About The Company And Why It Was Created

As a company, our complete focus is on developing leading-edge products that improve the sales performance of websites.

The founders have over 40 years of sales experience between them. A team of some of the best software developers and designers in the UK have been assembled.

Our deep understanding of the sales process has given us a considerable edge. With this knowledge we've been able to develop a product, over a two year period, that is unlike any other on the market today in terms of what it does and the benefits it delivers.

One of the main reasons why so many web businesses worldwide fail is that far more money and attention goes into attracting visitors to websites than goes into persuading those people to buy when they get there.

In 1999, when we looked at the Internet with our 'sales hats' on, we were amazed to find how bad a job most website operators had been doing at translating prospects into sales.

In carrying out our market research, we simply couldn't believe how many sites were not using the 'tried and tested' sales techniques that have been used for years in the 'offline' world.

Take the online travel industry as an example. It has been the most successful sector on the Internet so far. But even so, Forrester Research found that, while online travel sales reached US$3.1 billion in 1998, an additional US$16.8 billion worth of travel business was researched online but was bought from non-web operators. That's a 15% conversion rate. A pretty abysmal number for the best performing sector on the Internet.

The fact is that virtually all the people who visit a website can be converted into buyers eventually if the right strategies are used. People make a conscious choice about the websites they visit so the interest in the product is there already.

The trick is to move people through the six stages of the sales process from awareness to purchase. Making that happen is what leadbank is all about.

What Leadbank Does

Leadbank is a software solution that is purely an online sales and a marketing - tool.

There are literally thousands of products on the market already that claim to help businesses with online marketing by generating more traffic to websites.

Leadbank is different because it is geared towards creating sales from website traffic. Plain and simple.

It is suitable for any web business, large or small.

Why Leadbank Is Needed

The problem is that, in many ways, the Internet has made the sales process much tougher to crack. Online it's just so easy for surfers to disappear out of the 'shop door' never to return. Website visitors are notoriously impatient and can look around anonymously and be gone in a flash never to return.

Prospects can be at any stage in the sales process when they visit your website:

1. Awareness - the prospect first gets to hear of your offering
2. Knowledge - the prospect understands what you are offering
3. Liking - the prospect sees the appeal of what you have to offer
4. Preference - the prospect favours your offering over others
5. Conviction - the prospect is certain they want to buy from you
6. Purchase - the deal is done

In 'offline' sales situations staff are on hand to help the sales process along. They can find out where prospects are by persuading them to provide details about their needs. Sales staff also convince prospects to provide their contact details so that they can stay in touch with them by post or telephone with a view to persuading them to buy later on through education and encouragement.

Leadbank does all of this and more online. In essence, it is a sophisticated lead management and customer relationship management tool. It helps website operators to get leads in and then to manage all of those leads in the fullness of time so as to convert them into initial sales and then repeat business.

How Leadbank Works

Leadbank software bolts onto websites seamlessly. It is hosted by us and clients subscribe on a pay-as-you-go basis.

It works by first offering all of your website visitors a reward as an incentive for providing details about themselves and their needs.

It then uses this information and identifies where site visitors are on the buying cycle. If they are a 'hot' prospect and 'ready to buy' it sends an alert via email through to your sales staff so that they can get in touch straightaway.

If, however, the prospect is further back at the 'general enquiry' stage then it allows website operators - through a fully automated lead management process involving templated emailshots and newsletters - to develop these leads.

To persuade site visitors to provide personal information high-value, online vouchers from respected retailers are offered for immediate downloading to a printer or the desktop.

Businesses that sign up as Leadbank clients have full control of their service via their very own administration area of the Leadbank site. Using this they can:

• Select the particular vouchers they offer their site visitors based on their demographic profile. New vouchers are being added all the time to the available list.
• Change the 'qualifying' questions that are asked of their site visitors to find out what they want and where they are in the buying cycle.
• View and analyse the database of information about their site visitors.
• Draft and send emailshots and newsletters using templates. Because of the amount of data captured from prospects and the sophistication of the Leadbank system, they can 'cut and slice' their database and send out tailored marketing messages based on their in-depth knowledge of the personality types of the recipients and where they are in the buying process.
• View up-to-date statistics and use advanced analysis tools to assess the success of their various incentives offerings and marketing initiatives.

To see how Leadbank could look on your site click here

The Evidence That It Works

Are site visitors prepared to provide personal information about themselves to website operators?
Yes, provided they get something of value in return. So-called permission based marketing companies have built up very large databases by offering people the chance to enter competitions in exchange for details about themselves. YesMail in the USA, for example, now has a database of over 25 million consumers.

Do people really want online coupons?
Yes, they do. Acording to CyberDialogue, in the three months to May 2001, 20% of US Internet users downloaded online coupons, and 57% redeemed them. Small firms in the US will spend over US$2.2 billion on localized email marketing by 2005, says the Kelsey Group.

Do people want to be marketed to by businesses via email?
Yes, they do. According to IMT Strategies, more than half of all email users feel positively about email marketing when they have given their consent, and nearly three quarters of users respond to permission email with some frequency. The research indicates that email marketing is five times more cost-effective than direct mail and 20 times more than Web banners for businesses.

Do businesses really use email for marketing purposes?
Yes, they do. 42% of small firms in the USA will use email for some form of marketing by 2005 according to The Kelsey Group, and promotional coupons will be the main entry-level method into email marketing for those firms.

The Different Versions Of Leadbank

Leadbank comes in two formats: standard and bespoke.

The standard version has been described here. If you have individualized needs bespoke versions of the service are available. Call us up for more information.