We are an Ofsted ‘Good’ training provider. Actually, we are a great training provider despite our recent inspection grading. Operating in the niche area of Digital Skills we have seen a steady stream of enquiries for apprentices from employers for years.
At the beginning of 2022, coming out of pandemic restrictions and with an unstable government, business confidence was very low with many of our existing employers struggling in the economic environment. We noticed a change, a significant change. As the Apprenticeship Incentive stopped, employers found it less appealing to take on a new apprentice. Our strong pipeline of leads began to dry up as employers put recruitment on the back-burner, diverted recruitment funds elsewhere, reduced their operations by making staff redundant or indeed having to close their doors.
At the same time there were apprentices on programme being made redundant or employers having to cease trading. This led to an inevitable drop in learner numbers and in turn, income.
We are familiar with all of the digital marketing channels to promote our compelling offer. The average timeline however of 3 months to conversion was just too long. We needed to increase the volume of leads and reduce the conversion time. Easier said than done!
When I first spoke to Paul Moore at HQ Club, a Lead Generation specialist with unparalleled experience in data, I was impressed. Impressed at the assessment of our challenge and the solution proposed. We were honoured to be a chosen partner to HQ Club as they had assessed us and selected us as viable partner. In short, they felt we had a compelling offer that they could generate leads for.
Having worked with many Lead Generation companies over the years, it was refreshing to work so closely with their efficient team. They felt like an extension of our own team. When we called employers, they were expecting our call! We had never experienced this before. Employers had been well briefed and were already armed with the necessary information for us to either start advertising for them or onboarding their existing employee. This was paradise! The following months saw us receive a steady stream of qualified leads which converted in a 6-week period rather than 3 months.
There is Lead Generation and then there is HQ Club. They consider us a partner; I consider them our saviour.
Why? Well, the formula is simple:
