A KEIGHLEY family business which began in a garage is celebrating its 15th anniversary and has just landed two new clients.

Simply Better Events, which focuses on working with large Yorkshire-based corporate clients to help them deliver internal communications, now has an 18-strong team.

Director Rob Woodhead says all the staff are passionate about what they do.

"We work on the mantra that people buy people and when they see how passionate we are about what we do it helps us win clients," he said.

"We ensure clients are dealt with by the same people and have a senior point of contact throughout. That builds trust and makes sure we take on board a company's individual needs and traits and tailor events accordingly.

"We don't organise events that are simply chairs and tables in a space. The creative aspect is key to what we do and we work very closely with clients to select suitable venues and create themes to ensure messages get across.

"The events we organise are about communicating sometimes tough messages. In one case we were briefed to make senior managers cry in response to opinions about them in exit surveys of people leaving the business.

"But mostly it's about inspiring and motivating people and rewarding good performance and success."

One such reward and recognition event for a leading financial services business was staged as a Strictly Come Dancing-style evening featuring stars from the TV show.

"Because we know that business well – including the demographics of the audience – we came up with the theme and took over the Blackpool Tower ballroom," said Mr Woodhead.

"And recently we staged a series of briefings for call centre staff in a giant inflatable igloo in the firm's car park, which enabled small groups of staff to attend short sessions without interrupting its operations."

Simply Better Events started as Project It in 2001 when founder Chris Holt – Rob's father-in-law – started selling audio visual equipment from his garage at home in Cullingworth.

It expanded onto Worth Enterprise Park in 2004 and five years later moved into a larger building next door.

Mr Holt said: "As our customers' events increased in size and scope, they trusted us with bigger briefs and extra responsibilities.

"We listened to their strategic objectives and worked with them to create themes and ideas that communicated their messages in a unique and memorable way. In recognition of this evolution, we changed our name to Simply Better Events."

Now the company has a £2.5 million turnover, with business boosted largely through word of mouth recommendation from satisfied customers.

"We're delighted that around 90 per cent of our work is repeat business," said Mr Woodhead.

"We aim to win around four or five new clients a year as part of our policy of staying a small family business providing a gold standard service to clients we know very well."

Among the latest new clients are pushchair manufacturer iCandy and hair straightener brand ghd, which have appointed Simply Better to manage events aimed at staff and customers.