Being a family owned business has typically worked in the company’s favour and helped to preserve the bottom line. Although the business world has changed over time the appeal of “family owned” still resonates with the customer and helps to encourage repeat custom and loyalty. However, it can be easy for a family company to slip into a routine and not continue to compete with the market. The primary benefits of being a family business is that, from a marketing perspective, it gives the company a relatable and recognisable branding and face. Family business owners can always be safe in the knowledge that their efforts are directly affecting the growth of the business and that is the reason why the number of family businesses has grown in recent years despite the public perception that family firms are thing of a past. Some of the UK’s greatest companies are actually family businesses and you wouldn’t notice it to begin with, but when you think about their strong branding it becomes evident, for example Mars Chocolate, Warburton’s, Primark and Clarks are all family owned and run companies; and are all evidence that keeping it in the family really does work.

Here at PF Jones we are a family run company that has its roots going back to 1958 distributing high quality fuel injectors and engineering to becoming specialists in the automotive services and supplies industry. Our main office is based in Manchester less than 10 minutes away from where the company began nearly 60 years ago. The original owner of PF Jones was Percy Frederick Jones, the namesake, and the business traded as the leading specialists in diesel fuel injections and engineering, however it seemed the economy were not on side with the company and the recession and 3 day working week took a toll on the business causing it to lose its position as the market leader. In 1986, Raye Brookes had taken over the management of the business from her father and had closed one of the buildings they had been operating out of in order to concentrate their efforts into fuel injectors only. At this time Les Bailey was employed as the workshop manager for PF Jones and could see the potential of the company from a hands-on perspective and decided to put his efforts into making the company a market leader again. Les Bailey purchased PF Jones from Raye Brookes and promised to keep the name of PF Jones for the company as an authentic family business was being passed from one family to another. The core values that Raye Brookes insisted would remain in the company are still rife today, and that is to remain a family business that provides excellent service and high quality products.

PF Jones has become the market leading supplier of tow bars and remanufactured diesel fuel injectors and pumps because of the determination and hard work that comes from motivated employees. It is hard to find an employee that could be more motivated than a family member who would directly see the benefits of a high performing company and would be able to clearly see how their work affects the company. From the Bailey family working at PF Jones is the Managing Director, who is of course Les Bailey, his two sons who both hold Sales Director positions Gary Bailey and David Bailey and his two daughters; Kristy and Keely Bailey who have launched their own business venture within the PF Jones walls named Bailey’s Cafe and Ice Cream Parlour; open to the public serving breakfast, lunch and snacks Monday –Friday 8:30am-4:30pm. Being a family business means that maintaining the same brand values and company vision is done with ease, without fear of being bought out or the company being sold to someone else. It eliminates the need to re-invent the business completely because it is a tried and tested recipe which has showed itself resilient and able to compete and evolve within the marketplace.

It is important within a family business to remember that family life and work need to be kept as two separate entities, merging the two can cause stress and conflict which would negatively affect the performance of the business. Family relationships are based on love and acceptance whereas business relationships are based on performance and accountability – the two are polar opposites and you cannot expect to run a family like a business or a business like a family. Having clear defined roles at work really helps to ensure that those lines between the personal and professional relationship do not get blurred mistakenly. Making sure to not talk about work at home, and vice versa has been a key factor to helping the Bailey family maintain their work relationships and the business aims.

PF Jones is the leaders in the market because of the ability to adapt to the market and continued improvement within all areas of the business. This is evident within our ability as a company to spot trends within the market and areas which as a business we would be able to develop into, an example of this is our campervan conversion service; this is a concept which was launched early this year in which we provide full and partial motor home conversions. Embracing the ride in the use of technology has allowed us to stay ahead of competitors and use new avenues to connect with our customers and bring about the acquisition of others we would not otherwise have access to. This is demonstrated by our strong online presence from our ever-expanding website to strong social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; it all works towards defining our brand. The strong family values that run through the core of the business are also conveyed within all business proceedings and every customer that we deal with, we work towards reflecting these values and ethics in the brand and cement PF Jones firmly within the automotive market.

PF Jones is a business which has seen what happens when a company does not diversify and adapt to the market, which is why we are not afraid to branch out further within the automotive industry if it is called for, this is why as a company we are confident that we are able to survive and grow within our market for many, many years to come. The beauty of a family business is that it can be handed down from generation to generation and still maintain its family values branding.