Newsletter - March 2009
Welcome to the March edition of Peterborough Workspace Newsletter.
Despite the current economic climate, February proved to be a positive month for Peterborough Workspace, with three new firms moving in and no one leaving. At the moment, we only have two vacant units and certainly the expectation is that at least one of those will be taken shortly. Details relating to the two available units are set out below.
As mentioned last month, I am of the view that the coming twelve months will be hard for some businesses. We continue to do all that we can to support the onsite businesses, with our free workshops and the support provided by Business Link being particularly valuable. This month Greenwoods Solicitors delivered a excellent workshop on the advantages of having clear Terms and Conditions. Next month, we have two workshops, with Tony Larkins of Beacon Financial talking about Critical Illness and Pensions and Mark Jackson of Rawlinson delivering one of their highly regarded Business Builder forums.
I also believe that it is vital that businesses do all that they can to network and profile raise. Peterborough Workspace is a member of BNI, the Business Club and the Chamber of Commerce all of which has proved invaluable in raising awareness and making contacts. BNI have a visitors day on 5th March which is held at the Haycock starting at 6.45a.m.and the Business Club have two meetings held at the Bell Inn Stilton on 2nd March and 17th March starting at 6.00 p.m. If you would like to attend any of these meetings please let me know. The Chamber are running 6 events in the region full details can be found on the Cambridgeshire Chamber website.
In February we have two workshops planned the first, by Tony Larkins of Beacon Finance, on Critical Illness and Pensions and at the end of the month Greenwoods Solicitors will be delivering a talk, on the importance of clear Terms and Conditions.
This month's Business Link article talks about reviewing your profit margin. The Peterborough Workspace business feature is written by Mark Dame. Mark moved to Workspace House about 2 years ago with his, then, company “PopLocks”, as that company grew he joined forces with Cambs Security and together they formed Mark2Security which is growing from strength to strength.
Peterborough Workspace is ideal for those businesses working from home who want to get to the next level. If you are aware of any such business which would benefit from the services which we provide please refer them directly to me.
Philip Moores
Project Director
tel: 01733 390707
A Match made in Heaven
For many years I had been driving round the dimly lit streets of Peterborough trying to find that poor old shivering soul that had shut the door behind, only to get that sinking feeling that the keys to the house were staring at him through the kitchen window. There they are sitting on the kitchen table, they might as well been in another country.
However there is great satisfaction when the door swings open after you have been working on it for what would sometimes seem like an eternity. This coupled with the feeling of being able to help that person more than made up for the stress of being out that late at night.
After that build up imagine the deflation when you had demonstrated the sometimes ineffectiveness of their locks when the question comes “Do you do alarms mate?”
Then my answer had to be sorry no! But in true BNI (Business Network International) style I would say I know someone that does. Following numerous visitors of Security companies to the meetings, one company came up trumps every time. Cambs security paid great attention to detail and customer care was paramount, it showed in their work. During the weeks that followed, they would reciprocate and pass Lock jobs to me, in fact it got to the point where it was getting silly and the decision was made to join forces and work together.
We would arrive at customers premises ready to quote them happy and introduce ourselves. Hello I am Mark and this is Marc “Oh” came the reply “he's Marc too”! hmm there is a company name, so Mark2 Security Ltd was born. From these humble beginnings we have grown from strength to strength and become very busy. The marriage of mechanical locking and electronic security systems gives the customer a one stop shop for all types of security requirements.
None more so demonstrated than at Peterborough Raceway the new Karting centre in North Bretton which has something of everything. They have one master key that can unlock the whole centre, a remotely operated access system on the main door to control the flood of budding Lewis Hamilton's also there are CCTV cameras constantly watching. An alarm system keeps the building safe at night and is monitored 24 hours and will get in touch with key holders on activation, finally a panic attack system to keep the staff safe too. However installation of these systems did take us a bit longer than usual as there were frequent opportunities to test the track out!!
Recent events have seen us take over another company ARA (Automatic Reset Alarms) who had been trading for over 30 years and has managed to install many alarms in the Peterborough area.
The onset of the so called “economic downturn” has forced some elements of society to turn to crime to make ends meet rather than the stereotypical feeding a habit. The requirement of customers to upgrade has never been greater. Unfortunately the days of alarms just sounding out to alert the neighbours have gone too, our best selling system rings your mobile to let you know if anything is happening. Not only that it talks to you, I don't mean you have a chat! But its computerised voice similar to a popular Sat Nav's lets you know what's going on at home. Also with it being wireless it will only take us a few hours to fit and will not ruin your décor.
There are lots more to the system, so if I have wetted your appetite to know more simply take a look at our up and coming web site at www.mark2security.co.uk give us a ring and ask for, “yep you guessed it” Mark! Or drop in to Workspace House to see us, we look forward to meeting you and together we will be “Targeting Crime”.
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