A GLASGOW company which specialises in generating sales leads for businesses has declared plans to take on 35 staff and move to larger premises in light of growing demand for its services.

The expansion at Pursuit Marketing, which deals in email marketing, data cleansing and telemarketing, comes with the firm on track to boost turnover by 130 per cent in its current financial year.

Pursuit, whose clients include Microsoft Partners, Sage and Advanced Business Solutions, expects to turn over £2.3 million in the year to June, with growth coming from new and existing clients.

Its growth has given owners Patrick Byrne and Robert Copeland the confidence to grow staff numbers from 50 to 85, and switch to bigger premises in Finnieston, Glasgow, in April.

Mr Byrne, who set up Pursuit with Mr Copeland four years ago, said the expansion coincides with an upsurge in confidence among clients to invest in sales and marketing.

He said: "One of the things we have noticed is that a lot of companies are now loosening the purse strings in terms of their marketing and sales budgets, even though there is a forthcoming General Election. But they are doing it in a different way - instead of spending money on soft marketing they seem to be spending a lot more money on marketing with ourselves, where it is guaranteed results.

"They can justify and link their bottom line returns to their marketing spend. That has really helped us with our growth."

Mr Byrne described Pursuit as a "match making service" which lines up the "perfect prospect" for its clients.

Asked how it is able to guarantee results, Mr Copeland said its success is defined by the number of sales appointments it lines up for clients. And through its quality control processes, it ensures the people taking those appointments have the budget to spend, he said, as well as a defined timeline.

"More or less at every opportunity they can quote for that work, so they are generating a real pipeline, rather than just generic marketing leads," Mr Copeland said.

"If we don't generate that pipeline, we will replace that opportunity with another one, so that the laws of average will dictate that if they [clients] spend X amount they get X back."

Pursuit is currently hiring for a range of roles, from software engineers and developers to a marketing manager and finance director.

But Mr Byrne conceded that finding the right staff is a significantly more difficult challenging than growing the business. While not overlooking the importance of experience and qualifications, he said attitude is one of the key qualities they look for in candidates.

Mr Byrne noted: "We can give them the skills - it is attitude we need. Two of our top agents come from non-skilled backgrounds. They had the right attitude - they just needed the right focus."

The company has a commitment to pay above the Living Wage, he added, and recognises the need for its staff to strike a good work-life balance. Employees enjoy perks such as gym memberships, team building activities and away days, as well as flexible working patterns.