Shropshire Welcomes the World

The watch words for many businesses coming out of the recession are 'international trade'. The hopes for survival and expansion for many businesses will depend on finding new markets and customers overseas. However, this is just one way of engaging with international businesses to boost the economy. The other option is to make use of your country or region's best assets, such as an existing industrial or manufacturing base, and invite inward investment from overseas companies. If sufficient trade doesn't exist at home, but you still have the means of production, it makes sense to market that capability overseas. This is just what has been happening in Shropshire, as the mayor of Shrewsbury, Jon Tandy, recently hosted a visit from the managing director of a Shanghai-based automotive company. The Chinese delegation visited Stadco and Salop Design and Engineering, which are both involved in the manufacture of components used in the automotive industry. The West Midlands can certainly be proud of its heritage of excellence in manufacturing and engineering, so building on this capability is the natural next step. Promoting and selling a region can be a very different kind of marketing challenge. A mixture of a real passion for an area along with a keen understanding of its economic potential for investors is required to really do a region justice on the international stage. It is useful to be able to look at an area from the outside in and be able to assess how it might come across to someone who knows nothing of its hidden gems. While assessing and presenting a region in its best light, it is also vital that you are keeping an eye on the efforts of other regions with similar investment opportunities taking the same approach. What have they got to offer that your region hasn't? This is a truly exciting area of marketing to be involved with, and as more and more places seek international inward investment the likelihood is that more marketers will be required to facilitate the process. If this sounds like something you would like to move into, then why not visit marketing recruitment agencies in Shropshire to see what opportunities are available. While the task of promoting a region is a huge undertaking, it is not a one-man band. Whole teams of people are involved, from events management to PR and communications, relationship building and overall economic strategy. So as marketing recruitment agencies in Shropshire will be able to advise you, there are many routes into this career.

New Beginnings for Stafford Town Centre

Staffordshire has long been anticipating the start of work on the town's new retail and leisure complex, but the news is that it is due to start this month. The Riverside development will be situated in the town centre of Stafford and is likely to include big-name department stores and a multi-cinema complex. Further details of what the development will deliver will be made available at an exhibition which will be held soon. Depending on what outlets and businesses take up space in the new development, marketing recruitment agencies in Staffordshire could find themselves busy helping businesses to secure the talent needed to market these new concerns. The building and development of the complex itself will create new jobs for the residents of Staffordshire, but if you are looking to take advantage of the new jobs it will create once it is completed and new offices, stores and facilities ready themselves to open for business, you will have to wait a while as the development is expected to take around a year and a half to complete. However, if you are keen to secure a job in this new development, then make sure you go along to the exhibition to find out as much as you can about the companies likely to be taking up spaces. Then you can follow the workforce development and recruitment activities of the companies named so that you are ready with your application when the hiring process starts. If you are really proactive, you might decide to send a speculative application to the companies, noting that you are interested in opportunities which may arise from the new development. It is also worth registering with marketing recruitment agencies in Staffordshire and letting them know what your career development interests are and that you are prepared to wait for the right job if that is what you really want. If the recruitment agencies already work with any of the companies which will be involved in the new complex, they might have advance knowledge of what positions will be recruited for. Whatever career options this development might generate, it is a timely reminder that things don't stay the same. If you want to be ready for new opportunities, then it pays to keep your career performance record and CV up to date. It can be very easy to forget or overlook your achievements at work when you are not applying for jobs, and they can become just passing notes in a performance review or a thank-you email. As a New Year's resolution, why not make an effort to record all your achievements and save copies of any thank-you notes and recognition you received for your good work? When it comes to applying for that perfect job, you will want all the evidence you can get to prove you are the ideal candidate. Don't be afraid to ask colleagues or managers who praise your work verbally to put it in an email for you — they are always good to have for performance reviews.

Should You Apply If There Is a Strong Internal Candidate?

Putting in a proper application for a job can take a lot of work and effort if you want to be taken seriously. It is not good enough to simply fire off CVs to anything and everything that takes your fancy. For each job opportunity you should be taking the time to illustrate how you meet all the criteria required of the applicant and highlight your suitability for the specifics of the role. So when you consider the time and effort that a good application can take, is it really worth applying for a job if you think there is already a strong internal candidate lined up for the position? The simple answer is yes. At a very basic level, whether you get the job or not you should always view the recruitment process as a valuable experience you can learn from. When you have been through a process for a job you thought you were ideal for but are unsuccessful, you should review what you could have done better. Did you dress appropriately, did you present well, did you provide sufficient evidence when answering questions and were you confident enough or over-confident? Learn from any mistakes and apply that learning to the next application. The recruitment process can cost a lot of money, so ask yourself if a company would go through the expense of advertising, interviewing and possibly even employing the services of marketing recruitment agencies in Worcestershire if they weren't seriously interested in checking out external talent? Even if there are strong candidates within a company, sometimes what is most needed is a fresh pair of eyes to tackle a role. You may be just as strong as the internal candidates but with the added value of being external, and therefore having different recent experience and a new perspective that could make you the stronger candidate. So be sure to emphasise what it is you can bring to the company to benefit it. If there is an internal candidate being interviewed for the role, but you sufficiently impress at interview, then a serious employer will look to find positions for both of you. If you are unsuccessful in this instance, they may ask you apply again for future opportunities. So whatever effort you have put into your application, whether it's successful or not it is never a waste of time. Whenever you are unsuccessful ask for feedback on your application — you won't always get it but it's worth asking. If you apply through marketing recruitment agencies in Worcestershire, they can get feedback for you.

