Name: Tina Benson
Business: Team Tactics
Location: Faversham
Founded: 1996
➡️ What does your business do, and who do you help?
Team Tactics is a B Corp Certified team building and corporate events specialist, helping organisations to bring people together through experiences that strengthen teams, deliver business value and create social impact.
We provide team building activities, conference energisers, corporate hospitality and bespoke events for organisations from global brands to growing SMEs. We’re passionate about the power of purpose-led events, and as pioneers in CSR team building, we thrive on creating powerful shared experiences that benefit teams, wider communities, and the planet.
➡️ What sparked the idea for your business?
My brother played for Kent Country Cricket Club and in 1991 I ran his benefit year. I loved coming up with new events and fundraising ideas and it was a great success. I went on to run the sales and marketing for KCCC after that and helped arrange events for several professional cricketers during my time there. I loved the way those events brought people together and drove such a positive impact not only for relationships and morale but for wider causes and communities.
While I was at the club, I got a lovely little cocker spaniel and the CEO allowed her to come to work with me. So when I became ready for a new challenge, I thought, ‘Who’s going to employ me with a dog?!’ The only thing for it was to set up my own business.
➡️ How did you win your very first customers?
Very differently to the way we win business now! My days revolved around the phone. I’d call big blue-chip organisations and try and wangle my way through reception to reach the sales director or the person responsible for events with the aim of booking an in-person meeting.
While today it’s all about digital discovery and marketing, back then my negotiation and people skills were what got my foot in the door. And, considering we quickly got a handful of FTSE100 clients on board, it did the trick!
➡️ What do you enjoy most about running your own business day to day?
There’s nothing quite like the buzz of an event day and seeing our clients enjoy the experiences we’ve designed first-hand! However, on a daily basis, I love being in the office with the team - the fun and laughter, the new ideas, watching people grow their skillsets and progress through their career.
It’s rewarding to see the business being shaped by the team and to know that the future of Team Tactics is in very capable hands when the time comes for me to fully step back.
➡️ What has been the toughest challenge you have faced as a business owner so far?
Team Tactics has survived and repositioned through numerous challenges in its 30 years, but the most challenging to date was the Covid-19 pandemic. Just four days after the WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic, 100% of our event bookings had been postponed or cancelled. We had no income and still had to cover the 20% of employee salaries not covered by the furlough scheme.
We took the government loan and continued as best we could with a reduced team, designing and delivering virtual events for fully remote teams. As we now know, it took a long time for things to return to normal, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath today.
➡️ What moment has made you feel most proud of your business?
I’m proud that we’ve weathered storms like the Financial Crash and Covid and come out of the other side as a close, tight-knit team still so in tune with our values and passionate about what we do. However, the thing I’m most proud of is my team, specifically, watching them go through life’s major milestones and knowing that their employment with Team Tactics has, in part at least, helped them to do what they want with their lives.
➡️ Have any mentors, role models, or other business owners influenced your journey?
The person that immediately springs to mind is Hellen Kelly, who joined Team Tactics in its infancy and worked alongside me for around 14 years. Hellen was unbelievably professional, but also warm, funny and full of energy. She genuinely cared about people and took enormous pride in making sure every client felt looked after.
She had this incredible ability to stay calm under pressure and handle difficult situations with confidence and grace. She used to joke that she’d never get her angel wings working at Team Tactics!
Hellen passed earlier this year, but the way she approached people, the standards she set, and the way she shaped the business will stay with me forever.
➡️ If you were starting your business again today, what would you do differently?
Knowing what we know about the pandemic now, I might have considered ‘mothballing’ the business during those challenging months and years like some competitors did. But hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I’m proud that Team Tactics has remained a stable, trusted presence for organisations and built up such an impressive track record despite the challenges and headwinds we’ve faced.
➡️ What makes your way of doing things different?
We’ve always prided ourselves on being ahead of the curve and continually evolving our ideas, events and skills to create engaging new experiences. What organisations need from team building experiences has changed exponentially, and continues to change to this day, so the experiences we design and deliver must evolve with them.
Our approach to event design and delivery also sets us apart. We recognised a contradiction within the wider industry, where providers aligning themselves with sustainability were using wasteful practices to deliver events. Team Tactics provides thoughtful and considered events from design to delivery, reducing emissions and adopting responsibly sourced materials.
➡️ What do customers tend to appreciate most about working with you?
They can trust us to deliver. With 30 years’ experience and a team of passionate events professionals, clients can trust us to tackle complex briefs, design experiences to their objectives, and keep the process seamless from start to finish.
➡️ Can you share an example of a customer, project or job that sums up what you do well?
We worked with housing association, Peabody, on a culture project following a significant merger. Considerable changes to existing teams and structures had impacted employee engagement and culture, and we worked with the team to deliver a fun and collaborative activity for 3,200 of its employees over two days.
Our ‘Bigger Picture’ activity required small teams to recreate part of a larger piece of artwork, fitting together individual contributions at the end to form one cohesive image. It was widely enjoyed by the teams and delivered numerous positive, lasting benefits for the organisation.
➡️ What is one thing people often misunderstand about your industry or the work you do?
Team building is often met with groans and eye rolls as people so often assume it’s awkward or ‘forced fun’ and involves cringey trust fall exercises! That couldn’t be further from the truth, especially today. So many wonderful activities and experiences come under the bracket of team building, and it’s about finding the right fit for your company, your people and your objectives.
When team building is thoughtfully planned and tailored to your unique requirements, it can deliver incredibly powerful lasting benefits, for the workforce and beyond.
➡️ What advice would you give to someone in Kent who is thinking about starting their own business?
Consider not just the product or service you’re selling, but your ability to sell it. Nailing down your sales channels early on is crucial. You also have to be prepared to commit long-term and be realistic about how quickly you’re likely to turn a profit. I reinvested all profit back into Team Tactics for a long time and didn’t give much thought to my own take home pay. It requires sacrifice, commitment and a realistic mindset – but there can be so many positives to outweigh the tough parts!
You can contact Tina Benson and the team at Team Tactics here:
Name: Tina Benson
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07929485736
Website: https://www.teamtactics.co.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/team-tactics_2
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teamtacticsevents
Instagram: @teamtacticsuk
X: @Team_Tactics
Before you go…
➡️ Have you joined the Kent Business Community yet - https://kentbusinesscommunity.co.uk
➡️ Don’t miss the latest networking events near you - https://www.kentbusinessevents.co.uk
➡️ Do you have news or announcements you’d like to share about your business?
Contact us today - [email protected]
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe and pass it on to another Kent business owner who might also like it! Thanks.
