Manifesto_Book_210mm-V01

THOMAS SANDERSON - BRAND MANIFESTO 

BRAND MANIFESTO 

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CHAPTER 01 

WHAT IS BEING 

A BRAND ALL ABOUT? 

We hear a lot about brands 

nowadays. But what does it mean?


We drive a brand name car, wear branded 

clothes, shop at a brand store, eat food brands 

and even communicate on branded phones. 

Brands have sense of purpose that everyone, 

inside and outside the business identifies with. It 

means having a set of values and beliefs that are 

relevant to everyone that works for the business 

as well as anyone who buys from the brand. 

Different brands may do the same thing very 

differently. PG Tips and The Ritz Hotel both 

provide tea; but the experience of the two is very 

different and the people that work there have 

very different jobs. 

In today’s busy world we all rely on brands to 

deliver a specific experience every time we use 

them. Strong brands make promises and keep 

them. You know what to expect when you buy 

your lunch at McDonalds or a new top from 

Primark and you would be disappointed if you 

didn’t get it. 

It can be about the price – a Lidl store feels 

very different to Waitrose or just about the 

experience – buying a book from Waterstones is 

a wonderful experience for some, whilst others 

look on in disbelief as they download the same 

book from Amazon onto their Kindle to read 

seconds later without leaving the sofa. Same 

book, similar price – completely different brand 

experience. 

Working at Waterstones would be a very 

different experience from working at Amazon 

too. 

Having a strong brand makes things easier 

– you don’t need to explain what you do in 

every piece of literature. People you recruit 

will already know what you are like to work for 

and share your ideals and view of the world. 

Customers will gladly pay higher prices because 

they know that they are getting quality and 

service. If we want to build a strong brand it is 

not about a logo, some posters or even an ad 

on TV it is about deciding who we are, what’s 

important to us and our customers – and 

sticking to it. 

Which means that every impression counts. We 

need to be consistent in our attitudes, provide 

the same level of care and attention to our 

customers at every step of their journey from 

the first letter they receive right through to the 

fitting and the valet service they have six months 

later. These attitudes begin at home, we must 

treat our colleagues and partners in the same 

way – Apple isn’t one brand for its customers 

and another for the people that work there, it 

has the same values throughout the business 

When Bob and Norma Thomas founded 

Thomas Sanderson in 1991, they believed in the 

importance of design and quality from the start. 

These were the foundations of our brand. 

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The world has changed since then, although our 

commitment to quality and design hasn’t. Other 

companies have moved into our sectors. They 

rarely deliver the same standard of products and 

service. But they are often cheaper as a result 

To the average customer, there may not be 

an obvious reason to pay more for a Thomas 

Sanderson conservatory blind, or a shutter or a 

valet. But having a superior product and service 

means we need to charge more and indeed earn 

the right to charge more. 

The stronger our brand, the greater the 

confidence people will have in us, the more 

likely it is that they will see the point in paying 

a higher price for a quality Thomas Sanderson 

branded product. And the less we will have to 

discount and needlessly give away profit. 

So it’s vital that we deliver a true Thomas 

Sanderson experience to our customers and our 

colleagues, and that we do it consistently from 

signing a deal with a new partner to selling a 

set of shutters to a new client or even making a 

colleague a cup of tea. 

Everything should be done to Thomas 

Sanderson standards based on what we stand 

for, what our customer promises are, why we are 

different from and better than the competition. 

This manifesto will explain how. 

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CHAPTER 02 

WHAT DOES THIS 

MEAN FOR THOMAS 

SANDERSON?


We think that being a strong brand is essential 

to the long-term prosperity of the business and 

so we’ve had a long think about what we should 

stand for and what we should deliver, going 

forward. 

The result is the words in this paper. But words 

mean nothing unless they are put into action. So 

it is up to everyone who works in the company 

to read this, understand it, and think about the 

ways in which they can make it all happen. 

The founder of Yo Sushi was visiting Sainsbury’s 

head office to decide which retailers should 

sell his now famous sushi brand. He found to 

his surprise that the receptionist had prepared 

a parking space for him, she recognised him 

and already knew how he took his tea. She had 

phoned ahead and done her research, because 

she didn’t think of herself as a receptionist but 

part of the pitch team to win the Yo Sushi order. 

Guess which supermarket won the Yo Sushi 

business? 

