Tag Archives: innovation

Life at The Lead Agency: Meet Software Developer Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller joined The Lead Agency four years ago, whilst completing her studies at Liverpool John Moores University, before joining us full-time as a Software Developer.

Here, she gives us an insight into her time at The Lead Agency so far…

What lead you to your role here at The Lead Agency?

I first started working here during my placement year whilst I was studying Software Development. Having spent a whole year in a corporate environment, it meant that I had a great advantage going into my final year at University as I had lots of new skills and a real understanding of software development.

What sort of responsibilities are involved in your role?

I work in the platform team, so our responsibilities are mainly to do with improving and maintaining the back-end systems, such as dealing with the call centre systems, and CRM amongst many other responsibilities.

How would you describe working within the platform team?

Everyone is super helpful – if you’ve got any questions people are more than willing to help you out.

We dedicate lots of our time to making sure that things are done properly and on-time. Everything we work on is vital to the smooth-running of our business, so the pressure is on to minimise risks. There’s some late nights and early mornings to do that but there’s always someone on-hand to help you out, even from out of office!

What project(s) are you currently working on?

At this moment, I’m working on the CRM which will be used across the entire company, from field sales down in London, to campaigns, processing and the call centre. Working on the CRM system has been one of our key focal points recently as it’s the main central system that the company is looking to use.

How would you describe the culture at TLA?

Even though we are busy, there’s always a nice and relaxed atmosphere. There’s also a great social side within the company, especially when we finish on a Friday.

I get involved in the free personal training sessions every Tuesday and there’s always other fun activities going on, such as Cake Friday at the end of the month and various charity events!

Which aspects of your role, or working at TLA, in general do you love the most?

Within our team, the day-to-day work is always different – one minute we might be working on a project and then fixing bugs the next. We have so many systems that we’re constantly switching between, so it makes my role extremely varied and fun.

There’s always new technology coming out that we’re open to trying and so we’re always learning new skills. If there’s something that you specifically want to work on, our managers are always willing to help us learn and incorporate the new technology to improve our current systems.

How would you sum up your experience at TLA so far?

Really positive! I’ve learnt mostly everything I know about software development from working at The Lead Agency and made some great friends along the way too.

Would you have any advice for someone who is starting their career as a developer?

Just be open to trying new things. When I first arrived at TLA I was expecting to become a web developer, but I ended up working on different projects and embraced the challenges and opportunities that I was given, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

We’re hiring! To find out more about our career opportunities, visit our careers page.

Development manager James McDowall discusses his journey to TLA and search for innovative .NET developers

We’re growing. And as a result, we’re recruiting for the very best .NET developers to join us in Liverpool. But what can future employees expect from the city’s fastest-growing tech business?

To answer that question (and more) we’re joined by development manager James McDowall, who arrived at TLA earlier this year from Iceland Foods. He begins our chat by telling us what attracted him to his new role.

“TLA is a market-leader and a technical innovator. That was obvious right from the outset and I knew it was something I wanted to be part of.”

James’s journey here via the world of frozen foods began with a Computer Science degree at Staffordshire University before roles as a systems developer at Aegon, a contracting position with Alliance & Leicester and five years at Hill Dickinson as a senior IT developer.

The Iceman cometh

At Iceland Foods, where he spent 6 years (most recently as technical architect) James was primarily responsible for leveraging their technology systems and leading a project which added over £1 million to the business in its first year.

“It was a versatile role,” he explains, “I was able to work on many different projects such as HR systems, a supplier financing portal, and labour and schedule planning for the 800+ stores and 26,000 staff that Iceland had at the time.

“Considering the number of technical challenges that we faced, the ability to seamlessly link all the pieces together to deliver a solution that had such a hugely positive impact within its 12 months was a significantly proud moment for me and my career”.

A few months after leaving Iceland, James is in Liverpool heading up our Platform Development team, one of three within TLA alongside Engagement and R&D. His remit covers leading a team of seven junior, mid- and senior-level .NET developers, steering the development life cycle on key projects and working on a major CRM development project.

“My main responsibilities are to apply the right technology fit, and work with my immediate team to deliver the best solutions for the business to further our lead generation activity.

“On a day-to-day basis, they will use bespoke technology to quantify and qualify the leads that come into the business before sending them on to the client.”

