Hitting the ground running is the ideal start for any new business, and a newly formed St. Helens gas installation company has done just that, and in impressive style. Business success though, is a marathon and not a sprint. To help it maintain its success and achieve long term growth, the company sought support through the Chambers Business Growth Programme.
Prestige Skills is a small business owned by the Harding family. Paul Harding, his brother Phil and dad Paul, are the driving forces behind it. Between them, they combine vast experience of working in the gas industry, high levels of expertise and contacts within the sector. All of which gave the company a strong foundation on which to build.
And build they did. Literally at first, by refurbishing a property in Duke Street St. Helens, resulting in an impressive modern working environment. Sales success followed, and monthly turnover has quadrupled in the first 6 months of trading.
Industry knowledge is not always enough, and it soon became apparent that Prestige needed to do better when it came to formal tender writing.
Paul says: “We had a massive lack of knowledge. We weren’t getting past the first stages of the process, and we knew we were doing something wrong, but we didn’t know what.”
The Chamber arranged support via its experienced procurement consultant, through the Business Growth Programme. Working with Paul the consultant carried out a full review of the companies operation and its procurement methods. Numerous issues were identified, and Prestige Skills is now implementing the consultant’s recommendations to improve its “buyer appeal,” and position itself as a desirable supplier.
Paul say: “He identified the reasons that we hadn’t been winning tenders, but more importantly he explained how the buyers make their decisions. Once we understood that, we could see where we’d been going wrong.
“We weren’t telling our story strongly enough, we have achieved a lot in a short time, we have a great team, we’re highly compliant, and have some really good projects under our belts. But, we weren’t telling potential buyers about all this good stuff”
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.
Paul says: “We’re a young company and it’s great to be able to get this type of expertise at no cost to the business. The consultant’s knowledge is massive, and he’s really up to date with all the latest information. Its early days yet, but the signs are good. We’re in the process of updating our web site, and we have a well-structured procedure in place for all future tendering opportunities.”
If you would like more information about Prestige Skills visit its website at http://www.prestigeskills.com/
To find out more about The Business Growth Programme, click here, contact John Woods 01744 742085 or email john.woods@sthelenschamber.com