BBS offer a range of phone services to clients including Virtual Reception, Inbound call lines, Inbound order lines, and Customer Care lines providing a professional and friendly service.

We provide a flexible service and a cost effective solution to customer requirements which is why BBS have been running the Customer Care Line and Orderline for Sock Shop since 2006 when it first opened as an online retailer.

Whether it is a sole trader who doesn’t want to miss that important call or a large online retailer requiring a customer care line, the BBS team are here to help.

Here at BBS we regularly attend business networking events and have seen fantastic returns including numerous business referrals and leads as well as increasing awareness of the services we offer.

Of course effective networking can and should impact on your bottom line through increased sales but it’s important to remember that business networking is a marketing tool not a sales tool.  I’m certain that one of the reasons for our success with business networking is that we don’t go to these events expecting to come away with leads but see them more as opportunities to build relationships and  connections and create awareness of our company and services.

Our current favourite is Business Over Breakfast and we’re members at 3 clubs: Bolton, Ramsbottom and Rochdale!

For further info visit :   www.evolve-business-networking.co.uk or call us on 01706 824229 and we’ll be happy give you a referral or take you to one of the events as our guest.

The first campaign was for Newcastle and Gateshead Convention Bureau (NGI) this was a database cleanse. NGI were being organised and getting their database clean and ready for the Chaser migration process. BBS were happy to assist them with this and fought off other competitors in order to win the business. This came down to our knowledge of the Chaser System and BBS coming up with a positive solution to an issue that arose before the project had even started. The Marketing Manager at NGI said “it was a really good solution from Brighter Business Solutions”.

We also started a project for Whitefield’s Insurance, which is a local insurance broker based in Ramsbottom. This involved contacting local restaurants in order to obtain their insurance renewal date so that a no obligation quote could be sent through at the appropriate time. 50% of the restaurants with whom we made contact were verified and expressed a positive interest in a comparative quotation. BBS exceeded Whitefield’s expectations with the results

More recently, we have completed a project for Reed Travel and Exhibitions on their event London Book Fair. With over 2,000 contacts, from all over the world, BBS made calls to each of them encouraging previous visitors and to pre-register online for the 2012 event.

BBS have completed numerous projects for Reed Travel and Exhibitions over the years including the EIBTM Exhibition which was held in Barcelona last December.  Once again, the BBS team rang contacts from all over the world asking them to complete their hosted buyer details.

In the April 2012 edition of Conference News,  there was an article stating that the attendance figures for EIBTM 2011 had a 6.9% increase.  We are very proud here at BBS to have played a part in this visitor increase.

BBS were approached by Bury Council to create and carry out visitor surveys at the festival. The purpose of the survey was to evaluate the success of the event and the economic impact.

At BBS, we have special survey software and I was given the job of creating the survey and I am happy to say I am fully trained on this now so if you need any surveys creating, I’m your girl! Not only do we create the survey and carry out the survey, but we also create a report at the end of the project which analyses the results, findings and we make recommendations.

Being a Ramsbottom girl myself, it was great to see the streets full of people and when I say full, I mean thousands of people. From paella to chicken tikka masala flavoured chocolate, there was certainly something for everyone! Wonder what will be created for next year’s festival?!?

All this talking of chocolate is certainly getting me ready for Easter, Hope you all have a good one!

Ocean x

So, one of the flavours of the chocolate is shown in the picture above… sort of! We didn’t want to just give it to you on a plate (pardon the pun), so the clue is that one of these fruits is an anagram of the actual flavour you are looking for!

Don’t forget to tell us your guesses on twitter #springflavour or post it in the disucssion on LinkedIn!

Good Luck!

I’ve been here for just under 3 weeks now and it’s opened up a whole new realm of the marketing sector for me. I’m constantly learning and seeing different aspects of how marketing projects and events are handled.  I’m currently studying Events Management at university and I am in my 2^nd year. The course is demanding and requires a lot of hard work but its great working within an aspect of the field already. The projects I’m already working on are really enabling me to develop and create my own work process; it really is fab being able to work on multiple projects within your own schedule.

