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we sell, so you don't need to

and is why expost is a licence. . .  rather than a franchise

On-line support and sales desk operator at Expost

 

We know very well that some 'Franchised' businesses exist purely to sell the Franchisor's products or services  and that many excellent,  able,  people are dissuaded from taking advantage of genuine opportunities by some aspects of running a business;  especially sales,  support and conflict resolution.

Whilst customers are the lifeblood of any business,  the process of selling can be intimidating.   It's also time consuming,  intrusive and,  when not tightly controlled,  can easily give rise to unrealistic customer expectations.

for support, read 'sales'

Potential customers will very often call support with questions about the service before opening an account,  even though the answers are very clear from the website.   What they are really asking for is reassurance!   Before committing to spend hundreds of pounds over the internet,  and then blindly entrusting their post to complete strangers,  people want to know that the business is real,  and the professionalism that your Centre's website portal portrays is not just screen deep.

Click here to read our Trustpilot reviews and discover how well our customers think we are doing.

Every customer enquiry is a golden opportunity for our team at Philbeach to convert into a sale!

account renewal sales

Despite many people only requiring a mailbox account as a short term 'bridging' option,  over three quarters of our customers renew their accounts year on year,  largely because of the high quality of service and support they receive.

ProPost automatically reminds your customers when they are due to renew and,  whilst some will only ever require our services for a limited period,  the overall retention rate is excellent,  with continuity further encouraged by our unique fixed price guarantee.

 

Expost home based regional mailbox licence sales sites

allocating accounts

to which centre do new sales belong?

Each Licence has its own,  stand-alone web portal,  Search Engine Optimised for placenames within the territory.   In this way,  anyone searching for 'business mailbox in Brighton',  for example,  would be presented with results for expost south.   To illustrate that this optimisation works across all search engines,  try these sample searches for 'private mailbox in the Midlands',  which will present our existing Midlands Mail Centre  (midlands.expost.uk),  using;   GoogleBing,  or Yahoo

your direct customers

Because your licence portal only promotes expost yorkshire,  anyone registering for an account or contacting support via your website is obviously looking for an address in Yorkshire and will not be made aware of other Mail Centres,  unless they specifically ask for alternative,  or additional,  locations.

general sales

Our national websites,  including expost.uk and expatpost.uk,  are well established on the internet and appear prominently in search results,  especially for non-geographical search terms.   You may like to try the following Bing search example:  expat mailboxes

Visitors to these non-geographical national sites are presented with a list of all available regional Mail Centres and their postal addresses.   The visitor can then follow links to the regional portal of their choosing and continue browsing,  or register directly from any of the generic sites by selecting their preferred Mail Centre location at sign-up.

 

Expost mailbox licence for Ulster

customer registration

the sales process doesn't end with payment

sales administration

A mountain of mail doesn't mean a mountain of paperwork!   Invoices,  set-up confirmations and transaction references are raised for every sale by our bespoke system software,  then emailed to the customer,  and added to your management account so that you can monitor the performance of your business in real time.

identity verification

Under HMRC Trust & Company Service Provision,  Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Funding guidelines,  all mailbox providers are obliged to carry out identification checks on individual account holders,  but we also informally investigate any Corporate entities that are listed as Users.

When a new customer registers an account they must submit two forms of identification,  as photographic images.   Our dedicated ID team at Philbeach then validate these documents,  and the data they contain,  via a number of HMRC approved proprietary sources.   Further checks are carried out if the customer goes on to add a business name,  or uses their mailbox as the Registered Office address for a Company.

 

Search engine optimisation - find expost through Google

marketing & advertising

generating the sales enquiries for us to convert!

google, yahoo & bing

If you have read our history page you'll know that our senior management come from a web development background,  with particular expertise in search engine optimisation.   Our primary website,  which has been on-line since the beginning of 2015,  attracts thousands of unique visitor every month through Google,  Bing,  Yahoo and various other external links.

Expost feeder website examples
local 'feeder' sites

To further increase overall visitor numbers we publish a number of single page websites,  specifically keyworded to capture searches that include local town,  city and regional terms,  and then feed these into the main Mail Centre portal.   Whilst similar in style to the portal they serve,  each feeder site is coded very differently and is published on its own,  independent,  domain name.   These technical differences encourage Google's algorithms to treat them as separate websites,  and thereby affords each its own entry in search results.

Because the footprint for northeast.expost covers such a large geographical area,  four feeder sites are planned,  targeted at;   Sheffield,  Leeds,  Bradford and Teesside.

See examples of existing,  active,  feeder sites;   post-cardiff.uk    post-essex.uk    post-birmingham.uk

the expost webring

Google loves links!   As our licence network has grown,  every Mail Centre portal,  all of their feeder sites,  and the non-geographical websites outlined below are discreetly linked to all others,  forming what is known as a 'web ring',  boosting the search engine visibility of the entire network.

