Quicktanks, a supplier of heating oil tanks, based just outside of Stratford-upon-Avon, has increased its turnover by more than £450,000 in twelve months thanks to marketing advice from Business Ready.
Pictured (from left): Cllr Martin Watson (portfolio holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council), Sophie Mutton, Brendan Mutton and Steve Tipson (Business Ready).
The firm, founded by Brendan Mutton in 2019, supplies a range of heating oil tanks to both installers and private owners around the country through its website.
Since its foundation, sales growth was steady, but it reached a plateau in the last year after not quite building on its potential.
After support and advice from fully-funded business support service Business Ready, Quicktanks overhauled its marketing strategy and rapidly saw a boost in sales, leading it to post superb results at the end of the latest financial year.
The Company
Quicktanks, based near the village of Binton to the west of Stratford, is the sister business to Muttons Country Store, also founded by Brendan.
Muttons Country Store stocks a wide variety of fencing goods for the farming industry, such as wire and electric fencing, as well as other rural items such as pest traps and horse grooming products.
Quicktanks is more specialised, selling a wide variety of oil heating and storage tanks for residential and commercial properties, and offers advice on which heating tank is right for an individual’s needs.
Alongside Quicktanks, the two businesses provide an excellent service for farmers and the rural community in the region.
However, Brendan was potentially spreading himself a bit thin in running the two businesses, and needed further support if Quicktanks was to grow significantly.
The Challenge
Quicktanks’ sales were perfectly respectable, but Brendan was finding it difficult to really grow the sales at the rate that he wanted.
With little time to dedicate to a marketing strategy with running the two businesses, Quicktanks was approaching a ceiling which Brendan wanted to break through.
Brendan would occasionally look into online marketing, but was often blinded by the many options he was presented with.
After having worked with Business Ready – run by the University of Warwick Science Park – to help Muttons Country Store grow, Brendan decided to get back in touch to see if they could also assist with growing Quicktanks.
Business Ready advisor Steve Tipson, who also advised Brendan on Muttons Country Store, met with Brendan to see if there was a clear solution to increasing the company’s sales.
The Solution
Steve realised that the business did not have a clear strategy around online advertising, and that Brendan would try and sort it himself when he had a spare moment. As Brendan was running not only Quicktanks, but Muttons Country Store as well, those spare moments were rare.
It meant that Quicktanks was missing out on a whole host of potential customers who may have been searching for oil tanks online, but would miss out on visiting the website due to it not ranking high on Google.
Steve recommended that Brendan hire an agency to handle the day-to-day work of managing the online advertising on his behalf after showing the potential return on investment in doing so.
Brendan said: “Steve helped me realise that you don’t necessarily have to do everything yourself, and that getting other suppliers in to support in various areas can often pay off.
“I just didn’t have the time to dedicate to sorting out the advertising strategy, and I perhaps wasn’t aware of just how many customers I was missing out on.”
Steve added: “We aimed to enable a shift in mindset at Quicktanks that allowing a specialist agency to handle a lot of the heavy lifting and being selective in what you pay for makes good business sense.”
The Results
After implementing Steve’s advice, analysing their sales data and hiring an agency to handle online advertising, sales enquiries at Quicktanks sky-rocketed practically overnight.
Quicktanks’ SEO ranking became much higher on Google, which meant customers looking to buy a new tank without comparing lots of different websites would often find Quicktanks first.
This led to a large pool of customers who Quicktanks had never reached suddenly placing orders.
Over the course of the last 12 months, Quicktanks’ turnover has grown by £452,000, which is an incredible result for the company.
Thanks to this success, Brendan is looking at ways to diversify the business and tap into new markets.
“Business Ready’s advice and Steve’s support has enabled us to make the most informed decisions – they very much guided us rather than dictated to us,” Brendan added.
“Due to that advice, we are now thinking about branching out into further types of storage tanks, such as water and septic tanks, at a much earlier stage than before.”
Councillor Martin Watson, portfolio holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council, said: “The Business Ready programme offers tailored support to Warwickshire’s businesses, helping to support business growth across the county.
“Many local businesses have benefitted from the Business Ready programme and Quicktanks is a great example of how the programme can help businesses review their marketing strategy and best utilise the range of tools available to them.”
Cllr George Cowcher, Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder at Stratford-on-Avon District Council, said: “It’s great to see a fast-growing new company in south Warwickshire. Using our business support services we can help ambitious companies like Quicktanks grow quickly.”
Business Ready forms part of the Business Growth Warwickshire programme. It is delivered by University of Warwick Science Park on behalf of Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire’s five District and Borough Councils. The support is part funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (via the District and Borough Councils), and Warwickshire County Council.
Find out what other support is available to your business by calling Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub on 0300 060 3747 or visit the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub website: www.cwgrowthhub.co.uk