We are all part of a team to deliver our brand 

experience. The selection of high quality 

materials from which our products are made, 

the care and precision with which they are 

assembled, the expertise with which they are 

fitted, the personal touch that customers get 

from the contact centre and face to face from our 

design consultants and our maintenance teams 

is what makes us different. 

These days it is not enough to be different it 

is essential that everyone we deal with from 

customers and colleagues to partners and 

prospects can actually… 

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SEE THE DIFFERENCE 

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CHAPTER 03 

OUR VISION 

The vision is a simple description of our 

long-term aim as a business. Ours is:


TO HAVE THE DESERVED REPUTATION 

OF BEING THE PREMIER BRITISH 

MANUFACTURER OF CONSERVATORY 

BLINDS AND WINDOW STYLINGS, BUILT ON 

PASSION, PRIDE AND INNOVATION. 

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REPUTATION for brands is everything – hard 

won and easily lost. Think about the damage 

caused to Volkswagen because a company that 

stood for reliability and dependability was 

suddenly shown to be the opposite. 

PREMIER doesn’t mean the most expensive 

– although we will always aim to be towards 

the top end because of the quality we build 

into every part of the business. Something that 

customers don’t just pay for – they recognise, 

appreciate and value. 

PASSION is what we bring to the business. 

Working at Thomas Sanderson is more than 

just a job for us. We are creating something 

really special, a successful British manufacturer 

that makes a real difference to the value and 

enjoyment our customers get from their homes. 

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PRIDE comes from a job well done, from 

delivering impeccable service, from making 

products that are second to none, from seeing 

and hearing from happy customers. As a cohesive 

team we can take pride in the achievements of 

others, And if something goes wrong, we can 

also take pride in working together to rectify the 

situation smoothly and seamlessly. 

INNOVATION is what market leaders do, 

followers copy. We aim to be ahead of the pack 

in our designs, our materials, and our use of new 

technology and market channels. Every person 

in every part of the business is responsible for 

looking for new ways to do things better. 

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CHAPTER 04 

OUR VALUES 

Our values are the guiding principles for 

how we think and how we behave in the 

pursuit of our vision for our brand.


Although they are the company’s 

values, they also have to be the 

values of everyone who works here. 

We are all ‘salespeople’ for Thomas 

Sanderson. We can’t say one thing as 

a business and then act differently as 

people. 

We all should live and breathe them. 

Performance isn’t just doing the job. 

It’s doing the job in a way that is true 

to our values. 

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01 

INTEGRITY 

Integrity is about creating trust. It’s about doing 

the right things. 

It means being open and honest, both with 

customers and business partners and with each 

other. It means telling the truth, even when 

it’s not to our immediate benefit. It’s how we 

earn respect. No one wants to do business with 

someone who is, or appears to be, evasive or 

dishonest. 

As business becomes more competitive, 

principles often go out of the window. And 

integrity is usually the first to leave. 

Our brand is built on reputation and in the 

digital age, word gets about fast. Think how easy 

it is to complain nowadays and get an audience. 

The best way to minimise complaints is to tell 

the truth. You may not always get thanked, but 

you’ll become respected. 

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02 

COMMITMENT 

There’s a saying that in a breakfast of egg and 

bacon, the chicken is involved but the pig is 

committed. 

For us commitment means doing your best. Like 

the receptionist described earlier we will only 

succeed as a team and a business if we all do 

our best. 

We’ll show this by making the best products 

that we possibly can. By delivering a quality of 

service, which is more than people will expect – 

and certainly get - from a competitor. 

As the market leader we must be committed to 

leading the industry, not just in great products 

but in how we sell, fit and maintain those 

products. Those not dealing with customers 

everyday must be committed to our colleagues 

in delivering the very best. 

By putting ourselves in the shoes of our 

suppliers, our business partners, our colleagues 

and asking ourselves what could we be doing 

right now, above expectation that would amaze 

them? 

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03 

EMPOWERMENT 

Remember our receptionist story? Well she 

couldn’t have delivered this level of service 

without knowing that she was empowered to do 

so. Staff at the Ritz Carlton Hotels are allowed 

to spend up to $2,000 without any manager 

approval if it is to resolve a Guest’s complaint – 

that’s empowerment. Thomas Sanderson has a 

strong history in empowerment - our Designers 

are already running their own businesses. We 

can’t do that for everyone, nor can we spend 

$2,000 on a problem, but we must make 

sure the empowerment ethos is passed on to 

everyone. 

Empowerment is something we develop over 

time. If you have been working in a factory for 

20 years and you are told that tomorrow you 

are running your own business – that’s not 

empowerment, that’s getting fired! 

