‘We are always on the lookout to acquire suitable properties for Wetherspoon and early responses are crucial in this competitive market. I have around 20 staff and they are always on the road, so email is no good. With text messaging, once a potential property comes up, we simply text the details to everyone and whoever is nearest can view the property immediately,‘ comments Braun.

He adds that using the phone on its own is time-consuming and it would not be possible to call everyone at the same time.

Esendex offers a service that allocates businesses a unique mobile number enabling them to send texts, by group or individually, to staff. This is done through the internet or email to phones on any mobile network.

Replies can be received as a mobile text message, email or online message. Each account costs £25, although discounts are given for additional accounts purchased. There is a 7p charge for each text message sent.

‘It’s amazing that the big mobile phone networks don’t offer this service, it’s probably saved me a fortune,’ says Braun. ‘The service is also invaluable to me as I can confirm and cancel meetings quickly and get accurate details such as phone numbers and names when I am out and about.’