Author: Brad Channer

What’s The Difference Between Sales and Marketing?

You’re not the only one who has confused Sales with Marketing, rightly so as these, both have the same objective – to increase revenue. Acceler8me offers consulting in both sales strategy and marketing strategy, so we thought it’d be a good idea to put together this handing guide so that you can tell the difference. 

Frankly, you would use ‘Marketing’ to attract attention to your product, get it out there, address the gap in the market. Once it is out there it is then the salesperson’s’ job to persuade the customer to purchase the product – Sales.

What’s The Difference Between S
“Make a customer, not a sale.” – Katherine Barchetti

Think of Marketing as the first point of interaction with potential customers/clients, using easier advertising methods such as online, leaflets etc. Whereas the term sales relate to converting the leads into purchases.

Digital methods of marketing are the most popular due to the fact that there are a lot of systems in place to monitor what works, what doesn’t work and which areas need tweaking.

For example; take the idea that you are trying to sell an apple, you would use marketing approaches like adverts, promotions, offers, recommendations to convince people that this is the best apple they will ever purchase, this will increase your chances of selling apples, and the number of apples you have sold are your sales. Monitoring your marketing approaches may be you realising a particular increase in sales during the summer for the sales of apples, therefore you would learn from this and might make a special offer on apples that month to increase revenue.

If you want to learn more about what marketing actually is you can read more here: (LINK)

Therefore, don’t be put off with the terms Sales or Marketing, in this business industry you will find that you learn more when you are thrown in the deep end, it is a great a fast way to work out your strengths and weaknesses and will then know what areas you need help in.

Fill out our small and direct online form so we can assist you through your marketing journey today (https://www.acceler8me.com/) a member of the team will get back to you same day!

Brad Channer,
Director, Acceler8me.

What The Hell Does Marketing Actually Mean?

Don’t be put off by the terms that get thrown around when it comes to marketing. The truth is you don’t need to have a marketing degree to know the ins and outs. The truth is a lot of people in marketing these days have taught themselves, this is due to the fact that there are lots of easy-to-follow material out there to help you such as books, websites, articles, forums, videos etc. Essentially you want to be creating shareable content and advertorials to draw in potential customers. Acceler8me offers marketing strategy consulting that’s why we thought it’d be a good idea to help our readership out with a clear definition of what marketing actually means.


Marketing is a collection of strategies that businesses do to attract Reactive Sales – customers that come to you. You also have Proactive sales – which is when a salesman sells to you. With this in mind please forget the following term that is thrown around by a lot of marketing graduates that is – Branding.

Don’t get me wrong branding is important in areas such as retail, especially if you have to choose between two products in front of you, an example being choosing either Coca-Cola or Pepsi. However, in startup land, you have no money and therefore you need to focus on sales, cash in the till not branding at this point, you can focus more on this later down the line.

All marketing needs to have is a Return of Investment (ROI). This means that you need a method in place, an example being, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or another method to manage how many leads are coming in from certain activities. You can then adjust these as fit, to see what changes will affect your reactive sales and or your lead generation. Marketing can be as much as changing a user interface, the images on your website to pay per click advertising or SEO. At the end of the day, it is a huge mixture of activities that you use to essentially get customers to buy from you.

Here are some terms you will hear in marketing terms that are important;

– SEO, SEM and PPC

‘SEO’ stands for (Search Engine Optimization) and in simple terms this involves increasing search traffic to your website, an example would be changing your graphics to grab the attention of potential customers, this is related to organic results (coming up automatically on the search engine when people are searching for your service/product directly).

You may have also heard the term ‘SEM’ which stands for Search Engine Marketing, also known as paid search, which means you use specific methods to going the extra mile and drawing in customers through videos, more expensive graphics etc.

Lastly, PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click advertising. A company might use this if they only want to pay the advertising company everytime a customer clicks on their ad to purchase via your website. You see these a lot pop-up on search engine sites.

