Verity Henton Private Investigations
Investigating Infinity
Co-founder of Private Investigations firm Verity Henton, Emma Coles explains how she joined Peer Network Programme Group2Grow in order to gain guidance for their business in gaining access to a new audience. Having now completed the programme, she has a clear understanding of what her next steps are to progress the business.
Verity Henton, based in Brentwood, Essex, is a team of private investigators, with extensive experience in conducting discreet and professional complex investigations including corporate fraud, surveillance, background checks, people tracing and online dating scams.
The team is led by ex-police officers Emma Coles and Sam Hutchinson, who have over 45 years combined experience in the police force, including working undercover in the anti-corruption team. Working in this high pressure, and high importance environment provided them with the skills needed to understand the complexities and demeanor required in such a role, as well as highlighted to them areas in which a change could be beneficial. Both taking a period of absence for maternity leave at around the same time, they decided rather than return to their roles in the force, they would look to make an impact on the outside world of investigations.
“We both knew that we didn’t want to return to the police force, but applying the skills we had acquired into the real world can be hard. The role of an investigator is all about problem solving and putting all the pieces together to understand the whole picture. We could relate to that, and so we decided to create a business that would utilise those skills, but in a different way to other investigators”
After a successful period working as surveillance operatives for other firms and feeling they could offer something different, Verity Henton was born. Wanting to break the stigma of burly men in black trench coats and glasses, Emma and Sam set out to redefine the industry, making their business focused on the client relationship, ensuring their clients feel understood and turning a traditionally secretive industry into one that’s more approachable, friendly, and sympathetic. This added level of compassion, professionalism and confidentiality has already gained them a positive reputation with high net worth individuals, celebrities, and large corporations.
“We are changing the traditional perception of private investigators, we want you to get to know us because nobody really feels comfortable talking to a faceless person hiding behind a website. We no longer conduct physical surveillance ourselves, so we are keen to be seen as the faces of the business.”
Wanting to continue the upward trend, and increase their exposure to potential high profile clients Emma joined the peer network programme Group2Grow, provided by Backing Essex Business.
Backing Essex Business is a business support service fully funded by Essex County Council here to support Essex based businesses to grow, boosting the local economy and creating jobs. The Group2Grow programme, now in it’s second phase, brings together 8-10 business professionals in each cohort to work together, sharing experiences and knowledge to solve common business problems, carving a path to move each business forward.
“I joined Group2Grow as I wanted to get some more ideas on how to get the right type of clients. We were feeling a little bit lost; we knew where we wanted to be but didn’t know how to get there.”
Run by an experienced business coach across 8 x 2hr sessions, alongside 3 hours of 1:2:1 mentoring, Group2Grow participants can benefit from becoming part of a new network of business leaders, providing suggestions, assurances and support.
“It’s like networking, but learning at the same time. We had a really good group of people, from a variety of industries and I have learnt so much. Everyone got involved and was a part of the conversation. David our business coach, was very knowledgeable, and ran the sessions really well, keeping them on point and structured.”
Eight cohorts of businesses have already completed the programme, and have provided positive feedback on the impact it has made to their business, helping them to take a step back and really look at how they can progress and move forward.
Emma has already made headway on her plans to get Verity Henton on the map, taking steps to make the business more visible by networking more and reaching out to potential clients. She told us;
“Attending Group2Grow has really helped me gain my focus, and has really improved my confidence in what I do and how to approach people. I would absolutely recommend the programme to other businesses looking to develop, in fact I have already recommended 2 businesses who will be in the next set of cohorts!”
