Etyres Case Study - Ben, Cambridge
Ben Lockett launched etyres Cambridge in 2008, having previously gained three years’ experience with his parents’ etyres franchise in the Crewe territory. From day one of opening the Cambridge branch Ben has been so busy that he had to add extra vans to cope with orders.
In 2008 Ben made the decision to relocate from Crewe to Cambridge, this also coincided with his parents’ decision to retire from the franchise after seven happy years. Luckily for Ben the Cambridge territory was vacant and a swap of territories was arranged.
“I was delighted that the Cambridge territory was available, knowing the etyres commitment to its Franchise Owners made the whole process seamless. I was up and running in the new territory within a matter of weeks,” recalls Ben.
Ben had previously gained an in depth understanding of the requirements of an etyres Franchise Owner, and lots of hands on experience of the business model as a result of helping his parents with etyres Crewe. This experience confirmed that etyres was the right move for him and his family. This familiarity with the etyres business model and its ethos meant Ben hit the ground running, and within a few months needed to add a second van to cope with the flood of orders.
“I’ve been very busy since day one, and it hasn’t slowed down yet,” Ben confirmed.
Ben soon realised that demand is high for mobile tyre fitting services that don’t charge a premium for call out. Ben was able to achieve such early growth as a result of providing excellent customer service at no extra cost and offering a next or in some cases a same day service. Ben’s dedication to growing the business through local marketing activities is one of the key factors to his success. He has built up excellent local brand awareness and has seen a strong return on investment from activities such as local leafleting and location specific online advertising. These local marketing activities are further supported by Head Office with the production of brand specific collateral, advice and national marketing campaigns.
“The support that the Head Office team give me with sales and marketing has really helped me to drive the business forward,” confirms Ben. “The national sales team allow me to be out on the road whilst still taking new bookings.”
The etyres national sales team operates seven days a week delivering sales to Franchise Owners as a result of advising customers on the correct tyres, booking jobs and ordering the tyres for the Franchise Owners. On average the Cambridge territory deals with over 80 customers a week, this places the brand at, or near the top of our etyres national ‘most tyres per van’ ranking. “The business opportunities have meant that I have had to employ extra staff and add an extra two vans to my fleet to deal with demand. I have seen the benefits that can be achieved and look forward to continuing my relationship with etyres.”
From the outset what originally attracted Ben and his family to etyres was the potential for growth, combined with on-going training and support from the Head Office team and Operations Managers. Over the years Ben has found the business to be recession proof because everyone will at some stage need new tyres, and with more than 34 million vehicles on the road this provides a steady stream of business. With two additional vans Ben can currently only reach an average of 2% of his target demographic households within his region. This means he has plenty of scope to further expand if he continues at his current rate and the etyres Head Office and operations team will be there every step of the way to offer advice and assistance.
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