How we increased business by 500% Part 1

We did it the good old fashioned way. The truth is that there’s no magic to it. The core of the growth propelled from hard work, a lot, I mean A LOT of learning, making mistakes and getting up and trying again. However, this is not an inspirational motivational write-up. Let's get to it, my style is pretty simple and straight-talking. Being a regular shop in Londons jewellery quarter Hatton garden it's easy to get lost. 

• Invest into your store. Ask yourself or in the shoes of a consumer, ‘Would you buy an expensive sentimental piece of jewellery in a place that doesn’t even bother to fully invest into the look of a store?’ As a Jeweller operator and owner, you spend at least 5 if not 7 days in your place of work. It only makes sense to make it a nice place to be in. All I know is that first impressions are massive and the opportunity is such a small window. I wish people would really consider this and think about this point carefully.

In the past 13 years of business, we did 2 store refurbishments. Originally the store was just under 300 square feet. The first time we were on a budget, so it was a small refit. Over the years as we built a good footfall and customer retention and referrals we got to a stage where especially on weekends we had customers waiting outside on the weekends to come in and see us. Back then we had 2.5 desks. One on each side of the room, and one in the center between two cabinets. I say half because the center desk was actually a computer desk which we actually only used when we had more than 2 sets of customers in the store. It was only me and my wife and a member of staff Alex. I guess the store was just enough for us to handle. It was great, we were busy considering the size of the store, and had a great flow of customers from around 11 am till 5 pm five out of size days. Yes, we were open for six days a week. So we had a good and bad problem, we were busy with clients but couldn’t see everyone. We did get to a stage where appointments were being rushed, however, we didn’t feel good about rushing appointments and saw the impact it had, especially when you realize what you are selling. We had to refocus, our ethos was quality, service at a fair price. So a couple of times a week that month we would meet up for dinner and drinks and talk about how we could improve the business and bring massive to our clients. Eventually, we realize, there’s only so much we can do given space. Like they say about fish, Goldfish Only Grow to the Size of Their Enclosure. We needed to expand!

It must have been around 2013. We were still young’ ish, knew what we needed to do, but wasn’t 100% sure how to do it. Then suddenly an opportunity appears. One day the landlord came to the store. I think a new agency to over the management and came to do an inspection. During the inspection, my wife in conversation discovered that there was this giant space of around 1000 sq underneath our store and the shop next door to us. I just remember that day, she came upstairs super crazily excited, like she just won the lottery. All I remember is that she blurted out, “we don’t have to find another store! Let's dig a hole! Build some stairs and build a giant showroom right underneath us!’

I thought she was crazy! And so did her dad. After a day I came round to it, the idea started to warm to me and it made sense. Hmmm, women are always right? Lol

After that we started looking into it, we found out that another company planned to take out the lease and turn it into a private members club, like a poker club, in the middle of Hatton garden. Fortunately, their license didn't get approved. So the next problem now, how to persuade her dad to agree to support us in expanding. Now that’s another story I’ll save for another day. We had no credentials or money to do this ourselves.

Fast forward without all the family politics, we manage to win him over a month later. It went along the lines of, ‘ if you don’t back us, we’re walking and if it’s doesn’t work out we’ll sell our flat to pay for the whole refurbishment.’ Looking back now, we were pretty brave.

 The Works

It took 6 months for planning permission to be approved, and as soon as that came through, we manage to find a contractor to do the works and cut a deal where we pay monthly. The worst stage was probably three things, the pressure of keeping up with payments each month, we had to close the store for about 2 months to do the works and staying in the basement some nights whilst we had workmen in and out. What else would you do, whilst this was all going on we had our stock locked up in two giant safes downstairs. A lot of work had to go into the re-fit. the basement had been closed for about 20 years and was previously occupied by a really dated photo studio where the old photo printers were the size of a minivan, and there were two of them down there.

I remember, ‘the wolf of wall street’ was one of the most amazing films made that century, super motivating and inspiring! All I remember is that during the works, during the day I would be standing outside the shop (whilst the shop refurb was happening) holding my wireless card machine and selling engagement rings and weddings on the streets. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the customers who supported us and believed in us during this period.

 A few months later after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, the refurb was 80% complete so we could continue trading again. The store grew to around 1300 square feet. We manage to fit another 4 seating areas, which included a gorgeous lounge area, the custom-built stairs, and overall a beautiful store. It’s crazy but we became appointment-based, hired more staff, became more or less fully booked every weekend and managed to pay for the whole refurb within a year. Simply by, creating more space and seeing more customers. Now when I see other small businesses, I can fully appreciate how much work gets put into building a small business from something small to something substantial.

 In part 2 I will share how we made this growth sustainable. Hope you enjoyed our story.