One of our longest established members, Barbour, publishers of the leading big red building products directory Barbour Compendium, have enhanced their portfolio with the launch of a revolutionary website, called Barbour Product Search.
This innovation is a direct result of customer feedback through Barbours user group research programme. Customers provided vital insight into helping Barbour understand the potential features and usefulness of an online product reference source – including clear search routes to products, good quality product images and fast search results.
Built on an enhanced technical platform, Barbour Product Search offers architects, contractors and other building specifiers fast access to detailed building product information. With a fully searchable database of products and suppliers, the site delivers over 24,400 pages of construction information, features include:
Over 5,800 product images
700 case studies
2,300 product catalogues
230 product news items
Technical data and project information
Do visit their website to see how Babours renouned innovation is continuing.
The total value of new construction projects in the UK has fallen by just under 20 per cent over the year to September, which is expected to depress construction activity significantly over the next 12-18 months according to the first Glenigan Index, launched today.
Glenigan combines data gathering and research with statistical modelling and analysis, to deliver a trusted insight into UK construction trends and activity.
Its customers include construction companies, manufacturers and suppliers of materials used in construction projects, as well as specialist service providers including recruitment agencies, financial institutions, IT and telecoms companies.
Central to Glenigan’s subscription’s service is the new Glenigan Index. Published monthly, the Index is a definitive guide to trends and forecasts for the UK construction industry. For more information go to www.glenigan.com.
Barbour ABI, suppliers of construction contract information and planned projects, continue to lead the way as we launch another new service this month – a fully integrated CRM solution. This advancement in our product offering means that clients no longer need an expensive or time consuming separate CRM service to utilise with Barbour ABI’s project or company leads.
An optional part of the Evolution product suite, ‘Core CRM’ is one of the most cost effective services available for construction industry professionals. It’s simple and easy to navigate, and available with none of the additional set up or ongoing maintenance costs associated with running a separate CRM system. The main benefits this unique service are:-
After identifying leads, users can easily track and manage them throughout the sales process.
No need for labour intensive procedures to export Barbour ABI leads and import them into another system.
No need for any additional development work, meaning cost and time savings for organisations.
One integrated system avoid issues with project updates being missed or overlooked and give one view of potential business to a sales team.
Like other Barbour ABI services, Core CRM users can easily be added to customers existing subscription accounts.
The key elements of Evolution Core CRM are the Diary and Opportunity/Pipeline Forecasting. The Diary gives you the ability to create meetings or calls related to all project or company leads being monitored, setting reminders and keeping track of the outcomes of meetings.
Opportunity/Pipeline Forecasting is an easy and straightforward way to track and forecast future potential sales from introduction to close. Whether your sales department is small or large, forecasting revenue relies on a team being able to understand the facts about a potential sale quickly and Core CRM enables this to happen.
David Andrew, Director at Barbour ABI says: “Introducing this new bolt-on service is a major step forward that capitalises on our already highly successful Evolution service. It offers a compelling mix of the key elements of a ready-tailored CRM tool with the ease of use that our customers have come to enjoy and expect.
We believe this unique product marks a significant step forward in the provision and management of construction sales leads within the marketplace, and once again highlights why Barbour ABI continues to excel.”
Evolution Core CRM is one of many solutions in Barbour ABI’s product portfolio. Other services available such as ‘List Track’ which allows de-duplicating and tracking of marketing lists, and our ‘Management Pack’ and ‘Analytics’ functions provide vital services for mid to senior level professionals.
Moggs were recently appointed by Draka UK to produce exciting and informative marketing materials for their world-beating cable products.
Draka develops, engineers and manufactures all kinds of cable solutions for all kinds of customers. You might find their products in planes, trains and automobiles, in ships, oil rigs, elevators and windmills, in homes and offices, television or movie studios… to name just a few.
Draka UK Limited, P.O. Box 6500, Alfreton Road, Derby, DE21 4ZH, UK
From the original PDF: Two Great Companies Rolled Into One
JCB Vibromax is now ready to roll out a new range of high performance compaction equipment Built to world-class standards, using Vibromax’s 80 years of compaction know-how and backed up by the best dealer network in the business.
The range provides a choice of over 60 models Self-propelled rollers from 4.6-20 tonnes Full range of Tandem rollers up to 10.2 tonnes. To find out more about why compaction is now part of our attraction call 0800 581761.
JCBSales Limited, Rocester, Staffordshire ST14 5JP www.jcb.com/homepage.aspx
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If you would like to talk to CMG about receiving a range of marketing quotes, please call us on 01256 810110, or make an enquiry here.
Moggs, the Derby based marketing communications agency who won the “Highly Acclaimed Construction Marketing Agency of the Year award in December 2007, has launched a new division specialising in online communications, called Moggs DIGITAL.
Moggs DIGITAL has been established with a clear objective in mind and that is to help companies in the construction sector generate more business through their online and website activities. It will offer specialist advice on website design, search engine optimisation, e-commerce, email marketing, pay-per-click, online display advertising and viral marketing.
