Basking in success

Philip Davison tells Ewan Turney how a marketing seminar helped him achieve £750,000 worth of sales at the Wadworth-owned Sun in the Wood, in Ashmore Green, Berkshire

How I got here

My wife, Lauren and I had our own restaurant in Dorset for 10 years - we had two AA rosettes and were in the Michelin and Egon Ronay guides, but I had a feeling that the way of the world was moving towards pubs.

We first took a pub, the Langton Arms in Tarrant Monkton, Dorset, in 1993 with a partner. There was no real fallout but we decided to look for our own pub and arrived at the Sun in the Wood in the summer of 1996. The pub had actually been closed for a period in 1993. When we arrived it was 90% wet-led and a real traditional boozer with pool, cribbage and darts. The kitchen was tiny - just 11ft square - which we extended after three years.

We actually took on another Wadworth tenancy, the Craven Arms in Newbury as well and traded it up to £450,000 in the first year from being closed. But we decided to let it go, as at the time I didn't feel our management team was strong enough.

The day that changed my life

When we ran our own restaurant, I was 26 and naive enough to believe that being a good chef was sufficient to get people in. Then I went on a seminar where Drayton Bird, then creative director at top ad firm Ogilvy & Mather Direct, gave a talk. I always say it is the day that changed my life as it opened my eyes to the possibilities of marketing. What stuck with me was he asked, who are the most successful companies in the world? Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Gillette. It is no coincidence that they also do the most marketing.

You can have the best product in the world, but if you don't tell anyone about it then you'll never succeed. You can analyse businesses in any way but at the end of the day you have got to get people in the door and money in the till.

My marketing strategy

1. Summer newsletter: Our big marketing push each year is our summer newsletter, and that goes out to 10,000 homes via the most expensive route - Royal Mail. I feel this is better than inserts in local papers as I am sure many people throw those away without reading them.

I design the letter and we print 12,000 and that costs £1,200. We keep 2,000 at the pub and Royal Mail delivers the others over a four-week period - so that you don't end up with just one manic week.

2. In-house materials: We have plenty of leaflets for people to take away, including menus and newsletters. I find it frustrating that you can go into a pub and then the next day you have forgotten its name. This way you have a reminder to take home.

3. Charity day: Last year we did a big charity day to celebrate 10 years here. We had about 800 people here. We had stalls out and a jazz band. Graeme Murty, captain of Reading football club, opened the day and that in itself generated a lot of publicity.

4. Press releases: We send things of interest to the papers and we have also had radio stations here and the TV. Meridian used to be around the corner and they would come in and use the pub for filming.

5. Website: People now book tables online. It is a key tool for pubs these days.

6. Suck-in factor: I am a great believer in sucking people into the pub. I recently went to a popular tourist area and there was a huge pub, yet only six cars in the car park at lunchtime. There were no flowers or blackboards tempting people in. We keep our outside spotless.

My privilege club

We set up the club about four years ago and it runs like a supermarket loyalty card. It doesn't cost anything to join and for every £250 you spend, you get a £25 reward voucher.

The only stipulation is you must spend at least £250 a year to be a member, so if it is coming to the end of the year, we send letters out encouraging people to come and spend a bit to retain their membership.

It works on the old idea that your existing customers are the best because they are the cheapest to get hold of. We put on special events for the club such as Christmas parties, and recently did a day at Newbury races with a Champagne reception and transport in a Jaguar for £20. That's great value as you can't do anything for £20 these days.

They also get discount deals such as two courses for £12 in the quieter months. It generates the feeling that they are getting something others are not.

My staff

1. Image perception: I talk to my staff a lot about image perception because customers see them as the Sun in the Wood. They are representing me and my business, and so when they come to work I need them to be neat and tidy and brush their hair. It is all part of good marketing.

2. Service: We offer good old-fashioned service - that means you genuinely want to look after people. We sometimes spend time training staff on how to speak. It's the little things that don't cost anything that make a difference - having good manners, saying please and thank you and hello and goodbye. We look for staff who can keep their cool and stay polite even under pressure.

3. Fair deal: We pay staff a fair wage and both my general manager and floor manager have been here for eight years. You need that consistency because if you don't have it, then you don't have time to build the business.

My crazy golf course

It is our unique selling point. It came about in 2004 - we wanted to create something unique that could be enjoyed by all ages. I sat down and designed and then built the whole thing myself. To get someone to build it for me would have cost £57,000, but I did it for just £3,000.

It captures the imagination and is very popular with companies that book it for parties. Kids always love it too, and children will always tell their parents where they want to go. We have an outside barbecue that complements the course perfectly.

My smoke-free garden

We went no smoking in May 2006. Uniquely we have also banned smoking in our rear garden and decking area. I pictured the scene one day where you have loads of people outside eating and what is going to happen? A couple of smokers will come up behind them and start puffing away. If I have a table of six out there eating, that is worth about £100; if there are a couple of guys smoking, how much are they spending?

We have a separate smoking area to the side, which is adults only.

My Pub

Tenure: Wadworth three-year rolling

Turnover 1996: £140,000

Turnover now: £750,000

Wet:dry split: 32:68

Number of covers: 800 per week

Avg spend per head: £14

GP on food: 70%

GP drink: 58%

Number of staff: nine full-time, nine part-time

Wages as % of turnover: 28%