It’s that time of year when we review our achievements and see what we have and haven’t achieved here at Diamond HQ.
I say – how we have grown. We started 2014 with six depots and we have signed up to be open by the end of January 2015 23 depots. No wonder we are cited as the fastest growing network in the UK.
We have won awards – Steven Nash and Paul Latham were both award winning this year, and were finalists in lots of things from Toast of Surrey to Everywoman in Transport, and a few in between,
We have seen our profile go through the roof with front page covers on Elite Business, to the odd performance on Woman’s Hour on Radio Four to a month’s worth of radio advertising and our great Vodafone Video – the response to which is HUGE. I’ve now got a regular column at Elite Franchise and we look forward to continuing to enhance our profile even further in 2015.
We hosted our own awards for the second year in a row – kindly sponsored by Besley and Copp (printer to the stars), Boosh 365 (Telecoms geniuses) and Independent Insurance (cheaper better insurance for you and your business), which saw 7 different people and depots rewarded for their stellar performance in 2014.
2014 has not been without its challenges. We have changed what we do here at Guildford – hunkering down to focus on our core service offering. Growth has its challenges and not all our team were able to cope with the trajectory.
But we have made great progress. If we waited for everything to be perfect we’d be too slow. Opportunity presents itself in tiny windows and Diamond’s is now. So we’ve had to run to take advantage of that. The progress we’ve made in the last year is greatly rewarding to see.
And now to our new network. Some of our new sites are succeeding beyond my wildest dreams. Most of you are bang on or above target and the rest will be inspired by their peers to get back on track and start forging forward. With the tools, the knowledge and the products – all it takes is the dedication to sales activity and our depots watch their businesses steadily grow.
2015 will be a game changer for us all. We will reach critical mass, we will launch national marketing, and we have ironed out many of the bumps of 2014 with the processes and systems adapted to improve for growth. In terms of geographical coverage we are already the third largest courier company in the UK. 2015 will be about consolidating the foundations and finally being in a position to liberate British Business from crappy couriers.
My big thanks to my HQ team for all their support. They really do work very hard indeed to make all of this possible. Not to mention my fabulous franchises. I have to thank them for their support and your feedback.
And massive congratulations to our clients – who are growing because of the sturdy backbone our logistics gives their businesses – congratulations to my network who are all building themselves amazing businesses – and congratulation to my HQ team who really are Diamonds. Plus the big THANK YOU – as always to our Diamond couriers out on the road – delivering our services daily.
A massive thank you to you all.
I wish you all health, wealth and happiness for 2015.
Kate
Author: Kate Lester
