How coronavirus gave Mobius the push to explore new sectors

Construction and services company Mobius was growing by “about 40 per cent” each year when coronavirus hit. The company mainly worked in hospitality and retail, so clients stopped all non-essential projects for three months.

Managing director Lee Bignell remembers going through the stages of panic and survival at the start, but that lifted quickly. 

Mobius could still run compliance projects during the crisis – many pubs required electrical testing before reopening and Mobius could manage the coronavirus risk because they were the only people there.

Lee didn’t want to waste the extra time Mobius had. Since the business started in 2017, he hadn’t had the time to step back and reassess where things were going.

“Coronavirus, to be honest, has been really good. It sounds odd to say that, but we were able to reset. We do a lot of hospitality work so we could literally run the business on hospitality, but it has been a board directive all the way through that we’re not just going to sit squarely in one sector,” Lee said.

Look at sectors with similar requirements

Lee’s first thought was to expand into healthcare, because the fit-out process is very similar and Mobius had the capability to do mechanical and electrical work. He also looked into the luxury residential sector, making the assumption that people might be less inclined to move and more likely to spend money doing up their existing properties. 

“It made sense to try and make sure we were a bit more secure with cash and who we worked for. We had a good look at the work we were attracting and what we wanted to do with the business. As we’re maturing a bit, we wanted to change some sectors,” he said.

Seek advice from experts

The first step was to update Mobius’s website and its marketing strategy. Previously, the business had been hospitality led and targeted the South West of England. Expanding its services meant working further afield.

Lee talked to different marketing experts to get a range of opinions on how the company’s marketing could be improved.

“We took advice from other marketers and said, ‘Here’s how we’re currently doing it, have a look and see how you think we should do it’. We spoke to three different companies over a couple of weeks and whittled it down to one company who seemed really fresh and vibrant.”

It’s a work in progress, but Mobius’s new website has launched. Lee has nailed down a mission statement and the company is already receiving more enquiries than ever from the luxury residential sector. 

He admitted that these changes probably wouldn’t have happened if coronavirus hadn’t forced him to reassess.

“It’s been really, really valuable. The stuff we did during that time, it would have taken us literally years to get it organised and get it rolled out,” he added.

“When I got the company to do an audit of the website it was a bit galling to hear people say ‘you’re not doing this bit right’, but it gave us a kick in the ass. Without coronavirus, we’d be having the odd conversation but this wouldn’t have happened.”

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