Originally opened in 2004, John has been centre owner since 2007 and now employs seven staff from his 2200 sq ft unit based on Avonbank Industrial Estate.
1. What did you do prior to becoming a Signs Express franchisee?
Product manager for Capita – I was responsible for the design and development of a large computer application sold to local government. This involved managing teams in Asia and India so I travelled a lot!
2. What made you decide to buy an existing franchise?
I bought into Bristol as an area. Bristol is the tenth largest local economy in Britain and yet the Bristol branch was no where near as successful as branches in much smaller towns – there was and still is loads of scope to grow here.
The brand also attracts regular national work which more than pays for the fees; only this morning I have been asked by a Belfast-based company to quote on a large re-branding in Bristol. They were upfront that they need great service at a reasonable price and were confident from past dealings that this is what they would get from Signs Express.
3. How has your own business progressed or expanded since you launched?
We enjoyed fairly quick success and were 250% bigger than when we bought into Bristol. The recession has slowed all that down, but I can really feel our reputation growing locally and I think 2012 will be another year of solid progress.
4. What has been your biggest order to date or who has been your biggest customer?
We have had two orders of over £50k each. We work for a brace of large household brands but are bound by confidentiality agreements to not say who!
5. Where would you like to see yourself in 10 years?
That’s interesting because if you had asked me three years ago I would have said looking to retire. It’s a long way out and things may change, but I will probably be a Signs Express franchisee albeit with one of my staff running the centre on a daily basis.
John Miller-Wilson, Franchisee, Signs Express (Bristol)Signs Express is a perfect example of all that is good about franchising: they are board members of the British Franchise Association (BFA) and look to take a supportive rather than dictatorial stance with their franchisees, which was important to me.
