Sarah and Mike Mclellan are chuffed. Very chuffed… And with good reason.
What began as a cold call eight years ago, resulting in landing one of the UK’s leading veterinary groups as a key client, has suddenly gone to a whole new level.
Because Premier Vet Alliance Ltd, a member of Premier Veterinary Group plc, now works in partnership with more than 3,000 vet practices – up from over 1,250 – after acquiring Simply Health’s animal health business.
And the company looking after the print requirements of the new enlarged group?
Ferndown-based The Print Agency, owned by Sarah and Mike.
What a way to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the business next month.
Sarah, who is Managing Director, said: “We’ve known about this from before Christmas but can now go public.
“It’s a tremendous result for us and we’re very pleased. What was particularly nice was the comment from our client.
“It was just reward for all our hard work over the last eight years”
“It just shows what can come from a single phone call.”
Now employing seven people, The Print Agency has itself come a long way since March 2003.
Then, as Sarah puts it: “I was nursing our first child, Emily, on one side of the room while Mike was nursing his baby, an Epsom 9800, on the other.”
The couple met while working for TDSi, the Poole-based access controls business, in the early 1990’s.
Mike, now 48, was an engineer while Sarah, 50, held the post of European Sales Co-ordinator.
Sarah said: “It was a big learning curve but we work well together.
“Mike is very happy to be back of house and at the coalface while, with my account management background, I’m happy to be out there networking, selling and getting us known.”
As with all businesses the 2008 recession took its toll on Sarah and Mike’s growing print business.
“We had built it on supporting events, pubs and clubs.
“It was a boom industry and then, suddenly, the bottom fell out of the market.
“We lost £35,000 that year but, because we’d had good years previously, were able to survive but effectively it took us back to 2003,” said Sarah.
As a direct result of that difficult time, The Print Agency targeted what Sarah describes as recession-proof industries and sectors.
They included garden centres, vets, holiday parks, transport, professional services and design agencies.
Meanwhile the business moved from its former premises in The Triangle area of Bournemouth to, first, Wimborne Road East in Ferndown before the purchase of its current 2,000 sq ft unit on the Ferndown Industrial Estate in 2018.
Today The Print Agency has four printers – two Epsoms, a Roland and a Ricoh – and provides a full and comprehensive design and print service; from initial concept ideas through to printing the finished product.
It specialises in posters, indoor and outdoor, as well as banners, roll-ups, flags, gazebos, brochures, leaflets, business stationery, exhibition stands, clothing and promotional gifts.
Clients include Merlin Sealife Trust, The Entertainer toy shops, Dorset Fire & Rescue, Dorset Police, Holiday Inn, Aria Resorts, Protyre and CRM Students.
The first lockdown in 2020 led to a huge demand for health and safety signage, floor stickers and other pandemic-related printing material.
The problem, though, was getting hold of the raw materials.
“They proved to be an absolute nightmare. There was no Perspex, no material for the floor stickers, nothing anywhere. In the end, we had to source directly from Italy and Germany. We couldn’t print things quickly enough”
“This lockdown has been particularly cruel,” said Sarah. “Of course, once everyone had their signage, and other items, demand dropped off.
The Print Agency’s adopted charity is StreetVet.
The non-profit animal welfare charity, founded in 2016 by Jade Statt and Sam Joseph, provides support for homeless pet owners who cannot afford private veterinary treatment.
“It is the most amazing charity and we’re very happy to back them,” said Sarah, who also has a son, George, 16, as well as Emily, now 17.
Despite the move to digital, Sarah said there is still a big demand for print.
She added: “I’m a real optimist. While, of course, digital is a big factor these days we’re proof that there’s still a place for printed products.”
‘By Andrew Diprose, Editor, Dorset Biz News’