"Once I decide on a course of action, I go for it!" admits Steve Mills with a grin. "I saw the Professional Car Cleaning (PCC) opportunity at the British Franchise Exhibition in January and immediately signed up for one of their Discovery Days to find out more. I looked at the other valeting franchises on offer, but frankly none seemed as professional as PCC."

PCC is a sister franchise to the highly successful ChipsAway International. Operating from a smartly liveried and specially equipped VW, PCC franchisees provide professional car valeting services to a huge and currently under-serviced marketplace, using a comprehensive range of high quality products, developed exclusively for PCC.

Potential customers include private individuals as well as corporate contracts, creating the opportunity for franchisees to build a repeat order customer base, enhancing the value of their investment.

Before visiting the British Franchise Exhibition, Steve had already given careful thought to the kind of business he was looking for. He says it didn't necessarily have to be in the automotive industry, but it did need to demonstrate proven customer demand and the potential for regular ongoing business.

"I worked as a manufacturer's agent in the electrical industry for 30 years and earned pretty good money," he says. "Therefore I needed to identify a business opportunity that could generate high turnover and good profitability." Steve was so impressed by the demonstration he was given at the PCC Discovery Day, which was held at the company's Midlands-based headquarters, that he decided to buy a franchise. Accordingly he has subsequently used his own demonstrations most effectively to build his business and has found it a powerful technique to secure new sales.

"It's amazing!" he declares. "Once people see the fantastic finish, they're hooked. It's particularly effective when you're on an industrial estate - typically I start off valeting the boss's car, then the other directors come out to take a look and ask me to valet their cars, then it's the turn of the office staff and, finally, the chap from the unit over the road comes across and asks for a business card, and so it goes on.

"The best thing about it is that then they tend to book you as a regular service on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. Even when I'm valeting a vehicle for a private owner, people tend to wander over and ask how much for a valet. All my business comes from word-of-mouth recommendation and from people who have seen one of my demonstrations."

Steve points out that the standard of the PCC valet is markedly higher than anything achieved either by an owner washing their car at the weekend or by a standard car wash machine on a garage forecourt. "When I have valeted a car, it genuinely looks as though it's just been driven off a dealership forecourt," he says. "I thought one chap was going to burst into tears when he saw his filthy Mercedes SLK transformed, with shining, good-as-factory-finish paintwork!"

Steve's business is doing well and growing rapidly. He loves his new lifestyle and says the support he's received has been superb. "Adrian (PCC's General Manager) is great," says Steve. "He came out with me on my first few sales calls and he's always there at the end of the phone if I need any advice."

Best of all, he declares that he's happier and more fulfilled than he's been for many years. "Instead of that familiar sinking feeling, I actually wake up in the morning looking forward to going to work," he says. "I get huge satisfaction from my business and plan for my fiancÉe Jayne to join me in due course to handle administration and some tele-sales. In the longer term, I'd like to have a team of people working for me and get more vehicles on the road, really building up my customer base. In the meantime though, there's the small matter of getting married that I have to attend to!"

The franchise for your future

Clean up with the fantastic new franchise for the future from leading franchise group, ChipsAway. Introduced to meet proven demand for professional and reliable valeting services, the all new PCC franchise offers hard working franchisees the opportunity to earn up to £1000 a week. Operating from a smartly liveried purpose designed VW, and using a specially developed range of high quality products exclusive to PCC, franchisees will also benefit from the industry experience, high profile brand and established customer base of its sister ChipsAway network.

For more information, please egister your interest today...