First Impression Lead Generation Agency

Over a decade of lead generation innovation.

First Impressions set out to partner with ambitious businesses wishing to continue to sustain growth and uncover desirable new clients. By continuously evolving, First Impressions provide business development and innovative lead generation solutions to fully support our clients with the three crucial areas important for sustained business growth. Infrastructure. Content. Promotion.

Since 2011, we’ve grown from one person generating leads for local companies to working with organisations spanning Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. We are proud to have a passionate team of sales and marketing professionals that provide a comprehensive and proven lead generation service.

Below are the most memorable moments from our journey so far.

2011

Once upon a time…

In early 2011 Laura was working in a business development role for a highly regarded new biz agency. Paul had recently established a new European office for a Taiwanese computer manufacturer and was in need of sales and marketing support to grow European coverage. At the same time Paul was approached to be part of the Lion’s Lair team, the brainchild of a previous employer which sought to provide entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their ideas in order to receive mentoring, investment and infrastructure. These two projects provided Laura with the opportunity to leave full time employment and begin delivering sales and marketing support for several businesses. With that First Impressions was born… in a corner of the dining room using a second-hand desktop PC hastily acquired from ebay.

2012

A room with a view

First Impressions enjoyed a whirlwind first year putting in place solid foundations for growth and steadily building the client base. However by early 2012 and with the first employee ready to start, the decision was made to reclaim the dining room and move to pastures new. In June 2012 First Impressions moved into Caswell House, a splendid 17th Century building, originally built by the Duke of Grafton to encourage wealthy tenants into the area. The site also later provided a war-time hideaway for electronics firm Plessey who researched & developed radar camouflage (stealth) materials on the site. The beautiful countryside location provides a relaxed and quiet working environment (and an on-site restaurant that sells the best Tiffin cake you’ve ever tasted) a perfect place to call work from.

2013

Gaining recognition

In the Summer of 2013 Laura made it through to the final of the Northants Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, sponsored by Northampton Chamber of Commerce. Having impressed with the initial application Laura headed into the second stage and presented to a panel of judges, including Katie Wright, one of Lord Sugar’s former Apprentices. Laura’s presentation went through all aspects of the business, existing market, finances and projected growth of First Impressions. Laura received the exciting news she had made it through to the final four. The evening of the finals was a glamourous but tense affair with a £10,000 prize at stake. Laura presented a flawless pitch in-front of a packed auditorium and was awarded as runner-up; second only to the deserving winnner Raimonda Navickaite of UK-based luxury leather accessories company Holdall & Co.

2014

Social media workshops

With Social Media playing an increasingly crucial role for businesses wishing to generate new business and growth, First Impressions created a series of workshops. The workshops aimed to help both B2B and B2C organisations better harness the power of social media (and avoid the time sapping pitfalls). With 6 workshops running throughout 2014, held on-site at Caswell House and at the Mercure Hotel in Milton Keynes, our team welcomed over eighty companies from a diverse variety of sectors. First Impressions also conducted a complete social media overhaul for a number of organisations including mapping out the social media strategy for the prestigious Towcester Racecourse.

2015

Supporting the community

First Impressions are big believers in the ideology that you get out what you put in. First Impressions work hard to provide a happy working environment, help others when they can and reward staff for their commitment to the company. Over the years, First Impressions have helped charities with their sales and marketing at a discounted rate, nurtured two apprentices, conducted mock interviews for local schools and presented to three hundred 16-18 year olds on how to ‘fast track their life’ by believing in themselves and working hard. First Impressions also stepped into the sporting arena in 2014 and became the proud sponsors of Buckingham United, a local Sunday league team in need of investment. In the first season, Buckingham gained promotion to the premier division and enjoyed a successful cup run, finally coming to an end in an extremely tight encounter at the semi-final stage of the competition.

2016

Nuestra oficina Española

In April 2015, in order to better assist International companies to grow their business within the UK First Impressions opened up a second office based near Valencia, Spain. By having a presence both in mainland Europe and in the United Kingdom, First Impressions became better equipped to assist our clients operating across Central Europe.

A rebrand new world

After five years of continued growth, First Impressions decided to refresh the company’s branding to coincide with the launch of four new lead generation packages. In just half a decade, First Impressions had witnessed a major shift in both the way information was being consumed and how purchasing decisions were being made. Social media and smart phones rapidly changed the sales and marketing landscape. In response to this, First Impressions adapted and refined their methods by finding innovative ways to educate and inspire, helping to encourage and capture incoming inquiries and better target prospects based on the digital footprints they left behind. In 2016 First Impressions launched a revised line-up of services and packages to blend the best from both inbound and outbound approaches to business development and created a new brand and website to reflect this evolution.

2017

Sales and marketing automation

2017 saw First Impressions undertake an ambitious overhaul of IT systems and work-flow processes. The goal was to identify state-of-the-art tools that would enable deeper insight into prospect activity and uncover the opportunities which would otherwise be invisible. In October 2017, First Impressions moved to a bespoke marketing automation platform which enabled the auto-exchange of intelligence between all client activity. The result has been vastly improved visibility, lead tracking and management with real-time access to campaign data enabling on-the-fly feedback and tweaks to maximise results.

2018

GDPR and Data Security

In May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation, a set of EU rules on data protection and privacy came into force. In preparation, First Impressions had already consulted both the ICO and taken independent legal advice. We used this as an opportunity to completely review all our privacy and security procedures in order to ensure that all our Lead Generation work was 100% compliant with the new GDPR. We created a a balancing procedure, reviewed, cleansed and updated existing data and created a legal document pack and made it available to our clients in order to assist the transition to GDPR. We continue to take data protection seriously and are registered with the ICO: ZA427630.

2020

The Year of the Pandemic...

The whole world got off to a nervous start, whilst trying to navigate and understand how to conduct business during a worldwide lockdown. First Impressions saw the need to quickly adapt in order to help clients to continue to reach out to a targeted database of prospects who were now working from home. We began to really see the benefits of having initial Teams/Zoom meetings as a natural first step, regardless of sector and the video call initial meeting is here to stay!

2021

Our 10th birthday!

After the craziness of the pandemic, we were pleased to celebrate our 10th anniversary with a record year in business proving that with change comes opportunity. We continued to grow our team of likeminded individuals with the same ethos of caring deeply about the work they do for our clients. We look forward to the next decade of growth for both our clients and ourselves!

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