Groupon with a suit on?

March 30, 2011 - PRLog -- “Two years ago I saved my business £1,000 in accountancy fees – but unfortunately it took me a full week of effort” said Tim Latham at the launch of a new service, Professionals-Direct.co.uk.  “Our aim with this service is to help vast numbers of UK  businesses to save thousands of pounds, at no cost and with about 30 seconds input”.

Tim added “When looking to change accountants I knew that I needed to get my requirements out to quite a few providers to compare and contrast their offerings – but that takes a good deal of time and I also knew that I’d be fending off their “just checking you got our details” phone calls for months if not years to come”.

Professionals-Direct.co.uk is a simple idea, but amazingly the first time it’s been done.  Totally free to clients, they give some details of their requirement (be it  accountancy, marketing, PR, design, web or IT services) which is then sent to registered providers but minus any contact or identifying details.  The providers receive the details, again absolutely free, decide which if any they want to follow-up and pay just £5 to contact those that they judge as most relevant to their business.  So the provider gets one chance to make a great impression – no ongoing spam and every incentive to make it a really competitive offer.

Tim added “One of our initial customers said (rather tongue in cheek) that we are Groupon with a suit on!  Whilst flattering to be compared the world’s fastest ever growing business, by keeping our charges to an absolute minimum it’s unlikely that we will be valued at $25 billion within two years.  But helping thousands of small businesses to cut their costs will be reward enough”.

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About Tim Latham of Professionals Direct

Following a fast track career and education encompassing Bristol University (BSc), Bath University (MBA), Shell, PricewaterhouseCoopers and London Business School, Tim started and successfully grew two businesses. Tim lives in Rutland with his wife and young daughter.