Entrepreneurs Tom Shanahan and David Kelly took no chances when they were setting up the Irish franchise of Kendlebell, which offers virtual office services. Tom tells allaboutbusiness.ie how they meticulously planned all aspects of their business, including their marketing strategy.

Healthy growth

Tom and David came across Kendlebell at the British Franchise Exhibition in 2005 and purchased the Irish franchise rights early in 2006 and opened for business in June 2006.

 

They invested €500,000 of their own funds and also received support and funding from Dublin City Enterprise Board. So far, the investment has been worthwhile. Kendlebell now employs eight people in its master franchise in Fairview and five sub-franchises around the country employ more than 30.

 

Kendlebell's core service is telephone answering on behalf of other businesses, while also providing other reception and PA services to companies that do not need full-time staff for these roles. The company focuses on providing a flexible, personalised service. Clients can use it when they need to and can be assured of dealing with PAs that know their business.

 

Drawing on experience

Both Tom and David had many years of senior management experience in large companies and were aware of the need to plan their new business venture carefully. "Because of our background and experience, we put together a three-year project plan, aiming to reach a certain level of profitability," says Tom. "We did a lot of research and knew there was a decent market for these services.

 

"My advice to anyone would be to plan as accurately as you can. There are no crystal balls in business, but try to plan at least one year ahead and get a feel for what the following two years might bring."

 

Tom is also an executive director of the Irish Franchise Association. "In that role, I come across a lot of people trying to set up a business and it still amazes me how many people who have an idea, but no idea of how to implement it and plan their business."

 

Making marketing work

While Tom and David were convinced of the potential of Kendlebell in Ireland, they still had to sell the concept. Attracting new business was their primary challenge, says Tom, and they worked hard to establish how best to market their services.

 

"Instead of traditional advertising, we spent a lot of time working on search engine optimisation (SEO) to drive hits to our website and generate enquiries," says Tom. "Our website now generates about three queries a day to our Fairview office. We continue to spend a lot of time optimising our website."

 

The pair's other main marketing activity is networking and both focus on meeting new contacts wherever possible, including trade shows and events run by Business Network International (BNI), Chambers Ireland and other organisations.

 

Fortunately, Tom and David can market Kendlebell's services as useful in the current economic climate. "As the recession has bitten," says Tom, "a lot of people are outsourcing jobs. In the good times, a company's receptionist could have been very busy, but in bad times, that person is just sitting there doing nothing for most of the day. They can outsource to us and reassign the receptionist or make them redundant."

 

Expanding the market

Kendlebell has grown by 20% this year alone and now has more than 700 clients. Most of its existing customers are sole traders or smaller companies with one to 10 employees, but Tom and David plan to extend Kendlebell's reach. "When we started, we were targeting the S in SMEs," says Tom. "Now we are gradually targeting more of the M, or medium-sized companies."

 

In the world of virtual office services, Kendlebell is succeeding with some very real planning.

 

Relevant Links

www.kbell.ie