Key to Myhome's success, for both the franchisee and franchisor, is the comprehensive Training and Development Programme that it provides its franchise partners. One of the main reasons that people buy a franchise, rather than setting up their own is to have a business partner that has been through that vital 'new business' learning curve and has successfully developed tried and tested systems that will guarantee success.

Unlike many franchise programmes, where franchisees turn up on the day of the course, receive some product training and leave sometime later weighed down with reading materials, Myhome take their training extremely seriously. This starts the moment the Myhome franchise partner signs up. Their training programme assumes nothing, starts right at the beginning and teaches franchise partners everything they need to know about running a successful business.

Getting Started

Their programme is based on a system that begins with the Myhome Getting Started guide which shows franchisees how to prepare for business. It takes them, step by step, through all the essential things they need to do before opening for business and advises on; opening a bank account, registering for VAT and NI, accounting practice, getting Myhome vehicles on the road and organising phone and computer lines.

The Getting Started guide also prepares franchise partners for the centre piece of the system - a five day, highly intensive, residential training course. Using a range of development techniques from video role-plays to practical demonstrations, the course provides franchise partners with the skills they need to get off to a flying start. Winning customers - and keeping them, working on your business - not in it, and building and managing your team, are just some of the areas covered.

During the course, franchisees are also shown how to operate a premium residential cleaning business using Myhome's unique Tri-Colour Cleaning SystemTM. The result of extensive time-and-motion studies, this proprietary system is an organised, colour-coded plan that lets cleaning staff know exactly what to do in each room of the house on every visit, thereby organising and streamlining their work and saving them time.

Myhome ServiceCeo Franchisees will also be introduced to Myhome's proprietary software programme - Myhome ServiceCEOTM which helps track and manage virtually every aspect of the business. It can be used to manage and schedule appointments, handle billing and payroll, take control of all necessary accounting procedures, and keep constant track of cleaning teams to ensure maximum productivity - all designed to give the franchisee maximum control over their time and profitability.

Myhome's business format, together with their training and operating systems, have been perfected over the last 11 years. Richard Lambert, Myhome's Training Director says: "Myhome has established all the necessary business systems to provide a turnkey operating system that guarantees to lead franchise partners to success. It's an outstanding programme of development, unique in the franchise world. More importantly, it's a system designed to train franchise partners how to become successful - fast!"

Franchisee Focus

Steve Cannan comes clean to Making Money about his decision to enter into the residential cleaning market with Myhome.

Steve Cannan heads up Myhome's successful Henley-on-Thames office. He previously held a variety of senior sales and marketing roles within the UK drinks industry and was looking for a change of direction and a fresh and exciting business challenge.

Talking about his decision to enter into the residential cleaning market with Myhome, Steve tells us: "After a great deal of research it became clear that residential cleaning is one of the UK's fastest growing market sectors and that within the marketplace, Myhome is widely recognised as a proven leader."

After meeting with Russell O'Connell, CEO of Myhome and the franchise support team, Steve had no doubts about taking on a Myhome franchise.

"I haven't been disappointed!" Says Steve, who started trading in February 2006. "Since then, my business has gone from strength-to-strength and I'm pleased to say I can definitely see the potential for future growth!

From the outset, I was really impressed with the complete package that Myhome had to offer, in particular their comprehensive training and development programme. I know I can call on the support teams at any time if I need them for advice - whether I need IT assistance, or have a query about an operational issue, I know I can rely on them to help me out. I firmly believe that this comprehensive support and the on-going training that Myhome provide, has enabled me to exceed both my expectations and the targets set by Myhome.

My training was extremely thorough. The course assumes nothing, starts right at the beginning and taught me everything I needed to know about running a successful residential cleaning business. Although the course was challenging, by the end of it I was raring to go and really keyed up about putting all my training into practice and embarking on a new business venture!

Prior to the training course, the Myhome franchise support team took us step-by-step through setting up our franchise so that on graduation of the training course we were ready to 'hit the ground running'. As well as the daily support they provided, we also benefited from Myhome's 90-day nurturing programme.

During these first 3 months of running our franchise, Myhome carried out customer satisfaction surveys, monitored the daily running of our business and carefully analysed our overall progress. This helps to iron out any problems while reinforcing the Myhome systems and enabled us to share our experiences as new franchisees."

With 'on-target' business plans to achieve a client base of 250 regular customers, a fleet of 10 vans and a turnover of around £600,000 in 3 years, Steve has set new standards by exceeding both his expectations and the targets set by Myhome. Business is booming and Steve's Myhome business looks set for continued success!"