In the UK, the domestic cleaning market has grown substantially over the last few years, and is thought to be worth around £2bn. Although it is hard to pinpoint the exact number of people of working within the industry, the industry itself is vibrant and is always looking for new cleaners. As a society, we are more house proud than ever. Increasingly, we spend a higher proportion of our household income on domestic services and the cleaning products market alone is worth over £500m.

Finding a cleaner is one of the major issues affecting the domestic cleaning industry. In the old days, a local cleaner may have serviced a number of houses on a ‘cash in hand’ basis. Increasingly this is not the case and many households also want a service that is professional and cost effective. Being cash rich and time poor has resulted in an increase in demand, but also an increase in the standards of service demanded.

Every household has their own individual requirements, but recruiting someone who can fit around those requirements is very hard.  This is one of the reasons behind the growth of domestic cleaning companies. Such companies offer clients the piece of mind that they need, by pre checking cleaners to ensure that they are suitable and trustworthy.

The Dolly Char cleaning franchise was launched in 2005 to service the growing demand for domestic services in the UK.  Dolly Char offers its clients a very professional regular domestic cleaning and ironing service.

Dolly Char (UK) Ltd is owned and run by a husband and wife team Robin and Carol Harrison. According to Robin, the business offers a great service to many people who don’t have the time or the inclination to clean their own homes. ‘Many people now have lifestyles that are becoming increasingly cash rich but time poor. In addition, more people are making the positive decision that they don’t wish to spend their precious weekend and evening leisure time carrying out basic domestic chores – they want to employ someone else to do that. The Dolly Char service provides cleaners on an agency basis which means that we help our clients recruit a suitable individual in line with their specific needs. If at some point in the future their domestic help leaves or the client is unhappy with any aspect of the work then we help to find a replacement. This takes away many of the problems associated with employing people’ says Robin.

With an increasing number of households looking for domestic services, the industry is growing at a rapid rate.  The key issues for many people are quality, reliability and cost. Dolly Char offers a competitive pricing strategy that means their services are affordable by a wider range of people than many other professional cleaning services. Dolly Char is looking for people who can manage a domestic cleaning business that is friendly, local and dedicated to high standards of service.

For further information call 01507 525159 or visit www.dollychar.com/franchise.htm

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Robin Harrison is the managing Director of Dolly Char (UK) Ltd. Dolly Char (UK) Ltd is one of the fastest growing domestic cleaning franchise companies in the UK today giving people the opportunity to work from the comfort of their own home.

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As a franchisee, you are the figure representing the franchise company and their franchise systems. 

In our own case franchisees represent our company Dolly Char to both domestic cleaners and clients. It is therefore important that our franchisees keep to our franchise systems and maintain a positive image at all times. If a franchisee as a poor personal image, then it is unlikely that any domestic cleaners that they take on will pay much if any attention to their own!

Dolly Char franchisees deal with both clients and domestic cleaners, and we request that they should always be:

• Smiling
• Smartly dressed in Dolly Char corporate wear
• Project a good body language
• Keep constant eye contact with the people they talk to
• Be well mannered and polite at all times

As part of our Dolly Char induction training, franchisees learn more about how to talk to and engage with potential clients and cleaners. It is extremely important that they work on their delivery and conversational tone, because people warm to good talkers. Learning such skills are a matter of time and experience, as some people find it easy and other find it harder. Franchisees also pick up some of the information without having to ask any questions (asking the obvious can look unprofessional). Here are some simple points that we ask our franchisees to bear in mind:

• Be prepared
• Be relaxed
• Don’t whisper or shout
• Don’t rush
• And enjoy yourself!

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This is just as important for the potential Franchisee to know, because if they are looking at potentially investing a substantial amount of their own capital into buying a franchise they will need to know themselves whether they would be suitable or not. The last thing that any prospective Franchisee needs is to be sold a business that they are totally unsuitable for!

An example of a franchise evaluation form is below. Please feel free to comment.

Prospective Franchisee Name ______________________

Proposed Territory _______________________________

Research Completed by prospective Franchisee prior to interview

Marketplace Y/N
Franchises Visited Y/N
Assessment of local competitors Y/N
Other franchises still being considered Y/N

Career Background & Experience

Appropriate to this business Y/N
Commercially experienced Y/N
Sales Skills Y/N
Interpersonal Skills Y/N

Personal

Appearance Good/Poor
Personality Good/Poor
Confidence High/Low
Support of family/involvement Y/N
Team player Y/N

Finance

Available capital to invest £………….

