News

17th June 2010 PWA FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH TXTLOCAL

Paul Waters Associates are delighted to announce a partnership with Txtlocal, the leader in business SMS text messaging with over 34,000 users from the Houses of Parliament and Manchester United to Google and mySpace.

PWA Managing Partner, Dominic Waters, said “having seen the success already enjoyed by a number of our clients it became obvious to us that the commercial text messaging industry will explode over the next couple of years – especially as an alternative means for a consumer to request a brochure, make a purchase or find their nearest store. It’s often far easier for someone to send a quick text from their mobile than to bother making a phone call or go to their PC to open up a website – and that’s when they’re at home, let alone when they’re out and about. It’s only a matter of time before all companies realise they can’t do without providing this easy option for their consumers.”

“When used as a marketing tool, falling costs and low to zero set up fees mean that commercial text messaging is no longer viable just for large companies. Whether you’re a restaurant, pub, takeaway, or even a fish & chip shop, this really is a godsend for letting customers know about your special offers. In addition businesses such as hairdressers, dentists, vets, doctors and other healthcare practitioners can also use it as a very effective means of ‘selling’ vacant appointments right up to the last minute, and of course reminding customers who have already booked. We have even seen schools, church groups and sports & social clubs using text messaging for easy communication with their audiences of parents, congregations & members.”

PWA’s next step was to source a suitable partner with experience of this burgeoning industry. Having spoken with a number of organisations, Txtlocal stood out. “In my opinion their standalone user interface which can seamlessly integrate into their customers’ platforms, and a zero/low cost entry, pay as you go pricing structure is easily the best in the market,” says Dominic. “Txtlocal have been constantly honing their offering since 2005, when they first saw the potential of commercial text messaging - and it shows. We are delighted to be partnered with them.”

Paul Waters Associates have negotiated a free, no obligation and no contract 50-text trial of the Txtlocal system for all those interested in finding out how easy it is to use for their business. To try it for yourself, click here and, when signing up, enter PWA as the promotional code to receive your 50 free texts.

To read more about Txtlocal and how it is helping other organisations click here

Lloyds TSB carried out a detailed Pilot of the SPQ*GOLD® Sales Behavioural Profiling and 2-day Sales Behavioural Change Workshop with 150 members of its Regulated sales force. Two evenly-matched groups of 75 salespeople were formed, with the Trial group going through the Workshops and the non-participating Control group being used for comparison purposes.

After the Trial group achieved a double-figure increase in generated revenue above and beyond that achieved by the Control group, a further ‘mini-Pilot’ was carried out with 30 Sales Managers to measure their feedback.

The success of these Pilots led Lloyds TSB to decide to use SPQ*GOLD® as a development tool for all 1300 of their Regulated sales force. Lloyds TSB is currently exploring using SPQ*GOLD® as both a recruitment and development tool in other parts of the company.

“The SPQ*GOLD® Sales Behavioural Change process has really helped us firstly to identify the specific areas of selling opportunity each salesperson was avoiding, and secondly to help them do something about it! We were careful to measure SPQ*GOLD®’s exact effect on improving performance, and our decision to roll-out SPQ*GOLD® across the entire Regulated sales force clearly shows we were very pleased with the results.”

- Lloyd Glasgow - Senior Project Manager, SPQ*GOLD® from Lloyds TSB

Vertex, the Corporate Outsourcing division of United Utilities plc, use SPQ*GOLD® for all their sales recruitment decisions.

"SPQ GOLD® significantly helped Vertex ensure we had the right people in the right sales jobs to sell effectively in a restructure last year and is a key input into our decision making process relating to choosing new candidates for positions within both new business sales and account management."

- Helen Staniszewski - Sales & Marketing Operations Director, Vertex

Co-operative Bank Financial Advisers first piloted SPQ*GOLD® as a development tool for its Branch-based salespeople in 2001. They have been using it annually ever since.

"Our advisers’ professionalism is vital when helping customers make the right choice. This means focusing on every aspect of our organisation, especially the training of our sales force. The SPQ*Gold® course has helped our advisers understand how attitudes and behaviours affect performance. It has equipped them to both identify and challenge the reluctances which may be holding them back."

- Peter Brookes – Training & Development Manager, CBFA

Denplan, part of the AXA Group, had a very successful pilot of SPQ*GOLD® as a development tool. They have since rolled it out to the rest of their sales teams and also use it for all sales recruitment decisions.

"I found SPQ*GOLD to be the most focussed profiling system I have come across. It was useful not only for the Sales Consultant for personal development, but also for the Manager in terms of assisting the growth and improvement of individual performance. Having originally put half of the Sales force through, I have been impressed enough to roll out to the whole team as it has considerably benefited the growth of new sales. The facilitation of the course was to the highest standard with very prompt follow-up and results."

-Sandy Brown – Sales Director, Denplan

Principality Building Society piloted SPQ*GOLD® initially as a development tool. They now use it for recruitment too.

“In our business of consultative selling we can no longer put sales behaviours in our people down to chance. We need something robust that will measure and correct them. SPQ*GOLD® gives us a tremendous predictive instrument for new recruits and very good training model for our existing teams.”

- Neal Pritchard – Head of Group Financial Services, Principality Building Society

Interleasing, part of General Motors, are long-term users of SPQ*GOLD® as both a development and recruitment tool.

“We introduced SPQ*GOLD® some 3 years ago to support our assessment of the sales competence, attitude and key areas for development of a sales team that we acquired as part of a Corporate acquisition. The approach taken was so revealing and powerful that we decided to extend the process to the whole of our sales team. SPQ*GOLD® is a very reliable predictor of the behavioural characteristics of individuals and the subsequent workshops are, if approached with an 'open mind' and a desire to learn and improve by the attendees, an excellent mechanism for behavioural change through personal re-enforcement. SPQ*GOLD® is embedded as a selection tool in our recruitment process, providing continuity and objectivity in selection.”

- Roger Skinner – Director, Marketing & Corporate Development, Interleasing

Other current clients include Hays Accountancy Personnel, Hays IT, Coventry Building Society, Lex Vehicle Leasing, National Australia Group (Clydesdale Bank & Yorkshire Bank), Alex Lawrie Factors, Your Communications, Royal Bank of Scotland & Sixt Rentacar.

For a summary of trial results (and some detailed examples) please click here.