Alloa Advertiser 23rd November 2016

Wednesday, November 23, 201640 www.alloaadvertiser.com

Gean continually adapts tostay ahead of the competition

Team’s main target isyouth unemploymentTHE Developing the YoungWorkforce Forth Valleyteam are here.They are a dedicated

resource with an overallaim to support the Scottishgovernment’s headline tar-get of reducing youth un-employment by 40 per centby 2021.They plan to make that

happen by working witheducation and businessesthroughout Forth Valley

OVER recent years thewedding market has be-come a highly competitivebusiness, with so manydiverse venues offering tohost marriages, from theceremony to evening re-ception.

And, while brides andgrooms (and mums and dads)resign themselves to the costof making the wedding dayspecial, they still expect val-ue for money in all their ar-

to grow and develop mean-ingful and sustainablepartnerships to developyoung people and the econ-omy.They aim to improve

the work readiness ofyoung people when leavingschool or further educa-tion; increase the numberof employers offering ap-prentice opportunities andincrease the number ofemployers directly recruit-

rangements – and none moreso than in their venue.

Gean House has undergonea number of changes over theyears, mirroring the changesthat have affected the houseitself. Gean has developedfrom being an extra specialhigh quality wedding giftthrough to an extra specialhigh quality wedding venue,with in between periods asa family house, TemperanceSociety venue, hotel and lat-terly a conference venue.

ing young people. If youare a local business andwant to get involved, goalong and meet the teamat their Investing in Youthevent at Gean House in Al-loa on Wednesday, Novem-ber 23 at 6pm.Alternatively, for book-

ing or more information,please contact MichelleCarr on 01259 726690 oremail michelle.carr@dyw.forthvalley.ac.uk

When the recession hitScotland at the tail end of2007, there was an immediatedecline in conferencing andtraining business from thePublic Sector, Governmentand private sector compa-nies.

While management hadalready taken the decision tosupplement income by build-ing up the wedding and socialfunction business, the reces-sion necessitated a fairly dra-matic speeding up of those

efforts.It has been a long hard slog.

With so much competitionfrom venues all over CentralScotland, the team have hadto work constantly to ensurethat our reputation spread byword of mouth.

They found that advertis-ing would perhaps bring peo-ple through the door, but it iscustomer reviews and wordof mouth recommendationsthat help secure the bookingsand now Facebook and othersocial media platforms havebecome some of the compa-ny’s key methods of commu-nication with existing andpotential customers.

Gean has faced all the is-sues that many businessesfaced during the recession,including:N Ever increasing competi-tionN Transformation of targetmarketN Cost of advertising and re-turn on investmentN Staff management (Geanhas a great team of casualstaff, but that takes time andeffort)N Cost of capital investmentN Price consciousness of cus-tomers, while becoming morediscerning

The company is pleased to

say that while 50 per cent ofthe weddings are local peo-ple, it also has visitors fromall over the globe, includingthe United States, Japan, Eu-rope and the Far East.

Gean will never be a “stock‘em high sell’ em cheap” typeof business.

Quality of venue and cus-tomer service is the key tosuccess and the team pridesitself on attention to detailand quality of service. Thisis borne out by the recentClackmannanshire BusinessAward for Excellence in Cus-tomer Service.

Manager Billy Robertsonsaid: “We do everything wecan to ensure each couple’swedding day is that bit moremagical. Our staff main-

tain a superior standard andevery aspect of the weddingday is delivered to the high-est quality. We believe thatGean House retains a rusticcharm, yet is in a great cen-tral location.”

Margaret Mary Rafferty,managing director at Ceteris,added: “The team at Gean dotheir utmost to put customerservice top of the list. Wealso have a good list of highquality suppliers within thewedding market, and we tryto source locally whereverpossible.

“We believe Gean Housebrings many benefits to thelocal economy, as well as pro-viding a dream setting forany social and business func-tion.”

ADVERTISER businessGot a business story to tell?

email us oneditorial@alloaadvertiser.co.uk

or phone 01259 230631