UK’s Largest Kitchen Facelift Franchise Deems Annual Conference A Success
BRITISH FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION DIRECTOR GENERAL, BRIAN SMART, DELIVERS HEARTWARMING SPEECH
Dream Doors held its sixth annual conference at the Marriott Hotel in Portsmouth last week. The director general of the British Franchise Association, Brian Smart, attended the event to talk to franchisees about the development of the Portsmouth-based brand into a national franchise.
Troy Tappenden, founder of Dream Doors, was particularly pleased to have Smart attend the conference, which came on the heels of Dream Doors’ entry into the British Franchise Association as a full member.
“It was an honour to have such a well-known figure attend this year’s conference, and it gave the franchisees – some of whom had travelled from Glasgow and Dublin – a real sense of pride in the Dream Doors brand,” Tappenden said.
One of the most notable things about Dream Doors is that in the current economic climate when other companies in the home improvement sector, such as MFI, are failing, Dream Doors continues to grow. The company, in fact, has seen a 5 per cent increase on turnover in the last year, which is considered outstanding especially in light of today’s economic climate. Overall sales for 2008 came in at £6.2 million for the network.
“We’re still experiencing overall growth, which is impressive when you look at what’s going on in the wider economy,” Tappenden said. He credits the success to the company’s many hardworking franchisees, plus the high level of reinvestment Dream Doors makes to improve the quality of service delivery and increase sales.
“We’re investing more in Dream Doors now than at any time before,” Alex Waite, Dream Doors franchise recruitment manager added. ”You’ve got to fight through the recession with an armour of confidence, and that’s what we’re doing – and it’s working.”
In addition to increasing its outreach and marketing efforts through the launch of a new website and brochure materials, the company has recently added seven new showrooms to its portfolio, in a number of key areas, in 2008.
Smart told conference attendees he was impressed with Dream Doors overall performance. He said the conference was “bigger and better” and served as “proof of a growing and very successful network.” He also said to franchisees and head office staff: “None of it would work without you, and none of it would work without Troy Tappenden.”
Conference attendees and speakers alike were pleased not only with the event, but the overall outlook for the Dream Doors brand in 2009.
“It’s been thrilling to talk at such a vibrant conference,” said Matt Pigott, Dream Doors’ public relations advisor. “The franchisees were attentive and interactive, and clearly interested in finding out new ways to market their Dream Doors’ outlets at a local level. They realised that by doing some ground level publicity, the whole network benefits; and when the network benefits, they benefit by turns.”
For franchisee Colin McQueen from Swansea, the conference showed that growth is attainable in hard economic times. “The conference shows that big numbers are deliverable even in the current climate,” he said.
Fellow franchisees Sam and Dave Cleminson from Bournemouth agreed. “This is the best conference we’ve had so far,” they said. “We’ve learnt a lot, and are now thinking seriously about changing our marketing strategy.”
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