24 entrepreneurs Liquid Friday – all about the right people
Phillip Venn puts money in people’s pockets, on time. He is the managing director of Liquid Friday, an APSCo- affiliated, UK, onshore, compliant umbrella company, based in Portsmouth, which prides itself on a high-quality customer service to contractors and recruitment agency staff. It is now one of the top 10 umbrella companies in the UK, having grown steadily since 2008, with a turnover of £46 million for last year – and it’s on target this year to reach around £62m
Liquid Friday has achieved a place on The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 for the past two years, a feat that not many other businesses have been able to achieve. It provides services for contractors across construction/engineering, medical/healthcare, social/care work, IT, sales and education. An ambitious entrepreneur, aged 35, Venn’s career is firmly rooted in strategic marketing and finance. Married, with two young children, he lives in Essex, has a working knowledge of three languages – and he’s not half bad on the dance floor.
for what I’ve built since came from the clients I looked after at that time.
Can you tell me about the growth of the company from there?
I built up a relationship with the founder of Intime Timesheet Technology and together we invested in Blake Technical Services, a two-man outfit in some serviced offices in Portsmouth. It grew from £2.8m a year turnover to what is now £65-72m, tremendous growth in four years. I rebranded it as Liquid Friday and launched it officially at the Recruiter Awards with my fellow directors, Alex Baines (operational director) and Chris Clark (group CFO).
How do you account for your success overall?
Tell us how you started your career, moved on to set up this business, and what was the inspiration?
I left Bournemouth University with a degree in strategic marketing, but it was difficult in the late 1990s for a man to get into the sector; invariably the jobs went to women. They just did. I wanted a job which left me free to pursue interviews in the daytime, but what I ended up doing was taking on the role of duty manager at Gatwick Food Village, with 40 people to manage. It wasn’t exactly what I really wanted, but thankfully a banking contact came to me and said ’let’s get you into a proper career.’ I subsequently joined HSBC’s graduate management training programme, holding down a full-time job and studying for a second degree in two years. My next move was to the Bank of Scotland, working on M&A and structured finance in the recruitment sector at a time when it was growing, and was eventually headhunted to move to the National Australia Bank (under the Clydesdale banner).
Recruitment seemed a very colourful sector, with some larger-than-life characters. Secure invoice finance products were being used to fund recruitment companies and the real inspiration
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I have always remembered the frustration of how long things took in my banking days, so now I think ’wake up and have an idea at breakfast – by tea time it’s policy’. A 13-year career in banking and finance provided the building blocks for what I’ve achieved since, and I’ve learned the value of referrals from both recruiters and candidates. Business has grown by word of mouth.
I have started several businesses during the downturn. Some of our largest competitors had a huge presence but were linked to employment, so as that declined, they shed staff and their customer service levels declined. We were growing and our customer service was constantly improving. I had absolute confidence that we could grow it, and we found good, talented staff and developed them, because the service industry is all about the people.
Who taught you the most important lesson in business – and what was it?
Advice from the Bank of Scotland team – only ever recruit people you think are better than you are, and then encourage the next tier, the level below you, to do the same. You have to continue to promote excellence and take time to find the right people. Don’t shortcut the process.
A favourite commission or design or launch, or does a first client spring to mind?
That would definitely be a launch. Most recruiters are 22-28 years, male and fiercely
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – MAY 2013
competitive, so I started Liquid Track-Day. We use three circuits, Rye House in Hoddesdon, Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire and Stretton 2000 in Leicester, and organise go-karting sessions with leader boards. Recruiters refer business to get an invitation, or alternatively we can hand the day over to a client of ours as a networking opportunity, allowing them to take guests, whether they are clients or new prospects. The machines we use on the day are not for the feint hearted; they’re capable of 0-60 in under three seconds and speeds of up to 90 mph. The day ends with a Champagne presentation and video souvenir.
What’s your business mantra?
Exceptional customer service is at the heart of everything we do. All the success has followed on from that, setting expectations and clinical delivery. It’s a young company overall and I enjoy bringing a fun element into it. We have our Liquid Legend, whereby each month employees nominate someone who’s gone out of their way to help others. They win a meal for two, £50 of shopping vouchers and can
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