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What business qualities make a successful SME? We’ve been visiting various businesses to bring you insightful case studies. This month it is the Cleenol Group specialist manufacturer of cleaning and hygiene products, No 17= in our SME 100


Cleenol Group: Delivering qualities that its B2B customers need


Cleenol’s growing turnover – £8.45 million to over £10m in the past three years – may well be partly due to the major MOD supply contract it won in 2011, but with a 400-year-old history it is perhaps inappropriate to highlight Cleenol’s recent progress.


This is a company that has been delivering customer-focused service and quality products for centuries.


Admittedly, in those early centuries it was literally delivering timber and coal by canal and road, but post- World War II diversification changed that. Today Banbury-based Cleenol ‘delivers’ by manufacturing its own top quality professional cleaning and hygiene products for B2B customers in more than 40 countries.


“The bread and butter products we deal in are bulky, heavy, with relatively low profit margin so distribution costs are disproportionate for exporting to markets with their own strong manufacturing base such as Germany, France and Italy. Therefore our main bulk exports tend to be in markets like the Middle East. However, our specialist products like Evolution, X2 and our British Nova floor care range are exported worldwide,” explained Jeremy Childerstone, FD of the Cleenol Group.


It also partly explains why, in a highly competitive market, Cleenol has remained UK-oriented and can be competitive against multinational corporates – distribution costs work against everyone.


Those ubiquitous cleaning and hygiene products – from hand sprays to dishwashing, laundry to floorcare


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– are another reason why Cleenol achieves a steady but unremarkable profit. Cleenol’s products are essential everyday items but low profile in commercial terms.


“It is a mature competitive market, so our growth levels are not comparable to those such as the IT sector,” says Childerstone.


Sector demand remains relatively stable – good news during the recession – and any market or profit gains are hard-won.


With product pricing a common battleground, Cleenol’s 82 staff achieve such gains through three key routes – quality control, customer service and innovation.


High manufacturing standards, plus Cleenol’s commitment to customer satisfaction, ensure all its products are good quality, cost-effective and environmentally friendly.


Cleenol manufactures the majority of its cleaning and disinfection product range – any ancillary products that it cannot produce are carefully selected before addition to the company’s overall offering.


An approved ISO 9001 quality assurance control system covering initial enquiry, order processing, design, manufacture and delivery, is stringently maintained in the company.


That quality control underpins Cleenol’s good reputation. Positive customer testimonials lead to recommendations, referrals and additional sales.


Aftersales and service maintenance teams provide practical advice and staff training to support customer


Jeremy Childerstone


businesses, and frequently “go the extra mile,” says Childerstone.


Customer feedback reveals: “The way our people behave when they go out into the market is a credit to us,” he adds.


Customers may not recognise the true value of Cleenol’s products until they run short of them, but Cleenol never loses sight of the value of its customers.


Innovation in practical daily-use products is difficult, but Cleenol has achieved market-leading results through its technical and laboratory development team.


“Over the past 20 years, perhaps the most innovative change has been the use of concentrates, which also helps reduce distribution costs,” explains Childerstone. Cleenol is at the forefront with its Evolution concentrate dispensing systems, and has recently introduced its X2 Spray System to ensure simple, safe and accurate dosing.


Awareness is crucial to innovation and Cleenol knows its market thoroughly – attending the main biennial industry exhibition in Amsterdam – and its customers even better. For the Middle East market, Cleenol developed an Envirological alcohol- free hand sanitizer and gained halal certification earlier this year, making it suitable for that market.


“We are very good at providing business solutions that work for our customers,” says Childerstone. Cleenol also manufactures own- brand products for clients.


To a large extent, Cleenol operates as a specialist within its specialist sector, offering bespoke products and services to meet individual customer needs.


While interest rate increases remain a concern, raw material costs would hit the sector hardest, said Childerstone. Although Cleenol is financially secure, absorbing increased costs is not easy in a price-conscious market.


“The chancellor’s announcement of low 1.5% inflation nationally was welcome news, but we have our own industry inflations to cope with.”


Perhaps one of Cleenol’s major strengths is its 400-year-old culture of family-owned independence.


The founding Foster family links are maintained by managing director Richard Greaves, and the future looks bright with his son Sam set to launch Cleenol International to cover the EMEA region. Exporting currently accounts for 12% of Cleenol business. Childerstone anticipates this could rise to 20% by 2016.


Like many family businesses Cleenol operates fairly conservatively yet benefits from quick decision- making and operational flexibility. It maintains hands-on control yet treats its empowered staff as part of an extended family, caring when they fall on hard times, (Cleenol has low staff turnover).


Cleenol has found itself a business sector that suits its family-run culture and traditional customer-focused values.


SME-to-SME tips from the Cleenol Group


• Prioritise effective expenditure to support key business objectives and staff performance.


• Surround yourself with good people; create a working environment where they can show their talent.


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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2014


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