To introduce empowerment managers and 

supervisors must commit to less supervising and 

directing. Those being managed must commit 

to following all of the values of the business.. 

When we all buy into the vision, when everyone 

believes that integrity and commitment 

are important, then we’ll do better work, be 

happier, more successful and will be rewarded 

accordingly. 

More importantly our customers benefit by 

dealing with people who can answer their 

questions quickly and confidently, who are 

trusted and allowed to act on their own initiative 

and common sense and get things done. 

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04 

INSPIRATION 

Think about any leading brand and they deliver 

more than just a product. Lots of places sell 

coffee but when you hear a Costa fan arguing 

with a Starrbucks fan you might think they were 

football teams! 

Thomas Sanderson must be the same. We must 

do more than make window blinds and shutters. 

We don’t just offer cleaning and maintenance 

services. We make peoples’ homes more 

beautiful, more valuable and more enjoyable to 

live in. And as a result, we create happiness. 

It’s also having inspirational ideas about ways 

in which we can improve our systems and 

processes. And because we’re an empowering 

company, we can be confident we’ll be heard, if 

not always agreed with. 

Inspiration is contagious. We should inspire 

others and ourselves, to create a vibrant, 

stimulating place to work, whatever you do here. 

Give our brand buzz and passion. 

How we inspire is delivering more than was 

asked for. We are not just manufacturers but 

craftsmen (and women). We aren’t just sales 

people but designers, do we spend as much time 

reviewing interior design magazines as we do on 

completing our spreadsheets? 

This isn’t only about producing beautiful 

materials – although they are clearly the 

obvious focus. Inspiration and innovation can be 

found and generated everywhere. 

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CHAPTER 05 

OUR PERSONALITY


When we talk about brand’s 

personality we mean how it 

expresses and represents itself. The 

strongest brands usually have welldefined 

personalities. And as with 

people, we are drawn to brands who 

have characteristics we admire and 

find we can relate to. 

Just as some people are attracted 

to different personality types, so 

it is with brands. We can’t expect 

to be liked or found appealing by 

everyone. 

But by being true to where we came 

from with our origins back in 1991, 

and just as importantly, where we are 

going in the future, we can project a 

company personality which is true 

to ourselves and consistent with our 

values. 

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01 

STYLISH 

We are in the business of craftsmanship and 

interior design. Good looks matter – it’s why 

people are coming to us to enhance their homes. 

So we’ll make sure that everything about 

Thomas Sanderson will be attractively stylish. 

This doesn’t mean being flashy or flamboyant. 

But rather making sure that wherever our logo 

appears, it does so against a tasteful backdrop 

– whether modern and leading edge or classical 

and timeless. 

We’ll take more pride in our surroundings. This 

doesn’t mean we have to spend lots more money 

or dress up like Laurence Llewelyn Bowen to 

come to the office or clear our workspaces every 

night. But it does mean it is down to all of us 

to reflect how the brand wants to appear in the 

space around us. 

02 

EXPERT 

No one wants to drift off under anesthetic and 

hear the surgeon mutter that he’s never done 

this operation before. We want to feel we are in 

knowledgeable, experienced hands. 

At Thomas Sanderson we are proud of our 

expertise, of our attention to detail, of our 

accumulated wisdom. Our products are hand 

made by craftsmen. We offer a precision, 

bespoke service. 

And we also welcome new ideas, from new 

people who come in and challenge our way 

of doing things – especially if they lead to 

improvements. 

No one knows more about blinds and shutters 

than we do. No one understands customers’ 

desires and needs in home décor in this area 

better than us. 

It’s our passion. It’s why we are the best and will 

continue to be the best. 

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03 

BRITISH 

Some brands have a nationality, it doesn’t 

mean that’s where they trade or the nationality 

of their workforce but it does mean that the 

brand shares a personality with a, slightly 

stereotypical, view of the country. 

IKEA is clearly Swedish; if you were unsure 

about Audi the line ‘vorsprung durch Tecnik’ 

places the brand as clearly German, in the same 

way Channel is obviously French. As businesses 

these are all global operations, they may be 

owned by larger corporations or have moved 

their head offices off shore for tax reasons 

but the brands themselves retain all of their 

nationalistic characteristics. 

At Thomas Sanderson we are unashamedly 

British, this is not a political statement, we 

believe our traditional craftsmanship combined 

with the inspirational ingenuity and creative 

flair is a combination that sits perfectly with our 

national characteristics. 

