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Sunday 15^th May was a memorable day for many of us here at ProspectSoft. It was the day we ran the 10km Oxford Town and Gown Race.

The ProspectSoft running team consisted of 14 of us, the group not only varied in age but also in ability, with some having completed half marathons and others having never trained before. For most of us it was quite a challenge - having decided to sign up just 7 weeks before the race, a lot of training had to be put in by all to ensure we were able to reach the finish line.

When the sunny but breezy day arrived we all gathered in the Oxford University parks, where pre race stretches began and photographs were taken. At 10am the gun was fired and off we went!
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Recently one of my main areas of focus has been our email marketing activities. This particular area of our marketing has developed a lot over my time here which includes the change from using Constant Contact as our email marketing provider to Communigator which is now an official part of the ProspectSoft Product range (http://www.prospectsoft.com/emailmarketing).

Before I started at ProspectSoft, email marketing was something that we spoke about in marketing modules at university, with the discussions usually ending with people saying ‘we would send emails to our target market about our new exciting product to increase awareness and sales’ or something similar; and surprisingly this is the way some companies do approach this type of marketing. However, since being involved in the real process of coming up with, designing and implementing email marketing campaigns I can say that it is far more complex than just sending emails to your target market, well if you want to be successful it is!
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A lot has happened on support since the last update. The evolution of the products we use and offer are constantly changing, as are the ways we support our customers. Every week my responsibilities grow as my colleagues trust in me likewise grows.

Since the last update we have recruited an extra member of support who will be starting next week. This will further increase our productivity and make the Client Services team work more efficiently, while at the same time making everyday’s work that little bit easier.

A few weeks ago my colleagues and I were treated to a special “support heroes” lunch in praise of our recent efforts and growing abilities. This sort of extra-work activity is the sort of thing that really makes ProspectSoft a special place to work, everyone here cares just as much about each other as they do about the job in hand.

We also had the familiarisation day for the next placements that will be starting 2011/2012. It’s good to see fresh faces around the office and it’s nice to know that ProspectSoft is continuing its world famous recruitment of first class placements.

This year, us placements have started what we hope will become a great Prospectsoft tradition, passed down from generation to generation of future placement students.  Each month (or as frequently as we can), we organise a Prospectsoft Placement Post Payday Pigout (or P5).  Recent excursions have included the All-You-Can-Eat Chinese near Oxford Castle, Dominoes Takeaway Pizza and some quality TV and, this month we went to TGI Friday’s.

Roused by the excitement that a P5 brings to us placements, we all gladly went to TGI Friday’s at High Wycombe after work.  I had a Chicken Strips, a Friday’s burger and a Chocolate brownie, which was very filling.  Burgers were also had by Dan and James, some of the staff members\ex-placements who joined us for our soiree.

Leaving TGI’s after the meal, I felt very content.  Everyone else enjoyed it as well and it’s great to be part of a team that gets on well so that we can enjoy occasions like this.

Well, this is my first official ProspectSoft blog entry, what an honour! I’ve been with the team for just over six weeks now and although I’m not a placement student, I feel they’ve truly taken me under their wing. I suppose I ended up here by accident and of course, with a little help from our Sales Manager. Now, I feel privileged to work with a group of such hard working and equally outgoing people.  

Although there wasn’t much time for training on my first day, I was thrown in at the deep end with the others planning for our upcoming business growth workshop. Luckily Alex, being my desk neighbour, was on hand to show me how everything works and with the support team being located directly behind me, I reckon I’ve got the best seat in the house. We’ve all been busy with the planning of the workshop and our Sales and Marketing Director and Client Services Manager have both played a large part in keeping us well motivated. Now after all the profiling, data gathering and taking event bookings the time is nearly upon us. I think we’re all excited to see the day go off without a hitch.

Of course, between the hard work, I’ve been fortunate enough to engage in general office banter and social interactions including an after work trip out, with our hopefully first of many, ‘PAYDAY PIG OUT’ at TGI Friday’s! What more could I ask for…

As part of my role in Sales and Marketing I regularly get involved in updating and maintaining our websites. I use the plural because we currently have some product specific sites as well as some designed to reach out to particular customer segments and bases.

The current “corporate” site, however, has been in need of some major housekeeping for a while now, so the Marketing department has turned its attentions to our flagship site: www.prospectsoft.com

As part of our efforts, I was setup with the task of designing and creating layouts and content for our new “About us” and “Careers” pages which I was pretty keen to get stuck in to. It’s not finished yet, but I’ve really enjoyed planning and starting this micro-project, not only because it serves my interests in Marketing and Web/Graphic Design but because it’s made me look at how ProspectSoft approaches everything it does, from culture and employment to product creation.
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February has been just as busy as any other month at ProspectSoft.  Like Alice, I was also given the great responsibility of recruiting next year’s placements, more specifically the sales and marketing placements.  I went through the same process of creating and sending out an advert for the position.  I received a record number of nearly 300 CVs! I filtered these down to 40 telephone interviews and the 12 applicants that stood out the most made it to our assessment day.  The day was a success and candidates were happily surprised by the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at ProspectSoft. We were impressed by the high calibre of applicants and filled all four placement positions from one assessment day!  I am so glad that I was given this opportunity and enjoyed every minute of it and I am sure that next year’s placements will be brilliant and enjoy working at ProspectSoft just as much as I do!

Elsewhere… We have welcomed a new member to the sales and marketing team! Jade works with us placements 3 days a week and joins us in our most recent marketing and calling campaign which we have all been heavily involved in.
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Our time here at ProspectSoft has just tipped past the half way point, with Valentine’s at the turn. The time has flown by so quickly that it’s hard to believe that we’ve really been here for nearly 7 months.  The days are sliding beneath our feet faster than we can count as we rush towards the end of our placement but we try not to think about it. We can only enjoy it while it lasts – and make the most of the time we have left. Hopefully some of us will be lucky enough to be invited ‘back into the fold’ as it were, once we’ve finished the final year of our degree.

This month, I’ve been switching between our Operations and Support departments to get a better feel for how things work. As we mentioned in one of our previous blogs, our Support department moved upstairs to become part of a shiny new Client Services team lead by a familiar face.
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Since the beginning of my placement I have had the opportunity to demonstrate my abilities in interesting and challenging ways. As a support technician I carry many responsibilities such as maintaining customer happiness and managing the time I spend on particular issues. When I started I was located downstairs with professional services. A month in to my placement the Support team moved upstairs to join the account management team. This created a more customer satisfaction orientated team and we are constantly striving to improve our methods.
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I can’t quite believe that we are now approaching our 6 month mark, but as they say, time flies when you’re having fun – and what fun the last two months have been!! Up in the sales and marketing department, one of my recent roles has been placement recruitment for next year; I was specifically dealing with Technical Placements. This role involved sieving through nearly 200 CV’s, sending tests, holding 30 telephone interviews and cutting down to the final 11 for an assessment day, held at our offices on the 16^th December. The day luckily ran smoothly, with 6 attendees asked to stay on for further interviews. In the end, 3 really stood out and were offered the job – giving them the best early Christmas present they could have asked for! For me, it was a brilliant opportunity and very enjoyable taking ownership of the task and successfully recruiting 3 brilliant placements. 
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