Nearing the six-month ownership mark, it’s a fantastic feeling to see months of groundwork, relationship building, process reviews, marketing, networking, endless hours in the workshop and hard work, all coming to fruition, creating positive change within the business.
March in fact turned such a corner that it ended up as our best month yet sales and margin wise, (since taking ownership of the business). Whilst it’s hugely rewarding seeing work and sales come through the door, we don’t want to become busy fools, so I’m thrilled to see our profitability follow suit.
After trying to get as much out the door as possible, our March projects are a bit of a blur. We didn’t have any showstopper projects, however we had lots of large jobs come through from a number of returning customers, plus lots of unexpected smaller jobs drop in the schedule, keeping us on our toes.
Working with loyal customer Community Gateway Association, we installed their digitally printed Mactac Europe wall coverings in their office, creating a more inviting and engaging space for staff. They were as always, a pleasure to work with and as accommodating as ever to myself and the team. Completing matt black built up acrylic internal and external signage for local educational business Humly created a stunning result in a tight timeframe; another great job for our fantastic customer M2 Education.
Plenty of van wraps in between for customers such as Taurus Glass and Locks, Menard and G.O.S. Heating Ltd., along with multiple eco site packs for our construction customers, plus a large project for returning NHS customer Preston Royal Hospital. Just a snippet of some of the work carried out which included bespoke textured wallpaper, acrylic plaques and chrome spacers, a wall fixed spandex slatz directory, acrylic door signs, digitally printed lift graphics, folded aluminium composite tray signs and another bespoke feature wallpaper (that was around 180m printing in total). One last job we were particularly sorry to see leave the vehicle bay was a custom-made classic kit installation for a mark 2 Ford Escort for the Northwest Stages Race!
In terms of what else March brought us, we were thrilled to sponsor another Preston North End game, creating sponsorship and wide-reaching coverage for the brand and also a personal high point for me! A quick trip to Global Print Expo FESPA in Amsterdam with some fellow franchisees from across the Signs Express network, to see all the latest machinery and developments in the industry, giving food for thought on our next investment in kit.
Lastly, we were delighted to host Abbie Wagstaff, Digital Marketing Executive from the Franchise Support Centre for a couple of days, offering her first-hand experience of life in a centre. Whilst Abbie was on an educational trip, I’m sure I learnt more from her than the other way around! Abbie kindly carried out a digital audit whilst she was here, completely overhauling our website, refreshing images, discussing the benefits of case studies along with a review of our social media activity, online and SEO presence. Big thanks to Abbie for giving me a kick in the right direction!
With our largest single order for six months just come through, plus a busy order book, things are feeling set up for April perfectly, so fingers crossed for another great month!
