Building up a brand the Miles Morgan way
Jennifer MorrisMiles Morgan Travel celebrated its 10th anniversary in December. Jennifer Morris talks to the agency’s founder and namesake about the highs and the lows of running a successful agency chain and where he wants to take the business next.
I’m about to tell you something nobody else knows… Miles Morgan Travel was very nearly called something else entirely,” the founder of the 15-agency chain admits with a grin. “It was going to be Morgan Cavendish, because I thought that sounded posh.
“In fact,” Miles Morgan laughs, “I was originally going to open a garden centre until some friends convinced me I should probably stick to what I knew.”
The agency chain was created in 2006, when Morgan, then Thomson’s sales and marketing director, bought 10 agencies from the travel giant as part of an exit deal, convinced customers should be able to get better service on the high street than was available.
The move was completely self-funded, and one which Morgan admits left him doubting himself on occasion in the early days.
“It was just when the internet was becoming a big thing,” he says. “People wondered if I had lost my marbles, as I seemed to be swimming against the tide.
“But I had a firm belief that retail would continue to do well as long as you were targeting the right customers – which for me was the retired and affluent market – and had knowledgeable travel professionals behind the desk.
“I still have that belief 10 years on and I will for the next 10 years. In 2007 and 2008, just after I started the business, we had one of the biggest financial crashes ever. We have been tested from day one, but we are still opening shops.
“You learn lessons and cut costs accordingly,” he adds. “You develop a sort of siege mentality.”
During the company’s history, Morgan has closed four shops of the original 10, but he has opened nine stores.
His newest shop – in Gloucester - opened in December, with another store on the cards for the first quarter of this year. Turnover has increased 500% in 10 years.
“We are very proud of that result,” Morgan says. “The financial crash was the hardest two years of my entire life. Starting a business was a lot harder than I ever expected it to be. I have doubted myself at times but you just have to dig in and have an inner belief.
“It is my business, which is lovely, but when you face challenges there isn’t someone else there to talk to.”
Morgan insists that the onset of the internet shopping age has improved his business more than it has challenged it.
“The high street used to be afraid of the web, believing it was taking their business. But I only see us growing with it.
“The killer combination is having both an online and a retail presence and doing them both really well – that’s hard to beat.”
A £5m gamble
Reflecting on the highlights of his career, Morgan recalls the Titanic memorial cruise.
In April 2012, Morgan chartered Fred Olsen’s Balmoral with 1,309 passengers, retracing the route of the ill-fated liner’s maiden voyage 100 years earlier.
“I look back and it still amazes me that we did it – especially from a financial perspective. It was a £5 million gamble,” says Morgan. “But we made a profit, and the voyage was broadcast daily by the BBC to 26 countries.
“It gave customers confidence that our fledgling business was a serious player and trustworthy.”
Morgan also says receiving the Outstanding Achievement Award at the TTG Travel Awards last year was another high point.
“I was blown away, it was one of those surreal moments,” he recalls. “I don’t think of myself as someone who would be given that – I’m just doing my job and enjoying myself.
“I have had the last 10 years to get used to my name being above the door and it still feels strange.”
He continues: “There’s not really been one single highlight of my career, but seeing all the happy staff at our party in December is what epitomises my original aim.”
Morgan insists though that there has been “no magic formula” to his success, and that working hard has always been a “prerequisite”.
“The idea was never to get rich quick, it was about building a sustainable business I could feel proud of,” he says.
“I have certainly had my share of heartache and hard graft, but my work-life balance is much better than it used to be.”
“The idea was never to get rich quick, it was about building a sustainable business I could feel proud of”
Miles Morgan
Morgan also hails the firm’s supplier relationships as important to the business’s success.
“We prefer to work with a smaller number of suppliers and nurture those relationships,” he says.
“I invited them to a party I had in June for the 10-year anniversary. An agent hosting a supplier is unheard of really, but we really do value what they do for us.”
Morgan insists Miles Morgan Travel will remain in its Wales and south-west stronghold, and that the maximum number of stores will always be 20.
“I don’t want to build a big business like the one I left,” he says. “I don’t want it to be faceless.
“Our expansion is primarily opportunistic. If a premise that we like becomes available, we can grab the opportunity straight away, we don’t have to wade through treacle.
“Not all decisions turn out to be the right ones, but that’s part of running a company.”
Being opportunistic is how Miles Morgan Travel all began – an opportunity came his way and he took it, he tells me.
“Certainly we will expand,” says Morgan. “But the thing I enjoy most is that I know every member of staff and they know me. They are fantastic and motivated, and they’re the key to our success.
“What’s important to me is that I continue to enjoy the business and my staff continue to enjoy working in it.
“I’m still very visual in the business and I want to remain one of the team.”
Staying close
The fact that Morgan’s voice comes over the answerphone when a customer calls any branch, and he receives the brand’s Feefo reviews directly into his inbox are indicators that Morgan truly does enjoy living and breathing the business he’s built.
“The reason I left my corporate job was I had become too far removed from the travel industry,” he says.
“Another of the main reasons for our success is that we have stayed in one geographical area. We have built up a brand that the people who live here know. Driving around, you’ll see one of our shops in a key position in every town around.”
Every shop has been refitted in the past two years and all are now in the “best positions”.
Morgan says 13 weeks into the business’s new financial year, sales are up substantially on the previous one, and he dismisses concerns about Brexit.
“I have had the last 10 years to get used to my name being above the door and it still feels strange”
Miles Morgan
“We have had 10 years of record years and there’s no end to that in sight,” he says.
“Will Brexit cast a shadow? Maybe. But at any point in time there are millions of people booking holidays. A difficult climate just means you fight harder for your slice of the cake.”
And looking at the longer-term future, Morgan insists: “I don’t see myself retiring. There is still so much going on, and when you truly enjoy what you do, it doesn’t really feel like work anyway.”
As we chat, Morgan tells me a new review has been posted on the agency’s website. “It says ‘It’s always a pleasure to visit Miles Morgan in Monmouth’,” he smiles.
“I read every review we get, usually when I’m eating my porridge in the morning gearing up for the day ahead. It’s a constant reminder of why we are doing what we do.”
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Jennifer Morris
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