Global mail services and forwarding for canal and river boaters in the UK

market specific sites

aimed at single, well defined, user groups

expatpost.uk

Every year,  over 160,000 people leave the UK to start a new life abroad!

One of the greatest challenges facing these ex-pats is maintaining a real street address back in the UK for passport renewals,  and correspondence with their bank,  building society or insurance companies.   Even on-line shopping becomes difficult when Amazon,  Ebay and most private couriers will not deliver abroad,  or to a numbered PO box.   For these reasons,  expatriates represents one of our largest single user groups and why we launched expatpost.uk,  tailored to address their specific needs,  and now feeds a significant number of visitors into the national licence network every day.

canalpost.uk

Over 60,000 people live permanently aboard narrowboats,  barges,  cruisers and houseboats on the rivers and canals of the UK,  and not one of them has a letterbox!   Liveaboard boaters are classed as 'of no fixed abode' and share exactly the same postal challenges faced by UK expatriates living abroad.

Mail services for canal boaters

As part of our on-going promotion to targeted user groups we publish canalpost.uk,  advertise regularly in the market leading 'Towpath Talk' newspaper and also have the prime front page banner on its website.   The examples above are taken from our humorous,  and often edgy,  'puppy' campaign from summer 2018.

We are also the prime sponsor for the emerging canalsonline.uk magazine.

 

Mail services for caravan dwellers of no fixed abode in Northumberland or Tyneside
vanpost.uk

Vanpost is firmly aimed at the currently estimated 1.2 million people in the UK who live in static or touring caravans and mobile homes,  without fixed Royal Mail postal addresses.   You can visit the vanpost site at;  vanpost.uk

Safe Address leaflet campaign aimed at on-line sellers and homeworkers
on-line sellers

Our latest marketing campaign is targeted at people  ( predominantly women )  who work or trade from home,  often selling goods online through Amazon,  Ebay,  Etsy,  or their own websites.   Rather than advertise their home address to every burglar with internet access,  they use an expost virtual mailbox as a safe alternative.

 

Newspaper ads for mail services and forwarding for British expats
english language newspapers

As an awareness raising exercise,  we periodically publish advertisements in the largest English language newspaper in Spain,  the Euro Weekly News,  which has in excess of 400,000 regular British readers!

The examples illustrated below are from the 'relax' campaign in the EWN,  published fortnightly throughout 2018.

Newspaper ads in the Euro Weekly News in Spain

 

social media

Networks such as Facebook are rapidly becoming the new 'Yellow Pages',  and the first port of call for many of the 31 million users in the UK when seeking commercial products and services.   Comprehensive business profiles will be created for your Mail Centre and published prior to launch,  then maintained throughout the year,  with regular postings that include geographical keywords from across Yorkshire,  boosting your Centre's search engine visibility and,  therefore,  sales.

Facebook Business Manager social media campaign

Every day we update your Centre's Facebook page with more eye catching posts and professional copy;  some generic,  some targeted at defined user groups,  and some  ( such at the Scottish example illustrated above ),  specific to your location.   We also manage several simultaneous Facebook 'Business Manager' campaigns that allow us to target potential customers for you very accurately,  using the demographics and interests of individual Facebook users.

pr & below the line advertising

We write regular blogs and articles for several on-line magazines and forums that target specific user groups,  such as these tongue-in-cheek satirical columns;  excuses  and  d-i-v-o-r-c-e-u,  both from the forum site britishexpat.com
 

Happy customers - all part of the expost paid ambassador program
referrals, referrals & referrals

We incentivise customers who recommend your Mail Centre to friends and family,  by the simple device of adding an additional month to their account.

Happy customers are your greatest salespeople!

 

Telephone - live support for expost Sheffield

live customer support

...so you're not tied to the telephone all day

Queries,  requests,  confusion or complaints,  our customer support team handle them all on your behalf.   From 6am every morning,  Monday to Friday,  we are here to keep your customers happy,  and confident that their mail is in safe hands.

Our bespoke mail management software,  ProPost,  means that we have instant access to information about every one of your customers,  their mail deliveries,  despatches and postal charges.   We always know exactly what is in every mailbox,  in every regional Mail Centre around the UK.

Whether your Centre is located in Washington,  Wallsend or Whickam,  you may as well be in the next room!

. . .on a local rate telephone number

The unique 0333 telephone number we allocate to every Mail Centre is routed directly to our professional sales and support team at Philbeach,  so that we can always deliver expert,  friendly advice whenever,  and from wherever,  your customers call.

 

Licencee support from expost

licencee support

Our team are always standing by to help you with expert advice on any aspect of running your business.   Whether you need tips on using ProPost,  guidance with despatching,  or to report a suspicious account. . .  we are only ever a phone call away!

The PC that is part of your licence package is also loaded with remote access software that allows us to take control of your computer and walk you through any process,  live on your screen.

legal support

We retain the services of a local firm of commercial lawyers,  who work with the head office team to resolve any contractual issues that may arise with customers,  so that you can focus on delivering a faultless service.