Starting Your Own Business with Support | Franchise NZ
Starting Your Own Business with Training Wheels: The Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise
Starting your own business can be exciting.
It can also be daunting.
Suddenly you're responsible for finding customers, generating sales, making decisions and building something that produces an income.
And if you're starting completely from scratch, you're also trying to work out everything else at the same time.
What should I sell?
Where do I buy it?
What systems do I need?
How do I price it?
How do I find customers?
What happens when I make a mistake?
That's why we sometimes think of a Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise as:
Starting your own business with training wheels.
You're still riding the bike.
You're still doing the pedalling.
And ultimately, you're responsible for where you take it.
But you're not learning completely on your own.
You Own Your Own Business
Let's start with an important distinction.
A Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise isn't employment.
You're not becoming a Hygiene Direct salesperson on a salary.
You're building your own business.
That means taking responsibility for prospecting, developing customer relationships, winning accounts and growing your sales.
It also means your effort is being directed towards something that belongs to you.
The customers you develop become part of the business you're building.
And unlike employment, there isn't a predetermined salary band or artificial income ceiling.
How far you take the business depends substantially on what you're prepared to put into it.
So Where Do the “Training Wheels” Come In?
Think about starting an independent business completely from scratch.
Before you've made your first sale, you may need to develop a brand, decide what to sell, find suppliers, negotiate arrangements, create systems, work out pricing and learn an industry you may know very little about.
With a Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise, you're not beginning with a blank sheet of paper.
You're joining an established New Zealand business.
The brand exists.
The products exist.
The suppliers exist.
The systems exist.
The experience exists.
And importantly:
there are people there to help you learn how to use them.
Those are your training wheels.
We Can Teach You the Products
One of the things that can put people off starting a business in a new industry is believing they need to be an expert before they begin.
You don't.
You don't necessarily need years of commercial cleaning industry experience to become a Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchisee.
Product knowledge can be learned.
We can help you understand what we sell, what different products are used for and how to identify appropriate solutions for customers.
That's part of the value of joining an established system rather than trying to learn an entire industry alone.
We Can Show You the Systems
Starting a business involves much more than selling.
There are processes and systems behind the scenes that help everything work.
When you start independently, you're often designing those systems while simultaneously trying to run the business.
A franchise gives you the advantage of stepping into a structure that has already been developed.
You don't have to invent Hygiene Direct.
You get to concentrate on building your part of it.
You'll Have Head Office Behind You
This is probably the biggest part of the training-wheels analogy.
Owning your own business can sometimes feel lonely.
When something doesn't work, you're the person who has to work out why.
When you're unsure what to do next, there isn't necessarily anybody sitting beside you who's been there before.
A Hygiene Direct franchise is different.
You have Head Office support and the experience of the wider Hygiene Direct network behind you.
That doesn't mean Head Office runs your business.
And it doesn't mean we'll do the difficult parts for you.
Support isn't the same as doing the pedalling.
But when you need advice, guidance or experience, you have people you can turn to.
Your Sales Mentor Has Actually Done It
There's another important part of the support available to Hygiene Direct franchisees.
Our Sales Director didn't learn how to grow a Hygiene Direct franchise from a manual.
He built one.
He was previously our highest-performing Hygiene Direct franchisee and consistently earned approximately $180,000 per year while continuing to grow his business.
He eventually sold that franchise back to Hygiene Direct Head Office and became our Sales Director.
Today, part of his role is supporting and mentoring other franchisees.
So when you're learning how to prospect, develop accounts and grow your business, you have access to someone who has actually travelled that road himself.
He can't make the sales calls for you.
But he can help show you how he did it.
Training Wheels Don't Make the Bike Move
This is where the analogy becomes particularly important.
Put training wheels on a bike and leave it sitting in the garage.
What happens?
Nothing.
The support is there.
The bike is there.
Everything you need may be ready.
But somebody still has to pedal.
A Hygiene Direct franchise works the same way.
We can provide the established brand.
We can provide products.
We can provide systems.
We can provide training.
We can provide support and mentoring.
But you still have to prospect.
You still have to approach customers.
You still have to follow up.
You still have to ask for the business.
You still have to provide great service.
