BusinessWings: Cris, what made you think about franchising in the first place?
Cris Hill: In all honesty? The simple fact was that I wanted more for my efforts.
I’d been at Yardley, the cosmetics and fragrance group, for almost 20 years and worked my way up from an entry-level sales and marketing role to the position of general manager. A sales-oriented environment can be stimulating in its own right, and I gained some valuable insights into marketing, logistics, accountancy, distribution, sales strategies – all the essential elements of running a successful business.
But what I wasn’t getting was a good enough return on the personal investment I’d made into the business over the years. It was a job, but it wasn’t working for me.
BW: You wanted more personal gain, better financial rewards?
CH: Yes. However, rather than set up my own company, I decided that taking on a franchise was a good alternative. That way, I’d benefit from the franchisor’s safety net – their support system, the bit I was paying for – but still be free to make the most of my experiences to date, manage my own business, grow it, and reap those greater rewards from my own efforts.
BW: Where did you start then, was it with Jani-King?
CH: No, not at all! I looked at many, many options before signing on the dotted line with Jani-King. When I first moved away from Yardley, I took on a poorly-managed outlet in a signage and graphic reproduction network.
Initially, that was a straightforward business to turn around. Common sense, with some basic marketing – not difficult.
Five years on and it was really flourishing, but I found the barrier to growth for that sector turned out to be the people I was working with: young, creative individuals, for whom reliability was more of a concept than a reality!
Jani-King were happy to share figures – real figures – showing how the business works, and what I could expect to make in the first and second year
BW: What was it that appealed about Jani-King, a management franchise?
CH: Jani-King ticked my boxes on a number of levels. In the first place, I know from experience that the success of any business depends on having systems in place to manage a labour force effectively.
Jani-King’s a people business. I’d be wholly responsible for getting the best from those people, from that resource, and systems they have in place would help me do that.
Then, when I looked into it a bit more, I realised that the contract cleaning sector is somewhat untapped. There are some well-known big players, yes, and there are some man-with-a-van enterprises out there working on a really local level, but there are very few businesses large enough to service blue-chip clients but still small enough to nurture the one-to-one relationships that make a company truly successful. People buy people, after all.
The third factor was the fact that Jani-King encourage their franchisees to take a planned approach to growing their own business. There was none of this “You’ll make a million next week!” fluff.
It was all about you concentrating on the day-to-day operations of a business according to a tried-and-tested model. Right from the start, I knew that I’d be focusing on people development and leveraging efficiencies in the working environment, not the parrot-fashion sales patter that some franchises want you to repeat. That really doesn’t work.
Sales and marketing? Yes, that’s involved too, but for me, that was a commercial initiative that I could concentrate on over time, once my business was established.
What I needed was a proven business model, in a growth sector, with the potential to deliver results that reflected my efforts. This wasn’t a throwaway investment on my part.
The franchise opportunity warranted a serious commitment of funds and an appreciation of the need for working capital in the first year. But then, I think of myself as a serious businessman. Jani-King fitted the bill.
Finally, Jani-King were happy to share figures – real figures – showing how the business works, and what I could expect to make in the first and second year. Now? I’m looking at 20% profit margins and turnover in excess of my expectations.
The next huge milestone will be a £1m turnover – and that’s not bad for a business that’s been up and running for less than 18 months.
BW: So – did you approach them or did they approach you?
CH: Neither, to start with. Again, this wasn’t a quick decision on my part.
I’m a seasoned senior manager, so I wanted to find out as much as I could about the company I’d be investing in. I spoke to current franchisees, customers, high street clients, people with experience working with Jani-King over the years, and it was an interesting exercise. Not all of the feedback was good.
BW: During your research what did you learn?
CH: There was a lot of criticism on the internet. As far as I could tell, it all came from disgruntled employees.
Well, that’s the same in any business, big or small. You’ll rarely find people discussing how wonderful their ex-boss was!
More importantly, I couldn’t find a single piece of negative feedback from a client. Not one.
I took my time. This was right at the start of the credit crunch, so I was in no rush to make an investment without being sure it would be a good one, and did my research thoroughly. Not one piece of negative feedback from their client base existed – which meant they were doing something really right.
BW: After the research phase came recruitment. How did that go?
