In 1991 a business was set up in a cramped terraced block on Bradford's Sackville Street.

The firm was founded with one aim - to help people who struggled with stairs.

Today, Acorn Stairlifts boasts that it is selling tens of thousands of its products across the globe.

Acorn's founder John Jakes, who is now the company's managing director, said the biggest headache in the early days was finding enough stairlifts to sell to the public.

He explained: "It was fairly obvious to me that this was a household appliance just like a washing machine or a TV set and as such it needed positioning and marketing appropriately.

"It also had mass market appeal, which nobody seemed to have realised.

"We recycled stairlifts made by a variety of other manufacturers, but quickly became victims of our own success.

"Our order books were overflowing and it became a real challenge to source suitable equipment - be that new or second-hand."

Acorn faced a choice - either go into stairlift manufacturing, or stay small.

The decision to design and manufacture stairlifts brought with it a new set of challenges, but Mr Jakes knew it was the only way to tackle the problem of purchasing stock from market competitors.

He said: "Naturally, we were able to start with a clean sheet, as far as the design was concerned.

"We knew all the shortcomings of our competitors' lifts, because we were living with them."

The firm's new design caused a few shockwaves in an industry which was only just waking up to the need for a professional marketing approach.

Mr Jakes added: "From the minute the Acorn Superglide hit the market, we were in the driving seat.

"Market domination of the direct business (selling to the user, rather than a dealer) in the UK was our first objective."

By using a variety of innovative sales and marketing strategies, Acorn aimed to set itself apart from the competition.

Chris Roper, Acorn's sales and marketing director, said: "It was imperative that our customers understood the differences when comparing a volume manufacturer to a second-hand trader.

"We accept that this is where we started out, but there's no real future in the refurbished business, particularly with manufacturing players like us in the market."

Rapid, but controlled growth necessitated a move to a much larger manufacturing facility in Shipley, which is also home to the company's service and installation division, Stairlift Services Ltd.

Here, more than 1,000 units per month are assembled from components manufactured at other Acorn owned plants throughout the UK.

And unusually in this day and age, all of the components are British sourced - a claim other manufacturers would find hard to boast about.

The sales and administrative departments of the firm recently moved into offices in Steeton, on the outskirts of Keighley.

Mr Roper added: "Pivotal to our success was a thorough understanding of the needs and motivations of our customers.

"We gained this knowledge quite simply through qualitative market research - we asked our customers about their purchase experiences, collated this data from a questionnaire sent to every customer who bought from us - and crunched the numbers."

The numbers proved to be very revealing. He added: "We know what triggers a purchase. We know why our prospective customers make the decisions they do and we know what they expect from their supplier."

Several years of growth and profitability allowed Acorn to implement aggressive and award-winning export plans, initially in Europe and later encompassing North America, Japan and Australia.

Today, the Acorn Superglide is the best selling stairlift in the world.

One marketing initiative last year saw the firm use 1,500 British 'bobbies'.

The life-size cardboard cut-out coppers helped the firm establish itself on the other side of the Atlantic.

Carrying the message 'Don't Accept Lifts From Strangers' the move proved a massive hit with US customers and gave Acorn a firm foothold in the country.

Mr Roper explained: "The cut-out coppers were the idea of our Bradford-based design agency, Pure, and we used them for the first time at a trade exhibition in New Orleans.

"It resulted in more than one million dollars in orders almost immediately and has led to the establishment of a dedicated US office and sales team offering British-built peace of mind."

Acorn has seen the success of its products lead to financial reward - with a turnover running into tens of millions of pounds. Its UK-based employees are also frequently seconded to international projects.

"One of our Bradford-based sales supervisors is in the States right now, assisting in the implementation of a new sales initiative.

"She'll be out there for a month and it will be a great learning experience for her", said Mr Jakes.

The company, which has sales and distribution centres in Orlando and Toronto, is about to open up shop in Sydney.

In Japan, a partnership with a mobility equipment distributor has made the Acorn Superglide the fastest growing stairlift model in the country.

But it is the US which the firm says has the biggest growth potential.

Matt Harper, Acorn's general manager in Orlando, who relocated there from Baildon last year, said: "The US market potential for our stairlift is particularly exciting.

"The 'baby-boomer' phenomenon impacts the mobility sector here very dramatically.

"We have concentrated on establishing a large and stable network of around 250 dealers, because this country is just too big to mirror our direct sales operation back home".

"In 12 short months, we have become the second largest supplier of straight stairlifts in North America. In another year, we'll be number one".

Steering a company from modest local beginnings to multi-national status, employing 450 staff scattered around the globe - and all in the space of just over a decade, has been no mean feat.

When asked how he achieved it, Mr Jakes said: "There's really no substitute for hard graft and a good understanding of the customers needs and desires.

"We work to a plan - nobody and nothing is bigger than the plan.

"We have some very talented and highly motivated people at Acorn.

"We promote from within the organisation whenever possible and offer variety and challenge to our staff."

And the future?

Without hesitation Mr Jakes said: "Acorn will be the biggest stairlift brand on the planet.

"We still have a lot to accomplish, new markets, product innovation and marketing experimentation, but we are not easily distracted from our plan."

From small acorns...