Contact Centre & Fulfilment Services

Spark Response is a leading provider of customer contact centre and order fulfilment services, with a wealth of experience in delivering highly successful outsourced solutions with a distinctive personal touch…Founded as a specialist in brochure fulfilment in the early 1980s, we have developed our service offering, growing in strength and experience, moving with the times in a rapidly evolving market.

With a focus on quality, efficiency, people and technology - the keys to our success - Spark has grown from strength to strength, evolving to ensure that we meet the needs and developing business models of our clients, introducing our contact centre division in the late 1980s and investing in our first major eCommerce system toward the end of the 1990s.

Today, Spark is a modern, progressive business working with a diverse portfolio of clients across multiple sectors including charity, home energy, toys, gifts and gadgets, fashion, footwear and accessories to name just a few.

We operate an adaptable and proactive approach to partnerships with a flexible approach to setup and transition, so please feel free to get in touch if you require any further information or would like to visit us.

In the meantime, I hope this brochure will provide a high-level overview of who we are and what we do, from fulfilment centre to contact centre, from IT to our key business support teams and everyone in between.

Peter Slee Managing Director

Our Contact Centre Services...Managing the customer experience from first contact to satisfaction.

We believe that outstanding customer service is vital to the continued success of our business and our clients’ businesses.

From order taking to aftercare, enquiries to complaints, our contact centre team works hard at achieving customer excellence, not just customer service. With a constant focus on training, coaching and development, we work closely with our clients to ensure that we become their brand ambassadors - a friendly, mature and experienced customer-facing partner (the North East accent is a bonus).

Here’s what we do in our contact centre: • Order Taking• Customer Services• Catalogue Requests• Donations• E-Mail and White Mail• Up-Sell, Cross-Sell and Alt-Sell• Overflow and Out Of Hours• Banking and Fraud Management Support• Carrier Claims Management• Sales and Telemarketing• Appointment Setting• Dedicated Team or Bureau Environment

What makes us different?

• Our industry-leading employee tenure• Our focus on quality management• Our training and development strategies• Our flexibility and proactivity• Our people and culture

Our Contact Centre Services...

Our Fulfilment Services...Delivering our promises, fulfilling your expectations.

We’ve been providing order fulfilment support to eCommerce, mail order and catalogue retailers for over thirty years.

With no campaign too large or too small, we have developed a diverse and multi-skilled operation, which has given us the experience and expertise to implement even the most complex of projects with a focused, professional, swift and cost-effective approach. Our campaigns range from single product eCommerce offerings to full end-to-end home shopping, retail replenishment and trade fulfilment solutions.

Here’s what we do in our fulfilment centre:

• Pick, Pack, Despatch• Storage and Distribution• Stock Management• eCommerce and Home Shopping• Retail Replenishment• Trade and Supply Chain Management• Returns and Aftercare• Handheld Wireless Inventory and Picking• Carrier Despatch Software• Commercial Carrier Management• Secure Storage• Product Rework

What makes us different?

• Our culture for quality and efficiency• Our innovative technology developments• Our velocity planning and flexibility• Our experience of highly seasonal campaigns• Our diverse client base• Our people

The Full eCommerce Offering...A truly unique end-to-end service.

Through our retail division, Spark Etail, we are able to offer our clients and full eCommerce service that can start at the conception, design and development of an online store.

Spark Etail provides a natural extension to the more traditional Spark Response offering to create an end-to-end service that can include:

• Campaign Concept and Strategy• Online Store Design and Development• Hosting and Support• Systems Integration• Storage, Pick, Pack, Despatch• B2B and B2C Fulfilment• Returns and Aftercare• Order Taking and Customer Service• Outbound Sales and Telemarketing• PPC and SEO• Online Surveys• Digital Catalogue• Social Media Management• Online Catalogues• E-Mail Marketing• Design Support

With a single team approach to implementation and account management, we believe we have a truly unique offering within the eCommerce, fulfilment and contact centre industries.

The Full eCommerce Offering...

Technology...Ensuring accuracy, efficiency and innovation is at our fingertips.

We understand that technology needs to be at the forefront of our development strategy in order for us to help our business and yours to evolve. We invest heavily in ensuring the best in modern technology is constantly at our fingertips.

Spark has an experienced team of in-house developers, analysts and administrators, who have worked with our client base over the years in order to provide seamless integration with our multi-channel retail and trade distribution platform and clients’ own websites, order interfaces and legacy systems. During this time, we have also developed a number of in-house systems that have added huge benefit to our clients, removing manual processes that can lead to errors and additional labour.

Our in-house developed systems include:

• Wireless Warehouse Inventory Management - providing increased picking and packing efficiencies and quality, streamlining goods-in procedures, removing the need for manual paperwork entry and administration.

• Despatch Management System - ‘cloning’ our carrier partners’ own shipping systems, allowing order packers to print shipping labels at packing stage, which has negated the need for additional shipping processes.

• Contact Centre Knowledge Base - allowing contact centre advisers to access up-to-the-minute web-based information relating to our clients, systems, procedures, products, services and offers.

We also hold a managed partnership with a local IT company, who provide daily onsite support, systems resilience, infrastructure development and disaster recovery.

Campaign Management...The driving force behind our business and your campaign success.

Spark has an experienced and dynamic management team who work together to continually improve the service to our clients. With a hands-on approach, all members of the team from operational team leaders to directors work to ensure they have a full understanding of our business and client campaigns at all times.