– Social media marketing (SMM)

You would use this method to promote your business on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. This method has become increasingly popular in the 21st century, as around 97% of companies have social media platforms.

– Digital marketing

This is similar to the term of marketing of products or services but you are using digital technologies, such as sharing content on the Internet, phones, display advertising.

– AdWords (Google AdWords)

This is an advertising service provided by Google for businesses wanting to display ads on Google, considering it is the most successful search engine in the world and would be most beneficial to use. The AdWords program enables businesses to set a budget for advertising and only pay when people click the ads. The ad service is largely focused on keywords, for example, if you are selling protein shakes your keywords would be things like; weight loss, fitness, protein, juice etc.

– Adwords ReMarketing

– Standard remarketing is an AdWords feature that allows you to show ads to your past visitors as they browse websites and apps on the Display Network. You may have come across these when you browsing the web and an ad pops up teasing you about that new car you were dreaming about selling.

Dynamic remarketing, also a feature of AdWords that lets you show ads to past visitors that have any products or services they viewed on your site.

– Content

This means creating informative, interesting, relevant and relatable content to attract, entice potential customers to your site. It is also a great way to reassure your customer about your services and address any queries they might have. Your objective here would be to engage with your target audience (You can read more about finding your target audience here: LINK)

If you take anything from this article take away the fact that if you don’t know something then use the resources out there to find out. In this day and age, you can find out anything. Also, don’t be afraid to ASK for help, this is where we come in, we offer in-depth consultations which can act as your 101 guides to marketing. We can help you come up with a method on how you are going to lead your customers in and a strategy that will help you continually manage your marketing tools.

Get in touch with a member of the team today!

Brad Channer,

Director, Accler8me.

What is Staff Efficiency, and why is it important?

Acceler8me offers HR consulting services, so we recognise the importance of staff efficiency. You may already have staff working for you or you may be looking to hire staff, either way, staff efficiency is definitely something that you need to be familiar with. It defines as employee productivity, and it’s a key element to success in your business. If productivity is high, then this increases the likeliness of the business is more profitable.

If you are at the stage where you are looking to hire staff, then it would be really beneficial for you, and your business, to know how to improve performance and quality in all areas of production, including choosing the right people for the roles. This will not only bring on the best possible outcome, but it will also reduce costs.

This isn’t about making sure you select the best person during the interview stage, it’s about knowing exactly what your company will benefit from, and recognising what areas you need specific help in.

It’s really worth laying down a strategic plan of your own strengths and weaknesses in this business, this is a great place to start in order to recognise what your business needs. This is something that we help layout with you with our consultation meetings at Acceler8me.

I have met a lot of entrepreneurs who are absolutely convinced they can succeed in this business alone. Don’t get me wrong some people can, which is a huge achievement, but why struggle in certain areas when there is so much help available? Especially when you are looking to grow your business.

If you already have staff and are looking to increase their efficiency, you can read these tips that I have put together here for staff efficiency. Even so, if you don’t have the staff yet read this too, so you know exactly what you expect from your team.

The most important thing to remember is that when you value your staff because of the work, they put on they will value you in return. This isn’t about getting your ‘boss’ hat on and telling them off for not reaching certain goals, it’s about setting boundaries and gaining the most out of them, and as a result, everybody wins.

Get in touch with a member of the team today to discuss where you’re at in your business, and we will help you answer certain questions like; will you benefit from employees at this point? What areas do you need more help in? What do you need to work on?

We’re more than happy to assist you on this journey.

Brad Channer,

Director, Acceler8me.

Top 10 Tips to Grant Applications

Acceler8me offers business grant services so we thought it would only be fair to pass on our expertise to our readers. Once you’ve narrowed down which grants seem appealing to you then you will need to start thinking about your approach when filling out the grant applications. Of course, this depends on the type of grant you are looking to be awarded but it’s important to remember these few points during the application process;

1. Make sure you qualify

Read up and research the grant that you are applying for. Ensure that you meet all the entry requirements and be prepared to prove these at any time during the process.

