Liz Jackson launched her telemarketing business, Great Guns Marketing in 1998 with £5,000 from the Prince’s Trust. The business now has a turnover of £1.5 million, and has grown more than 40 per cent each year.

Despite losing her sight one year into starting the business (Jackson is registered blind and has a reader to help with letters, emails and other day-to-day tasks) Jackson’s vision is thriving. So far, eight branches have been established nationwide and another six are planned for this year.

The company, which employs 100 people, specialises in outbound business-to-business telemarketing and lead generation. It boasts around 500 clients ranging from small ventures to corporate giants such as British Telecom, Johnson & Johnson and Wella.

Investing in staff training has been a key driver for growth.

‘Our business is quite labour-intensive. We’ve had to put a lot of effort into recruiting and managing people. We think we’ve got that right now. We offer in-house massages to our staff and organise employee of the month awards.
We also pay generous commissions and encourage training schemes such as NVQs,’ acknowledges Jackson.