Our senior management team meets daily to gain a high-level overview of the day ahead, ensuring that the whole team is aware of what’s going on around the business. This allows each manager to lend their own personal expertise and experience in facing any day-to-day challenges and offering support where needed.

Our Partner Services department is a team of dedicated Account Managers and Administrators, who look after the day to day account management, development and reporting for all of our campaigns.

The main function of the team is to act as the ‘eyes, ears and voice’ of our clients in dealing with not only the other operational areas of our business but also third party contacts such as carriers and suppliers.

We view the role as being the driving force behind campaign activity, developing new ideas, efficiencies, cost-saving and revenue-generating opportunities, analysing campaign progress and gathering business, brand and competitor intelligence.

The team also offers support to our fulfilment operatives and contact centre advisers, further enhancing our ongoing training and development initiatives. This helps to ensure the client brand and product knowledge of our workforce continues to give Spark the edge in the outsourced contact centre and fulfilment industries.

Quality & Compliance...Working to make a tangible difference to our business and yours.

We believe in the importance of having a focus on the things that make a difference to our clients and to their customers, to our business and to our employees, to the local community and to the wider world.

ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management SystemWe have a dedicated Quality Team, responsible for maintaining and controlling our Quality Management System, ensuring that all business procedures conform to ISO regulations, and a team of Operational Auditors who constructively evaluate all internal processes.

ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management SystemWe are focused on becoming a greener business and have been operating to a fully accredited Environmental Management System since 2009.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)Our data security policies and procedures help to ensure our clients’ customers are protected from online fraud. Spark was one of the first UK contact centres to achieve the standard.

Investor In People & Social EnterprisingWe run a host of employee and social enterprise projects, making an impact on local and national causes, initiatives and charities.

CERT 02700 CERT 32E00270

Training & Development...Building efficiencies and driving quality into your campaign.

We believe that the key to our ongoing success is our people, and we aim to ensure that we provide sufficient training and development needed to allow our staff to be the key to our clients’ success too.

From induction through to an adviser’s first day taking calls, or a fulfilment operative’s first day picking and packing, our training team and team leaders/managers aim not only to ensure new recruits are confident they understand the relevant processes and systems, but also to provide a thorough understanding of our business, our clients, our values and our goals. This includes an insight into our ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 14001 Environmental Management objectives.

The team then work to continually uphold, improve and build upon the client brand and product knowledge of our operations staff at all times. We provide regular refresher courses for all existing team members and look to hold specific training sessions should there be a change in systems, procedures, events or services and whenever new campaigns or products are launched.

We understand that everyone has their own strengths and skills, and we aim to organise our staff and assign responsibilities that are in line with skill sets, aid personal development and offer variety, allowing employees to gain experience in a number of duties across our varied client portfolio.

From campaign implementation and beyond, we welcome and encourage client involvement in training and development sessions and the formation of materials and coaching criteria.

Training & Development...

Our People...The differentiator in our business.

As a registered and passionate Investor In People, we strongly believe in giving back to our staff for consistent hard work and determination. We operate a friendly and people-driven culture with a team-oriented approach to all aspects of what we do.

We believe that teamwork and communication are vital, and that our people and culture are what truly make a difference and give us our edge.

We invest in a number of both communications and recreational initiatives, such as: reward and recognition schemes, employee forums, staff roadshows, free staff parties and annual family fundays, subsidised canteen and bus service and relaxing ‘chill out’ areas. We also offer Education at Work programs whereby staff can gain funded qualifications onsite.

We issue an annual Staff Satisfaction Survey, the results of which allow us to assess the attitudes of our employees, helping us to continually improve upon our working environment and communications plans.

Our people help us to uphold the core values of our business:

Operate with openness, honesty and consistency Work with passion, commitment and enthusiasm Constant focus on efficiency Fanatical attention to detail Challenge the status quo Tolerance for honest mistakes

Our Location...The heart of the North East, with links to the entire business world.

Spark is based on Follingsby Park in Gateshead - a modern industrial park designed around occupier requirements for ease of access and maximum storage potential.

Custom built in 1996, Unit 1 Follingsby Park was the very first unit on an estate that now plays host to over 30 North East businesses. Spark has occupied that unit from the very day its doors opened.

The business park is situated at the heart of the North East, central to the commercial centres of Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead and Washington - a landscape that boasts three major universities, two national rail hubs and one of the world’s fastest growing international airports.

In addition, Spark counts among its neighbours several leading UK and international transport companies and a major import-export port, situated at the mouth of the River Tyne just over five miles from our premises.

The North East of England is scattered with breathtaking historical architecture, beautiful beaches, great days out and attractions and some of the country’s most famous, interesting and impressive museums and galleries.

Our heritage runs deeper than simply a passion for our home turf. The first recorded online home shopping order was placed just a few miles from Spark in Gateshead, and the North East accent is known to be one of the most popular in the country when dealing with UK contact centres. We’re proud to be at the very heart of the region’s contact centre and eCommerce industries.

Facing page (clockwise from top left): The Sage Gateshead, Bamburgh Castle and beach, Penshaw Monument, Saltwell Park, Tynemouth Lighthouse, Durham Cathedral. Main image: The Tyne’s Bridges and Quayside with BALTIC Centre For Contemporary Art. Right from top: The illuminated Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Couple by Sean Henry and the Angel of the North.

Follingsby Avenue, Follingsby Park, Gateshead, NE10 8HQ0800 328 5880 www.sparkresponse.com Contact Centre & Fulfilment Services