Hi, we’re Matt & Jen Snell the proud owners of Trophy Swindon & North Wiltshire Ltd. Our story starts with both of us having worked for large corporate organisations for the last 10 years. The last few years have been particularly difficult, as we feel that our employers have lost sight of what true customer service is. In short, we felt that we could do better if we were more able to drive the businesses ourselves.

As this was a highly unrealistic expectation, we started looking into what our options really were. This is where a combination of searches through the franchise websites and local business sales pages resulted in Trophy being shortlisted, along with two other potential options. Following meetings with all three businesses, Trophy stood out as our number one option. We were very impressed with the pedigree within Trophy and their past and current performance. Whilst it was clear that the franchisors’ business was being run as a serious concern, it was also as clear that ethos of the owners created an environment for new business to achieve their own goals.

Now 8 months in, we have a business consistently generating a clear operating profit, (this actually stated for us in month 2!), we have sold to over 200 customers, (150 of which buy regularly), and we are already considering bringing distributors in to support us in two areas.

Our territory was a virgin territory with only three existing customers to support. So we have been very busy. Hard work is a message new franchisees will continuously hear from head office. We very early made the decision to make Trophy our main source of family income, so hard work, perseverance, determination, were needed in bucket full’s, along with a truly supportive family. The last key ingredient is adherence to Trophy’s “system”. This can be summed up as 20 odd years of refined best practice that you can rely on to help you achieve your results. Follow the system, it works.

In general, I firmly believe that you can’t gain true satisfaction without conquering some adversity. Our biggest challenges have been the physical and mental tiredness and the self imposed pressure of creating an income quickly. Our rewards, however, outweigh our hardships. We have more time as a family, we have full control over our destiny, we meet lots of wonderful people and their pets and if we keep working this hard, we’ll have a fantastic business and a decent income.

Matt & Jen Snell