Icon Insurance specialises in insurance policies for smaller and growing businesses: cover for the home office, small office-based business insurance, Professional Indemnity cover (including SecurITy for IT professionals) and Lawsuit legal expenses cover. Our products and services are available on-line and/or off-line to businesses and residents of the United Kingdom

Check out the competition

Take a morning to write down all your competitors and find out everything you can about them.

Few businesses systematically keep tabs on competitors yet such knowledge can give you a big competitive edge. So ask them to send you an information pack, assess how they handle your call, and start building a file on them. Look at everything from the customer's viewpoint.

Be wary of doing this to companies where you are known. If this is the case, get a colleague to call for you. Never misrepresent yourself or you could damage your reputation.

This exercise will also give you loads of ideas for new avenues to explore.

Revisit your marketing materials

If you have a standard sales letter, then create a second and test one against the other. Things to test include the headline, the actual text of the letter, price, the extras, the delivery mechanism... Whatever you do, do not assume you have the best model. When doing a mailshot, split your list in two and test. Always track the results. When you have a winner, test another element.