Wearside business Compliant FM have experienced a significant sales boost following investment and grant funding to enhance their sales and marketing function thanks to support from the North East Business Support Fund.
The Sunderland-based business provides UKAS accredited ISO certification throughout the UK and USA and works closely with a national client base ensuring all health & safety, legal statutory requirements and best practice are incorporated into any support programme.
With compliance and accreditation becoming business critical for many organisations, director and owner, Mark Henderson, recognised that a new marketing strategy was needed to identify new sales opportunities for prospective clients wanting to update or improve compliance and/or increase professional certification.
Seeking support from the North East Business Support Fund, Mark has been able to employ an external expert to develop and deliver a refreshed marketing strategy with its first objective to revitalise their digital presence that could appeal and strengthen its offer to a national client base. Mark was delighted with the results of the first phase of the new strategy saying:
“Since investing in the enhancement of our sales and marketing function, we have seen customer relationships improve and an increase in sales by over 50%”
Innovation and investment have been key factors in the dynamic growth of the business and with Click Start Marketing’s support, Mark accessed grant support from business support agency NBSL via the North East Business Support Fund – which is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Northern Powerhouse – and was able to secure a grant of £1750.00 to his £5000.00 marketing project.
Mark added: “Click Start Marketing have provided a clear marketing strategy for Compliant FM. A complete Search Engine Optimisation process has been carried out so we can see our click rate on the website increase which will lead to sales. Our social media has attracted positive attention and enquiries. The most significant result we are seeing is from our website engagement – a far better response and is attracting leads. The analytics and potential sales follow up is an excellent help for us – we’re far more focussed and structured from a marketing perspective.
Having experienced the simple application and straightforward process, Mark would certainly recommend using the North East Business Support Fund to support growth “The funding process has been great and all the support from NBSL – fantastic. It has enabled me to take the business to the next level” noted Mark.
Compliant FM now joins 1000s of successful North East Businesses that have grown and developed with the North East Business Support Fund’s assistance. NBSL have established a simple and straightforward grant application process enabling businesses to apply online in less than 10 minutes.
Grants can be used towards a number of projects ranging from the development of sales & marketing strategies, digital development or even consultancy to improve processes or profitability. Joy Gair, Funding Advisor for the North East Business Support Fund, was delighted with the outcome of the project. “We understand some firms are put off by complex application processes, which is why we work with businesses to ensure it is as simple and straightforward as possible”.
The North East Business Support Fund has been helping North East SME’s to grow and develop for over a decade. The fund is the longest established business support programme in the region, delivered by the fabulous team of expert business support people – NBSL.