2. Don’t be afraid to make contact

If you have any questions or doubts about anything don’t be afraid to just pick up the phone and ask! Whether this is business advice (us) or specific questions about the grant (them). Trust me when I say, they would rather you ask questions now before you submit your application, as this is too late to change if an error has been made.

3. Make sure you can pay it back!

Whether the grant is refundable or non-refundable either way, you need to run a business that you can afford to run. Otherwise, your business model is floored.

Sounds harsh but that’s the business world for you.

4. To the point

Avoid unnecessary jargon, think about the number of applications they will need to get through. Just like a job application form the more you stand out the better.

5. Stick to Layman’s terms

You don’t need to use confusing terms to show off. The application form is likely going to be considered and passed around a lot, therefore, keep it simple and don’t be throwing out terms that you’ve read in the business dictionary.

6. Research Research Research

Don’t rush through it, take your time. Do your research, look at other platforms that the grant may be advertising from; social media, youtube, are there any blogs from those who previously received the grant which you can benefit from reading about?

7. Don’t be too keen

It may seem contradictory but it’s about finding the right balance between being overly keen and passionate. You need to look into all recommendations and ensure that you can commit to them, as often grants are available to encourage you to grow your business in that area and to subsidies risks.

8. Make sure you can survive without the grant

Applying for a grant shouldn’t be your only hope. Consider it just a fast track way to achieve your goals sooner.

9. Be realistic

At this point, you should know your business plan inside out. Don’t say anything just to sound impressive, they will see right through it.

10. Know what needs to be done

Make sure you can prove that you have the right numbers and stats that are feasible and achievable. Portray your passion to succeed on the application form. Know what you need to do to scale and grow your business.

Don’t forget why the grant is there in the first place – Why did the council or government put the grant in place? Create Jobs in the local area, build tech etc…. Your application has to tick these boxes.

Just remember, their job is to give you the money. They want to. Your job is to be ready for it and to reassure them that the money won’t be wasted. If you keep this in mind throughout the application then you will be appealing to them.

If this is something you feel like you need guidance on then get in touch with a member of the team today. We can work on what grants you are eligible for before dissecting the application into more manageable parts. It is so important to ensure that you answer all the questions too.

I’ll look forward to working with you.

Brad Channer,

Director, Acceler8me.

What Does ‘Investment Ready’ Actually Mean?

Acquiring commercial funding for your business can be tricky, being investment ready makes it a lot easier. Being ‘Investment Ready’ essentially means that potential Investors, Governments, Banks or Lenders believe that you are worth investing in and that you are ready for the next step. Being ‘Investment ready’ also means having runs on the board and proof that what you want to do is commercial, effective and will bring value back to an investor.

Gaining investment is crucial to the growth of your business, therefore you want to ensure that you are prepared. Investors look for someone who has structured and detailed plans on how they are going to execute the business, with the smallest amount of risk and highest returns. We believe that there is no such thing as a bad business idea, only bad execution and planning.

How do you know you are ‘Investment Ready’?

The easiest way to ‘get ready’ is to build strong and effective plans and forecasts.

Considering answering questions like; What are you are going to do with the funding? How will that money come back to your investor? If you have no clue where to start – don’t panic.

At Acceler8me we can help you get ‘Investment ready’ by providing assistance with;

– Business Plans

– Financial Forecasts

– Forecast Modelling

– Growth Strategies

– Marketing Plans and Strategies

– Sales Plans and Strategies

– Valuations and Offers

– Networking with Non-Executive Directors and Board Members

– Smart Money to help get some runs on the board before investment.

Having these in check will not only help get the ball rolling in terms of funding, but it will also benefit your business by acting as a guideline on how to execute certain strategies and milestones.