Technical innovators

As we continue to grow as a business, James is working with our in-house talent acquisition team to find and appoint .NET developers that have “technical diligence, problem-solving skills, and the ability to articulate technical requirements to non-technical people”.

He believes those new starters will be joining an “innovative, dynamic and progressive” team that “wants to be here and wants to keep improving”.

He cites the studio’s regular ‘brown bag’ lunches as one of the ways, the team push each other to be the best they can be. “One of the developers will give a talk about a subject within IT that they’re passionate about. The talks inspire new solutions, which helps to create a passionate, supportive and collaborative environment.”

James is determined to grow his team with the right people – a vision shared by other departments.

“Anyone considering a role at TLA needs to be prepared for a fast-paced environment where every day brings new challenges and where new technologies are embraced,” he says.

“We don’t just want developers, we want technical innovators with the willingness to strive beyond the norm and help us pioneer industry-shaping technology.”

If you’d like more information on the opportunities within James’s team and across the business, visit our Careers section today.

The Lead Agency named one of Europe’s fastest growing companies in FT1000

The Lead Agency has been named as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies by the Financial Times.

The FT1000 in association with Statista is one of the business world’s most of respected league tables, ranking companies from 31 European countries based on the highest compound annual growth rate between 2013 and 2016.

We are a new entry in the table, ranking an impressive 363rd overall and as the 56th highest placed UK company of the 158 that made the list.

Immense pride

Topping the FT1000 2018 table is UK-based food delivery service Deliveroo, which has achieved a staggering 107,117% growth rate over the last three years – more than 10 times that of second placed Thermondo from Germany. At the other end of the table, the barrier for entry was tougher than in 2017 with the lowest-ranked average growth being 16.1% higher than last year.

Anton Hanley, who founded the company in 2002, said: “We’re immensely proud of this achievement and would like to thank everyone who has played their part, including staff, clients and partners.

“The last few years have seen us make strong progress as a business – not only in terms of revenue growth but through our recruitment, innovative use of digital technology, vertical expansion, client base and partnerships. However, we’re fully committed to building on this success and excited about what’s in store over the next few years.”

Our FT100 success follows last month’s fifth-placed ranking in the Northern Tech 100, a league table of the fastest-growing tech businesses in the north of the UK.

Paul Dowman joins The Lead Agency as tech architect

We are delighted to welcome CRM and .NET architecture specialist Paul Dowman to The Lead Agency team.

Paul joins us as technical architect with a remit to take responsibility for technology selection, system architecture, quality of code and adoption of best practice across all of our development teams. His initial focus will be to progress our Dynamics CRM implementation – an area of expertise Paul has outstanding experience in.

Paul has earned an exceptional track record for integrating Dynamics CRM with legacy systems, facilitating rapid roll out of new capabilities in complicated IT environments. Two of his previous implementations were, at the time of launch, the largest Dynamics CRM implementations in the UK.

His career has included senior positions at Entrepreneurial Spark, Lookers, ISS Facility Services, London Borough of Newham, Manchester City Council, 2e2, Avanade, HBoS and Moneysupermarket.com.

‘Palpable sense of innovation’

More recently, Paul has been operating as a consultant working with a number of different businesses – including The Lead Agency. However, he is delighted to have made the move permanent.

“I’m really excited to join The Lead Agency at a time of rapid growth and expansion for the business. The Lead Agency is unashamedly ambitious, wanting to lead the market, not follow it. That ambition is driving a palpable sense of innovation and vitality throughout the organisation.

“The technical team are keen to understand the latest technologies and collaborate well to help each other find the best use of the technology to deliver business value. On the business side, the team have a proven track record of delivery and growth, never resting on their laurels always looking to improve performance and drive further value.

“With innovative business ideas and cutting-edge technology there is a dynamic synergy that is very exciting to be a part of. Across the whole company there is a strong sense of quality, high standards, and most of all inclusion – everyone has an important part to play.”

‘Meeting of minds’

Our chief technology officer Edward Clark said: “Paul is widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Dynamics CRM solutions and has a proven track record of leading major projects for a wide range of ambitious organisations.

“During his capacity as consultant, it became clear that there was a meeting of minds regarding our vision for The Lead Agency and that Paul was the right man to help us deliver it. We believe he will be great addition to our growing development team.”.

If you’d like to be part of our ambitious and innovative business, visit our Careers page for the latest roles.

PMA nomination follows campaign success for BMW

We have been nominated for a prestigious accolade at the Performance Marketing Awards 2018 (PMAs).

Our work for BMW and its media partner MEC Global has been shortlisted for Best Lead Generation Campaign – a hotly-contested category that recognises the most innovative and impactful activity in customer acquisition.

The nominations were revealed this afternoon in association with event sponsor Impact Radius and can be viewed in full via the PMA website.

We’ll have to wait until 24 April to discover whether our campaign has earned the top prize when the performance marketing industry gathers at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel for the ceremony.

Microsoft’s global agency director, Adrian Cutler, called judging this year’s entries an “incredible experience”.

“Cutting edge thinking really came through on the entries, they were not afraid to push the boundaries of what is possible with creative flair, a key focus on challenging the norm shone out,” said Cutler.

The Lead Agency features in International Business Festival campaign

Later this year, Liverpool will host the International Business Festival – a gathering of 30,000 business owners, decision-makers and professionals from around the world.

The event will consist of nine high-growth sector-themed days running between the 12^th and 28^th June that aim to help organisations scale-up and fulfil their ambitions.

To help promote the event, The Lead Agency was approached by the organisers and asked if we’d like to be featured as a Next Level Business case study – an invitation extended to just three UK businesses.

We were naturally honoured and welcomed the organisers’ film crew at our Liverpool HQ towards the end of last year. As well as capturing footage of our office and surroundings, our CEO and founder Anton Hanley was interviewed.

Watch the film below to hear about our success to date – from a standing start in 2002 to becoming the UK’s number one new car lead generator – as well as with Anton’s ambitions for the future and hopes for the Festival.

TLA developers visit Google for PWA training

Last month, two developers from The Lead Agency were invited to Google’s London offices to take part in an instructor-led training course on progressive web apps (PWA).

PWAs, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to open and cross-browser technology that provides enhanced user experiences on mobile. It does this by providing native-app qualities in web applications that are, to quote Google, “reliable, fast and engaging”.

As an important part of what we do is building technology to engage with consumers and support them through their buying journey, this was a great opportunity to learn more about this emerging technology.

Enhancing the user experience

Our engineering duo of Stephen Pammenter and Martin Donegan gained a lot from the two-day programme and were able to identify potential ways the tech could be used to enhance the user experiences we create for our clients’ future customers.

We’ll bring you more on this in 2018. But for now, we’ll leave you with the photos from their visit.

If you’d like to discuss PWAs or any of the other tech we build at The Lead Agency, contact the team.

The future of automotive lead generation

Profound changes are taking place in the automotive landscape and analysts are predicting a greater level of change in the next decade than in the previous half century.

So what does the future hold? We’ve taken a look at three parts of the automotive industry’s commercial future – the landscape of the new car market, the changing behaviours of car buyers and the future of automotive lead generation.

The future of the new car market – is it heading for an electric future?

Electric dreams

One of the hot topics of 2017 has been the increasing exposure for all things electric, with growing political, market and entrepreneurial will to make it happen. The transition to dominance will likely take decades but each step towards it has huge implications for the market. Removing the engine will lead to a swathe of redundant associated organisations in the supply chain, which could have huge implications for aftersales business and dealer profitability.

The pace of change to electric is predicated on a number of factors, not least of which is battery costs coming down to a point whereby electric pricing is competitive with traditional fuel models. And then of course there’s the recharge, range, and performance conundrums to solve.

Growth and decline in the market

But despite these hurdles it will inevitably happen. Electric accounts for less than 5% of the market but year-on-year growth continues and manufacturers are taking it seriously. As evidenced by VW announcing its plans to invest $84bn into electric to bring 300 models to the market by 2030.

In addition, new entrants are looking to make their mark – the recent news of Dyson’s ambitions highlights the diversity of companies determined to bring about an electric future for automotive.

While electric’s share grows, the SMMT reported that the overall UK market declined for a sixth consecutive month in September 2017 with 9.3% fewer cars registered. At the same time, demand from private buyers dropped 8.8% and business and fleet buyers declined by 5.2% and 10.1% respectively.

