Electrical installers increase turnover by 100% after Innovation Sprint support

Blackpool-based Greenlite Group, a market-leading electrical installation and maintenance company, has increased turnover and profit and is seeking to recruit an additional 15 engineers to meet sales demand after taking part in Edge Hill University’s fully-funded Innovation Sprint Programme, available through Boost.

Greenlite Group employs 53 people and provides the construction industry with efficient lighting, electrical and energy solutions to businesses across the UK. Managing director Bob Hall, entered the Innovation Sprint Programme, based at Edge Hill’s Productivity and Innovation Centre, to formulate a market penetration strategy for growth by increasing their market share.

Supported by the SME Growth Experts, Bob realised the key to unlocking this was a new service solution underpinned by changes in the business model and internal processes. Improving the function of job roles, particularly account  management of customers and line management of engineers will also improve consistency of business processes.

The key to unlocking the opportunity was the segmentation and analysis of the existing structure and processes in the business. This allowed Bob to identify that developing a service solution would meet unmet client needs, and improve profit margins by generating new recurrent revenue streams and maximising current customer relationships.

By implementing these changes to the existing structure and processes, Greenlite will have the capacity to introduce a new service solution and improve the consistency of business processes. Throughout the early stages of the workshops, Greenlite recognised one of the key internal process changes needed to scale-up was clarifying the role of account management and line management of engineers to improve consistency of the service, this would allow them to develop the service solution to meet unmet client needs. By line managers focussing on engineers, they can ensure time is managed most efficiently and productively.

Bob said; "The Innovation Sprint Programme was a complete revelation for Greenlite Group! The SME growth experts put me at ease, and I embraced their exceptional knowledge, advice, and professionalism. They helped me look at the layers of my business and with their encouragement, we were able to implement these necessary changes, the business has now grown."

This would also increase profit margins by generating new recurrent revenue streams. A new organisational structure was needed to underpin these changes and optimise operational efficiency; once these job roles had been clarified, Greenlite mapped out a new customer journey and implemented this onto the CRM system. 

The Innovation Sprint Programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund to provide innovation support and advisory services to Lancashire SMEs. Greenlite used the latter stages of the programme to devise their Growth Action Plan for successfully embedding the business model changes and the new organisational structure to improve the productivity, profitability and efficiency of the business. As a direct result of the programme, Greenlite has created three new full time jobs, increased turnover by 102% and increased profit margins by 300%. This growth has given Greenlite the infrastructure to introduce the new service solution, iComply to ensure customer needs are at the forefront of their new strategy.

Since the programme, Greenlite are also looking to recruit an additional 15 engineers to ensure they can meet the sales demand generated as a result of the programme. The SME Productivity & Innovation Centre (PIC) at Edge Hill University delivers impact through an intensive fully-funded programme that helps established SMEs, with the vision and potential for growth, build a coherent business model strategy to scale-up.

The Innovation Sprint programmes includes 50 hours of scale-up strategy, working on your business plus six intensive online workshops delivered over four weeks. It also involves market research and rich data collection to aid decision making and access to world-class rapid innovation tools and frameworks. The programme is backed by Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub. 

Boost is helping Lancashire businesses. We have a range of funded support programmes and a team of business advisers you can talk to. To speak to someone from the Growth Hub about business support, contact Boost online or call 0800 488 0057.