Case studies

Success stories: Consult Lift Services

Phil engaged with the SDP training programme in 2009 and has since encouraged other members of his staff to attend the training in various delivery methods, such as two advanced webinars in 2016, “Seeking feedback and improving your bid” and “The supplier’s role in contract relationship management.” Consult Lift Services staff also completed all Level 2 SDP training in 2019. Phil said: “We won jobs after that initial training, which was so beneficial. It made me realise that I needed to look at the questions and made me re-look at the way we were answering. I gave the training materials to others in the company, and we’ve grown to 42 members of staff.”

Winning public sector work has completely changed the company for the better. Phil said: “We have been in business for 21 years, and in the beginning, the majority of our business was in the private sector. That’s different now, as the majority of our work is for the public sector.” Consult Lift Services has delivered contracts for Edinburgh City Council, Falkirk Council, South and North Lanarkshire Councils, Falkirk Council, Police Scotland, and Renfrewshire Council, and has won more than £5m of work from the public sector to date.

Phil said: “I’m a big fan of the Supplier Development Programme because you don’t need to hire a private consultant to bid for contracts. We don’t have an in-house tender writing team, and we share responsibility to bid based upon what we’ve shared with each other from SDP training. The Supplier Development Programme helps level the playing field with bigger companies, so that small businesses like ours can compete and win work.”