COMING TO AUSTRALIA BITA MEMBER CRANNULL IS HEADING DOWN UNDER

One of our first members, Crannull, are working to break ground in Australia. Crannull was founded by Tom Fitzgerald and James Maguire and is an outsource lead generation company that works exclusively in construction and the built environment.

In mid-2018, Crannull started operating in Australia, in part due to Tom’s love of the nation. “I went there for the first time in 2000 to work on the Olympics, and I fell in love with the place” says Tom. In the last year and a half business has started booming, and Crannull have taken on two full time salespeople to handle the load. “It’s not enough to support a new office, in a new continent, by only working remotely at night, and flying over a few times a year” says Tom; “They need proper support to really help the business fly.”

The success of the new office in such a short space of time is an achievement that shows how much their services are in demand. James says, “We are working well in Australia, and I haven’t found another business that does what we do. We were in the same position in the UK when Tom and I founded the business in 2010, there weren’t any other businesses doing what we did in our industry.”

It is this attention to the market and a clear understanding of where businesses are struggling, that has helped to make Crannull a successful business in the UK. Prior to establishing the business, both Tom and James worked in construction in business development, and it was clear to them where the industry could improve. “Instead of carrying on business as usual, we took the opportunity of creating a business to fill the gaps that we’d both noticed.” Says Tom.

WE’VE BEEN BRINGING PEOPLE TO EVENTS FOR YEARS AS WE KNOW THAT BITA CAN HELP BUSINESSES.

It’s incredible to see that these two friends from school have great plans for their company, with growth planned in Perth first, and then onto Sydney.

In addition to his work for Crannull, Tom plans to put his experiences with BITA to good use and will act as an Ambassador of BITA in preparation for a future chapter. “I met Paul in 2011 and he told me what he was planning to do, and I thought that BITA would just be another networking organisation. It’s proved much more than that. It’s definitely helped grow our business, and we’ve been bringing people to events for years as we know that BITA can help businesses.”

Planning ahead and developing a strategy for success is of course one of the most important and difficult aspects when setting up a business, but Crannull already have a template. 2020 is the business’ 10- year anniversary and they have a tested and true strategy for success.

“Promoting from within and investing in young talent is a massive part of what we do,” says Tom; “over the past 10 years we have taken on six apprentices and from those, three have gone on to hold senior positions in the business.” It is this ethos that they want to replicate in Australia. In addition to this, Tom plans to continue with his networking; “Networking has always played such a huge role for me and how I operate in business, it’s the best way to create new business and new relationships with people”

By the end of 2020, if everything goes to plan, Crannull Australia should be employing five members of staff, and Tom should be soaking up the sun and enjoying attendance at the Luton Town Curry Club, which, improbably enough, is based in Sydney.

Crannull have been attending lunches and other events since BITA was founded and it’s wonderful to see their business thriving and growing so well.

Good luck from everyone at BITA, and we look forward to hearing updates!