It is essential that the investors believe in you. If you prove that you have the drive and ability to achieve what you set out to achieve then you will be investable, and we’re here to help you get there.

Get in touch with a member of our team for more information on how we can help you become Investment ready.

Brad Channer,

Director

What Does Return Of Investment (R.O.I) Mean and Why It’s Important?

In simpler terms, if you put money into something the Return of Investment (ROI) is what you would gain from that investment. Let’s say you paid £1k for an influencer online to promote your product, the return of investment could be £3k from the outcome of that investment, due to people being influenced and buying your product. It is basically what you are going to get back to what you put in, and more.

This doesn’t necessarily mean just influencers but it can mean hiring someone who is an expert in the field, therefore, you need to think, ‘what is the minimum you have to bring in from that staff member to make their job tenable’? Now, this can be valuable to the business, but as a startup, you have to look at cash in the till. How much cash in the till must that staff member bring or indirectly bring in to make it worthwhile. Don’t forget you want to make a profit – what’s the point of investing money to get nothing out of it. What is the return?

If you have heard this term then you have probably heard of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), this is where you have someone delegating to monitoring this area, such as; running campaigns, generate leads, forming a database, track opportunities, and develop a knowledge base to continue growing. You can then adjust these as fit, to see what changes will affect your reactive sales or your lead generation. Marketing can be as much as changing something so small such as the images on your website to pay per click advertising or SEO. At the end of the day it is a huge mixture of activities that you use to essentially get customers to buy from you and it will take some time before you become an expert in this field, due to the fact that every business and therefore every customer is different and will need different methods to attract them.

Now for the Maths part! To calculate ROI, the benefit (or return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment. The result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio;

ROI % = (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment

The “gain from investment” refers to the proceeds obtained from the sale of the investment of interest. As the ROI is measured as a percentage, it can be easily compared with returns from other investments.

Get in touch with a member of the team today if you want to talk about what you could gain from certain investments.

Brad Channer,

Director, Acceler8me.

Top 10 Tips To a Strong Marketing Strategy

Now that you know what Marketing is how exactly are you going to put it into practice so you can see the results? I’ve put together these Marketing strategy tips on how to build a strong and effective method.

1. Keep Referring To Your Target Market –

Always know your top two target markets for your product or service. You can read more about what having a ‘target market’ means here: (LINK). Without customers you don’t have a business, that’s why it’s important to keep your target market in mind when making a decision. Try to put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes and think; “What would I want?”.

2. Don’t Rely On One Or Two Methods –

To put it bluntly, if you just have one or two Marketing techniques then it won’t get you anywhere. Marketing is a collection of different activities/techniques to achieve that same target market, do your research and look at what methods will benefit your business and field. If you are completely dumbfounded at the thought of marketing and don’t know what’s best or where to start then that’s where we come in!

3. Staff Accountability –

It may seem daunting at first, especially as a director, it’s easy to be afraid of something you don’t understand. There’s always an option to hire a Marketing Director but if you do don’t just trust them to get on with it, you will need to make sure you scrutinise their strategy.

The thing directors always forget is that these are the people who are providing your sales staff leads to sell off. Just like your sales staff- if they don’t perform they should be replaced. It is the same as the marketing team. Also as a startup, you don’t need a CMO. You need someone who can load HootSuite and can get their hands dirty. make sure you hire the right people, who understand your aims and your target market. These are the people who need to understand your target market and customer better than anyone else in the business.

4. Analyse Your Data –

Always keep analysing your data and results, this way you can see what’s doing particularly well (what you’re doing right) and also realise what needs improving.

Look at sales data as well as data from the ads you are making. Always question your target market and be prodding to see if your target market is the people actually buying. Always keep track of everything.

5. Testing –

Play around with your model/strategy. Don’t be afraid to try new things and always be reviewing and analysing your data. Play and have a small financial gamble in your budget on strange target markets etc.

