Category: Company News

I’m proud and a little in awe of how our team has stayed motivated almost a year into remote working. I’m also aware this is a well-trodden topic that has understandably had a lot of air time in recent months. But I do believe we must keep talking about it; people need to know that consistent motivation is not accidental; it requires investment in wellbeing and team culture to keep the momentum going.

When I look back, there are a few key things that meant we were well-prepped for challenging times. Our senior team have always had an element of flexibility where possible, so technology-wise, we were pretty prepared. But, like everybody else, the immediate shift to fully remote was a definite shock to the system.

In sales, culture and camaraderie stimulate motivation, so working ‘alone’ without the buzz of a physical office coupled with the additional challenge of dealing with lower contact rates, as everyone else is also working from home, was a worrying combination. Still, thankfully we’ve survived and, dare I say it, thrived. Video calls have emerged as a valuable means of building a relationship with our clients. As we all adjust to the blurred boundaries between home and work, and by allowing people into our homes, we’ve become a little more real, and barriers have come down, which has had a positive effect on working relationships.

We were naturally worried at the start of the first lockdown, but the past year has really encouraged us to embrace team communication and live our culture harder than ever before.

For example, we have cross-team daily calls and a company-wide team meeting every Friday, which gives everyone a consistent touch-point and a way of staying connected to the business. Our sales leaders hold a monthly meeting to discuss individual coaching and support. We’ve also had great support from our training partner, Sales Geek, especially around delivering multichannel campaigns in the current landscape. My department, Account Management, holds a virtual team meeting twice weekly (as a minimum) so that we can discuss strategy with peers. Each Account Manager also gets a personal 1-2-1 each week to discuss challenges.

And it’s not all work-related. We’ve even taken virtual fitness classes to help us stay well and keep the lockdown pounds at bay. All of this activity has given us all some feeling of normality, structure and focus on the future. Because of this sustained effort and consistency, we can feel confident that the business will adapt to life after lockdown.

And although we haven’t been physically together these past months, I personally feel like we haven’t lost any of what made our culture so special. We’ve supported each other, celebrated successes and worked through challenges together as a team. And while we’re all keen to get back to Air HQ, I think we’ll look back on this time with a mixture of memories, and view it as a time where circumstances really tested our culture, and we came out on top. We were all at home, yet we continued to hire, grow the business, win new clients (we’re actually delivering more hours for clients weekly than pre-pandemic) and launched a refreshed brand. It might be a cliché to say it, but I’m sure this whole experience has bought us even closer.

Opinion piece by Shaun Weston, Campaign Operations Director

Europe’s fastest growing global rewards and benefits platform Perkbox has partnered with outsourced sales experts Air Marketing to expand their sales development team and prepare for future growth.

Perkbox will partner with Air to outsource a part of their Sales Development team – an innovative move that will help accelerate their growth trajectory. A key rationale for the partnership was the current landscape where businesses find it harder than ever to hire, onboard, train and retain new talent. Growing a team based in Air’s office in Exeter to both compliment and collaborate with Perkbox’s own London based team will open up new opportunities for growth.

The leading employee experience platform has enjoyed fantastic success and counts top household names such as Nando’s, Whole Foods and Caffè Nero amongst its clients and currently has offices in the UK and Australia.

The partnership with Air Marketing forms part of Perkbox’s global ambition to bring its award winning platform to new territories. This will give organisations a unified way of rewarding and recognising employees globally whilst streamlining HR processes to help businesses thrive.

Perkbox’s CRO, Higor Torchia, who drove the decision to choose Air said of the partnership, “We were very impressed with Air’s whole approach; always transparent, easy and professional, with the ability to adapt to our needs. We also loved their company culture, and thought it related a lot to ours. We expect Air will help us grow in a measured and scalable way. I’m very excited about this partnership and truly believe it can be a step-change in the direction we will take towards our global expansion.”

Owen Richards, Founder and CEO of Air, is delighted to be working with Perkbox. “We’re excited to be working with Perkbox to support their growth plans. Not only are we confident we can help them take their fantastic offering to new markets, we’re also excited to be creating more jobs in our own organisation. It’s great to be working with an organisation that shares our passion for a strong team culture and we’re really proud to have been chosen as Perkbox’s partner. I look forward to what will we achieve through our partnership in the coming years.”

About Air

Air was formed out of a talent and a pride for great sales. Air Founder, Owen Richards, saw a gap in the market for professional, elite, outsourced sales services. From the outset, Owen was driven to find likeminded individuals who shared his passion (and obsession) for sales, while bringing their unique talents to the culture.