Macro market and economic conditions are driving this downturn. Uncertainty over Brexit is having an impact on consumer confidence, with expensive new car purchases being put on hold.

Scrappage schemes

Another significant development in 2017 is the reappearance of various scrappage schemes, this time around for older diesel vehicles.

Unlike eight years ago, though, manufacturers haven’t been prompted by government backed scrappage schemes. Instead, they’ve launched scrappage deals of their own positioned as removing dirty diesels from the road. But at the same time helping to stimulate new car sales, in a period of declining year on year sales.

Financing

Given the value of a new car purchase, one of the main considerations is affordability and, in practical terms, how much a new car will cost on a month basis.

Personal contract plans are now the dominant force in financing new cars. Approximately nine out of 10 new vehicles in the UK are purchased this way, providing flexibility for the consumer. This method of financing has proved extremely popular primarily because headline monthly rates are very competitive and the consumer can simply pass the vehicle back, essentially never really ‘owning’ it.

Forecasting residual vehicle values is extremely important for OEMs as there is a guarantee to buy the vehicle back at a set price. If residuals are incorrectly set then finance houses can find themselves in the position of having overpriced stock on their books. Given the likely trends for diesel pricing, this could be a potential headache for OEMs over the next few years.

The future of car buying behaviour – is the age of ownership coming to an end?

Given the significant purchase value and choices available, consumers will always need quality content and advice to help guide them through the myriad of options when it comes to deciding which new car to buy.

We believe the trend for increased researching online, rather than visiting multiple showrooms, will continue. This means the visits-per-dealer-to-sales ratio will continue to fall as consumers head to dealerships with more clarity about exactly what car they want to buy.

In many cases, they will have decided what to buy before they walk-in to a dealership, which will typically lead to higher conversion rates. Naturally, though slowly, dealerships are capitalising by being repositioned into digital showrooms, with Audi leading the way in London.

Online purchasing

Whilst the predominant digital behaviour today is ‘research’ rather than ‘purchase’, online purchasing is one area in which the automotive market lags behind many others.

Such purchases account for a small fraction of the market, and whilst this is in-part due to the high value nature of a new car purchase, there are a plethora of other market dynamics which slow the pace of change.

Digital new car configuration and online purchasing will continue to rise though and become an increasingly important part of the consumer journey. This could fundamentally change the landscape for dealerships as we know them today.

Usership v Ownership

The concept of ‘usership’ rather than ‘ownership’ is a growing social trend which will have significant implications for the automotive market.

As we move slowly to a world of self-drive and autonomous vehicles, the traditional concept of owning a vehicle is likely to become increasingly marginalised – particularly in dense cities – in favour of simply demanding the right vehicle at the right time via connectivity.

The future of lead generation – can innovation drive quality?

Automotive lead generation has arguably also been guilty of being slow to change. But change it must to make real progress.

At The Lead Agency, change and progress have been a theme of 2017 with chat bots that start online conversations to predictive engagement platforms that natively present relevant new car content across a network of mainstream automotive websites.

Through a greater understanding of each car buyer’s needs and improved services, we’re creating quality new customer opportunities for more than 25 UK OEMs.

Contextual relevancy and omni-channel engagement

Outdated contact forms are being outperformed online by native units providing contextual relevancy. This is based on an understanding of what content is being consumed, and other known data points about the consumer. Conversions are being increased by introducing relevant offers at the right time – for example, serving discounted new car offers to consumers who have shown intent on the OEMs own site or other relevant automotive websites.

Likewise, consumers today are communicating in an ever-increasing number of ways – via traditional methods such as email and phone, as well as dominant social platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp. They expect to be able to communicate through their preferred method and businesses need to make it easy for consumers to communicate via their channel of choice, rather than force them down a particular channel.

Facilitating the continuation of the consumer’s conversation will ultimately win out. Omnichannel is no longer a nice to have.

Handling consumer data

One of the other significant challenges for OEMs and their lead providers is how their respective CRM systems talk to one another. Each OEM CRM is different, which can make it difficult to transfer rich consumer data, such as existing finance details.

