Newton Fox & First Impressions
Contract Cleaning – A Case Study
Introduction
First Impressions Contract Cleaning is a privately owned cleaning business based in
Bolton, Lancs. Owner Chris Kay bought the business in 2006 as a going concern.
“We have utilized the services of Newton Fox since 2009, since you began our
campaign we have seen our business grow year on year due to the number of
high quality leads and appointments that are generated by your team each
week.”
Chris Kay, Managing Director, First Impression Contract Cleaning
Ltd
He soon realised that he needed a constant source of new leads and business
development activity to grow the business and replace those contracts coming to a
natural end or those choosing to migrate away for a number of reasons.
Chris’s main issue was one of time. He was very involved with over-seeing every
aspect of his business and took a very hands-on approach with each of his clients.
This was vital to ensure that the service being provided was as good as it could be but
it left no time for sales of any sort.
Chris also had a limited budget to attract new customers and didn’t know how best to
use that for maximum effect. He researched leaflet drops, telemarketing, newspaper
and magazine advertising, radio advertising, networking and exhibitions.
His research served only to confuse him even more although he quickly realised that
radio advertising was prohibitively expensive. He also considered employing a
contract manager in order for him to free up some of his time to promote the
company.
Newton Fox
It was around this time that Chris had an approach form Chris Newton, MD of a
specialist telemarketing company called Newton Fox. After an initial chat on the
phone CK (as we’ll refer to him from now on) agreed to meet with CN and go through
the options.
“The information you generate and forward us each week is useful and concise, allowing us to
pursue any future potential leads. In particular I`ve found the voice recording of any successful
appointments your team have made a very useful tool when preparing to attend site.”
Chris Kay, Managing Director, First Impression Contract Cleaning Ltd
CK was first struck by how un-sales like CN was in that he wasn’t automatically
trying to sell telemarketing as his only option. CN had evidence from various sources
on the effectiveness of leaflet drops, e-mail marketing, direct mail and several other
options.
CN put together an action plan for the business that saw significant but not over
ambitious growth over a three year period. The plan required investment of time and
money with many elements being the responsibility of CK and his team. This plan
reflected the needs of the business in terms of growth and client acquisition and
incorporated CK’s wishes regards the location, size and industry sector desired.
Newton Fox then started the telesales campaign using the script developed in
conjunction with First Impressions which helped highlight and identify the USP’s of
the business to create a potent sales message.
By incorporating timed offers, calls to action and effective e-mail follow up
techniques the appointments soon started to appear. The next step was for CK to
continue what Newton Fox had started and visit these companies to continue the
sales message and go on to win the business.
CK expressed his concern and lack of experience regards actually pitching for the
business and so CN accompanied him on a couple of occasions o help cement the
process in CK’s mind. CN devised a simple questionnaire for CK to run through with
the prospect which shaped the visit in such a way that a successful outcome was
difficult to avoid!
Landscape
Newton Fox worked for one day
per week making cold and follow
up calls on behalf of the business.
Appointments were made with
those businesses expressing
concern for a number of reasons
with their current providers. CK’s
reputation was now growing and
his passion and enthusiasm
carried the business forward to
new levels each month.
As well as making appointments Newton Fox also made notes on where all the
businesses using competitors were based, gathering all relevant intelligence such as
renewal dates, contact details and so on to build a comprehensive and detailed
picture of where the potential business lay for the future. Plotting this landscape is
essential if a cleaning business is to flourish as this information, used correctly, can
add very real value a business.
The Story So Far
Since engaging Newton Fox’s services the business has grown year on year. The
terms of engagement are flexible and designed to suit the changing requirements of
the business from month to month, season to season. As well as telemarketing
Newton Fox have actively worked with First Impressions to continuously assess,
refine and adapt the strategy wherever necessary to incorporate other sales initiatives
including e-marketing, direct mailshots, networking strategy and several others.
For work done in 2012 to date the figures look like this:
Total Spend - £3,530.00 (ex VAT)
Total Appts made - 39
Total Business Won - £255k (based on three years cycle)*
“For me there is no better way to gauge the success of any marketing campaign than to look at the
return on investment. As you can see from the case study these figures are testament to why we
continue to utilize the services of Newton Fox.”
Chris Kay, Managing Director, First Impression Contract Cleaning Ltd
First Impressions is a successful business due to many reasons; not least of which is
the way I which Chris Kay and his management team run the business. Passion,
commitment and sheer hard work are all contributory factors. The cleaning industry
is not a glamorous one but done well can provide many benefits including financial.
Newton Fox have helped First Impressions make that difficult but crucial step from
small, owner managed business to successful medium sized enterprise and continues
to support this growth to the next level.