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Business Sales

How small businesses are being locked into long term bad value gas and electric contracts

Energy brokers around the UK have been using hidden business energy commissions to con businesses out of significant amounts of money

Businesses and organisations all over the UK are finding themselves trapped in bad-value business gas and business electricity deals, leaving them paying more than they should be for their energy.

According to energy regulator Ofgem, small businesses in particular are being conned out of upwards of £2 billion by rogue energy brokers. These brokers lock their customers into long-term bad value electricity and gas contracts that are hard to break.

Among the many organisations impacted by this are churches, charitable organisations and care homes, all of whom are paying far too much for their gas and electricity. As such, increasing numbers of organisations are making a mis sold business energy claim to try and reclaim the money that they’re owed from these unregulated brokers.

Unlike with residential or individual energy deals, business energy security is virtually non-existent. This is because business energy rollover contracts (and commercial energy deals in general) aren’t regulated by Ofgem in the way that domestic contracts are. Because of this, brokers can miscommunicate, withhold information and set fees without fear of consequence.

According to one claims management firm that is helping businesses to fight back against brokers, some organisations are owed pay outs of up to £1 million. No win, no fee specialists, Winn Solicitors, also highlights the severity of hidden business energy commission, helping clients claim rebates of between 10-20% of their energy costs through a mis sold business energy claim.

The extent of the damage from each mis sold energy contract is still being determined

Last year, Ofgem launched a call for evidence to determine just how far the damage of mis-selling in the energy market goes. The report says energy brokers consistently promise the best energy deals at no charge, but go on to offer poor-value deals picked because the suppliers offer the most lucrative terms for the brokers. This hidden business energy commission is costing small businesses significant amounts of money.

In fact, the report says that some brokers are claiming billions of pounds in hidden business energy commission due to inflated supply deals, many of which stretch over three to five years. In addition, many energy traders were found to be totally complicit, helping to hide the broker commission in their energy bills.

Under current regulations, even verbal agreements with brokers are binding for businesses. The number of brokers in the UK has risen dramatically to around 3,000, as outfits are cheap to set up and there are virtually no regulations in place.

The report from Ofgem includes case studies of unnamed companies that won significant sums for undisclosed commissions, including £10,000 for a care home, £8,200 for a charity and £3,200 for a church. One company with more than 200 UK sites was found to be owed £500,000 in hidden business energy commission through their mis sold business energy claim.

And experts fear that, without action, the misconduct of these energy brokers and suppliers has the potential to get worse, with business energy security become more and more jeopardised. The need for business energy claims has never been greater.

Legislation and regulations are needed as, without interference from the likes of Ofgem, brokers are unlikely to change their behaviour, and businesses will continue to suffer. A representative from Ofgem confirmed that a database is in works regarding the issue, and that these findings will be added. This will ultimately help micro-business consumers facing problems ensure that the market is meeting their needs.

In the meantime, a mis sold business energy claim is a must for any organisation that suspects it may have paid too much for its energy.

If you think that you may have been mis sold a business energy contract, get in touch with Winn Solicitors today by visiting https://www.winnsolicitors.com/energy-mis-selling-claims

Categories
Business Sales

How to Improve Sales with 5 Simple Tools

Sales can be one of the most challenging things to manage for any business. But not all sales are the same, so you can’t just apply one strategy to every type of sale.

However, by using a few simple tools, you can enter the world of sales in a productive and profitable manner. We have listed five simple tools you can use to improve your sales and increase profitability with respect to the buyer, their needs, or even their goals.

Best Tools to Improve Sales

#1. Hub spot

If you are looking for an effective sales-boosting tool for your business, Hubspot is an ideal tool. You may select any of the three different pixels solutions depending on your needs: HubSpot Sales Free, HubSpot Sales Professional, and HubSpot CRM.

You can begin with the Sales Free Version. It gives access to valuable features to boost your sales strategy, plus the live chat. Further, companies looking to know about their prospects can make use of the feature decision-maker.

Want to know how many users are getting engaged with your business. Analyze it using Hubspot and get a clear idea of what products and services your visitors are engaging with the most. Not only this, the sales tool has some fantastic features to help every member of your sales department differently. Can anything be better than that?

#2. ProPofs Chat

How wonderful it would be if software could help you know why a visitor is coming to your website. ProPofs Chat is that tool for you. It starts chatting at an appropriate time with the visitor.

This chat software helps your business gauge the visitor’s intention, start a conversation in real-time, and organize the selected leads appropriately. The tool is fast and helps you engage with visitors with eye-catchers and live chat triggers.

ProPofs is exceptional in storing the leads and adding them automatically to the CRM using an integration process. Then the sales department can use the insight to know how satisfied your visitors were and recognize the upsell technologies. 

#3. Nextiva

Voice calling is an integral part of business operations. All businesses use it to some extent, if not more. Using a VoIP service like Nextiva liberates you of the traditional PSTN and the associated hassles.

Nextiva is the best VoIP services provider for midsize businesses. This business phone service is a must-have tool in addition to all other tools on this list.

With it by your side, the sales team need not worry about extension phone calls. With a cloud business phone service, they can attend calls from anywhere using any device. This also eliminates the risk of missing important customer or client calls.

Interestingly, they also work well with other software. For example, many organizations use SalesForce. VoIP can be integrated into SalesForce. As a result, the salesman need not switch between software to look for customer information. When the call ends, Salesforce records the data, such as call details, automatically.

#4. Zoom

In these times, when face-to-face interviews have become obsolete and unsafe, you need a tool that is as effective as physical meetings. Zoom fulfills this criterion completely. In addition, there is no need to collaborate with the prospective client to watch the demonstration.

Zoom is a digital marketing sales tool for web conferencing and video hurdles. With 300k followers, you can trust the tool for all the remote communications with the team. And it is not only for sharing PowerPoint; the sales team, if selling software, can share the interface.

Another notable feature is recorded video instructions. You can use this to send all the information, such as your introduction, your organization, and how your product will be helpful for the prospective client. Take the downloaded video, send it to other clients, or customize it. The feature makes it easy to reach out to multiple clients in a short span and generate sales.

#5. LinkedIn Sales Solution

If you are eyeing the global market, then LinkedIn Sales is for you. The social media platform has more than 450 million users worldwide. So creating a buzz for your service or product to generate leads and sales is easy and quick.

The platform allows you to make connections far and wide and create sales opportunities in the digital marketing space. This is also where finding details about the prospects is easy and that too without spending too much time.

The app can prove helpful in knowing what products to push into the market and what services to continue. In addition, it has a sales tool Sales Navigator to help to make prospective sales. LinkedIn offers a full trial, leverage the opportunity if you haven’t used it before.

Other sales-related features include InMail to contact a LinkedIn member (read prospect client), get a customized lead recommendation, real-time sales updates for customers and prospects, and more.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for more opportunities for sales, these are some great tools to improve your chances and speed up delivery. Apply these simple practices that can help you increase sales by leaps and bounds!

If you have used any better tool, let us know!