Are You Ready to Own a Franchise? 10 Questions | NZ
Are You Ready to Own a Franchise? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself
Owning your own business can be incredibly rewarding.
But it's not for everyone.
And neither is franchising.
An established franchise can provide you with a brand, products, systems, experience and support that you wouldn't necessarily have if you started completely from scratch.
But there's something a franchisor can't provide:
Your drive.
At Hygiene Direct, we're looking for people who want to build something of their own – and understand that the size of the business they ultimately create will be strongly influenced by their own persistence.
If you're considering owning a franchise in New Zealand, here are 10 questions worth asking yourself.
1. Are You Comfortable Approaching New Customers?
Let's start with an important one.
Are you prepared to sell?
A Hygiene Direct franchise isn't a shop where you simply open the doors each morning and wait for customers to walk in.
Building the business requires prospecting.
That might mean picking up the phone, visiting a business, introducing yourself, following up a lead or asking an existing customer for a referral.
Head Office can provide support, products, systems and guidance.
But we can't make those calls for you.
If the idea of actively finding customers excites you rather than frightens you, that's a good start.
2. What Do You Do When Someone Says No?
This might be even more important than the first question.
Because prospects will say no.
Some will already have suppliers.
Some won't be interested today.
Some won't answer your calls.
Some might tell you to come back in six months.
What happens next?
Successful selling isn't about never hearing no.
It's about not allowing a no to stop you.
Perhaps that particular prospect isn't ready.
Fine.
Who's next?
Persistence is one of the qualities we value most in a Hygiene Direct franchisee.
3. Will You Follow Up When You Say You Will?
Business success isn't always about doing spectacular things.
Often it's about consistently doing the small things properly.
If you tell a customer you'll call on Tuesday, do you call on Tuesday?
If you promise to send a quote, do you send it?
If someone asks you to contact them in three months, do you have a system to make sure you do?
Customers notice reliability.
And when you're building a business based around long-term customer relationships, doing what you say you're going to do matters.
4. Do You Enjoy Building Relationships?
We're not simply looking for people who can make a sale.
We want people who can keep a customer.
That's particularly important because many Hygiene Direct products are consumables.
Customers regularly need toilet paper, paper towels, rubbish bags, cleaning chemicals, gloves and other commercial cleaning and hygiene supplies.
The first order isn't necessarily the most important one.
It's the beginning of the relationship.
Look after the customer and you have the opportunity to earn their next order.
And the one after that.
That's how repeat customers are built.
5. Can You Motivate Yourself?
When you own your own business, there's no manager standing over you telling you to make another sales call.
Nobody is checking whether you've visited enough prospects that day.
That's one of the freedoms of business ownership.
It's also one of the responsibilities.
You need to be able to get up and do what needs to be done even when nobody else is making you do it.
Some days will be fantastic.
Others won't.
The question is whether you can keep doing the things that build the business regardless.
6. Do You Want Your Persistence to Determine Your Potential?
In employment, someone else generally determines your remuneration structure.
A Hygiene Direct franchise works differently.
There is no predetermined income ceiling.
We're not putting you into a salary band and telling you that's as far as you can go.
Want a bigger business?
Keep prospecting.
Keep winning customers.
Keep looking after them.
Then keep building.
Your actual earnings will depend on sales, margins, operating expenses, customer retention and many other factors. No particular income is guaranteed.
But there's no artificial ceiling imposed by Hygiene Direct on how big you're allowed to build your business.
Our highest-performing franchisee consistently earned approximately $180,000 per year while continuing to grow.
That wasn't a maximum.
It was simply what he had built at that stage.
7. Can You Follow a Proven System?
This is an important question for anyone considering franchising.
If you want complete freedom to reinvent every part of a business, a franchise may not be the right model for you.
Part of the reason for buying a franchise is that you don't have to create everything from scratch.
Hygiene Direct already has established products, suppliers, branding, systems and operating experience.
Franchisees have the opportunity to build their own businesses within that framework.
That means bringing your own energy, personality and relationships to the business while also being prepared to work within the Hygiene Direct system.
If you want to own a business but don't feel the need to reinvent everything yourself, franchising may suit you well.
8. Are You Prepared to Think Long Term?
Building a worthwhile business takes time.
You probably won't wake up on Monday, make five sales calls and have the business of your dreams by Friday.
The real opportunity comes from consistency.
Imagine the effect of prospecting every week.
Winning customers.
Keeping them.
Then adding more.
Month after month.
Year after year.
Our first two Hygiene Direct franchisees joined us approximately 10 years ago.
Both are still with us today.
That's the type of long-term relationship we're interested in building.
9. Do You Want to Build an Asset – Not Just Earn an Income?
This is one of the biggest reasons people choose business ownership.
When you're employed, you can build a fantastic customer base for your employer.
But when you eventually leave, the customers remain with the company.
When you're building your own franchise, your effort is going towards something you own.
If you successfully build a strong business with repeat customers and ongoing sales, you may ultimately create an asset somebody else wants to buy.
We've recently seen that happen with our Northland franchise.
It was placed on the market and sold within approximately two months.
And the purchasers were two existing Hygiene Direct customers.
They knew Hygiene Direct from the customer's perspective, saw the opportunity and decided they wanted to own the business themselves.
Building a franchise can therefore be about two things:
the income you generate while you own it – and the asset you potentially create for the future.
10. Are You Prepared to Take Responsibility for Your Results?
This is probably the most important question of all.
Franchising gives you support.
It doesn't remove responsibility.
Hygiene Direct can provide:
- an established brand;
- products;
- supplier relationships;
- business systems;
- Head Office support;
- sales guidance; and
- mentoring from people who understand the business.
Our Sales Director has even sat on the other side of the table.
He was previously our highest-performing Hygiene Direct franchisee, built his own successful business, sold it back to Head Office and now helps our franchisees grow theirs.
That's a considerable amount of experience available to you.
But there's one thing none of us can do.
We can't want success more than you do.
The franchisee still needs to prospect.
Follow up.
Build relationships.
Look after customers.
Solve problems.
And keep going.
How Did You Answer?
If you read those 10 questions and thought:
Yes. That's me.
Then perhaps we should talk.
We're not looking for everyone.
We're looking for people who understand that owning a business means taking responsibility for building it.
You don't necessarily need cleaning industry experience.
We can teach you about products and systems.
We're far more interested in whether you're good with people, prepared to prospect, willing to follow a proven system and persistent enough to keep building.
Because the Hygiene Direct opportunity is actually quite simple:
We provide the platform.
You build the business.
How Big Could You Build It?
That's entirely different from asking what salary we're offering.
There isn't one.
You're building your own business.
There is no predetermined income ceiling, and there is no guarantee of what you'll earn.
What you achieve will depend substantially on what you're prepared to put into it.
Win a customer.
Look after them.
Keep them.
Then find another.
And keep going.
If that sounds more exciting than waiting for somebody else to decide what your next pay rise should be, perhaps you're ready to take the next step.
Explore Hygiene Direct Franchise Opportunities
If you're considering owning a franchise in New Zealand and these 10 questions sound like you, we'd like to hear from you.
He waka eke noa – we're all in this together.
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- What Should You Look for When Buying a Franchise in NZ?
- Why Repeat Customers Matter When Buying a Franchise
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Think You Could Be a Hygiene Direct Franchisee?
If you're persistent, enjoy dealing with customers and want to use those abilities to build an asset of your own, take a closer look at the opportunity.
Own Your Business with Full Head Office Support – Hygiene Direct
He waka eke noa – we're all in this together.