The division will be managed by specialist Zoe Hendricks, who joins Moggs as Account Director. Zoe was previously an award-winning Senior Manager for the on-line arm of Northcliffe Media and was responsible for helping to establish the hugely successful “This Is” brand.
With £46bn spent online last year (up 54% on 2006) according to the IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), online retail now represents an impressive 15% of all UK retail sales.
Managing Director Roger Moggs said, “As consumers turn to the Internet to purchase an ever larger range of goods and services, making sure your product ranks high in search engines for keywords related to your business has become marketing common sense, if not a matter of business survival”.
“In a relatively short time, Moggs has established a reputation for marketing excellence and generated some impressive results for our clients. It’s a logical step for us to add online marketing techniques to our services portfolio as more and more clients are now looking to develop internet-based solutions. I am delighted to welcome Zoe to Moggs as she’s bringing tremendous experience and energy to the team here”.
Hendricks sees joining Moggs DIGITAL as a rare opportunity; “I was hugely impressed by the professionalism of the team at Moggs, in particular their creative thinking and passion for helping clients grow their business. I will be bringing my internet marketing skills to the mix to service existing clients and to build a new division specialising in online marketing techniques”, she commented.
Moggs was established in 2001 and has become one of the fastest-growing marketing communications specialists in the East Midlands, with billings now exceeding £2million.
It was the first agency in the UK to operate the “Virtual Agency” business concept, matching high calibre creative and marketing specialists to clients briefs.
In December 2007, Moggs won “Highly Acclaimed Construction Marketing Agency of the Year” award, organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, for its work on clients such as JCB, Draka and Kalmar and also for its innovative “Construction Marketing Centre of Excellence” concept launched the same year.
Moggs continues to win prestigious clients: Artex has recently appointed the agency to re-position it’s brand in UK trade and consumer markets and ventilation market-leader Vent-Axia has hired the agency to produce a new integrated marketing campaign to launch a series of new products to the electrical industry.
Photograph shows managing Director Roger Moggs and Moggs DIGITAL Account Director Zoe Hendricks.
For further information, please contact:
Roger Moggs, Managing Director, Moggs marketing Communications Ltd, The Mill, Lodge Lane, Derby, DE1 3HB. Tel: 01332 363925. Email: roger@moggs.org
The new research, carried out by leading market researcher GfK NOP Consumer, coincides with the launch of the UK’s biggest ever industry-wide mystery shopping study to find the country’s Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service. This independent initiative, led by Call Centre Focus magazine, aims to recognise good practice and raise customer service standards across the industry.
The research focused primarily on the B2C experience but as sure as eggs are eggs, the same results would be reflected in a survey of a company’s B2B Call Centre operation. The results & comments below have been abridged for the sake of brevity but they show a marked trend towards the necessity of the “personal” experience of the face of your organisation (i.e. telephone contact) being too important to leave to chance.
Findings include:
* 69% of UK consumers would be less likely to purchase after a negative call centre experience, rising to 75% amongst 16-44 year olds
* Seven out of ten customers say they might or would definitely tell someone about a negative call centre experience
* Almost half of 25-44 year olds have changed suppliers because of a negative call centre experience compared to 35% across whole population
The growing importance of word of mouth recommendations was highlighted by the research, particularly amongst younger consumers, with 51% of 16-24 year olds saying they would definitely tell someone about a negative call centre experience, compared to 38% of 45-54 year olds.
Dr. Max Blumberg, Customer Management Strategist and Visiting Researcher at the University of London, who specialises in motivating workforces, leadership teams and sales forces said:
“Companies need to understand that the service provided by call centres is a key component of brand value in driving customer acquisition and repeat purchasing; it is no longer enough to focus on product and price alone. Consumers take a more holistic view of value when making purchasing decisions and the UK’s most affluent demographic groups are most likely to wield their buying power by changing suppliers.
“Yet even though the importance of customer service is well established many companies invest more in innovative product development and pricing strategies than they do in customer-oriented call-centre strategies. These companies usually end up with fantastic, well-priced products, but with markets that will not buy them because of personal or word-of-mouth negative call-centre experiences.
The research also revealed that good customer service can produce powerful brand advocates with 49% saying they would be more loyal to a company after a positive call centre experience and 23% saying they would definitely recommend an organisation to other people.
When asked to select the three most important aspects of customer service, friendly agents were seen as key by 53% of consumers, alongside speed of call answering (57%) and knowledgeable agents (49%). These qualities were seen as much more important than having their problems resolved in a single call (41%), being told their position in the queue while on hold (21%) and agents having access to their account history (20%).
The highlighted text is our own and indicates Mainstream Marketing’s opinion on some of the key facts that this research has revealed.
To find out how to approach your customers in a Positive, Friendly and Profitable manner, contact
Woodford Heating Limited, an East London based specialist in commercial and industrial heating and plumbing has been awarded another Mechanical Contract from housing developer Telford Homes.
Stadthaus, comprising of 29 apartments and commercial space, designed by Waugh Thistleton is located on the corner of Murray Grove and Provost Street, London N1. This truly unique project is constructed above first floor level entirely from timber; the nine storey high-rise is set to be the tallest timber residential building in the world, with not only load-bearing walls and floor slabs but stair and lift cores entirely constructed from timber. It will measure 29 metres (95.14 feet) in height.
