Business partners Trevor Rayner and Paul Templer are reporting huge increases in their profits since investing in a showroom for their Dream Doors franchise. "In July we opened our showroom," reports Trevor. "I have to say, our sales figures went absolutely berserk! There was lots of interest and we started getting results of one sale from every two or three quotes."

Dream Doors is the largest franchised kitchen door replacement company in the UK. As costs for fitting out a kitchen can spiral out of control, many customers desire a new look without the expense - and by changing the doors and worktops this is easily achievable. A Dream Doors Makeover can be completed in a day without the fuss, hassle or upheaval of a full kitchen replacement...and at a fraction of the cost.

To maximise the market potential, not only does Dream Doors provide facelifts for kitchens, but it also produces new and made to measure kitchens. Keeping the business simple, the franchisee is not required to have any kitchen fitting experience, as you never do the fitting. Dream Doors shows you how to create your own fitting team in a simple and cost effective manner. "The result is that the franchise has an excellent earning potential," reports the company. "Within the first year, simply by converting two enquiries a week, sales turnover could be £250,000 with a net profit (after materials, fitting and management service fees) of approximately £75,000 to £100,000."

Investing in the franchise 18 months ago, Trevor and Paul came from a background in manufacturing as sheet metal fabricators. Colleagues for over 12 years, when the opportunity arose they both made the decision to take voluntary redundancy and start afresh. "What we had wanted to do for a long time was to work for ourselves in a partnership," recalls Trevor. "This was the chance we were looking for."

Looking towards franchising as a more secure route of going into business, Trevor and Paul knew the benefits of working with a proven business model with support and backing from a franchisor. "We picked up a copy of The Franchise Magazine and read about Dream Doors," says Trevor. "What immediately attracted us to it was its relative simplicity - after investment, our business would be up and running in a very short space of time. We did our research, spoke to Dream Doors and some franchisees and both liked what they were telling us - we could see the potential in the business and decided to go for it."

As no previous experience is required, Dream Doors provides Trevor and Paul with a week's solid training at head office. Covering everything from product information to sales techniques, Trevor states that they were taught a whole wealth of dos and don'ts to guide their business in the right direction. "The good thing about the franchise is that the training is continuous," he explains. "If we ever need a refresher course or help and advice on any technical aspect, Dream Doors is more than willing to help."

As the Dream Doors concept was new to Trevor and Paul's Southend territory, the pair got down to the matter of marketing, advertising and making potential customers aware of the business. "Dream Doors gave us good advice in this," says Trevor. "What's more, we are further helped by Dream Doors' own national advertising campaign."

What really made the difference to Trevor and Paul's business however, was the decision to investment in a showroom. "This really is the best thing about the franchise and it has proved very profitable for us," enthuses Trevor. "It installs confidence in the customers and gives them the security that they are buying from a reputable and professional company. At the time, the showroom was our own choice but Dream Doors now insist upon it for new franchisees - and with our profits going sky-high, I can see why. The figures speak for themselves."

Looking to the future, Trevor says he is keen to learn from his experiences. "We've had such a huge influx of work, it was often difficult to keep up with it all. We need to look at how we can manage this amount of business."

Thinking about expansion, Trevor reports: "It will be a matter of fine-tuning our business. The hope is that we can then think about taking on more employees to work in the showroom and help take the weight off our shoulders."

Citing dedication as the most important thing for a Dream Doors franchisee, Trevor reveals: "The work can be really rewarding. I get to see the results of my effort and hard work and this tells me that this was an opportunity that was worth investing in."