Franchise Focus
holiday, I input this into the system. Then I can wish them a happy holiday when they pick up the clothes and ask them about it the next time they’re in. Building relationships is paramount– and as a result the average repeat customer visits us about once a month. Some have visited us over 200 times, spending several thousand pounds. “Outstanding customer service
Zipped up
From Y-fronts to Yves Saint Laurent, Richard McConnell talks about his ZipYard franchise
INVESTMENT LEVEL: £33,000 Richard McConnell T
he Zip Yard is the fastest-growing garment alteration franchise in the UK. Award-winning
franchise The ZipYard is
a professional tailoring and alterations service. Richard McConnell is the owner of the top performing ZipYard, and his Altrincham outlet has raised a total of 22,500 invoices to date. Turnover in the first year was £174,500 from 9,978 customers, and in the second year so far they are at £238,000 from 12,675 customers and on track to hit a target of £274,000 by year-end. The key to this success, Richard
argues, is dedication to customer service. Recalling his early days, he explains: “As a former driving instructor I was used to dealing with members of the public so when I decided on a career change I already had a very strong customer service ethos. “When we first opened it was
easy to turn jobs around incredibly quickly. But as word got out, and our customer numbers soared, ensuring that customers were happy 100 per cent of the time became more difficult. We expanded our team of
seamstresses from two to five and now employ eight full-time. “Working in Cheshire we deal
with high-end customers with high- end expectations and it’s a great responsibility working on designer garments sometimes worth over £1,000. Famous footballers and TV celebrities bring their garments to us.”
Added value
“We want our customers to believe that nothing is too much trouble,” Richard continues. “We don’t charge any extra for the express service and often carry out additional minor repairs for free, such as a button that needs replacing. Customers are always surprised and delighted. “Frequently people come in off
the street with a button that’s just come off – we’ll fix it there and then – again for no charge, confident in the knowledge that he or she will regard us as a lifesaver and talk about The ZipYard to others. “The sophisticated till system
included as part of the ZipYard package has a customer relationship management feature that tracks customers every time they come in and allows us to make notes. If a regular is getting ready to go on
“We want our customers to believe that nothing is too much trouble”
The future “Managing customer expectations isn’t easy and it has been a big challenge for us to be able to turn round work quickly as the volume increases. We already open seven days a week and are looking to employ another seamstress to focus full time on express work, and have installed a second till to cope with the queues that form outside the door in busy periods. “We also want to extend the
range of services we offer to include a delivery and collection service. At the moment I manage ZipYard with the help of one other but I will be recruiting additional customer-facing staff so I can focus on marketing and my plans to open another ZipYard in the North West.” n
THE ZIPYARD
WEBSITE:
www.thezipyard.com EMAIL:
info@thezipyard.co.uk
PHONE: 01530 513 307 CLASSIFICATION: Retail
Sep tember 2013 |
Businessfranchise.com | 89
means that we have to be prepared to do whatever it takes. Last year a groom and his entire male entourage turned up the day before the wedding in a panic about their ill-fitting suits. We stayed open through the night to finish the work and to get the party to the church on time, looking their best. “Nowadays very few people have
the time or skill to mend their own clothes – a lot of our work involves repairs – but even I was surprised when one of our regular customers brought in a pair of her son’s Y-fronts for us to fix a tear!
Investment: £20k-£50k
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