Should we decide to expand internationally we 

believe these characteristics; a belief in quality, 

in craftsmanship, a sense of style and a sense 

of humour would make us valued and respected 

the world over. 

04 

WARM & PERSONAL 

People buy from people they like. These 

days it is very easy for a company to become 

impersonal, especially as it gets bigger. 

Thomas Sanderson has always felt like a 

family company (just look at how many family 

members we employ!) We are a human, warm 

personal company. 

It’s reflected in our behaviours; we like to hire 

colleagues who have these characteristics. Our 

customers value this, they want a personal touch 

and to trust us as people before we get invited 

into their homes. 

A phone call from Thomas Sanderson is an 

opportunity to create a relationship. When 

a blind or shutter goes out of our doors, it’s 

got the stamp of the person who made it. Our 

design consultants are a unique part of our offer, 

tailoring everything to the individual impression 

that a customer wants to project and helping 

them to find that impression if they need 

inspiration. 

We’re one team, not a collection of teams. Like 

families, we won’t always get along or see eye to 

eye, but we belong together. 

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CHAPTER 06 

OUR BRAND IDEA


As we said at the beginning if we are to 

summarise all of our brand vision, values and 

personality into a simple phrase then that 

phrase is: 

‘SEE THE DIFFERENCE’ 

It has relevance throughout our business, and 

means different things to different groups. 

For our most important audience, our customers, 

if they can see the difference in every contact 

with us they will buy more products from us. 

An initial sale of a set of blinds in the bedroom 

can become shutters for the living room, then 

the kitchen and bathrooms – then blinds for the 

conservatory. If this takes ten years to complete, 

or the customer moves home it will be time to 

start all over again. If our average sale is £3,000 

the lifetime value of a single customer could be 

£30,000, and if they recommend three more 

lifetime customers that could become over 

£100,000 per customer! 

But only if they truly can ‘See the Difference’ 

They’ll see the difference in the way they are 

contacted – personal, informed, informative, but 

never pushy. 

They’ll see the difference in the questions we 

ask – the more we know and understand our 

customer the better we can help them. 

They’ll see the difference in our technology – 

for example our new app which will enable them 

to visualise their home when it’s been given the 

Thomas Sanderson treatment or our web chat 

facility that gives personalised digital contact. 

They’ll see the difference with our designers. 

Trained internal décor experts, not just order 

takers, who will be able to guide and advise on 

aesthetic effect. 

They’ll see the difference in our products – high 

quality, built and guaranteed to last, perfect to 

the last detail of the stitching or joinery. 

They’ll see the difference in our delivery – far 

quicker than companies who are sourcing mass 

produced, inferior materials from overseas. 

They’ll see the difference in our fitting service – 

bespoke and with millimetre precision. 

They’ll see the difference in their homes when 

they are transformed by one of our quality 

products. 

And most of all they will see the difference in 

our people. 

These differences aren’t always immediately 

apparent, so we must be constantly emphasising 

and reminding everyone why we are different, 

better – and above all worth the money. 

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‘See the difference’ will characterise everything 

we do. By living our values and delivering our 

mission, we will be a company where everyone 

can see the difference. Whether it’s a prospective 

partner, a new or existing supplier, people who 

come for an interview. 

As we said at the start, brands are built on 

promises. And a promise that isn’t delivered is 

just an empty one. 

We’re embarking on a journey of transformation. 

Everyone is responsible, everyone is involved, 

everyone has a part to play. Remember the 

receptionist making tea for the founder of Yo 

Sushi. She wasn’t just making tea she was part of 

a bigger picture. 

The next time you do something for a colleague 

or a customer remember the tea story. How can 

you deliver it to Thomas Sanderson standards? 

Tea can be delivered in a chipped mug, a 

polystyrene cup or fine china. It can come with 

milk and sugar already added or with separate 

bowls. 

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WHY IS 

THOMAS 

SANDERSON 

LIKE TEA? 

IT’S A SIMPLE PRODUCT THAT 

CAN BE DELIVERED IN A PREMIUM 

WAY. 

IT REQUIRES AN UNDERSTANDING 

OF YOUR CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS 

BEFORE YOU CAN MAKE IT. 

WHEN DONE WELL, WITH CARE 

AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL, IT IS 

A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE. 

LOTS OF PEOPLE TAKE THE 

PRODUCT AND THE WAY IT IS 

MADE FOR GRANTED 

IT IS UNDENIABLY BRITISH 

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