WiRE Blog

WiRE member Elene Marsden shares inside information on how to follow up your hot leads. See more about Elaine and email marketing on her Rural Marketplace Page

Are you making the biggest email marketing mistake?

You spend hours writing engaging, relevant messages for your customers and prospects, but you’re missing out if you don’t also spend time planning to follow up.

Most email service providers give you reports on who’s opened and clicked links in your emails.

If you use ACT E-marketing by Swiftpage you’ll also get Call Lists of hot prospects to make your follow-ups easy.

4 Steps to Follow-up

1.            Send out your email campaign as normal

2.            Create a Call List (Swiftpage Pro and Team Accounts only) from your campaign report window

3.            Give your Call List a name using the Save This Call List button

4.            You can add actions to this Call List direct from your browser or use the Call List inside ACT to manage your Follow Ups

Note: Call list actions are automatically added to the contact’s History Tab

ACT Call Lists

1.            In ACT, select  the ACT E-marketing tab

2.            Click the Call List section. If you have more than one Call List, use the Drop Down list to select the one you want to use

3.            Select the Lookup button and choose Hot, Warm or Mild contacts and those with Action or with No Action or all contacts.

4.            Click Group button to add these contacts to an ACT group

5.            Add results of phone calls and follow-ups using the Edit ACTION button

Learn how to be successful with ACT Emarketing here www.betteractnow.com

Watch out for more blogs from WiRE Member Elaine Marsden, her next blog will be about how to create and use video testimonials.  www.youtube.com/elenemarsden

It’s no secret that farmers have been hit hard in recent years following a spate of crises ranging from foot and mouth to the unstable market and changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. In reaction a growing number of farmers have diversified their businesses to develop new revenue streams. It is now common for farmers to offer B&B facilities, petting zoos, farm shops, cafes and even theme parks which are often run by the farmer’s wife or partner.

However, whilst diversification may offer increased financial stability to the traditional farm business it also brings with it a whole new breed of risks. Any one who is familiar with agriculture will know that farms can be treacherous places to work. The danger of a trip or fall or something more serious arising from agricultural chemicals, unpredictable beasts and infectious diseases is always present. When you start to introduce children and curious visitors into this environment it’s not hard to imagine how you could come face to face with some very serious accidents resulting in claims being made against you.

It’s these claims that potentially threaten the future of rural businesses. Whilst it may be easy to tot up the costs of losing your physical assets following a disaster, it’s far harder to estimate the costs arising from injuries to visitors on your land or place of business.  In these litigious times it’s exactly this type of claim that can devastate your business. That’s where Public Liability insurance becomes vital for business.

Public Liability Insurance covers you for any awards of damages given to a member of the public because of an injury or damage to their property caused by you or your business. At BiB we have seen many examples of this insurance in action, for instance, a claim this year following a walker’s foot being trodden on by a cow has an estimated value of around £5000. When relatively minor injuries such as this can result in a pay out of thousands of pounds it’s daunting to think what the ramifications of the E Coli outbreak at Godstone Farm affecting 90 people that made headlines in the news recently could be.

Despite the horror stories surrounding these types of claim diversifying your farm business can be highly rewarding emotionally and financially. Making sure you match your entrepreneurial skills with well planned health and safety practices and the correct insurance for your business will allow you the peace of mind to work on developing your business into a unique and profitable rural enterprise.

For more information about insurance for your rural or farm business please contact Helen Raine at BiB Insurance, helen.raine@bibinsurance.co.uk 01325 347273  www.wireuk.org/bib-insurance

Don’t forget to mention that you are a WiRE Member.

WiRE Network Leader Harriet Stapleton from Ptolemy Toys has created “BrackleyShops”, a collaborative venture to bring the buzz back into the High Street

Brackley is a leafy traditional market town in South Northamptonshire, ripe for a Mary Portas makeover, but alas she didn’t reply to the invitations!  Believing in action and importantly the power of “collabor-action” WiRE Network Leader for South Northamptonshire Harriet Stapleton has created BrackleyShops, a joint venture initiative to promote Brackley as a great place to shop.

With a catchment population of over 24,500 and lots of small specialist shops selling an amazing range of unusual gifts from antiquarian books to prize winning maps with toys, homewares, antiques, and arts and crafts thrown in alongside the more traditional butchers, dry cleaners and an old fashioned DIY store you can really find the solution to every gift headache as well as your everyday needs in Brackley.  But small independents are struggling in Brackley just as they are across the UK in the current economic climate.

