What Stuart has helped us realise is that we need to grow the awareness of the population in general that our product even exists, as well as establishing a presence in that market.
Lee-Ann de Villiers needed to investigate if her care agency had the potential to support both her and her husband while their children were small.
“We had waited for children for 11 years and two came along quickly. My husband was the main breadwinner but is a hands-on father who wants to spend time with our children whilst they are young.”
“The only way was for him to come into the family business, so I wanted to find out how we could grow our business to accommodate this move.”
Lee-Ann invested in a Growth Voucher to look at the future of Choice Homecare - a “care agency with a difference” which specialises in live-in care.
Based in Lee, near Lewisham, London, it has 45 registered care workers and an office team of three who coordinate all aspects of the business. Lee-Ann, a trained occupational therapist by training, started the business in 2007.
With her Growth Vouchers, Lee- Ann decided to work with Stuart Forrester of the Forrester Group for marketing advice to grow the business.
“It has invigorated my own thinking about new strands of marketing and brought about a more coordinated approach to our marketing. We are now getting better value from our marketing budget.
I have always seen marketing as something I dread, something I to have to do, but now we have a strategy and clear goals in place which directs our actions much more."
The Growth Voucher scheme is “such good value for money,” she said.
“We now understand where we are going. We started by reviewing our business plan and business goals and we reviewed the market place. We carried out surveys and enhanced our understanding of where we are in the market place and what makes us unique.”
“It has given me confi dence. We now have strategic action points in place. We have revamped our website and our messages are far more succinct and based on our USPs and what live-in care can offer.
“What Stuart has helped us realise is that we need to grow the awareness of the population in general that our product even exists, as well as establishing a presence in that market.”
