#BuildingBusinessConnections
Watch This Sp_ce found inspiration through Diamond Mentoring with Tomango The Gatwick Diamond network has so many great businesses at different stages of their business journey. As a new business, and new to the network, we were keen to look at the Gatwick Diamond Mentoring Programme. We were matched with Mark Vaesen, Founder and Managing Director of Tomango. And we thank Joe Cheal from Imaginarium for setting up a brilliant match for us. The mentoring programme involves an initial call to make sure the businesses are a good fit and to establish how we will work together. We then booked monthly sessions with Mark to talk about our business challenges. We found the 6 sessions flew by. Mark was a great ‘critical friend’ to us to help us uncover challenges and opportunities. After each session we agreed things that we would work on over the next month. As busy business owners, setting those goals
worked so well for us to keep things moving to work on our business as well as in it. The partnership with Mark worked well as we have different working styles, so his methodical and considered approach was exactly what we needed to keep us focused on the strategy we wanted to work on. So, what happened after the 6
sessions? Well, we enjoyed working with Mark and learnt so much, so we are now working with Tomango on a more regular basis. If you want to find out more about The Diamond Mentors Programme, have a look at the Gatwick Diamond Business website www.gatwickdiamondbusiness.com/ diamond-mentors-programme
3 key shipping tips for Christmas business
The festive season is soon approaching. Have you thought about your shipping strategy? Christmas is a great time to maximise profits, but the busier sales period means increased workload, competition, and more active distribution channels. Failure to keep up to date with orders can harm your business reputation – so preparation is key! Plan for a successful Christmas by following our three essential shipping tips: Embrace automation You don’t have to do it all when it
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comes to shipping. Automating simple processes gives you more time to focus on other tasks and improve accuracy. If you’re sending a large volume of parcels from different e-commerce websites, manage them all in one shipping manager platform. The right platform means you quickly validate and process multiple shipments – saving you from manually inputting each order individually. Improve visibility You must keep customers informed throughout the buying journey because it improves their purchase experience, builds trust, and can ultimately lead to repeat business. Strengthening visibility includes live shipping rates, advertising final posting dates and providing free parcel tracking. If buyers can monitor the progress of their delivery through a tracking portal, it reduces the time spent answering shipping queries over
the phone or via email – essential during busy sales periods. Diversify delivery services You don’t want to rely primarily on one courier when sending many parcels. Diversifying your courier partners reduces the risk to your supply chain because if one delivery company experiences any delays or issues, you can quickly ship with another. Booking your parcel deliveries through a multicarrier shipping solution means you can also access a wider choice of UK and international courier services. Get ahead of the curve this festive season and visit uk.interparcel.com. With Interparcel, you can access a range of industry-leading couriers and costeffective delivery services, free business tools and parcel tracking – designed to improve your shipping strategy and grow your business.
