Driver Hire may not be a high street brand, but with an impressive 30-year track record, Driver Hire is well known and respected across the recruitment, logistics and B2B management sectors.
Before Jamie decided to change his career and improve his life by joining the Driver Hire franchise network, he had previously been employed at DHL in a number of financial and commercial roles. It was this experience that made Jamie consider taking up a logistics related franchise.
“When I started to look at Driver Hire and met with their Franchise Sales Director, I soon learnt about all the strengths of the Driver Hire brand. In fact, it’s the UK’s market leader for supplying temporary staff to the logistics sector,” Jamie said.
Jamie knew that Driver Hire was right for him and started looking for re-sale opportunities that were available to him at the time. Jamie continues: “Even though I had no recruitment experience, I could see it was a straightforward business and further down the line would be a business my children could come into and run.”Driver Hire was ‘ticking all the right boxes’ and so Jamie decided to take out a 12 month bridging loan. “I spoke to a friend who works in finance and this seemed like the better option for me and the business I was buying.”
Jamie obviously had the right idea and the business opportunity with real earning potential to go with it. “With the success we’ve seen since taking it over, we’ve already paid over 50 per cent of it back,” confirms Jamie.
Jamie has proved to many that buying a resale can be a wise investment and if anything, can be a great help to the development of your business. As he recalls: “I was really lucky and started observing the business a few days a week from October 2011, which meant I could hit the ground running once I’d attended the Driver Hire two-week Foundation Training programme. “Foundation was fantastic and I’ve had no issues with the support available. For me the IT and marketing support has, been and is, second to none.”
As well as the Foundation Training, which Driver Hire provided Jamie with, they offer a support package which includes administrative functions such as invoicing and payroll. They also offer a bespoke IT system that takes care of bookings, candidate and customer records, a national accounts team that delivers centrally-won business opportunities and a marketing team that provides a steady stream of professional marketing resources. You’re never short of help from you Area Development Manager.
For Jamie, the benefits of owning a franchise are unmistakable: “My quality of life has improved. I’m the one in control of my own destiny and I’m no longer reliant on the decisions of others and board room red tape.”
Jamie’s advice to anyone considering buying a franchise would be to take that leap of faith with Driver Hire: “Do it and don’t be afraid to invest – you will get the rewards further down the line.
“I’d absolutely buy a Driver Hire franchise again and wish I’d looked at it a few years ago. There’s a lot to do here and that’s the excitement of it. I actually look forward to heading back to the office on a Monday,” concludes Jamie.