[Jessica Harvey]

I have just invested in a domestic cleaning franchise and it is much tougher than I was led to believe.
I have been going a month and have 2 regular customers. How do I advertise, I have tried leaflets and local shops and magazines. I have had enquiries but customers say £15 an hour is too much. I have found some really good cleaners and we are ready to go but how do I get the customers?

[CATMAN]

If you hadn't bought the franchise how would you advertise?

What I'm asking is what is the franchise offering that you couldn't do yourself

It carn't be the name, as your customers are price savvy.

The only advise I can give is get 5000 leaflets dropped within your area every week, covering the same area every 4 weeks.  DON'T buy your leaflets through the franchisor you'll pay through the nose. Get a printer to copy them if you have to use them.

I wouldn't say to a customer a price per hour, have a look at what needs cleaning, and charge them per visit. £15 a hour to someone at the end of a phone, who's never run a business or employed staff may sound alot.

I clean carpets, to give you an idea I have an office clean this week £600. It will take 5 hours, I would not quote £120 an hour. See  the point.

Regard

Graham

[clinton]

Dont forget its not the best time to start up with the economic downturn so try and keep in there and stick with it

Do you still have to make a monthly payment to the main franchise

[Jessica Harvey]

The franchisor has not yet asked for any payments although I will have to pay him 10% of gross profits.
He has suggested I drop leaflets. I paid a company £300 to put our 5000 leaflets but got no response.
I have advertised in shop windows and local magazines, I thought of this myself.  I got a folder with a few letter headings and business cards. Not much for £10,000. I have been advised to pay a virtual office and postal address which costs me £150 a month plus I have to pay £100 to an HR company and more for a payroll company. The franchisor assures me these overheads will not seem much when I'm making a profit, but when will that be? Should I stick at it or have I been very stupid?

[drive surgeon]

i would not buy a franchise unless they told me everything on how to get work etc.  i would get onto them every day and ask them for advice, as they are quick to sell the franchise but not as quick to help get work. :

[CATMAN]

Hi,

You need to drop 5000 leaflets everyweek, but you must do them,. You need to keep your spend to a minimum 5000 should be no more than £100. If you pay £300 you've got to get at least £400 in just to cover that.

See if you can find another business in your area, such as green thumb (yes a franchise) and ask can you drop each other leaflets.

You say you have cleaners, are they on the books?

Get the work first, run yourself ragged, believe me you'll clean a house like it matters if you know YOU have to got to go to another job. The one thing with staff they will not work as hard as yourself.

The franchisor should provide some work surly, if they carn't what are you paying fees for?

As a new business, you will be contacted by all sorts of crap to advertise with them, policeman diary, fireman mag, supermarkets. Don't bother its a well worn path.

Regards

Graham

[The Great One]

Hi

Graham has given you sound advise.

You WILL be contacted by all sorts to advertise in mags and supermarkets, you must say 'My advertising budget is spent for this year' they are a waste of time.

£300 to deliver 5000 leaflets! Outrageous, you should be paying £25-35 per thousand, ask where they have been delivered and go round a few houses with your leaflet, ask if they have seen it.

Go round all the shops and offices, personally, intro yourself and if they need your services to call, leave a biz card.

Go round all the letting agents with you PL Ins, biz card, intro letter, same thing. If you can deliver at least 500-1000 leaflets yourself or with one of your staff, it's mind numbing drudgery but it's your business.

lastly, pity you didn't find this site before you paid £10,000, we could of advised you differently and saved you the outlay.

good luck

Martin

[Marly 11]

Domestic cleaning is a hard business-I would not have advised you to start with a franchise but that is just my opinion! If you have or had £10k spend £400-£500 on a decent site - I pay my cleaners £5.50 an hour to deliver laeaflets and they deliver 3000 in 4-5 hours each costing me £22-£27.50 but they also get the jobs that come from the leaflets. You have to deliver leaflets every weekwhen you are busy or when you are not. People sometimes keep a leaflet for months before using it and your company. £15 PH I use to try and charge £15 ph in central London where I am based, got some business but lots knock backs even people living in £2-£4 million pound houses sometimes thought that £15 was expensive. Due to the current financial crisis you are pricing your self to high - I have droped by price from £12 ph to £10 because ther is so much competition who are offering their services for £8ph. Stick with it, it takes time to build up your business and customers. Build a site if you don't have one and spend some money on Google this will get you customers! Good Luck

[steve_doyle]

sorry you are struggling,

I think you need to start questioning what this franchise are telling you rather than blindly being led. So do you own research and make your own decisions, anything done through them seems that it might be over priced. this site is a good start for info.
 Can you back out of the franchise?
Are there other franchise owners who are doing well, maybe they can help you. Revisit all the stuff the franchise said they would do for you and make sure they do it!

