ONE Suffolk chimney specialist today told of how business is thriving in the face of the economic downturn.

ONE Suffolk chimney specialist today told of how business is thriving in the face of the economic downturn.

Specflue ltd, based in Sudbury, has seen their business grow and grow in the last year, despite the credit crunch putting pressure on many companies.

Richard Hiblen, national sales manager said the company had seen growth more than double last month compared with the previous January.

“So far this year sales are up 51per cent compared with last January and it is looking like sales will be up around 60pc on last February,” he said. “We are in a strong position, looking at a new warehouse to expand the company and grow the business.”

The key to their success in these difficult times is maintaining the highest level of customer service.

Mr Hiblen added: “Keeping up levels of service is so important, we are by no means the cheapest nor do we profess to be, but we maintain the highest level of service, unrivalled elsewhere in the industry.”

He said training was a vital area of the business to invest in during times of recession, to ensure companies are in the best position possible at the other end of the downturn.

He added: “It is about training, training, and more training. When things switch back you can then be better placed with more opportunites.

“We are putting a lot of onus on making sure every member of staff receives extra training to be able to deal with any problem.

“The strong companies are the ones that do put emphasis on service, investment and training, they are the ones who will emerge strongly from the downturn.”

Over the last year the company, which has seen their customer base increase by nearly a quarter, has developed key projects with new build properties, working actively on more than 1,000 individual new home plans at the moment.