Entrepreneur Tracy Richards, who has run her dog and horse hygiene products company Aqueos Care Ltd for ten years, has seen her business increase by 100 per cent during lockdown.

She puts this down to working closely with fellow business woman Claire Brewerton of Brinkworth, who runs the Virtual Business Centre. Claire’s team of 25 have been working continuously during lockdown which meant they could deal with a dramatic increase in calls and orders for Tracy’s products.

“Aqueos is an organically growing business,” Tracy said. “It’s had a steady turnover for several years ago and then lockdown came. As things progressed I realised I could create more larger sized bottles which are all made in the UK. Our products are alcohol and bleach free and sustainable yet have active ingredients which kill Covid-19. Suddenly orders increased dramatically.

“Claire supported me by ensuring she had enough capacity to deal with more orders and calls. While I realise for many other business owners this has been a terrible time, Aqueos has seen a 100 per cent increase in orders.”

Tracy, who lives in Pewsey with her family, set up Aqueos ten years ago after previously working as managing director of a clothes wholesaler. She’s always loved animals, particularly horses having ridden since a young age and having her own horses from her teenage years.

“I’d been given some samples to try from a colleague on a product for the human dental market and it made me think that I could create the same sort of product for horses and dogs. I went on to undertake a year’s research and development to create a range of hygiene products which are environmentally friendly yet with active ingredients to tackle nasties such as Parvo Virus, Strangles and Ringworm.”

As her business grew, Tracy found herself dealing with many, many calls leaving her little time to actually run her business. She met Claire at a business event and realised having a virtual receptionist would give her more time.

Claire said: “We’ve worked with Tracy for a number of years yet even we didn’t expect the huge rise in orders we’ve dealt with over the last six months. We’re thrilled that Aqueos will double their turnover this year because that helps all of us in a time of economic difficulty. I’d like to thank Tracy for complete trust in us to represent her business.”

‘Claire has run her The Virtual Business Centre’ with her husband and co-founder Marc for 21 years. Her team provides services including telephone answering, intelligent telemarketing, outsourced customer service department, live chat, marketing via text service and email inbox management. They offer cover seven days a week from 8am to 11pm at night, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm at weekends and only close over the Easter weekend & Christmas.

Their clients also include high end shoe manufacturer Eves & Gray London; Herbs on the Hill offering herb-based natural skin care products and locally supporting business owners like Chris Goodchild of Supportwise IT Services Ltd.  To find out more visit  https://www.virtualbusinesscentre.com