Harriet Stapleton has run Ptolemy Toys in the town for the last 6 years and feels passionately about brining the shops together to work as a “department store on the high street”.  Harriet said “The power of collaborative working is fantastic for small independent retailers who do not have huge advertising and marketing budgets” (she’s getting quite fired up now )“Working together we can do so much more than any of us would be able to do working on our own, it’s a simple case of economies of scale and pooling experience!  An extra bonus is that the retailers now know each other, getting together helps share best practice and experience and what’s more it’s great fun to meet up and have a bit of a gossip!  With a mix of long standing family run businesses and new start up retailers there is so much experience and diversity of skills in the town we are just beginning to see how we can harness that for the good of all our shops, our customers and the local area”.

Harriet’s experience with WiRE has helped her realise the power of mutual support and encouragement, and she recognised that small rural retailers are often working in isolation.  “Shopkeepers are tied to their shops so it is difficult to get out and network, most small independents are finding trading tougher this year and this means they have to cover longer opening hours, do their own marketing, record keeping and generally work harder – often for less, this can be demoralising and down right depressing on bad days!” said Harriet.  Knowing how much the WiRE ladies in the South Northamptonshire network value the supportive environment WiRE offers Harriet decided to bring the retailers together to focus on joint marketing but also to make introductions and provide a support network.

With nearly 30 shops involved the retailers bring expertise in web building, social media, sales and promotion, distribution, as well as marketing and retailing to the group.  Last month Brackleyshops delivered the first of 6,000 promotional postcards to local homes and will shortly be producing a “Shoppers Guide” using beautiful illustrations commissioned from an artist who had been involved in a similar initiative in Exmoor.

Harriet worked in several marketing agencies during her career before she took a break to have children and start up her own business, so marketing is in her DNA!  Critically Brackleyshops have embraced social media, and their traditional marketing is supported by a website, a facebook page and a twitter account so Brackleyshops is able to reach out to as many potential customers as possible.

“Success breeds success” says Harriet, “and if we can get more customers to use the shops we have in Town, making them all viable we will attract more retailers into town, this will increase the diversity of shops and give local people more reasons to shop locally.  This is about making the most of what we have, reaching out to the local community and growing all our businesses.”

“Listening to customer feedback is of critical importance to the small independent retailer, as independents we should be swift of foot and look to respond to customer needs wherever possible, if we don’t then we simply will not survive in the long term, although customers have to be realistic too” commented Harriet Stapleton.  “We are focusing on building awareness and getting customers to think about their local shops first, it takes time to change patterns” continued Harriet “many locals would like late night opening and at the moment this is really difficult for most of our shops, If the retailers knew the trade was there I feel sure they would open, but when you are struggling to stay afloat and already putting in long hours the cost of opening late is high, its definitely a chicken and egg situation.  We’re taking it one step at a time, initially looking to build footfall into the town, but later this year we are aiming to work as a group to promote some late night opening to suit our commuter population, and if it’s promoted well we hope customers will be tempted to come and explore and support their local shops at a time that suits them.”

“We know people want more shops offering greater variety, but to attract new shops and give customers’ greater choice the existing businesses need to be vibrant and profitable with a sustainable level of trade in the town, the premise being that success breed’s success, we’re in this together, the High Street needs the support of local people and the High Street retailers need to listen to their market.” Harriet feels the time is ripe for the High Street, “I believe that shopping locally connects you with your community, local retailers have time for a chat and a bit of gossip, and although we’ve lost this local connection to our communities over the past decades it feels now that people are looking to reconnect and reach out to their neighbours, supporting your high street achieves this connection.”

“If we can get more customers to use more of the shops we have in Town, making them all viable and buzzing we will attract more retailers into town, this will increase the diversity of shops and give local people more reasons to shop locally.  This is about working together to make the most of what we have, retailers need to know each other and promote each others shops as well as their own, we need to reach out to the local community grow our businesses will through collaborating together on initiatives.”  Said Wendy Chaplin another retailer and young mother from the ladies fashion shop Bliss.

The recent appointment of Mary Portas has put the High Street on the top of the agenda, “the trends are all in our favour” says Harriet optimistically, “with talk of places that do well being interesting, niche retail with quality arts and culture, local distinctiveness and a vibrant varied café culture Brackley is well placed to become a successful High Street”.

