Synotronics

Tyson Grubb

It’s the feeling that every entrepreneur dreads – the phones aren’t ringing, the web orders aren’t arriving and cashflow is starting to become a concern.

But Tyson Grubb has learnt a measured response is required for the peaks and troughs of business.

“When the phone isn't ringing one day it can be easy to start thinking that the business model and marketing is not working,” he says.

“But I have learnt to be more resilient to small changes and to take a more longer-term view, looking more at sales of the last week, month and year along with potential orders in the pipeline. Then I check that we are getting the traffic to the websites, we are servicing customers well and that the conversion rate is consistent.”

Grubb’s company Synotronics has four businesses under its umbrella: the Instrument Choice website sells a range of test and measurement equipment which measure temperature, humidity, wind speed, sound level, weather and water quality; Battery Choice offers specialist batteries; Scientific Choice supplies lab equipment; and Electronic Choice sells test equipment to electronic engineers.

The business is currently selling in Australia, but is planning to expand to New Zealand, Britain and the United States.

Grubb’s best marketing initiative of the last 12 months has been the establishment of an email newsletter to keep customers abreast of what’s happening in his sector.

“Instead of doing the hard sell on products we write articles about how the equipment works and what it is used for, reaffirming our expert status. Our repeat business has grown along with the average size of our orders.”