To avoid missed opportunities for our clients, we have built a bespoke customer acquisition ecosystem designed to address these pain points and ensure the consumer’s needs are understood. This means dealership sales teams are well-equipped to meet them and make a sale. Another important step we’re taking is to grow a team of optimisation specialists to work with our clients right the way through the sales process and maximise conversion potential.

Focus on quality

We believe the days of high volumes of low quality leads will become a thing of the past. OEMs will require and therefore expect a mix of quality lead types, which will drive disruption and innovation within the lead generation industry.

Customer acquisition companies that embrace this change and the opportunity it represents will ultimately be the ones that maintain relevance and succeed.

Tom White is automotive managing director for The Lead Agency.

If you’re interested in discussing our end-to-end customer acquisition service, contact the team today.

TLA chosen for International Business Festival launch campaign

We have been chosen as one of three UK businesses to feature in the launch campaign – including a short film – for next year’s International Business Festival.

The film was shown at an exclusive launch event held in London last night, which was attended by the Duke of Cambridge. Prince William was officially confirmed as the festival’s patron for 2018.

We were chosen alongside production company Zut Media (which also shot the film) and biologics organisation Absynth to be the faces of the launch campaign as the organisers look to build excitement and interest for the 16-day festival.

Ambition, innovation and growth

The promotional film, which we’ll share with you soon, will appear across a wide range of media leading up to the event. It tells each company’s story of ambition, innovation and growth as well as discussing our hopes and aspirations for the International Business Festival.

Our founder and CEO Anton Hanley was interviewed for the film and was in London for last night’s launch. Speaking to The Business Tribune about TLA’s involvement, he said: “Prince William was really interested in the company and asked whether we were using AI within our platform, so I explained about our chatbots we use to speak to customers online,” he said.

“I wasn’t expecting any of the attention that’s come with being part of the Festival’s campaign so it was a surprise when I arrived here, picked up a leaflet about the Festival and saw myself on the front.

“It’s been a really good evening and it’s nice to be from a Liverpool business with ambitions to grow and being aligned with a major Liverpool event that also has ambitions overseas.”

‘Ingenuity, drive and commitment’

The Duke took to the stage last night to discuss his decision to support the festival.

“I am pleased to announce my patronage of the 2018 International Business Festival; an event held in Liverpool on behalf of Britain, bringing together business people from around the world,” the Duke said.

“The UK’s prosperity relies on its wealth of innovative and ambitious small and medium-sized businesses. Whenever I have had the chance to meet the people who run such enterprises, I have been struck by their ingenuity, drive and commitment. They demonstrate the best qualities of our national character.”

The International Business Festival takes place at Exhibition Centre Liverpool between 12-28 June 2018.

Preparing for GDPR: Documentation of consent

In the latest in our series on GDPR, we look at one of the key aspects of the regulation: the documentation of consent.

In order to comply with the EU General Protection Regulation, companies will be required to keep a wide range of documentation. According to the ICO, the following bad and good examples provide an indication of the level of documentation of consent you will be required to maintain:

BAD: “You keep the time and date of consent linked to an IP address with a web link to your current data-capture form and privacy policy”

GOOD: “You keep records that include an ID and the data submitted online together with a timestamp. You also keep a copy of the version of the data-capture form and any other relevant documents in use at that date”

On a recent webinar, The DMA said that ‘relevant documents in use’ could, for example, refer to a telephone call script. As a lead generation company that manually qualifies leads via telephone calls, this is highly applicable to the way we work. Plus, as we introduce a more omni-channel approach to consumer communication, this would then extend to transcripts of online communications using channels such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp etc.

Consent documentation in lead generation

For some companies, this documentation of consent is potentially a high bar to meet. Depending on their technical infrastructure, they may be relying on a third party hosting/website company to implement the means to capture the correct timestamps, etc. at the point of data collection for example.

As a mature player in the industry, this is a low bar for TLA. All of our website assets are built and managed in-house, and enquiries are recorded in secure databases. This means that we fully in control of how we record this information, including text and policies that were seen, and the user’s choices. Where consent is gained in a telephone call, we use robust call recording technology, and our QA team are constantly checking for quality and compliance.

We are currently building a compliance portal where partners will be able to access complete and transparent audit trail information, showing the entire customer journey through our processes as well as providing access to call recordings.

Automotive Lead Generation

Automotive Lead Processing