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A slice of Driver Hire life

Meet Driver Hire franchise owner for the Bradford area, Ian Ware. Since he made his investment seven years ago into this expanding logistics recruitment business, he has registered extremely impressive results. His business now turns over in excess of £1 million per year. Here he gives readers a glimpse into how he spends a typical day as a Driver Hire franchise owner. Gareth Samuel reports

Absolute freedom to trade within a defined franchise territory with the full support of the franchisor and your neighbouring franchisees. Ian Ware,
Driver Hire Franchise Owner

7:30
Arrive at the office and straight on to the phones to speak to our top customers to beat the competition. Today I picked up two bookings, which is a great start to the day.
8:30
We have our daily team meeting to agree the day’s activities. Targets and diaries are updated and anyone visiting customers and prospects gathers together all of the merchandise to give away.
9:30
Today I am taking a share in the responsibility of the sales team and so I go out to make some visits. The first is a new customer picked up by the central telemarketing team – a food distribution company with about 20 vans around the North of the country.
10:30
At the meeting I get lots of information about their business so I can present a well-laid out proposal to them later in the week. There is always competition for business so I make sure my proposals are of an extremely high quality.
11:30
My second meeting is a regular account review with a client we have had for a long time. I update our workplace assessment while I am there. I find the customer is very happy with the service we have provided them with and head back to the office.
13:00
The team meets over lunch and updates are exchanged. Recruitment is a dynamic business and its vital that everybody is constantly aware of what is taking place at any one time.
14:00
This afternoon I am just dealing with incoming calls, filing bookings and catching up on administration tasks. I also interviewed two really good drivers who will be out working for me tomorrow. In many ways recruitment is a simple business – provided we stay focused on sales and service, we should be successful. One thing is for sure – this is a people business.
17:00
Every night before finishing the day, we have a final team meeting to discuss the day’s activity. Of course the Driver Hire service does not end there and a member of the team is on call 24/7. We take it in turns to be on call and tonight it’s my turn.
20:00
During the evening I take a call from one of our top clients; they want a van driver for six o’clock the next morning. I contact a driver to make sure this is possible. It has been a hectic day but equally rewarding.

When asked what the best aspect of being a Driver Hire franchise owner is, Ian concludes: “Absolute freedom to trade within a defined franchise territory with the full support of the franchisor and your neighbouring franchisees.” Ian is looking forward to many more years as part of one of Britain’s most successful franchised businesses.