A COMPANY that carved out a niche providing lighting and electrical systems for churches has seen the light when it comes to going for growth.
Paul Jones, owner of Luton-based electrical engineers and contractors 1A Instalec, took advice from Business Link after recession struck hard.
Although taking a sabbatical after 30 years at the helm of the company based in Greenwood Court, Ramridge Road, he found himself back in charge as Instalec’s stream of repeat business and referrals began to slow down.
Mr Jones said: “We never really needed to market Instalec that hard in the past, because of the high level of repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. But it was clear that our existing clients were cutting back and we needed to shift our marketing up a gear.”
Mr Jones, who completed his apprenticeship at Vauxhall in the 70s, called on Business Link advisor Geraldine Puttock to help crystallise his plans for the firm that has 10 full time employees plus sub-contractors.
Instalec became the first business to take on a university student as an intern. As a result, Instalec’s website was refreshed and they got new marketing support materials.
Mr Jones said: “We had a new website, a new logo and effective online advertising. Plus I was armed with great flyers to take to my networking meetings.
“Demand increased to the extent that we’ve just taken on another person – our first female electrician – as well as an apprentice.
“And after the original intern’s successful graduation, we’ve also employed him on a part-time basis.”