Case Study - Wendy and Dean Smith

Trophy Pet Foods Hampshire is owned and operated by Wendy & Dean Smith, with the help of their Doberman Bonnie who likes to personally test all the food and treats!

I work on the business full time and my husband Dean works with me when he is not working on the 'day job' as a shift manager for a large food production company. Before starting the Trophy business I worked as an Operations Manager for a Management Consultancy. We had always had a dream of working for ourselves, being our own boss and building a successful business that eventually we could both work on full time. Additionally, I had always thought "if I had my time again" I would love to work with animals - Trophy Pet Foods certainly ticked all the right boxes.

We have only been operating since August 2007 and are having a fantastic time. We have the most wonderful customers and talking to people about their pets and their pets needs is a real pleasure.

It is important to have excellent diary management skills and be firm about time spent on the business - it takes discipline to walk away from the office at the end of the day (luckily for me it is in a spare bedroom so not too far to walk!). Trophy is an excellent product and the food sells itself – many of our new customers come from referrals (unsolicited) which I believe speaks for itself.

In the beginning there is cold calling to be done but as we are now finding there are alternatives to canvassing which can be equally successful. You need to be a people person and be able to set achievable goals and stick to them.

The support from our FSM and Trophy Head Office is excellent – no question is ever too silly and the team in Faringdon Head office and the warehouse cannot do enough to help you.