A year on, still using what she learned.
How Julie Woolley turned the Seven Steps to Sales Success into a community pub that's performing — and a daily playbook she still leans on a year later.
The challenge
Running a community pub is one of the hardest small-business jobs in the UK. The hours are long, the margins are tight, the team is usually small, and the planning that drives commercial growth gets pushed aside by the operational reality of every single shift.
For most independent licensees, the gap between knowing they could do more and having the time, structure or framework to actually do it is the hardest gap to close.
Like most operators stepping into a pub, Julie Woolley wasn't short of effort, community pubs run on graft. What she wanted was a structured way to grow the business commercially, build a stronger customer base, and run the pub more strategically without losing what makes it a great community local. The Seven Steps to Sales Success gave her that structure.
What we did
Through Admiral Taverns' licensee training programme, Julie joined the Seven Steps to Sales Success, LJD Pub Coach's flagship sales building course. The programme works through seven sequential steps that turn marketing strategy into pub floor activity
Step 1 — Know your pub and your competition. Defining where the Harp Inn sits in the Neston market, who the competitors really are, and what the opportunities are.
Step 2 — Know your customers. Profiling who actually drinks at the Harp Inn, what they value, and how to deepen the connection with the people who matter most.
Step 3 — How does your pub look and feel? Pub standards, atmosphere and the details that turn a visit into an experience.
Step 4 — Sell the right things. Building a drink and food range that fits the audience and earns its keep.
Step 5 — Selling at the right price. Balancing value, perception and margin without losing the local feel.
Step 6 — Build a great hospitality team. The people side: recruiting, training and motivating the team that delivers every day.
Step 7 — Create reasons to visit and grow sales. Smart, low-cost promotions, events and community engagement that build regulars.
Julie completed the programme and then, crucially, kept using it.
The outcome — performing, and still building
A year on from completing Seven Steps, the Harp Inn is trading well, the community presence is strong, and Julie is still applying the techniques she learned across her week. That last detail “the retention of the training” is the part that most matters.
Most training courses, in most industries, get completed, certified, and quietly forgotten. The Seven Steps was designed not to be one of those courses. The work goes back into the pub the same week. The templates and tools sit on the office wall, not in a drawer.
In Julie's case, the result is a community pub that's commercially solid and continuing to build. Proof that the right training, applied consistently, compounds over time.
What Julie says
"I took part in the Seven Steps to Sales Success last year and I'm still using techniques I was taught. Great coaching and really interesting."
Julie Woolley Licensee, The Harp Inn, Neston
What this means for you
If you're an independent licensee and you're at the point where you know the pub could do more but the day to day is crowding out the strategy, the Seven Steps to Sales Success was built for you.
Two days of structured training with Leigh. Seven steps. A complete sales-building system you can take back to your pub the same week. And, if Julie's experience is anything to go by, a system you'll still be using a year later.
You can try the introduction modules of all our courses for free, to see if it's a fit before you commit.
Want what Julie has?
Try the Seven Steps to Sales Success free!
Start with the introduction modules and see if it's the right fit for your pub.
Or read the full Admiral Taverns partnership story