Oakridge Steel turns investment in a Review in £200,000 in new export business
It’s not often that an investment in some advice quickly brings in additional business worth £200,000. But that’s exactly what happened when Oakridge Steel underwent an ECR (now called the International Communications Review).
The Review provides export companies with an independent analysis of their communications with overseas customers and makes individual recommendations for improvement. By implementing just some of the suggestions made to them by their adviser, Steve Sharp, Oakridge Steel has secured an increase in export sales worth £200,000… and more orders are coming in all the time.
“It was really useful to have someone completely independent take a look at what we were doing,” explained Director Paul Matthews. “Many of the recommendations that Steve came up with were simple to implement and, while we have not yet been able to action everything, the small changes that we have made have produced big results.”
One of these recommendations was for Oakridge Steel to follow up certain enquiries with face-to-face visits to overseas customers. So far, this alone has resulted in an export order worth £80,000 from Malta and another worth £30,000 from Poland. “I am convinced that we would not have won this business without going to see the customer face-to-face. I would definitely recommend the Export Communications Review as a great way of identifying simple ways to increase overseas sales.”
Oakridge Steel is a specialist steel trader, buying and selling to companies around the world. Directors Paul Matthews and Roger Summers use their extensive industry experience to ensure customers receive the right product for their particular application, as well as sourcing hard-to-locate product at competitive prices.