6. Imagery –

Sounds cliche but, a picture says a thousand words. Imagery is crucial in any type of business, it affects all areas as it is used to draw people in. It doesn’t matter what you sell. An image will do the work for you more than any text. Just make sure it is the right image for your Target Market.

7. SEO –

Video and Content – SEO is king. This refers to your ranking on popular search engines, you can read more about what SEO is here: (LINK). Just like this article, ask questions Google can answer. Create videos, content, be different from the others.

8. Grow a Social Media Following –

Social media isn’t ALL marketing, but it definitely helps. Make sure you understand all elements of Social Media and ensure you know how to use it well, especially if you are aren’t ‘down with the kids’ as they say. I’m not talking about bombarding your audience with Tweets and messages every second, but use it to create a community, not a sales network. It is not about direct sales. It is about the power that the crowd gives you to make sales.

9. Variation –

Always stick to what is winning, you may even dabble in a new target market here or there and see what happens. Nothing hugely detrimental or desperate, but small little things and once off with a small budget now and again may surprise you.

10. Think out of the box –

There are too many people who are square. Think big. Stay creative and take small gambles, play around with different methods and ideas.

If you hire a consultancy like us, we can do all of this for you. Just be careful, there are plenty of people out there who will say they can do what you want to hear. At acceler8me we take the time to understand you and your company to every detail, we put ourselves in your shoes and do everything we can to get your company off the ground as if it were our own.

Looking forward to hearing from you and getting started.

Brad Channer,

Director, Acceler8me.

Top 8 Tips for Raising Investment

Scott Belsky, Behance: “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”

Now comes the hard part – finding investment for your business! Getting commercial funding can be tough. I have put together these top tips that should help guide you through finding the right investment for you;

1) Do it yourself!

Don’t rely on one person or a third party company to find investment. You need to put yourself out there and find it yourself.

2) Don’t see Crowdfunding as the easy way out

If you are considering going down the Crowdfunding route be mindful that his only works if you find investors to bring to the platform.

3) Be Ready

Make sure you are at the stage in the process where you are actually READY for investment! You can read more about getting ready for investment via this link (LINK)

An investors job is to invest, they want to give you money but it is your job to ensure that your business ready.

4) Take Advice

Listen to feedback and act on it. Investors are in their position because they know what they are talking about. Don’t be arrogant, when it comes to taking constructive criticism ignoring their advice won’t help. If you don’t respect their advice, you shouldn’t have asked them for investment.

5) Be honest

They will see right through any lies that you tell them, they have seen it all before. If you don’t know the answer, just tell them that you will look into it and get back to them. They are investing in people, so they need to know who they are working with if you have a poor attitude this may jeopardize your relationship with the investors and could cost you your business.

6) Have the right attitude

Your attitude is crucial, be respectful and take things on board. You need to be a good team player and work well with others. It’s understandable that you believe what is best, as this is your idea, but from a business perspective, you cannot do this alone, especially if you have no experience in the field. They are there to HELP you, take it.

7) Don’t take it personally

Be prepared for rejection. Just like working in sales – you will get fifty “no’s” before you get one “yes”. It’s important not to take it personally, believe in your idea and keep going. There are many reasons why investors don’t invest and 9/10 chances are that it’s not because of you.

8) Be proactive

Get out there and search yourself. Linkedin is a great tool for finding similar businesses and investors. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, not only will you be gaining more crucial knowledge but it also a chance for them to get to know you.

9) Consider your past bosses

Approach your past bosses for investment! Consider this especially if you are leaving a job to start a business. If your business compliments them – Get in there! It will help them and help you. They also know you well and your work ethic, and therefore know what you are capable.

10) Consider Smart money

When it comes to finding the right investor consider those who will bring more value to you and your business and not just money. You can read more about Smart Money here; (LINK TO ARTICLE).

If you take one thing away from this remember – Get out there and be confident! If you don’t ask them you don’t get! You may surprise yourself.

