AS economists warn that growth in consumer spending will remain sluggish this year, a businesswoman running a family-owned bathroom products firm explains how it is using new communications technology to expand its market reach.

Name:

Alison Sime.

Age:

55.

What is your business called?

FBS Plumbing Solutions, although locally we are still referred to as Falkirk Brass. This came about because my family used to own a brass foundry making everything from taps to letter boxes.

Where is it based?

Falkirk.

What services does it offer?

The company distributes high quality bathroom products with a portfolio of over 20 leading brands as well as a full range of plumbing materials.

To whom does it sell?

Bathroom showrooms, local plumbers, bathroom installers, and house builders.

What is its turnover?

£1.75m.

How many employees?

13.

When was it formed?

FBS was set up by my father, Alistair Munro-Brown, in 1980. Falkirk Brass was his previous company. It was based in a small foundry about half a mile away from our current premises but closed in the late 1970s.

Why did you take the plunge?

When my dad died the business was initially run by a management team. An opportunity then arose for me to join the firm in accounts in 1995. Eleven years later I took over the running of the firm, shrinking its stock and sales by 25 per cent initially to make the business more profitable. Since becoming managing director, I’ve also expanded into new premises and opened a trade showroom, which has helped the business grow its turnover by nearly 10% over the last 18 months.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

The plumbing business was a very male dominated industry in the 80s, and still is in many respects, so instead of working for my father I began my career with Mathieson’s the Bakers, building my sales and finance experience with them. I thoroughly enjoyed my 12 years working in the bakery industry, especially my involvement with the Scottish Bakery Training Group, which looked at training and development within the bakery and retail sector. It certainly was a full-on career and I made the decision to put family first after I found out I was expecting my second child. This then led me to move into the family business to work part-time as credit controller. I knew that after the children were older I would be looking for new challenges within the company and felt a good starting point would be from a financial perspective.

What was your biggest break?

Probably adding the renowned, and local, Carron Bathrooms brand to our Scottish distribution portfolio in 2008. There is a real synergy between our companies as Carron Baths are manufactured in Falkirk about one mile from our headquarters. We now have more than 20 key bathroom brands in our portfolio. We do not promote own brand products at present as the competition at that end of the market is fierce and margins are not guaranteed.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

Being able to shape and develop the company to suit our changing market. I love the interaction with customers and suppliers and listening to what the market needs to ensure the continued success of FBS.

What do you least enjoy?

That’s easy - the annual stock take at the end of January! Over 6,000 types of products to count and cost but it has to be done.

What is your biggest bugbear?

Like many small businesses, we find it difficult and frustrating to compete with the big national companies, which can offer what feel like excessive discounts. This directly affects our bottom line. That is why I believe it’s really important to have quality products, personal service, and excellent product knowledge. These help FBS stand out.

What are your ambitions for the firm?

Our customer base is very local so my main ambition is to increase our profile Scotland wide, and thanks to help from Business Gateway Falkirk we are beginning to make headway.

Our adviser helped us secure funding to launch our first website at the end of 2016. That gave us an initial online presence to showcase and helped with handling enquiries for products. I then attended a range of DigitalBoost workshops that made me realise if we didn’t grow our presence online the business would ultimately stagnate.

Our adviser also put us in touch with the University of Stirling’s Management School and we took on an MBA intern, Akshay Singh, for six months who devised a digital marketing strategy for us which is starting to bear fruit.

Akshay highlighted that as more or our regular customers became older and retired we needed to start attracting younger customers, who want information at the touch of a button.

Getting that support helped us up our game and really pushed us out of our comfort zone for the benefit of the company.

How do you relax?

I enjoy walking, cycling, swimming and time catching up with friends and family. I love the outdoors and regularly plan trips in ‘Toby’ our VW camper. These trips make it easy to switch off and recharge.