Plusnet aims to take market share from sector’s big players

Plusnet has grown its total client base by 50 per cent to 500,000 over the last two years but wants to steal market share from the likes of Virgin, Talk Talk and Orange by increasing its number of SME customers.

The Sheffield company hopes to grow on the back of a series of initiatives which emphasise its roots in Yorkshire. It has moved 100 call centre jobs from South Africa back to the region, hired a brass band and has launched a series of adverts playing on its heritage, featuring a Yorkshire terrier, teacakes and the rolling hills of the local landscape.

Jamie Ford, the chief executive who once played cricket for Kent, said: “We are looking to offer better services for the small business out there at competitive prices.

“The challenge for us is to gain awareness. The companies we are competing with are well-known. We are a challenger brand.”

Plusnet, set up 14 years ago, was sold to BT for £67m in 2007 but Mr Ford says it is run at arm’s length from the telecoms giant.

It turned over £71.8m for the year to March 2010 – the most recent documents filed at Companies House – doubled its number of staff to 600 over the last two years.

Now Mr Ford wants to expand its business customer base, which currently ranges from major corporates to corner shops, after years when it has been largely known as an internet service provider offering broadband and home phones to households.

“We have to buy the equipment (anyway) and businesses and household customers tend to use their internet at different times of day.

“Our business proposition is strong. We want to benefit from our growth in consumer awareness. The key to continued success is having the produce at the right price. The market has got much more aggressive on price over the last six months.”

Last year Plusnet created 150 jobs in jobs in call centres, customer support and sales, IT development, marketing and moved 100 positions from Durban, South Africa. It had inherited the outsourced customer contact centre when it bought rival Brightview in 2007.

“Our services are based in the UK, which is very popular,” Mr Ford said.

“We did not move our call centres because of a quality issue. At a time of growth there was a benefit to having everything on one site.”

Mr Ford said there are 18 million broadband subscribers in Britain, meaning it is hard for the market as a whole to grow. Instead he wants Plusnet to win more business by competing on value as the faltering economic recovery changes consumer spending patterns.

“The key to continued success is having the product at the right price.

“The market has got much more aggressive on price in the last six months.

“The guys we are competing against are significant: Virgin, Talk Talk, Orange. It makes it exciting to compete against them and to do well is exciting for us.”

He also played down the prospect of buying up other businesses but refused to rule out the prospect altogether.

“Acquisitions are an interesting way to go. It can be an easy way of generating volume (of customers) but it comes with its own challenges. We focus on organic.”

Plusnet’s advertising campaign is central to achieving organic growth. Its new 30-second commercial aired during the break in Emmerdale earlier this month and featured the straight-talking Joe and the appearance of his father on a ride-on-lawnmower.

Later this month it will run a second advert in which the Plusnet brass band will give a rendition of Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs’ hit Ruby.

Mr Ford said: “Referrals are something we still do but we market more actively.”

Signalling success

Plusnet was launched in 1997 by Paul Cusack, who later went on to create the hardware retailer Ebuyer, and Lee Strafford, who led the business through most of its development up to the sale to BT in January 2007, for £67m.

The BT takeover turned Mr Strafford into a multi-millionaire. He had a five per cent shareholding giving him a £3.35m payout.

Mr Ford, a former cricketer, moved across to Plusnet after two years at BT.