Get in touch with a member of our team today for more detailed advice and we will guide you every step of the way.

Good luck!  

Brad Channer,

Director.

How Can I Make my Staff More Efficient? – Top 8 Tips

After reading what staff efficiency is you might be thinking “how can I make my staff more efficient”? That’s why I have created a series of tips that I’ve put together in order for you to gain the most out of your employees;

1. Delegate

There may come a time where you’ll need assistance in a specific area, entrepreneurs do become a creature of habit by doing everything themselves. Why not delegate tasks to your staff, goals will be reached a lot sooner this way.

2. Ensure they have the skills you need

Do they have the skills you require? Don’t be afraid to arrange a meeting to discuss what exactly they want out of working here and what you need from them. A lot of people are keen on challenges and appreciate you acknowledging their skills. When they feel trusted and valued they are more likely to succeed.

3. Communicate  effectively

Make yourself approachable to your employees by maintaining good communication everyday, professional and sometimes personal. It’s important to create a good work atmosphere for your employees as their productivity levels increase when they are happier and feel looked after as staff.

4. Keep goals clear & focused  

You can do this by arranging a weekly/monthly meetings with your staff to ensure they know exactly what goals are for that week/month. It is also a great way to communicate with your staff to get some input and suggestions that will help you reach these goals.

Ensure you are all on the same page and involve everybody in these goals, work together to achieve greatness.

5. Incentivize employees  

Arrange certain rewards for when goals have been met. Not only will your employees feel truly accomplished and feel satisfied at work for their achievements, but the business will benefit from these achievements too.

6. Cut out the excess  

No, this doesn’t mean fire the useless employees, it’s about assessing their workload and allowing more time for the more important tasks that need to be completed sooner.

7. Train and develop your employees  

If your team are not at the stage where you would like them to be – train them! Arrange workshops, lectures, training camps to utilise the opportunity, everybody is always willing to learn more, and as a result, you gain the outcome of those newly developed skills. You may not have the time or money to do this but it will truly benefit your company in the long run. There are cheaper options such as purchasing books, online seminars, coaching, mentoring. This way there will be fewer mistakes, more effort, new achievements to be put into practice.

8. Embrace Telecommuting  

It might sound like a bad idea at first but it is very common nowadays. You don’t need to have your employees constantly under your nose so you can make sure they are being productive. Allowing your employees to telecommute will save time that would have been wasted, an example of this would be if you have a 48 hour vomiting rule to avoid passing on the illness,then instead of forcing them to take the 48 hours off allow them to work from home, if they are feeling up to it, to ensure no potential productivity time is wasted. Employees will also feel trusted and valued and will work harder to prove they can work independently.

9. Be Open to Feedback

Don’t be afraid to give feedback or receive it. Constructive feedback is a great way to see yourself from someone else’s eyes and work on areas that will help you grow. In this industry thick skin is essential, it’s ok to be sensitive but when it comes to feedback take it on the chin and learn from it, it will help you in the long run. Same goes for giving feedback to your employees, they will learn from it and respect you for your honesty and dedication to helping them.

Three-month performance reviews are a great way to measure their performance, it also allows a window opportunity to see which areas they need to work on, and which areas they are succeeding in. Be open for discussion and ask them if there is any further help they need from you.

10. Think about the long run

Don’t get concerned if you don’t see improvements after a week or a month, trust in your employees and improvements will happen sooner or later.

Also, don’t think you are wasting valuable time by taking these tips, you’ll be surprised how far the little things go in terms of the long-term improvements.

It’s always important to take time out to focus on your employee’s needs. There is also software in place that saves you a lot of time in terms of HR, signing up for an automated program that handles things like, payroll, onboarding, booking holidays and much more, you will have more time in your diary for your staff!

If you’d like more information or detail on any of the points raised in this article then you can get in touch with a member of our team today!

Be sure you prioritise your time well, including creating that room for your employees.

Brad Channer,

Director, Acceler8me.