, suppliers, friends etc its always the same thing busy chasing existing business  Its true that everyone is looking for a bargain at the moment and who can blame them, there's never been a better time to buy something whether its a car, furniture, TV or indeed software or services which my own company provides. Prices are coming down in all areas. I had a discussion last week with the provider of our insurances and he said that he is twice as busy as last year providing quotes for people. In that industry the rise of price comparison sites have meant that people are shopping simply on price now and not considering the customer service angle at all. Personally as far as possible I prefer to do business with someone I know and trust and can call on if there is a problem. Usually I find that because I know and trust them, there rarely is a problem! Wonder if there is a connection there?  Is our culture now so obsessed by price and trying to get things as cheaply as possible?  I hope not, I still seek good customer service and want to be looked after by my suppliers.  I want to know that when times are tough they are there to help out.  For that I am willing to pay a little extra, but not too much!

A customer of ours in the waste industry has seen the price of waste paper, plastics etc drop dramatically in recent months and that is partly due to the influx of new companies to the market and the price has subsequently dropped. I read yesterday that some waste companies are going under because of this. Now there's nothing wrong with good old fashioned competition and new companies coming into an established market is a good thing. As those companies coming in have a low or no cost base they can keep their prices low. However there is no substitute for experience and often you have to pay for that experience. For example if I was purchasing a flight across the Atlantic I would much rather pay extra for a provider who has done it many times before than someone who set up last month - no matter what price! As business people we are inherently risk takers but that's a risk too far! 

Finally, making the customer experience as pleasurable as possible is very important. Make it as easy as possible to work with you and to buy from you so that people return as often as possible. Offer as many touch points as possible, face to face, phone, web site, blog, facebook etc the list is endless these days.  

So service and experience are very important in my book buts that's not to say that you can charge what you want. Keep your prices reasonable and concentrate on service and experience and I believe that you will win more often than not! 

Using CRM to your advantage in a recession - Part Two

A common misconception is that CRM is a sales & marketing tool, if used correctly it is a Business management tool and can provide some precious information on the future shape of the business. This second post on using CRM in a recession focusses on maximising the implementation of a new system

• Plan your implementation. You wouldn’t set off on a long journey in the car without knowing you had fuel and oil, the tyres are inflated and most importantly where you are going. Similarly you should not set off on an important software implementation without knowing where you are going and what you are going to need to get there, hardware, people, connectivity etc. It’s a fact that starting off with the end goal in mind does pay dividends. So make sure you have defined your KPI’s you need from the system and monitor them.

• People & Processes. All too often people think that CRM is about technology, the reality is nothing could be further from the truth as it is people who will make it work but the same people will hide behind the technology when things are not going so well! Correctly implemented CRM technology should make their job easier but take care that they are not bogged down by over complicated processes which the technology will only exaggerate. Keep it simple and make the technology work around their daily processes and it will be accepted by good people.

• Financing. Explore the options available to you to finance the system. Clearly you will want to gain Return on Investment as soon as possible so consider leasing the software and services you are going to need from the vendor. Perhaps there is a rental model available which suits your business, known as Software as a Service (SaaS), whilst this does not suit everyone it may suit your own business model.

• Choose your Vendor carefully. A common misconception is to build a bespoke system from scratch. However the larger vendors now have over 20 years experience in building and developing CRM systems, so use that experience. In most cases it will be possible to customise their systems to varying degrees so you can still bespoke the part of the system that you need to. There really is no need to re-invent the wheel. Pick a vendor with a track record and where CRM is a key focus of their business, not “something they also do”.

• Choose your partner carefully. It is rare that companies have the in house skills to implement a CRM system themselves and at some stage will need outside help from an expert. That help may just be around training or may include full implementation assistance. This has a cost which can typically be 2 or even 3 times the cost of the software so you need to make sure you are working with a reliable partner who takes the time to understand your requirements. Ask for references, look at their past history, don’t just look at sales awards, that just means they have sold a lot of software but how many of their customers are loyal and satisfied?

• Close the loop. For a full experience consider closing the loop and going for a full system where the CRM system integrates with the Finance system so that you have one view of your customer. Typically any business will have enquiries which turn in to quotes which hopefully turn into orders which are then fulfilled and invoiced and the money is collected. A system which can manage that process will pay dividends.