nqr.farmonline.com.au North Queensland Register, November 29, 2012 — Page 15

OUTBACK SERVICES ADVERTISING FEATURE

ENTERPRISING Charters Towersbusinessman Peter Doonan has survived atrifecta of floods, change of government and

recession in the early years of his new business,pulling through to celebrate his company’s seventhbirthday this month.

The Steel Supplies Charters Towers (SSCT)founder and entrepreneur heads regional and ruralAustralia’s leading supplier of steel products forthe cattle industry, with a wide range of suppliesfrom cattle handling products to steel shedfabrication.

Today, the company continues to progressstrongly despite its rough beginnings, with MrDoonan taking great pride in his survival in thechallenging downturn.

“The timing of everything all at once was tough,especially because steel and most commoditieswere high-priced,” Mr Doonan said.

“That was a telling time for the industry; a lot ofsteel businesses went broke then. We werechallenged as well, as business basically stoppedfor an entire month, but we hung in there even if itmeant having to sell our steel under cost,” he said.

“Luckily, we had enough surplus stock and a bitof cash left over, so I made a decision to sell thatsteel as quickly as I could. After losing money for afew months, we started making profits again inabout six to eight weeks.

“We also diversified our variety, with a numberof options in terms of price and quality. This gaveus a point of difference instead of selling the samestock as our competitors.”

While other companies folded during therecession, SSCT flourished and grew its businessbefore eventually moving to its new and improvedFlinders Highway premises 12 months ago.

Mr Doonan invests heavily in his staff and theirdevelopment, saying he believes in employingpeople like himself, despite the possiblepersonality clashes.

“We are so proud to have continued expandingduring the recession and keeping our business –during the tough times, we never put a staffmember off due to lack of work.

“There is always work, and we’re always busy.This is because we went from selling cattle gear tocattle yard designs, then branched out intoimplementing the equipment and putting ittogether.

“At the end of the day, our staff members arehappy to go the extra mile and provide that extraservice, which has been a great help to survivingthe recession.”

Currently boasting 600 repeat clients and 3000customers since its foundation, SSCT has fostereda strong customer service culture as Mr Doonantrained his staff to offer the best service available.

Each staff member has a background in thecattle industry regardless of whether they work inadministration or trades – the SSCT team hascombined industry experience spanning more than200 years.

“Our big hurdle was finding strong sales andadministration staff, but now we have a strongteam.

“Business also varies according to the time ofyear – it’s usually quite slow over the rainy seasonso we do have to keep our sales team motivated andpepped up as well.

“That said, we’ll always have ups and downs inour cash flow, staff and consistency at work, as it’sall so dependent on the government and weatherconditions.”

As business peaks and troughs, Mr Doonan haslearnt to be proactive in his customer service,capitalising on business leads even during a lull.

Traditionally, the months from December toMarch are sluggish for SSCT. There was also aspike in cancellations after negative coverage oflive cattle exports.

“Everything has to be timed so we make enoughprofit to carry on over the next six months with thewet season – that’s when we follow up with ourcustomers to stay at the forefront of their minds.

“Also, even though we’re based in ChartersTowers, we’re delivered stock to Western Australiaand Tasmania, which people are really pleasedwith.

“We want our clients to feel like they can ringup and be comfortable they’re getting the rightadvice for the right price and good efficientservice.”

Mr Doonan’s basis for staff support andcustomer service was fostered throughout his 10years’ prior experience in the steel and fabricationindustry.

Formerly working with a corporate steel

company, he soon grew disillusioned withmanagement and decided to go his own way inthe region.

After finding his niche in the cattle industry,he aimed for simplicity in his new venture withmuch success.

“I saw that my work had become toocorporate, sacrificing staff and customer service– things had become too complex and theyweren’t customer-orientated any more.

“The business ran on reports and lost theirfocus on staff and customers, so I decided thatthe time was right for me to leave.

“To me, my own business had to be startedsimply; I aimed for good service and turned usinto an efficient one-stop shop where customerswere coming into the yard, doing their businessand being loaded and gone in 20 to 30 minutes.

“When you work for a big company whichshies away from letting managers grow theirsales, it really does suffer from a loss of loyalty.”

●● For more information visit the Steel SuppliesCharters Towers website at www.steelsuppliescharterstowersp.com.au

Steel Supplies Charters Towers (SSCT) founder and entrepreneur Peter Doonan heads regional and ruralAustralia’s leading supplier of steel products for the cattle industry, with a wide range of supplies from cattlehandling products to steel shed fabrication.

Steely resolve gets firmthrough the tough times

1607

626

1607

626