Green Label Foods was looking for a service provider who could deliver first-rate service as well as cost savings, and it took to BT Business Plan like a duck to water.
As a company that sees things through from start to finish, it’s not surprising that Green Label Foods was impressed by the total package offered by BT Business Plan. The family-run business, which is based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, produces duckling and duck-related products
for the catering and retail trade, including Sainsburys, Safeway and Iceland. It’s a fully integrated company with about 185 employees and it deals with the rearing of ducks to the final packaging.
In fact, Green Label has the worldwide breeding rights to Gressingham duck, producing about three million per year. And very highly regarded they are too – culinary genius Delia Smith has described them as ‘the very best type of duck available’. Which goes a long way to explain why the company was searching for the very best business directive.
The business was started in Suffolk in 1971 by Maurice Buchanan and his wife Miriam, as a mixed farm specialising in poultry, and the first Gressingham ducks – only 500 of them – were reared in 1989. Now four family members are directors, with son William handling sales and marketing, and Geoffrey taking control of the money as finance director.
Although the company is taking advantage of a two to three per cent per annum growth rate in its sector, it was looking to make savings, including in its telecoms bill. ‘We’d been with BT for as long as we’ve been going – about 32 years - and were happy with the service,’ says Geoffrey Buchanan. ‘But as we were trying to reduce costs, we considered moving and got some other quotes in. We then called BT to find out what they had to offer and they came up with the best deal, which was BT Business Plan.’
The 10p cap on all UK calls was the feature that clinched it for Buchanan. ‘We signed up for the minimum annual spend of £5000 and we should start to see cost savings of around 30% a year on our bill. We should easily hit the £5000 mark, so we’re also almost guaranteed to get a five per cent reward credit. Indeed, I’ve already factored that into my calculations!’
However, Buchanan was also won over by the other features of the plan, especially having a dedicated team to deal with his enquiries. He believes that it should lead to time savings, increased efficiency and lower costs. The element of certainty offered by Business Plan was also a winner with Buchanan. ‘It certainly helps my budgeting and forecasting. It’s the one area I should be able to get right!’
And the level of service that BT has offered to Green Label over the years, as well as its reputation for reliability, also swung it. ‘It was important to us,’ states Buchanan. ‘If we’d gone to a smaller supplier, I didn’t know how they would actually treat us, so I had a few doubts about making that step. I really did want to stay with BT if possible, it was just a matter of cost.’
And with the savings that can be made by signing up to Business Plan, there really was no contest.
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