CH: Since joining Jani-King I’ve realised that just as I was coming on board, the company was undergoing a huge transition. For a long time they worked with a large number of franchisees, but these days clients’ higher standards mean that we focus more on high-quality and efficiency.
So the induction period was slightly different to the one new partners go through today. What’s been brilliant, though, is that I’ve become part of the steering group that champions those changes.
BW: So at the beginning, was it easy to hit the ground running?
CH: Yes – and no! I’ll explain. My induction phase took over six months – getting to know the business, meeting other franchisees and hearing their stories, learning practical skills, then moving away from the ‘classroom’ into the field.
At the time, Jani-King used a team of in-house auditors to monitor our first few months working ‘solo’. That’s a daunting concept, particularly if, like me, you’re under the gaze of people with less operations experience than yourself, on a much bigger scale!
Some people are incredibly capable in one aspect of their work lives, but by using the profiler, Jani-King get a picture of the person as a whole
But then I realised that these guys weren’t there to find fault, they were there to help me protect what’s most important – a business model that works.
Anyone considering getting into franchising will see this, time and again. You want it to be, “Tell me, then let me”. Or in other words, “give me the tools and show me how the business works, then let me develop those concepts, choose the ones that work best and discard the ones I’m less excited about.”
But you also want it to work. If you’re going out on your own, you often can’t afford for it to fail. So, like me, you have to be flexible.
You have to really embrace things like auditors and new processes; thought leadership activities; innovative sales strategies; and perhaps approaches to running a business that you might not have come across before – in your previous life! You must be open to the fact that hey, these guys are making it work, on a large scale – so you can too.
BW: Can you give us an example?
CH: Certainly. Jani-King uses a well-known profiling tool offered by Thomas International, to help them identify strengths and weaknesses in individuals who would like to be franchisees. Some people are incredibly capable in one aspect of their work lives – be it as a finance director or in operations management – but by using the profiler, Jani-King get a picture of the person as a whole.
They can see how in-house tools and development programmes could best help that individual grow, help their business flourish and thereby bring the next level of success back into the heart of the business.
It’s a pioneering approach to growing a strong franchise network, and it’s that kind of innovative insight that differentiates us from other businesses. I have to say that it would have been easy to be sceptical about its introduction, but as a network of franchisees, we’re now using the same tool to help us find ideal candidates for positions within our own businesses, perhaps at a regional or senior manager level.
That’s what you need in business – support from experts, to keep you at the top of your game.
BW: That all sounds very positive. What about the negatives?
CH: At Jani-King? OK, this isn’t high fashion. It’s not fragrance. And it’s not fast cars – at least not to start with!
Our customer base respects us for being hard-working individuals in what can sometimes be an unglamorous environment. We clean buildings, after all.
It’s about dirt, and it’s about hygiene. We’re measured on a day-to-day business – how many other businesses do you know that get audited once every 24 hours?!
And we have to pay attention to detail, work hard at building personal relationships, and maintain a balanced perspective over what’s important.
In the first three to six months of your time here, that means following the rules and working hard. After that, you still follow the rules – because they work and bring in the business – but it becomes much, much easier to see how you want to develop your business, which areas will benefit from your personal experience and how you can contribute to the business as a whole.
Two of our franchisees turn up to our monthly steering-group meetings in Porsches. In less than two years they’re on their way to having businesses turning over in excess of £2m per year – and after just 18 months, so am I!”
BW: Finally, Cris, what advice would you give to someone thinking about going into franchising?
CH: Be prepared, in every sense. Ask yourself what you want to achieve, and don’t be afraid to ask questions – directly – to find out the answers to your questions.
This isn’t for everyone – you’ve got to be serious about working hard and reaping the benefits. Personally, I think you need to have had some experience in running a business, or managing at a senior level.
Yes, you could learn on the job, but it’s your personal working experiences that will help enhance the business model you’re buying into, whichever one you choose.
A franchise, a really good franchise opportunity, is not something you pay for and just wait for the money to start rolling in. You’ll have to work, and work hard.
But if you want personal reward and financial gain that reflects your efforts, finding its way into your pocket, not someone else’s, Jani-King’s definitely a winner on that count.
Read an interview with an eco-cleaning franchise founder
