Father and son team Delroy and Omari have just what every great small business needs – the insight and skills from years of experience courtesy of Delroy, and the young, fresh tech-savvy approach of Omari. Together the pair has transformed this business – which has over ten years of trading – into a modern brand that is performing better than ever.
Originally founded on February 14th 1989, Eastway Electrical has been one of the thousands of electrician businesses that keep UK households running, but in recent years, things had begun to take a downturn. With the rise of card payments and the need to stay technologically in the loop in order to stay relevant, Delroy’s business was beginning to fall behind the times. Luckily, son Omari was waiting in the wings, and when he joined his father’s business, he bought with him all the modern insight Eastway Electrical needed to truly flourish.
Now the brand has its own streamlined website, featuring video testimonials, price lists, a quote generator, call back form and proud display of its memberships with MyBuilder.com, Checkatrade.com and Niceic.com – everything the brand needs to easily be found by customers and to prove their quality and legitimacy as a business.
Able to go from appointment to appointment armed with Square, taking card payments is easy and lets customers enjoy a whole new level of convenience when it comes to paying their way. Omari takes charge of sending out Square invoices, completed in seconds and paid in a click, so there is less time chasing payments and more time fitting in the next customer.
For a business that was facing troublesome times, technology like Square has transformed Delroy and Omari’s business and has let them continue to offer quality services while also adapting to the modern way customers choose to pay.
This hard-working family-run business is a shining example of the small UK businesses that have been running for years that can still benefit from making the change to modern business solutions. Payment systems like Square are about far more than being a hip method of payment for stylish new businesses, they are a vital tool for small businesses in any industry to be able to grow and better their brand.
Omari thinks that technology is the way forward for all trade businesses:
“Like many electrical businesses of our size, the importance of being able to secure future business is crucial to success. Back in the day when my dad first started out we were predominately cash-only and relied on customers transferring via Bacs payment.
A big problem we faced was the number of customer cancellations. People would book appointments and then cancel shortly before the allotted time. We were losing money and wasting time – we needed a solution. In order to move with the times, we needed a payment solution to enable us to take deposits and safeguard against the problem. These days, customers expect a hassle-free way of paying for services or they really will just take their business elsewhere.
There are lots of payment solutions on the market which can be confusing. Most of them require lengthy contract terms or minimum transaction amounts as well as high fees. As a small business, it just wasn’t feasible for us to commit to something like that. Around the time we were looking, we came across Square which had just launched in the UK. There are no contracts, no commitments and they have very competitive rates, it really has transformed our business.
Since we’ve started accepting card payments, we can now take deposits over the phone – our cancellation rate has completely dropped and our pipeline of work is secure. As tradesmen this is invaluable and really has revolutionised the way we do business.
With a fresh approach and the uptake of new technologies such as Square, Eastway Electrical is continuing from strength to strength and we now provide electrical services to both residential customers and commercial properties across London.”
Learn more about Eastway Electrical
