Property Maintenance company TF Jones is growing and winning bids thanks to a marketing overhaul from the Business Growth Programme. The company assists local authorities and housing associations in maintaining and investing in their property portfolios.
Daniel Jones, Operations Manager at TF Jones, said: “We have been a Member of the Chamber for a number of years, but we recently re-engaged with it in the last 12 months on a more proactive basis to try and find out more about how it could help us. We also wanted to know how we could give back to the community.”
The company signed up to the Chamber’s Business Growth Programme, where Daniel met with a specialist marketing consultant so that he could overcome some barriers to growth the company was experiencing in that area.
Daniel said: “Going through the Business Growth Programme began with meeting Phil Davies, an independent marketing consultant, in order for him find out who we are and what we do. From there that we started to talk about our customers and in the next session we tried to define our ideal customer. This meant that we were able to target our marketing and business development efforts more effectively.”
The marketing consultant was able to work with the company and build upon a rebranding exercise that had already been carried out and suggested modernising the company’s website. Daniel continued: “We had a re-brand and some new logos designed by an external consultant but it was just a design service.
“With the Business Growth Programme consultant, we set out to define the look and feel our documentation. Our website had also been in place a number of years and needed modernisation to be mobile friendly etc. The consultant reassured us it could be done at a relatively low cost and we knew it was something we wanted to proceed with.”
Going through the Business Growth Programme has had a positive effect on TF Jones and the company has been successful when bidding for tenders, something which Daniel puts down to improvements in their marketing strategy.
He said: “We are growing very quickly and I’d like to think the marketing effort has had something to do with that. We are winning a lot of what we are bidding for and I think part of that is because we are sending out a consistent message to clients.”
The next six months are looking positive for the company, with a clearer idea of what their growth will look like.
Daniel said: “The Business Growth Programme has given us a better idea of our growth plans. We now have a better idea of our future staffing levels and how we can resource to meet peaks and troughs in the workload.
“I would definitely recommend the Business Growth Programme, it’s a really good resource and is helpful for SMEs in particular to focus on what they are trying to do from a business development point of view.”
TF Jones has also re-engaged with their Chamber Membership in other areas, which Daniel says has added value to the company and even allowed them to give back to the local community. Daniel continued: “We’ve used a few Chamber services in the last 12 months. We are supporting the Careers and Enterprise Company through the Chamber by volunteering as Enterprise Advisers in schools.
“We’ve also attended a number of seminars and have had some training as well. It’s all been very beneficial, very cost effective and the outcome has been really good for us.”
Funded by the European Regional Development Fund and St. Helens Council, St Helens Chamber’s Business Growth Programme is designed to help businesses operating in the B2B sector who want to grow and take on new staff, but are finding obstacles in their way. It is part of the Liverpool City Region Integrated Business Support Project.
Following a free business diagnostic to identify any issues standing in the way of growth ambitions, the Chamber’s Business Advisers put together a bespoke action plan for the business.
To find out more about TF Jones visit the website
For more information about the Business Growth Programme call 01744 742042 or email growthprogramme@sthelenschamber.com
