My name is Lauren and I have only been working at MJ Ryder for 3 weeks as a marketing assistant apprentice. As one of my first tasks I thought it would be fun to jump straight into interviewing the founder, Amanda Ryder as a way to give our clients a better understanding of the company and also to help me understand more about the business myself.
Amanda told me that she set up the company back in 2006, for the first few months it began as a simple business operating from her dining room table. Amanda initially did all the work herself, but she quickly realised that she wouldn’t be able to run her company all on her own. It was then that she introduced two new team members to help, ever since the company has grown by approximately one person each year and trained six new heating engineers.
The reason that Amanda felt there was a need for her to start her own plumbing & heating business was that she knew that she could provide a much better service than the company’s that she had been working for. And, she wanted to build her own career, she felt that this could be best achieved through the freedom of setting up her own business.
When I joined MJ Ryder, the company values were already so clear to me, customer focus and positive client experience. Amanda told me, “We believe in delivering a friendly, reactive service which is available for our clients, as and when they need us. This was the driving force behind our Heat Plan service, being available for our clients 24/7 365 days per year. Heat Plan is now a popular service which has been running for 10 years. I’ve worked in places before where they tell you that the ‘customer comes first’ but it's still just about sales, customer focus runs in the veins of every team member here and the feedback we receive just solidifies this''.
When I asked Amanda how she feels about her customers she told me, “Our customers are the lifeblood of the company, without them there would be no company. We do all that we can to make sure that our customers are happy and generally we have really healthy relationships with them. We love having customers that are beyond satisfied with the service they have received from us, we find this so rewarding and it’s the main reason that we do what we do.”
I was so interested to find out what Amanda’s most memorable and favourite experiences have been whilst running the company. She explained that high team spirit moments are the best, the times that she gets to appreciate with her team the relationships they have built together as well as the hard work they all put in to make this company a success. Outings like Christmas dinners and team nights out, the fun moments together away from the office that make you appreciate so much more. We can't wait to celebrate again after COVID!
My final Question - In five years time, what will your role look like?
“In five years time, I would love to have appointed another director to help run the company so that I can take a position that focuses more on strategic decisions. But what I really would like is to be able to take six months away to travel and experience the world and then come back to find the business like I had never left - they say that is when you know you have succeeded in building your own business!” Amanda Ryder