From those exciting early days, Air has grown and evolved into an organisation with an extraordinary blend of talent and experience. Air has proven processes, a strong focus on team development and a commitment to intelligent and transparent data reporting that has inspired successful long-term client relationships. Air learns to breathe the same air as our clients, understand their business and accelerate their sales success.

About Perkbox

Perkbox is a platform that provides a unique employee experience, enriching the personal and working life of employees. It offers access to best in class Perks, Perkbox Medical, and Perkbox Recognition. It serves companies such as Whole Foods, Nando’s, Caffe Nero and Levi Strauss & Co. Headquartered in London, with offices in Sheffield and Sydney, Perkbox has raised ~£25M in funding from the leading European venture capital firm Draper Esprit and angel investors.

Air is a brand synonymous with sales success. Their journey from start-up to established agency has seen their evolution through many changes including a much-expanded team, new offices and an impressive client base, Air Founder & CEO, Owen Richards feels the timing is right to refresh the brand. He said, “Now feels like the right time for a change. We’re no longer a new business or a start-up but an established business with a strong track record in delivering for start-ups, SMEs and household names. To accurately convey the breadth and value of our services, the progression in our business journey and service offerings and compete with our esteemed competition, we need our brand to represent who we are today and show the value we deliver for businesses in all industries”

The new brand represents a more mature Air, commensurate with their achievements and track record. Air has grown from a telemarketing agency into a comprehensive outsourced sales and marketing solution, offering everything from demand generation and marketing support to complete end to end sales campaigns, SDR as a service and lead generation. Since 2018, Air has worked with their Sister company, Roots to Market, to design multichannel campaigns that build brand, drive awareness and deliver opportunities to our clients.

Owen went on to explain the rationale behind a refresh rather than a complete rebrand: “We’ve chosen a brand refresh rather than a complete rebrand because we’re already established in the market and people recognise the name ‘Air’. It means a lot to us as a name and an identity and we’ve worked hard for that recognition.”

To create the new brand, the team identified and developed a main archetype alongside two wing archetypes, aligned to their business and brand characteristics. Air’s main archetype is The Hero. This archetype imbues the brand with strength and momentum, inspiring internal teams while also giving clients the confidence to trust in the process. Alongside this, their wing archetype is The Magician. This archetype plays up the data, information, and skillset of Air, showing that with a little magic they can pull sales, leads or untapped markets out of ‘thin air’. And the final wing archetype is The Sage. This archetype shows strength in humility and demonstrates dependability, knowledge, insight, and support.

After a stellar effort from the team, Owen is excited to share the new brand. “I can’t wait to share the refreshed look as it represents a step-change in how we communicate our services and more sophisticated and mature Air. You will see something new and different from us, as we launch our new website, which has a fresh and modern look and feel, conveys our breadth of expertise and tells fantastic client stories that show exactly how our brilliant team helps businesses achieve their sales ambitions”.

Follow Air on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to stay up-to-date with the latest news and developments. To hear more about Air’s services: call 0333 250 3217 or email contact@air-marketing.co.uk.

About Air Marketing

Air was formed out of a talent and a pride for great sales. Air Founder, Owen Richards, saw a gap in the market for professional, elite, outsourced sales services. From the outset, Owen was driven to find likeminded individuals who shared his passion (and obsession) for sales, while bringing their unique talents to the culture.

In 2018, Air’s sister company, Roots to Market, was formed, providing clients with marketing strategy and execution. From those exciting early days, Air has grown and evolved into an organisation with an extraordinary blend of talent and experience. Air has proven processes, a strong focus on team development and a commitment to intelligent and transparent data reporting that has inspired successful long-term client relationships. Air learns to breathe the same air as our clients, understand their business and accelerate their sales success.

Air Marketing Group (Air), the UK’s leading supplier of outsourced sales services, are delighted to announce the appointment of Non-Executive Director (NED), Clodagh Murphy.

In a move that re-enforces Air’s relentless ambition to scale, the appointment of Clodagh as Non-Exec represents an important step in the future of Air Marketing and its sister company, Roots To Market.

As the previous Managing Director of Eclipse part of KCOM Group PLC, Clodagh impressively led the diversification and digital transformation of the business growing revenue from £20m to £38m over a 5 year period. And its that experience that Air is so excited to have around the board room table.

Clodagh now holds prestigious positions across a number of Exeter based organisations including ExIST (Exeter Initiative for Science and Technology), Exeter Chamber of Commerce, and has also launched her very own lockdown start-up, Larks Live.

Air are on an exciting growth journey and are working hard to scale to the next level. In its first 3 years, after launching in 2016, the group’s revenue grew to more than £2million with its team growing to more than 55 people.