One Big Splash

One Big Splash If your marketing budget will only stretch to one big splash this year, will it be exhibiting or advertising? It is worth looking through the pros of both to see which better meets your marketing and business needs. Exhibitions are great opportunities to meet your customers and prospects face to face. Because exhibitions are settings for promotion and selling, they are better than a staged sales meeting as you don't have to start an interaction 'cold'. You can meet prospects more naturally in the networking environment. As well as being a great place to promote your brand, exhibitions are often mixed with trade updates, best-practice seminars, speakers and workshops, so you are able to boost your knowledge and skills all under the same roof. If you have staff who are new to the business, these can be useful events for them to get to know the industry and your organisation's role within it. A useful outcome from exhibitions is the immediate impact you can glean from prospects or customers as they interact with your brand. Do people stop to admire your stand and read literature or do they wander past it unaware of your presence? Do they stop but have to ask you what you do or provide? Don't overlook these opportunities to assess the impact or your brand and exhibition displays. You need to have materials and messages that work for you when you aren't there to fill in the gaps. Another useful outcome is data, as delegate lists are sometimes available to exhibitors, or you can run competitions from your stand as a way to collect contacts. Advertising, although it can be pricey, is a good way to deliver controlled market messages to much larger audiences if you choose your advertising platforms wisely. Publications or online platforms will have figures for their readership or visitors, so you can gauge the potential numbers of people who will see your ad. However, you take pot luck to a certain extent, unless very targeted, as to whether or not those numbers include potential customers. To identify customer respondents, be clear with your call to action and use tracking codes to accurately monitor effectiveness. With the right creativity you can generate a viral marketing effect as readers share your information by word of mouth or the forwarding of links. Whichever you choose, they are both excellent opportunities to showcase your brand. If you are looking for new talent to boost your marketing delivery, your local marketing recruitment agencies in Shropshire will be happy to help. See if marketing recruitment agencies in Shropshire are exhibiting near you.

On the Brink of Greatness?

Worcester Council is flying the flag for the city, looking beyond the recession and planning for great times ahead. Having attracted £350 million worth of investment in the last six years, the city has every reason to be confident. A council leader has hailed Worcester as being the ideal place for inward investment due to its 'quintessential Englishness' and its positive position coming out of the recession. The benefits that the city can offer include its relative safety, good leisure facilities and amenities, as well as its culture and its resilience in the face of hard economic times. Worcester has been undergoing great improvements, with more on the way. In 2012 the Hive was officially opened at Worcester University — a modern library, archive and events facility. Riverside developments and the expansion of the Sanctuary Housing Group also add to the prosperity of the region. The council already has a regeneration 'master plan' in place to overhaul the city centre's retail area, but it is working to update and improve it. The plans will involve the sale of a key area of land which, when developed into the new retail centre, will link St Martin's Quarter to the high street. However, the city will need to attract significant investment from business if it is to realise its dreams and fulfil its potential. As new businesses establish themselves or existing ones prepare for growth, some of the new jobs generated will be within the new business development and sales disciplines. If you are in a job you want to move on from and find your next career challenge, then why not get ahead of the game and register with sales recruitment agencies in Worcestershire so that you are well placed when new opportunities start to come forward? If the city is successful in attracting investment, especially from overseas, it can be an advantage to take on local sales experts who know the home market. It will also be easier for international investors to enlist the help of sales recruitment agencies in Worcestershire when they quickly need to ramp up their sales force. So as Worcester residents are enjoying its current shopping spaces and taking advantage of its excellent leisure facilities, they are keeping one eye on the future and possibly that great new job! The council will be working hard to raise the profile of the city and attract the inward investment it needs for a brighter future.

Is Staying In Touch a Waste of Time?

You have sold a long-lasting product to a good customer, and there were no problems or complaints along the way and the feedback has been good. So do you really need to keep in touch with this client, or would it be a waste of time when you have new customers to find? The sales process doesn't finish when the initial deal is done, as that's when it can really begin. Customer relationship management isn't simply about getting more out of your existing customers. It can be just as much about managing your reputation and generating word-of-mouth referrals from your happy clients to new ones. By staying in touch (without pestering your clients) you can foster a sense of trust and respectability that will go far towards marking you out as a company that's good to do business with. However, you have to get the balance just right or you are in danger of annoying and putting off customers that were once satisfied but who become increasingly irritated by pointless, inconvenient and time-wasting contacts. Well-timed unobtrusive contacts with nuggets of information or season's greetings can be really effective, but too many with little worthwhile content will quickly put you in their bad books. Dropping an individual an email about an event they may be interested in or congratulating them on a piece of good news you've heard about them can be very effective in keeping you on their radar. The next time they are asked by a friend or colleague if they can recommend a company that offers the same services as yours, you can be sure your name will spring to mind. Hiring sales professionals who are skilled at maintaining and developing customer relationships could be the difference between success and failure for your business, so it is not a task you should take lightly. Sales staff need to be thoroughly vetted and assessed for their skills and their genuine ability in order to make it past the 'gift of the gab' that some posing as trusted sales people appear to have in spades. The impressive performance you get in the recruitment process should be exactly what you continue to get day after day in the workplace once they're hired. That is, after all, their after-sales service. Specialist sales recruitment agencies in Staffordshire are experienced at vetting potential candidates for sales roles and can help your business by managing the initial stages of a thorough recruitment process. By working with sales recruitment agencies in Staffordshire you can get help with everything from advertising the available roles to sifting through applications and carrying out the first round of interviews. This can be very useful if time is limited. If it is specialists in Customer Relationship Management that you need, then this area of expertise can be a focus for the recruitment process and evaluation criteria. It can be helpful to have sales professionals who also have experience of marketing, as the two disciplines support each other.