A Yorkshire firm has gained instant global recognition for an innovative online business tool for small businesses and sole traders, launching this month.
As a direct result of a ‘soft’ launch on the social media platform, LinkedIn, in early June, a deal is being discussed with Australian businessman, entrepreneur and media personality, Mark Bouris. Star of Australia’s version of The Apprentice, Mark hosts The Mentor, a TV show aimed at helping SMEs to succeed and grow, and he wants to feature the tool on the show.
The new Customer Journey Mapping tool is the brainchild of Nigel Greenwood, Managing Director of Huddersfield based Simply Customer Ltd.
Nigel has been advising businesses from all sectors on sales and customer decision making processes on a face-to-face basis for a number of years. Having built his own business from nothing, he knows what is important. He created the online tool to help more small businesses to grow by increasing their understanding of their customers’ experience and, as a consequence, improving their sales performance.
“I’ve been developing the customer journey mapping tool for over three years and, with support from NatWest, we’re planning a formal press launch very soon. I published a post about it on LinkedIn just to start the ball rolling and almost immediately received a really positive enquiry from the other side of the world!” Nigel explained.
The Customer Journey Mapping online tool establishes the starting point for each user and identifies specific problems, makes recommendations and monitors the impact. Users re-visit the process after six months and it evolves with their businesses.
“It’s based on some generic principles and common sense; the lifeblood of every business, everywhere, no matter what size they are, or what sector they operate in, or where they or located, is their customer” Nigel revealed
“It’s unique because it’s interactive and provides a number of recommendations and guidance, specifically for small businesses. They react quicker than larger firms and improve quicker – they make the necessary changes and see an impact sooner, so I feel a great sense of achievement because my product makes a difference.”
Nigel mentors for NatWest’s Business Accelerator, a support initiative for business start-ups and scale-ups, whose members will have free access to the product. NatWest will be offering the product to all the entrepreneurs that they support and will be leading the official Press launch.
Nigel has also recently been awarded an Access Innovation Grant, partnering with Bradford University, to develop a new tool aimed at larger SMEs.
