Franchise Focus Ripple effect
From satisfied customer to successful franchisee INVESTMENT LEVEL: £40,000
to run and manage their own busy showrooms. Once trading, the Ripples support team visit new showrooms weekly for two months to ensure new franchisees are laying the foundations for success, and the national marketing campaigns help to drive clients through the door.
“My advice to anyone buying a franchise is to listen to the franchisor because they know the business inside out... we did and it’s worked out really well”
R
ichard Garnett and his wife Diane have been operating their Newbury franchise for seven years. As a former delighted customer of Ripples, Richard describes
discovering the franchise opportunity as his ‘light-bulb moment’. Richard spent seven years as a skilled engineer in the Royal Air Force, honing his skills and gaining valuable experience. When the time came to leave the RAF, keen to utilise his engineering expertise, Richard moved to global telecommunications company Panasonic to focus on technology development. It soon became clear, however, that his knowledge and confidence would see Richard excel as a member of the sales team and, never being one to shy away from a challenge, Richard made the transition with great success. In 2006, as the economic recession began to bite, Panasonic made essential cutbacks and Richard was made redundant. Keen to make the best out of an unfortunate situation, Richard decided the time had come to utilise all the skills and experience he had gained over the years and make them work for him. It was time to be his own boss! Looking
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for inspiration in various business and franchise magazines, he spotted an advertisement for the Ripples franchise. Ripples is the premier bathroom franchise, designing and supplying high-end bespoke bathrooms for both residential and commercial clients. The company prides itself on the quality of their products and their exceptional customer service. Ripples franchisees operate their own beautifully appointed showrooms in the luxury retail market.
“Most of the franchises I had seen up to then were ‘man-in-a-van’ type operations but I was looking for something more management-oriented and that’s when I saw Ripples. I bought my bathroom from Ripples and had a really great experience. When I saw the Ripples advertisement in a franchise magazine I just had a light-bulb moment!” Conscious that this was a life-changing decision, Richard spent six months thoroughly researching the Ripples opportunity. After visiting franchised showrooms across the country, Richard and Diane were ready to start their own journey to success.
The Ripples hands-on training and launch programme is designed to give new franchisees the experience and confidence
Richard confirms: “I spent two weeks at the Bath showroom with the head office team going through how the showroom works, how to quote, marketing tactics; everything you need to know really!” Having been established for more than 25 years, Ripples is now one of the most respected bathroom retailers in the UK. Operating in a market projected to be worth nearly £1billion by 2016, Ripples franchisees consistently achieve gross profits of 45 per cent compared to the industry average of 30 per cent. Now in their seventh year in Newbury, business growth has allowed Richard and Diane to pay off the loan taken to supplement Richard’s redundancy settlement and fund the business. “My advice to anyone buying a franchise is to listen to the franchisor because they know the business inside out. Follow what they say and you can’t go wrong. I personally think that not being from the bathroom industry was great for us, we didn’t have any preconceptions and just did what we were told and it’s worked out really well.” n
RIPPLES
WEBSITE:
www.ripplesfranchise.co.uk EMAIL:
info@ripplesfranchise.co.uk PHONE: 01225 335 111 CLASSIFICATION: Home improvements
Investment: £20k-£50k
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