How a Company Van Helped a Small Business Deliver Results
Posted: Mon 9th Sep 2013
Sarah Kocher started a leather goods company from her kitchen table in 2007 after a 12-year career in retail management. We talked to Sarah about how buying a company van helped save her money and grow her business.
Win a makeover for your company van!
This post is part of the Me and My Van series, which takes a look at how small businesses are using company vehicles to 'drive' their business forward. As part of the series, we're offering you the chance to win a makeover for your company van, courtesy of AXA Business Insurance and Easisigns. The winner will also get a video interview, which we'll show on our blog and YouTube channel.
Interview with Sarah Kocher, Life of Riley
Q. Tell us a little bit about your business.
Sarah: Life of Riley is a leather collection made from high-quality buffalo leather. Each piece is stained to give it an antiqued look and is hand finished. The collection ranges from gifts to desk accessories to storage trunks. A love of leather work runs in the family - my great-grandfather handcrafted leather cases and trunks too!
Q. Now tell us a little bit about your van! What make and model is it? And have you given it a name?
Sarah: I haven't given my van a name! But it's a white VW Transporter"¦ I was born in Essex, live in rural Essex, and I'm a white van driver - say no more!
Q. How do you use your van in your business?
Sarah: I use the van to take stock to trade and retail fairs, to make deliveries to customers, and to another local business that processes all of the orders I dispatch on a daily basis.
Q. How did your business change when you bought your van?
Sarah: Well, it actually reduced my overheads. Before I bought one, I was hiring a van for shows and fairs and it was logistically quite complicated to load and unload the van within a tight window - and it was expensive too.
Q. So, what kind of feedback did you get from your branded van?
Sarah: It's not branded, actually - it just a plain white van. But I might enter your competition to win a makeover!
Find out more about Life of Riley on its website. And if you use a van in your business, enter our competition to win a van makeover, courtesy of AXA Business Insurance and Easisigns - plus, a video interview to be shown on our website (and you can show it on yours too!). The Me & My Van series is supported by AXA Business Insurance. Make sure you follow @AXABizTeam on Twitter and use the #MeAndMyVan hashtag when tweeting about your company van!
Spacer Spacer Me and My Van terms and conditions
This competition is open to any small business owner in the UK who owns a van. Van size up to and including a Medium Wheel Base Ford Transit Van or Similar. The van will have to be made available at the Easisigns workshop in Wimbledon SW19 for the installation.
The competition will run from July 1st to October 31st 2013.
One winner will be chosen to win vehicle graphics for their van courtesy of Easisigns.
The winner agrees to have their business and van promoted through a profile on the Enterprise Nation site and via video footage.
All entrants agree to have their details shared with Me and My Van supporters, AXA Van Insurance and Easisigns.
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