by John Timpson - Thursday, 30th August 2007 -

"As the father figure of our business, you should talk to branch staff, not play games or sit in silly meetings.”

“But,” I protested, “in 18 months I have visited every branch!” “In that case,” said Alex, “start all over again.”

Last year I spent more than 100 days on the road. My father taught me to visit every outlet, and now James does the same. I have been touring the high street for 46 years.

A month ago I played golf with a guy who talked about his visit to our Bournemouth branch. He was amazed that our manager not only knew me but had met me several times.

“Have you got a helicopter?” he asked. I replied: “I tried a helicopter once to visit Cornwall. I saved travelling time, but it took a full day’s planning to find friendly farmers to let us land on their fields, and taxi drivers to meet us.

“When I saw the bill for this trip, I was depressed for days. I go by car, usually with a driver so I can do paperwork and be delivered to the shop door.”

“Do they know you are coming?” asked the golfer.

“If I go with my area manager, everybody is prepared,” I replied. “But on my own I get one surprise visit before telephones are buzzing. One day, after calling at Huddersfield, I arrived at a busy Bradford branch as the phone rang. I answered it. ‘Just so you know,’ said the caller, ‘John Timpson is in the area.’”

My golf pal had a final question. “What’s your agenda. Is there a checklist?”

“I don’t look for trouble,” I replied. “I am not an inspector. I go for a chat (normally trivia), but as a result I know every shop from the front door to the lavatory. My mind keeps an up-to-date picture of the high street in general and our competitors in particular. But, more importantly, I know something about our colleagues’ holidays, hobbies, football teams and children.”

It’s amazing what you discover when you are not looking for anything in particular. In the past fortnight I unearthed a serious staff shortage in Inverness, overstocking in Salisbury, a display problem in Newton Abbott, and an opportunity to increase sales in Ipswich. I met an area manager with some great new training ideas, and Bryan, our manager in Aberdeen, who was celebrating his 50th birthday. Bryan’s shop was festooned with balloons, but I was not happy. All our people have their birthdays off, but Bryan had to work because he was short staffed.

Occasionally, I stumble on a big idea. Kelvin in Newport showed me how to add memorial plaques to our house-sign business. In 1996, Glenn in West Bromwich preached the potential of watch repairs and persuaded me to give the new service a big push. It is now a £12m business, growing at 15 per cent a year.

My visits remind me that managers know much more about their business than head office does. That’s why we let John design his own refit in Hammersmith, and probably why he raised turnover by 20 per cent.

Recently, at a business dinner, I met a man who uses our branch in Cirencester. He was surprised I knew the name of the manager, Bill O’Dell.

“You must take ages visiting your shops to know them so well,” he said.

“Doesn’t your wife complain?”

“No,” I said. “She is the one who pushes me out, she says it’s the best way to run the business.”

As usual, Alex is absolutely right.