The development is being constructed using an Austrian solid timber system with wood from sustainable spruce forests, enabling Stadthaus to reduce its carbon footprint. The fabric of the Stadthaus tower will store over 181 tonnes of carbon. Additionally, by not using a reinforced concrete frame, a further 125 tonnes of carbon are saved from entering the atmosphere. This is equivalent to a saving of 210 years of carbon emissions compared to a concrete frame building of similar size.
Tony Ash, Woodford Heating’s Project Manager for Murray Grove commented, “There are only minor differences in installing plumbing and heating into a timber structure in comparison to a concrete structure as more flexible components are required for gas, boosted water and the soil stacks. The only significant difference is the use of more ‘fire prevention sleeves’ for obvious reasons.
We are delighted to have been selected for this prestigious and ground breaking project, and we continue our efforts in being the plumbing and heating sectors leading specialists in applying greener methods and technologies”.
Ends
Note: A high resolution artist’s impression of Stadhaus is available on request.
9th July 2008
For more details please contact:
Robert Ward, Objective Marketing & Public Relations on:
Flash has been a naughty Word as far as SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is concerned now for some years and has especially been avoided in the Construction Industry. It was always a shame that Google and the other engines could not read into the code a flash made website, or flash elements within an HTML site until now.
Regretfully, the Construction Industry has some very poor websites that simply don’t meet the standards of other industries – but maybe that’s all about to change.
The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced on the 30th June that it has improved the ability to index textual content in SWF files of all kinds. This includes Flash “gadgets” such as buttons or menus, self-contained Flash websites, and everything in between.
Flash is owned by giant Adobe and they must have been scratching their heads for ages about this problem. Marketing companies like us would tell clients “avoid Flash” wherever you can as it cannot be read by Google or other search engines. We often did this with a heavy heart as Flash websites are the most attractive on the internet for sure!
So the era for more dynamic content with SEO capabilities is upon us and it’s well overdue. Though this is still in its infancy, I predict that within a year we will see much movement in this area.
Google has developed an algorithm that explores Flash files in the same way that a person would by clicking buttons, entering input, and so on. The algorithm remembers all of the text that it encounters along the way, and that content is then available to be indexed – perfect!
One of Objective Marketing’s specialties is that of Search Engine Optimization and we are absolutely delighted with this news. Albeit, HTML sites can have dynamic content and look dynamic there are still restrictions.
Flash will enable marketers like us to serve clients better, hone their key messages with more clarity, USPs and give them something more outstanding that we are able too now. The revolution has begun!
Flash meets Google – it had to come and thank God it did! Watch this space for more information (you can tell we are excited!).
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If you would like to talk to CMG about receiving a range of marketing quotes, please call us on 01256 810110, or make an enquiry here.
Are you going to let the “Credit Crunch” crunch you? Even though the present negative press and media coverage of the Construction Industry is enough to make you pack up and head for the hills – don’t! Or, burying your head in the sand isn’t going to help either – you need to take some positive action!
In ignorance, many companies pull the plug on their marketing budgets when times get tough - but that is very short sighted. Why is your business in decline? It’s because you have less clients, or your current clients are spending less. So what is the solution? Yes, you need more clients or encourage those you work with to spend more with you.
As a marketing company, we often have people come to us when they are in trouble. Through months or possibly years of neglect of their sales pipeline, they have reached difficultly where their cash flow dries up, and their forward forecasts will no longer gain them credit with their bankers. That’s such an awful place to reach! So, please learn from other’s mistakes and concentrate your efforts on sales and marketing.
So – how’s your sales pipeline? Have you dedicated sufficient man hours or staff to ensure that new business will continue to flow your way?
It’s highly recommended to introduce new practices in the current climate and here are a few suggestions to get you going:
Re-educate your sales staff to the new demands of business under the Credit Crunch i.e. you are going to have to negotiate harder than before and deliver more
Re-evaluate your current spend on marketing and where possible increase it
Adapt new methods of lead generation and find new sources
Network with increased intensity amongst your clients, prospects, collaborators, partners, suppliers and competitors
Rekindle your relationship with current clients and ensure you are getting your share of business if other suppliers are involved
Tighten your credit control to ensure constant cash flow
Take fewer financial risks than before, and if possible, increase the level of deposits on orders to spread your risk or costs (if applicable)
Introduce something new (Product or service) to make sure your visibility levels remain high with current and potential clients
Automate your sales pipeline using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like www.salesforce.com – so you never ever miss another lead or opportunity, and you can track your sales pipeline accurately
Ensure that you confirm at least 30% of this quarter’s pipeline – more if possible
Ensure you are using the internet to your advantage using Search Engine Optimisation, Web 2 practices such as blogging, and raise your presence in social networking and book-marking sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc
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If you would like to talk to CMG about receiving a range of marketing quotes, please call us on 01256 810110, or make an enquiry here.
Construction and Property
