Cleaning Doctor: Marketing Strategies Keep my Phone Ringing

With 13 franchise branches established in Great Britain, 2006 is set to see growing expansion by Cleaning Doctor which, because of its investment in top-of-the-range equipment and training, is able to always equal and indeed better the service of the competition.

'Our franchisees all offer a 100 per cent money-back guarantee on every job, and in all the jobs that all the franchisees have ever done, only two people have ever asked for their money back,' reveals William. 'We are specialists in carpet, curtain and upholstery cleaning, contract cleaning and home cleaning services. We provide abundant opportunities for new franchisees to build and manage multi-vehicle operations under the umbrella of an established brand. I invite you to call immediately and discover Cleaning Doctor. We will unleash your potential and take you to the top.'

'This franchise can change your life'

'The marketing strategies are very very good and do work,' asserts Eric Wharton, who launched his Cleaning Doctor franchise covering Tralee, Dingle and Kerry North in Ireland in November. 'In fact, Cleaning Doctor's marketing strategies keep my phone ringing and ringing! With my background as a printer, I've seen plenty of marketing campaigns and I could tell immediately that the whole marketing strategy is very well thought out.'

Eric left the printing business at 27 because, he reveals: 'I could see myself still as an employee at 65 if I had stayed. I looked into franchising instead and visited www.theukfranchisedirectory.net. Cleaning Doctor immediately stood out and after speaking to some established franchisees to see what the story is, I met (Managing Director) Willie Little at the head office in Enniskillen. He's very passionate about the business and I decided to go ahead with it.'

Finding the four weeks of initial training 'very thorough', Eric has benefited from ongoing training courses which are conducted both in the field and at the head office with Willie.

'The support is excellent,' he reflects. 'You can contact Willie at any time of the day or night - we all have his mobile and home numbers. In addition, there is great support from the other franchisees, we call each other all the time.'

Launching his business in November, Eric quickly found that he needed to take on two part-time employees to help with the workload. 'I am averaging six to seven calls a day, but I can only do three jobs a day,' he reveals. 'I didn't want to turn away work so I took on the part-time employees, and I plan to take someone on full-time in April. It really did take off for me - I have done £11,500 worth of business inside seven weeks of trading - and my goal is to turnover between £60,000 and £70,000 in my first year. I'll then look to grow at a rate of 10 per cent per year.

Whether you want to maintain your income level with an improved lifestyle, or work really hard to push your income up, this franchise can change your life.'

A family franchise that helps you grow

'I feel lucky to have come across a fantastic franchise like Cleaning Doctor so early in my research into the franchise market,' reveals Edinburgh franchisee Chris Daw who, with his wife Lorraine, launched his business in September. 'I discovered the opportunity in The Scottish Franchise Magazine and carpet cleaning immediately appealed because it's a service where you can see you've achieved something, and your customer can too.'

Following 23 years of service in the Royal Navy, plus 10 years in Dubai working in retail, Chris was attracted to franchising by the prospect of working for himself while enjoying the backup of the franchisor. 'Cleaning Doctor is a family franchise - they really care for the franchisees,' he reflects. 'Managing Director Willie Little and the head office team keep in constant contact - you really feel they're not just in it for the money.'

Before signing his franchise agreement, Chris spoke to a number of Cleaning Doctor franchisees, and even sounded out other companies within the industry.

'There is high praise within the industry for the quality of the Cleaning Doctor service,' he reports. 'In fact, we offer a 100 per cent satisfaction guarantee to every customer, which means it's up to you to do a good job. I'm happy with that - so far I haven't had a single complaint.'

Before his launch Chris travelled to Ireland to spend two weeks of direct training under Willie Little and going out in the field with a franchisee, followed by a further week with a franchisee in England. 'I completed my training fully confident in operating the business, but knowing full well that if I hit any problems I had a network to call on,' says Chris. 'In fact, Cleaning Doctor franchisees have been calling to wish me well, offer help and share their experience - it makes you feel part of a family.'

With Lorraine taking care of the accounts and marketing, Chris concentrates on doing the major cleaning and healthcheck work and is currently performing between two and three jobs a day. 'Cleaning Doctor provided all the marketing tools and a step by step guide to getting business which works,' he comments. All promotional brochures and business cards are pre-printed for you, and these have been extensively proven throughout the network to bring in the maximum amount of calls. In fact, as soon as we distributed them we immediately started getting calls and people would remark about how much they liked our adverts.'

With a catchment area covering 250,000 people, Chris has ambitious plans to expand. 'With Cleaning Doctor you do get a very large area,' he reflects.

'There's enough scope for expansion for me to get three or four vans on the road, and I'll certainly be looking to set up my second by year two of my business.'