Van-tastic enterprise
Posted on: 02/11/2007
Van-based franchises offer the possibility of a lucrative and viable business for franchisees, without the need for fixed premises. It’s an attractive proposition: pay a fee, learn the skills required to operate the business, take to the road and start earning money. But from the franchisor’s point of view, there are many more costs and considerations that go into making a van-based business a national success. Here, Matthew Pigott interviews one franchisee with excellent credentials when it comes to franchising van-style.
Fit-ex David Jones, founder of Fit-ex, the UK’s only curtain and blind fitting franchise, started out working on his own, with a stocked van and plenty of experience. Realising that the demand the type of service he offered far outstripped supply, he decided to franchise his operation. Since launching Fit-ex two years ago, he has six franchisees working at full capacity., founder of Fit-ex, the UK’s only curtain and blind fitting franchise, started out working on his own, with a stocked van and plenty of experience. Realising that the demand the type of service he offered far outstripped supply, he decided to franchise his operation. Since launching Fit-ex two years ago, he has six franchisees working at full capacity.
Says David: ‘Initially, I started out working from home. I didn’t want a retail outlet because of the high overheads so I decided to run my business from a van. The prospect of doing this was a real challenge, and getting the image right so people would see it as a good, reliable and professional service was really important to me. I discovered that, with a van-based operation, image is everything. I mean, how can you make a van look sexy and appealing? It’s tough, but you have to do it because your van is representative of everything you do and everything you offer – effectively, it’s your shop front.’
Since the nervy days of taking to the road, armed with no more than a batch of curtain and blind merchandise, and the requisite power tools, David has moved into building up the infrastructure of his business, first franchising it, then recruiting new franchisees and develop the network. He is also the main trainer in the business, bringing new recruits up to speed on how to fit blinds, curtains and pelmets. With all of his recent experience, what have been the greatest challenges?
‘The hardest thing,’ says David, ‘has been getting the right kind of franchisee on board. You’ve got to find individuals who are ambitious and who don’t mind working alone. It can be a bit soulless working in solitude all of the time, and it takes a certain type of person to overcome this. But the good thing about being part of a growing franchise is that help and support are only a phone call away. For example, right now the six Fit-ex franchisees I have call each other all the time, either for advice or just for a chat. You don’t get that sense of camaraderie if you’re a one-man-band outfit in the most accurate sense of the word. They can also talk to me, and it also helps that I’ve been there, seen it and done it, working on my own from a van with nobody but myself to rely on. Because of my own experience, I’ve got a good idea of the kind of person that will succeed in running a van-based business.’
David also believes it’s important to highlight the importance of being organised. Fitting blinds and curtains, he points out, isn’t reactive in the sense of an emergency call out service, and franchisees need encouragement to keep the bookings coming in and avoid running into cash flow problems.
‘Bookings come in a maximum on four-weeks in advance,’ he says, ‘so your best hope is for a four-week turnaround. If thing’s go quiet, individual franchisees have got to get up and do more local marketing. Fortunately, all of my existing franchisees are very proactive and do extremely well as a result. Most have reached full capacity with one van, and the next stage for them will be to take on additional fitters to develop their owner-operator businesses into a multi-van territories.’
As franchisees reach maturity within their territories, David believes that the wider network will benefit from their growth, and hopes that the best performers will eventually move into the training and development side of things.
‘Right now I’d say that, even though my some of my franchisees are entering a developed stage within their territories, the Fit-ex franchise, at just two-years, is still in its infancy. Because of this, the infrastructure of the business is fine for now, but once Fit-ex has 15 or more functioning territories, the support infrastructure and back end systems will need to be developed to accommodate changing logistics. For instance, while it’s always important for a franchise network, regardless of its size, to have frequent and open lines of communication, this will become increasingly important in the next few years. Because there are only six franhcisees at the moment, it’s enough to contact one another by phone calls, emails and post. But soon we’ll need to have an intranet service in place, with a forum and blogs so that the franchisees can post ideas, seek advice or have a virtual chat. Using sophisticated technology to its maximum potential will be one of the best ways to enable people in different parts of the country to "get together".
So what do the next five years hold in store for Fit-ex?
‘We have six territories at the moment: Guilford; Redhill, Reigate; Oxford; Hertfordshire; and Northern Ireland. My goal this year is to get more franchise owners in specific geographical areas so that we have true national coverage. And, once we hit about 15 franchisees, to get a bespoke software system for operational development in place. From quality control mechanisms and vehicle tracking systems to centralised administration and accounting, there are lots of things that need to be considered, and implemented when the time is ready.’
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