From £60,000 in six months to £120,000 in just eight weeks; business is booming for Oxford franchisees Mike & Elaine Hurley

 

Since opening their showroom at the end of March this year, average monthly sales for the Hurley’s are up six-fold. Their target for the first year's trading was £200,000. Yet with a recent £10,000 kitchen sold – and with four months still to go – they have smashed the figure.

 

Says Mike: “At this rate, we'll easily add another 50 percent to our first year target. I was always confident this franchise would work, but what has happened since we opened our showroom, particularly in the last six weeks, has astounded us!”

 

He adds: “What's amazing about this business is that in the first week of April we were actually quite despondent. We'd had a brilliant final week in March after the showroom launch, then nothing the following week. Bryn Jones, our franchise support manager reassured us that this was nothing unusual and, sure enough, by the end of that week we'd sold £30,000 of kitchen facelifts! We literally went from despair to elation in four days!”

 

With the help of the Dream Doors management team, the Hurleys began designing their showroom in Abingdon, Oxfordshire at the beginning of the year. The project took longer than anticipated, mainly due to the extreme weather in January. Says Elaine: “Our showroom is larger than the average Dream Doors outfit and so our work was cut out bringing it up to standard. The snow was a blessing in disguise as, with most customers staying indoors, we could focus on getting the showroom finished. In February we put flyers in the windows announcing the showroom opening and in March we were ready for the grand opening with support from local dignitaries – and of course, Troy and his team from head office.”

 

Reflecting on the first two months trading from his brand's 31st franchised showroom, Dream Doors founder and Managing Director, Troy Tappenden says: “Mike and Elaine epitomise all that is good about our network. Franchisees that work the hardest, and utilise all the resources we have put in place, are going to be the highest achievers. I understand the efforts Mike and Elaine have put into getting their business off the ground – after all, I did exactly the same myself more than a decade ago. They have listened to our advice, used their own initiative, been resilient in the early days and are now seeing the rewards.”

 

Mike concludes: “It has been hard work and, with the number of sales we are getting, the hours are not getting any shorter. Thankfully both my wife and son are heavily involved in the business and in the long-term we'll be employing an Operations Manager to help oversee the installations. Bryn has been fantastic; the support we get far outstrips what is contractually agreed. He spent long days with us when we were planning and fitting out our showroom, he helped us find good fitters, and he works closely with Elaine on our local marketing.”