Ecocleen is firmly a management franchise opportunity, suitable for candidates who are serious 'white collar' professionals with business building aspirations. Its differentiator for its clients is its strong environmentally friendly accreditation - including being awarded the ISO 14001 standards for Environmental Management - and a reputation for quality and service delivery with franchisees focused on managing the customer relationship.

For franchisees, the differentiator is the commitment of the franchisor to providing intensive support in getting their business off the ground. So intensive is this approach, Ecocleen only recruits four new franchisees a year. "We're quite particular about the type of people we're looking for, and we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to help them succeed," reveals Franchise Director Gavin Henderson. "The Ecocleen franchise network is focused on developing substantial managed businesses through a combination of high standards, professional invoicing, strong growth and an environmentally friendly service that positions us as the stand out service in the commercial cleaning industry."

Ecocleen franchisees win contracts through a number of avenues - leads generated through the head office sales team and website, franchisee-specific regional websites, and their own in-territory market strategies. "We are making a massive investment in terms of growing the business and supporting the brand to assist the growth of our franchisees' businesses," reveals Gavin. "We brought on board a new National Sales Director 12 months ago to drive this activity and a number of key new accounts have been gained for the national franchise network."

With Ecocleen's focus firmly on assisting its franchisees to build their business, the company is setting a high turnover growth agenda for its network. "We want franchisees who want to grow to a minimum £500,000 turnover," says Gavin. "That will give them a very good lifestyle and income. Part of our strategy to achieve this going forward is to focus on winning the larger, easier to manage contracts which provide franchisees with a better margin. Our top performing franchisee Jerome Rellis, who's been with us for just over four years, anticipates hitting a £1 million annualised turnover in early 2008. This is the level we want all our franchisees to aspire to."

In order to encourage strong growth in its franchisees' businesses, Ecocleen has developed comprehensive support systems which include a comprehensive marketing pack, dedicated regional websites, BICS training, centralised invoicing and credit control. "Part of our commitment will be to make sure there's a package in place and territory to achieve a minimum £500,000 turn over," adds Gavin. "Realistically this is achievable within three years, based on our experiences."

With 22 franchisees trading, Ecocleen is seeking management experienced self starters to apply for one of the opportunities being released in 2008. New franchisees enjoy a flying start thanks to Ecocleen's income guarantee which provides a minimum gross profit margin after three months. "We do all we can to make things easier for franchisees in the first year," reflects Managing Director Robert Legge. "With our help, as long as the franchisee is good with people and hungry for success, the future is just about guaranteed."

Franchisee Diary: Peter Thompson, Liverpool

I have almost always been self-employed, but I had always been looking for a business opportunity that I could build upon and would become an asset for me. In 2004 I began looking at cleaning franchises and Ecocleen stood out thanks to the opportunity for me to take on the whole Liverpool area rather than a divided portion of it. I was additionally impressed that the Management Service Fee was quite a bit lower than with other franchises, and when I spoke to the people at head office they were all very friendly.

After I completed my initial training with an accredited trainer at the Ecocleen head office I launched my franchise in January 2005. During the early stages of the business Ecocleen's Operations Managers provided on-site support, and Ecocleen has a strong ongoing support structure in place so that any time I need any help all I have to do is pick up the phone and speak to head office.

My business has been going really well and in 2006 my turnover reached £261,000. I really enjoy the variety I get with running this business as every day is slightly different and I'm always out and about in different places. I'm currently looking to expand my franchise and in 2008 I'm aiming to achieve a turnover of £500,000. Then my goal is to double that to £1 million by 2009.