Jan Chidley, owner of Recognition Express Hull and East Riding is the reigning Recognition Express Franchisee of the Year.
Despite the challenges of trading in the time of COVID, Jan, who set up her thriving business in 2007, achieved her best ever sales year in 2021 and that upward trend is showing no signs of slowing down.
But she didn’t always feel so positive. When the first lockdown was announced in March 2020, she was in her bedroom at home. Remembered Jan: “I was sitting there looking out of the window at my garden and thinking could it be the end of my business? This is dreadful. Nobody will want to buy promotional products in lockdown and how long might this all last? But then I said to myself, OK what you’ll do is keep in touch with all of your lovely clients and let them know that we’re still open for business and prepared to work in whatever way we can to keep going and help them.”
A keen networker, Jan quickly adapted to attending Zoom gatherings of her local business networking groups and was supported throughout by the franchisor’s head office team at Recognition Express.
“They were great,” she said. “Our managing director Chris Masters held a weekly Zoom meeting for anyone in the network who wanted to attend and in between times he sent us emails which were really helpful. I looked back on some of them just the other day and realised just how much assistance and support he had given us.”
Because Jan was speaking regularly to her clients, whilst demand for the type of promotional items bought for face to face events pre-pandemic dropped , she discovered there was a growing need for things that could be given to staff to say thank you and reward them for working through difficult times. Thanks to the depth and breadth of the Recognition Express supplier network, she was able to source innovative gifts for her clients to give.
“Obviously they didn’t want to give branded promotional items to staff so we came up with a mix of fun items ranging from personalised water bottles to rainbow chargers and bags of retro sweets all packaged in colourful gift boxes.”
Word soon spread, and within just a few weeks, a major fast food chain heard about the Jan’s bespoke staff ‘thank you’ boxes and worked with Recognition Express Hull and East Riding to put together a special surprise package for all its employees throughout the North of England.
Now she and her ‘right hand woman’ Alison are back in the office, fully socially distanced and following all of the government advice, Jan has had time to look back on the past 18 months and think about how she managed to not only keep the business going but deliver an award winning sales performance.
Said Jan: “Over the 15 years I have been running my own business I have realised that people buy from people. I have built up very strong relationships with all of my clients, and when times were tough, I didn’t desert them. One of my clients working from home instead of her office in lockdown felt alone and isolated. I gave her a call and she said, “It is so nice to speak with a human being” – for me it was a small gesture, but for her it was huge, and something she will remember.”
Jan set up her Recognition Express business in 2007 after being a stay-at home mum to her three children. “I’d taken the decision early on that I wanted to take time out to raise our three children. But when twins Sam and Sophie were 16 the time felt right to focus on a career. As my husband
Chris had been running the Driver Hire franchise for four years, I understood the concept of franchising and felt that buying a franchise would enable me to have the best of both worlds – a business of my own backed up with the confidence of a proven model and support from the franchisor team.”
Although she had never been in a working environment before, she found that the transition from being mum to businesswoman ‘came naturally’.
From very early on in her Recognition Express career Jan realised that customer service would underpin everything in her business and always goes above and beyond to ensure Recognition Express Hull and East Riding stands out from competitors. As a result, contacts made in those early days still make up 80 % of her 2022 client base.
And the secret to Jan’s award-winning performance? Jan explained: “Establishing and maintaining good relationships with customers is the key to my success. I have demonstrated that I deliver a high-quality service and am a reliable and trustworthy supplier.”