Like many businesses, Air is now navigating its way through a very unusual 2020 but is one of a few services led businesses looking at going forward across the year, despite temporarily losing ground in this first half of the year.

Air is now delighted to be looking up and forward and couldn’t be more delighted to have Clodagh onboard, contributing to the company strategy, direction and mission.

Planning for the next stage of growth, Air are undergoing a brand re-fresh, having significantly outgrown their start-up look over the past 4 years. They’re also working on building a new custom-CRM, to further advance the abilities of their current custom-CRM improving the experience further for their client base.

Managing Director, Owen Richards, said: “We’re really excited to have Clodagh onboard. She’s a fantastic asset and influential within many successful businesses. Clodagh is fully brought into our vision and is already helping us to achieving this”.

Clodagh will also be joining the board of Air’s sister company, Roots to Market – a demand generation agency specialising in delivering marketing with a sales attitude.

“I’ve really enjoyed the time I have spent working with Owen and the Leadership Team this year. Air Marketing and Roots to Market are fantastic businesses with hugely committed teams. I’m delighted to join and be part of the team which will see us deliver exciting plans to accelerate growth.” – Clodagh Murphy

If you would like to join Team Air and play your part in their growth journey, you can learn more about our live roles and apply here.

Earlier this year we rolled out our Partnership Programme and are thrilled to already have a growing list of partners working alongside us, including local businesses as well as those further afield.

Our Partnership Programme aims to be a 2-way street, where both our partners and their clients benefit from our combined networks, reaching business that they may not have had access to before entering a partnership with Air.

The rewards are simple really. We are asking you to be open to wider opportunities and in return, we’ll provide you with an additional revenue stream. By referring Air to your clients and wider network, you’ll get a financial reward in turn when they sign up to work with us – easy.

In addition to the financial benefit, we will also help to promote your brand through our social media channels and by promoting you as a partner on our website.

Heading up our Partnership Programme is Anne Benham-Clarke. Anne has been working at Air for almost two years now and has quickly progressed, beginning her Air journey as a Business Development Executive she progressed into an Account Executive role and now Partnership Relationship Manager. With 25 years of sales, marketing and business development experience behind her, in a wide range of industries and business sizes, she is very experienced in liaising with organisations to help them grow their connections and, in turn, their business. In fact, developing relationships is the key thing that Anne knows how to do best.

“As the Partnership Relationship Manager for Air, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to build new relationships with likeminded businesses. We want to make sure that we thank Partners who talk about us and help our business to grow and in turn, help those in their network and customer base to grow their business.  Please contact me to find out more about becoming an Air Partner, I’d love to hear from you.” – Anne Benham-Clarke, Partnership Relationship Manager, Air Marketing Group

If you’re looking to grow your network or feel that you have clients who could benefit from our services and are looking for a simple way of creating an additional revenue stream, get in touch. Call 0345 241 3038 or email anneb@air-marketing.co.uk

This appointment feeds into the accelerated growth journey that Lightfoot has been on in the last year. Air Marketing Group will work with Lightfoot to bring Exeter based businesses onboard with a ground-breaking initiative the company is launching for 2019.

Breathe Exeter is a community initiative, launched by Lightfoot and supported and led by a number of local businesses, with a simple goal – a cleaner, greener Exeter by the end of 2019. This whole initiative is focused on encouraging small behavioural changes we can all make that, en masse, will become greater than the sum of their parts. To reduce air pollution in the city, Breathe Exeter will be promoting and utilising Exeter-made technology, innovation, and community spirit. The businesses supporting the initiative will be investing their own money into making the project as accessible and valuable as possible for everyone.

As a business with a high profile both in the local area and within their own industry, the appointment of Air was an easy decision for Lightfoot. There are clear synergies between the two businesses, with both focused on relentless growth, an important core culture and the thrill of being a young, energetic and dynamic start-up. When selecting a partner to accelerate growth, Lightfoot knew they could rely on Air Marketing Group to deliver the quality they expect with their highly trained and motivated team.

Owen Richards, MD of Air Marketing Group, said: “We’re really excited to have been chosen by Lightfoot to help them promote their offering. Breathe Exeter is an amazing campaign that aims to make a true difference to everyone in and around the city, and we’re delighted to be able to play our part. Air and Lightfoot have a lot in common, so the relationship feels like a good fit for everyone and hopefully, we’ll be working together for a long time.”

Mark Roberts, CEO of Lightfoot, said: “A local initiative, focused on protecting and promoting our city, needs partners who represent the best that Exeter has to offer. Air are exactly that – a smart, proactive business who understand what we are trying to achieve and have the tools to help us do it. With the support of Air, Breathe Exeter should be a huge success.”