And you still have to get up tomorrow and do it again.
The More You Pedal, the Further You Can Go
That's where owning the business becomes exciting.
There isn't a predetermined income ceiling.
You're not being told:
“You've reached the maximum salary for this role.”
Want more customers?
Keep prospecting.
Want a larger business?
Keep building.
Want to increase your earning potential?
Keep developing your customer base and operating the business effectively.
There are never guarantees in business, and your actual earnings will depend on sales, margins, expenses, customer retention and many other factors.
But Hygiene Direct isn't putting an artificial ceiling on how far you're allowed to go.
Your persistence matters.
And Every Customer Can Make the Next Stage Stronger
Hygiene Direct has another characteristic that makes this particularly interesting for a new business owner.
Many of the products we sell are consumables.
Businesses continually need toilet paper, paper towels, rubbish bags, cleaning chemicals, gloves and other cleaning and hygiene products.
So when you successfully win a customer, you're potentially doing more than making one sale.
Look after that customer and they may order again.
And again.
Then you add another customer.
And another.
That's how the foundations of the business can progressively become stronger.
You're not necessarily waking up every morning and starting again from zero.
Eventually, You Don't Need the Training Wheels as Much
Think back to learning to ride a bike.
At first, the training wheels provide reassurance.
You learn to pedal.
You learn to steer.
You gain confidence.
Then something changes.
You realise:
I can do this.
That's what we'd like to see happen with our franchisees.
At the beginning, you'll naturally need more training and support.
As your product knowledge develops, your confidence grows and your customer base becomes established, you become increasingly experienced in running your own business.
The support doesn't disappear.
But you become increasingly capable of making the ride your own.
Our First Franchisees Have Been Riding for 10 Years
Perhaps one of the best demonstrations of the long-term nature of the opportunity is our first two Hygiene Direct franchisees.
They joined us approximately 10 years ago.
Both are still with Hygiene Direct today.
They've progressed well beyond being new franchisees learning the business.
They've built years of experience, customer relationships and knowledge within the Hygiene Direct network.
That's what we want.
We're not interested in simply selling someone a franchise.
We want to help the right people become capable, successful business owners.
Less Risk Doesn't Mean No Risk
It's important to be clear about this.
Training wheels make learning to ride a bike safer.
They don't make it impossible to fall over.
The same applies to franchising.
Owning any business involves risk.
Joining an established franchise doesn't guarantee customers, income or success.
What it can do is remove some of the uncertainty involved in starting completely from scratch.
Instead of trying to invent everything yourself, you can begin with an established brand, products, systems, suppliers, training and experienced people behind you.
Then your job is to use that foundation to build your own business.
Perhaps You've Wanted to Own a Business – But Haven't Wanted to Do It Alone
That's exactly the person this opportunity may suit.
Maybe you've spent years in sales.
Maybe you're great with customers.
Maybe you've thought about starting your own business but the idea of creating everything from zero has always stopped you.
A Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise offers another path.
Own your own business.
Build your own customer base.
Create an asset of your own.
But start with the benefit of an established business and experienced people beside you.
You do the pedalling.
We'll help with the training wheels.
Ready to Start Riding?
If you've wanted to own your own business but like the idea of having training, systems, mentoring and Head Office support while you learn, a Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise could be worth exploring.
He waka eke noa – we're all in this together.
Related Articles
- From Customer to Franchise Owner: Why Two Hygiene Direct Customers Bought the Business
- Our First Franchisees Are Still With Us 10 Years Later – What That Says About the Hygiene Direct Franchise
- Franchise vs Starting Your Own Business in NZ: What's the Difference?
- How Much Can a Franchise Owner Earn in New Zealand?
- What Should You Look for When Buying a Franchise in NZ?
- Why Repeat Customers Matter When Buying a Franchise
- Are You Ready to Own a Franchise? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself
- From Salesperson to Business Owner: Could a Franchise Be Your Next Step?
Interested in a Hygiene Direct Marketing Franchise?
If you want to build your own business without having to work everything out from scratch, take a closer look at the Hygiene Direct opportunity.
Own Your Business with Full Head Office Support – Hygiene Direct
He waka eke noa – we're all in this together.