[suffolkclean]

If it were me I would back out. I thought having a franchise they did the advertising for you that is what you are paying for (should be)? I agree £15 per hour is too much £12 max, it will take a while to build up customers. Some will pay the going rate and others want to pay 50p hr, so I've learned they are not the ones to worry about.
Offer a good, reliable and friendly service and your 2 customers will talk to their friends etc it will soon increase but I feel this is something you could do without paying money to a franchise.
Barbara

[Chris Galloway]

sorry you are struggling,

I think you need to start questioning what this franchise are telling you rather than blindly being led. So do you own research and make your own decisions, anything done through them seems that it might be over priced. this site is a good start for info.
 Can you back out of the franchise?
Are there other franchise owners who are doing well, maybe they can help you. Revisit all the stuff the franchise said they would do for you and make sure they do it!

If they are not, then surely they are breaking their terms of the agreement. They are they to mainly help you along they way, advising of how to do things properly, through tried and tested methods.

Simple flyer wastage is not the best way to promote your business!

[Jessica Harvey]

It is a new franchise so there are no other franchisees to talk to. I am also concerned about my overheads I have to pay a virtual office, a mail box, a payroll company and an HR company. The HR company will cost me over £100 a month. i am refusing to pay it at the moment saying I can't afford it. Do you pay an HR company each month?
The franchisor says I have to in case I get sued. What do you all do?

[garyj]

What is the name of this franchise and where did you hear of them?

[Jessica Harvey]

I can't tell you the name for obvious reasons.  I found it in one of the franchise selling sites. It was the only one that had a territory near where I live. I thought a franchise would give me a system to work to but the system of outsourcing everything  is proving very expensive and will eat into my profits. The franchisor says that when I'm making lots of money I won't mind paying out £300 a month. I don't know much about business that is why I bought a franchise but surely you make sure your outgoings are as small as possible. Is this true?

[Chris Galloway]

It is a new franchise so there are no other franchisees to talk to. I am also concerned about my overheads I have to pay a virtual office, a mail box, a payroll company and an HR company. The HR company will cost me over £100 a month. i am refusing to pay it at the moment saying I can't afford it. Do you pay an HR company each month?
The franchisor says I have to in case I get sued. What do you all do?

Mail box? is that a PO box? if so...

PO Box is £60 a year...

However a virtual office would be interesting i must look into that..

[steve_doyle]

can you just clarify whether or not you have handed over the 10k, Is there a contract? cool down period?

I would be looking into the backing out/money recovery  options at this stage. mis selling may be a option for recovery. consult a good solicitor. 10k will take some earning when they are into you monthly for more money.

Give us the initials of the business if you cant name.

[Marly 11]

I would advise you to pull out of this deal if you can immediately! If it is a new franchise they are not proven you are throwing your money away! If you can afford to loose your £'s you could stick with them for the experience. I started my domestic cleaning five years business with nearly £0 obviously it took longer than someone with £s but I had a 9-5 and was doing the cleeaning part time and in between. When I finally started to put all my effort, time and £s in it became easier as I started to advertise, do leaflets word of mouth etc. A franchise no one has heard of will hard to sell to new customers-You can do everything you are paying £300 a month for your self and get much further ahead by spending the £300 quid on advertising and promoting your own business!

[garyj]

I cannot see why holding the back this information is obvious.

So far things do not look good and I am trying to find out what exactly you have bought for £10,000, already you have been upsold on an HR Company on top of this you are being told to find premises or a box number. Surely it is in the interest of this company to get you up and running to get their 10% per month as well.

So far they have offered you no advice, only ways to extract more money out of you.

What have they done for you so far? You are their first customer, I would have though they would be looking to you for a testimonial.

Are they members of the Franchise Guild? So far this really does not look too good. I would have thought for the money you have paid out they would at least have supplied you with a few thousand pounds worth of contracts! What training have you had, did you spend anytime on the road with them, have you seen their operation?

Are things so bad that you  cannot name who they are, if that is the case that is the very reason you should be yelling their name from the rooftops, they have 10,000 pounds of your money, so far you have nothing.

[Robert Parry]

Friguia,
This advice is a bit late now, but please get yourself some proper advice!

Before embarking on any business venture, you should obtain REAL advice from experts, especially in the franchise field, your accountant, a solicitor specialising in franchise law etc.

Let me also say that I agree with the sentiments expressed on here about your problem, but again I would be wary of following blindly the advice given.

When purchasing a franchise, you are paying for a proven system of management, normally some sort of advertising, sales training, admin backup and lots of glossy leaflets etc. If you have none of this, I would suspect that you have been very gullible. I would, if this is the case, get myself a lawyer and hope for the best, but not hold out too much hope. Any fanchisor worth their salt should be a memeber of the British Franchise Federation, if by some miracle they are members, contact them at once.

Regarding your franchisors advice of HR outsourcing, unfortunately, this is very good advice, most of the people involved within the industry, and many many people on this site and others have no idea of employement law, nor the very real risks financially if things start to get tight. £100 per month, for this service is again very cheap, so if you do move forward with this, I would again check out the HR company in minute detail as to exactly what you are paying for, and what you actually recieve for your subscription.

I would also like to know how you financed the purchase? I suspect, from savings, or worst case scenario, from the franchisor, in the form of a loan, as I cannot believe a bank would give you the funds on an unproven franchise. However you raised the money, please contact a specialist lawyer asap.

Reagrds,

Rob