Everyone works hard and apart from the tap tap tapping of nails hitting keyboards and various voices on the phone there isn’t too much idle chit chat, however it is always a welcomed break when the most random subjects of conversation are brought up. I’m enjoying the BBS office and getting to know the team and can’t wait for more projects and to meet more of the lovely clients.

 Jessica x

 Now I know why our University Lecturers have always stressed the importance of work experience and volunteering! A simple letter to BBS and working hard and enjoying my work experience over the summer has led to an amazing opportunity. Of course, graduates of today are not faced with the best climate; however there are opportunities out there, so grasp them with both hands!

I am really grateful to BBS for welcoming me back to the team and am looking forward to the new and exciting projects coming up.

“Opportunity is rare, and a wise man will never let it go by him”. – Bayard Taylor

Ruth Robinson of the tourism marketing agency, Brighter Business Solutions (BBS), and university lecturer Sehar Graham, have joined forces to fill the conference research void. The business tourism experts have pooled together their knowledge to form Conference Research Services (CRS). CRS will provide organisations who seek to bring conferences to the North West with much needed advice and guidance on conference research from strategy to delivery of qualified leads. The innovative North West Conference Research Unit (NWCRU), which was headed up by Sehar Graham, closed in March 2011 due to the dissolution of its funder the North West Development Agency. The NWCRU provided crucial conference research services for tourism organisations across the North West that attracted international conferences contributing in excess of a ROI of £100 million to the region. Conference Research Services aims to redress the lack of conference research support that tourism organisations are currently experiencing.

Sehar Graham, co-founder of Conference Research Services said “We set up this service because we feel that there is a gap in the market for dedicated and bespoke research to identify MICE events that venues or destinations can bid for. Many tourism boards have had their funding cut and cannot afford to invest resources in research – which is labour intensive. We feel that at CRS we can fill this gap, bringing over 6 years’ experience of project managing the NWCRU coupled with over 20 years of industry knowledge and the reputation of Brighter Business Solutions – one of the UK’s most respected tourism marketing agencies. Having worked on both sides fence, we are confident that Conference Research Services will provide a high quality yet affordable research service to cash strapped tourism organisations that may not have the expertise or the resources to conduct the research themselves as well as supporting the association sector.

Sam Johnston, Dublin Tourism said: Research is key when approaching local ambassadors and bidding for their associations’ events. Firstly to ensure that you are not wasting the ambassadors’ time, you must know that they are members of the relevant organisation, that they attend the conferences and are of a standing within to
bid. Secondly, the research should be conducted so as you know your destination/venue is capable of holding the event and you can then tailor the bid exactly. A blanket approach to both these elements will not yield a high success rate.

For more information about Conference Research Services visit www.conferenceresearchservices.co.uk

It’s been a really interesting project talking to and meeting both leisure and business tourism businesses in and around Telford & Shropshire, giving them advice and guidance on how best to reach their
target audience. We’ve helped retainsome previous members and recruit some new as well as generating substantial income for the Telford Tourism Partnership from membership fees  and member participation in appropriate marketing opportunities.  It’s  a win win situation – members participate in the activity that gives them the best return on investment (with a little guidance from us of course) and the Telford Partnership generates income to undertake more destination marketing activity which ultimately benefits all the members anyway! And of course the team @bbscentral get to talk to and meet some
great businesses too!

In this difficult economic climate and with reduced public sector budgets it’s been a pleasure assisting the Telford Partnership come up with new and creative ways of working that can bring great returns for members and provide revenue streams for public sector.

Watch this space for details of forthcoming exciting new activity.

So, we have got proposals coming out of our ears and many of them are for data cleanses – it’s great to see so many companies have realised what a valuable asset their data base is!

We also suggest to our clients that the first place to start is with existing data before we even look at ways to build their database further.

Our top tip is keep your database up to date, cleanse it every 18 months and it will pay dividends!