THE SWEET SMELL OF ‘DOGGY’ SUCCESS

Sometimes you meet people who genuinely do not realise or fully acknowledge their achievements. This happened recently when I was privileged enough to judge the Young Entrepreneur Award of the Monmouthshire Business Awards. The outstanding winner of this award, Sophie Laurie never anticipated that she would ever win it.

So what was the secret of her business success?

First of all a passion for the business she set up, Shampooch, a dog grooming enterprise. She was not setting out on a business journey to impress others, win awards or to corner the market but that’s exactly what she has done at just 24 years old. Why? Because she set out to create a job for herself that ‘feeds her soul’, fits in with her young family and allows her to offer a level of service that gives people the Wow Factor!

Sophie Laurie was a lady on a mission when she began to research her business idea. She wanted to ensure that Monmouth had the best groomed dogs in Wales and the happiest owners. Simple goals but how she achieved them was by making sure she set the business on firm foundations….

·         Developing her skills by putting herself on a dog grooming training course – she wanted to be the best at what she was going to do, so where many would not have bothered training she made sure her skills were the best in the market.

·         Researching the market in her area – She talked to dog owners, stopping them in the street to chat with them to find out what they wanted for their precious pooches.

·         Building relationships with potential customers even before she launched the business - Without realising it her friendly, warm and open manor was already attracting to her potential customers.

·         Researching her competition in depth – By the time she had finished she knew exactly how she could make her business stand out from the crowd on price and service levels.

·         Understanding and delivering the highest level of customer service – In actual fact she was not doing anything especially different in her mind. You see one of her loves is make people happy so delivering an exceptional service is like second nature.

So what was the result of this simple strategy?

Business success that saw Sophie’s customer base grow to 300 in nine months and the need to take on her first employee. And she is not stopping there. Her expansion plans include setting up dog grooming training in Wales as she had to go into England to find a course!

Just goes to show that get the basics right as the firm foundation of your business and you too could experience the sweet smell of success.