Get involved with Brackleyshops at www.brackleyshops.co.uk, Twitter @brackleyshops, facebook.com/BrackleyShops

For more information contact Harriet Stapleton on 07710 645091 or harriet@ptolemytoys.co.uk

BrackleyShops Brackleyshops is a not for profit collaboration by over 28 (and counting) shops in Brackley to promote Brackley High Street.  To keep up with the activities, follow it twitter @Brackleyhsops or via facebook.com/brackleyshops

WiRE Member Anna Mason talks us through the…

Top 10 best exercises

We all want to make the best use of the time we spend exercising, so make sure you select the best exercises.  Here are the best and most effective exercises for most fitness goals.

Doing what’s best for your body

By doing the best exercises for each part of your body, as described here, you will be more likely to improve your major muscle groups. However, you should remember that variety is key when it comes to resistance training – so make sure you always do a variety of exercises for each part of your body, and exercise a number of different parts of your body rather than focus on one particular part all the time.

Best for chest exercise: the push-up exercise

The push-up wins hands down (if you’ll excuse the pun!). While the bench press is a great alternative, most of us don’t lift as much weight in the bench press as we do in the push-up. In one study, researchers found that 66.4 per cent of total body weight is lifted in a full push-up. So if you weigh, say, 65kg, that means you’ll be lifting 43kg, which is probably more than you would normally attempt in a bench press. Also, you will get added challenge for the core stabilizers in the face-down position of a push-up.

Best exercise for bottom: the squat

You are spoilt for choice when it comes to exercises that work the bottom – but the squat always wins out. The most muscle activity in the bottom occurred during squats, but only when testers went to 90 degrees or lower. This is because the deeper the squat, the more muscle fibres it fires in the gluteus maximus. However, when you’re doing squats you should only go as low as you can comfortably manage.

Best exercise for abs: the dying fly

The most muscle activity in the obliques and rectus abodminis – i.e. the six-pack and the muscles of the waist – occurred during the ‘dying fly’, in which a person extends each leg alternately and twists the opposite shoulder towards the knee as the leg comes back in.

Best exercise for the back: the lateral pull-down

A ‘wide overhand grip’ lateral pull-down is the best exercise to do to get a stronger, shapelier back.

Best exercise for hamstrings: the step-up

The best exercise for the hamstrings is step ups.  Depending on your level of fitness choose either a stair or step to step up and down onto or for the very fit choose a chair.  If you’re choosing a chair ensure that the angle of the knee, when beginning the step, is no greater than 90*.

Best exercise for upper arms: the triceps kickback

To do this exercise, stand side-on to a support with the closest knee and hand on the support. Take a dumbbell in the other hand and bring your bent elbow up to your side. This is the start position. Now straighten the arm, taking the dumbbell up behind you, but keeping the upper arm ‘glued’ to your side. Use the heaviest weight you can, while maintaining good technique, as research found that the medial head of the triceps did most of the work – rather than the whole muscle – when only light weights were used.

Best exercise for thighs: the squat or lunge

The exercise that comes out best for thighs in most studies is the squat – and your thighs will be doing more work if you don’t squat very deep. However, to add some variety to your program, and to work each thigh independently (to prevent imbalances), lunges come a close second. Take your lunges to the front, rather than the rear, for maximum thigh involvement.

Best for waist: the side bridge

You often see people in the gym doing side bends with a dumbbell to tone up the waist area. But this exercise will actually shorten the obliques – effectively contributing towards you losing your waist! To tighten the muscles and reduce your risk of back pain, try the side bridge instead. Lie on your side with knees and hips stacked – the top leg directly over the bottom one – and your weight resting on the lower elbow. Bend the bottom leg to a right angle at the knee while keeping the hips on top of one another. Then lift your body up so that your weight is supported by the lower part of the bottom leg and the elbow only. Consciously draw the side of your waist that is closest to the floor up towards the centre of your body. Don’t let your bottom stick out, and keep your abdominals contracted.

Best exercise for hips: the single-leg squat

Here’s an exercise that might not be in your usual repertoire! The single-leg squat is the move that most challenges the gluteus medius, or the muscle in the hip. To do this, stand on one leg and extend your floating leg slightly in front. Then bend your supporting leg, ensuring your knee comes over your toe and doesn’t roll in, it’s okay for your torso to hinge forward a little.

Best for shoulders exercise: the lateral shoulder raise

To work this muscle effectively try the lateral shoulder raise. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand and lean forward 10 to 20 inches from the hips with your knees slightly bent.  Press your arms out to the side with your elbows also slightly bent, leading with the little fingers, and stop at 90 degrees.

Thanks to Anna Mason

anna@distancedieters.co.uk

www.distancedieters.co.uk