TOTAL MARK AWARDED _____________

Other Comments (see below) Y/N

Additional information relating to…………

Interviewer  ……………………………………

Date ……………………………………………

Comments….

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Franchises usually fall into one of these two business format categories

A franchise job (Is where the franchisee actually does all the manual work themselves providing a hands on service to their clients)·

Management based franchise (Is where the franchisee is mainly managing by means of delegating others to do the manual work for them)

It is very important to recognise the difference between these two categories as it will help you to locate and find a franchise that will be suitable for you and the skills that you possess.

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Franchise confidential questionnaire

The franchise confidential questionnaire is an important document that franchisors require prospective franchisees to fill in prior to having an initial meeting about the franchise business.

The franchise confidential questionnaire gives a franchisor a brief but also very good insight into the background of the prospective franchisee.  The franchise confidential questionnaire helps the franchisor determine how suitable the prospective franchisee will be for working the franchise business model. 

The franchise confidential questionnaire should cover such questions in brief form such as what the prospects name is, address, health, past work experience, qualifications, hobbies, car driver, home owner etc.

Finally the confidential questionnaire is as its name suggests confidential and the franchisor should undertake not to disclose the information received to any other party.

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Franchise Non Disclosure Agreement

Virtually every franchise business owner requires a franchisee prospect to sign a NDA (Non disclosure agreement) before showing the prospective franchisee trade secrets regarding their franchise business model.

The franchise non disclosure agreement is a legally binding document that acknowledges the fact that the potential franchisee will be shown information about the franchise business that the franchise company as a propriety interest in maintaining the confidentiality of and as such the franchisee prospect undertakes not to disclose any such information and either purposely or otherwise let it enter into the public domain.

Also part of the non disclosure agreement should limit the amount of any confidential information that a franchisee prospect can disclose to their professional advisers and accountants etc to such as is deemed necessary for the purposes of the franchise proposal.

Finally the non disclosure agreement will usually have a clause that requests the return of any confidential material or documents regarding the franchise business which are held by the prospect upon completion of the franchise proposal.

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Franchise business opportunity brochures

The vast majority of franchise businesses have their own purposely written franchise brochure giving important information regarding their franchise opportunity.

The purpose of the franchise brochure is to give a potential franchisee prospect relevant information about the franchise business that will enable them to make an informed decision on whether to pursue the franchise company’s franchise business offer. 

The Franchise brochure gives prospects an interesting and informed insight into the franchise business and its field of operation.

Trade secrets are never mentioned within a franchise company’s brochure but information that will be useful for a franchise prospect to make up their mind about the franchise business such as how profitable the business can be, why consider the business, what qualities people require to succeed, what the franchise business offers you, how much you can earn etc are usually mentioned.

Usually a franchise brochure is sent out by the franchise company upon receipt of a new enquiry from a franchise prospect.  Increasingly in these days of mass internet usage many prospects get very impatient about having to wait for the franchise brochure to arrive through the post, so with this in mind many franchise company’s now keep their franchise brochures in PDF format so they can send it out quickly to a prospect as an attachment to an email.

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Franchise business operational manuals

An essential part of any business franchise package is the supplying of the franchise companies operations manual to a new franchisee.  Franchise operational manuals are usually closely linked to the franchising companies franchise contract and as such its contents should at all times remain strictly confidential and upon the franchisee deciding to either sell his or her business or for what ever reason pack up their business then the Franchise operational manual should always be returned to the franchisor.

The Franchise operational manual/bible should be written in a simple straight forward and easy to understand manner to such a degree that if it were to be lost then who ever were to find it would be able to pick it up read it and be able to follow it and if they were so minded start trading within that business field.

It is for this reason that the Franchise companies operational manual is strickly tied to the franchise agreement, basically it carries all the franchise company’s trade secrets and operating systems and for reason that are plainly obvious it should not enter into any other persons hands outside of the scope of the franchise business.

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If like me you are the boss of your own work from home business then I am sure that you will agree that there are a few disadvantages in doing so, below I have noted a few disadvantages that come to my mind, maybe you can add some more, please feel free to do so.

It can be a nightmare trying to get away from your work because living on the job you feel an urge to keep working!

If you do not regulate your daily working life then this can be detrimental to your personal or family life.

Friends who know you work from home can become regular visitors and so get in the way of your work schedule.

When starting up your work from home business it might put an heavy financial strain on your family budget.

Family members but mainly children can become an hindrance coming in and out of your office messing about and making a noise which doesn’t make phone calls sound very professional also it can and will upset your concentration!

It can be a job in itself to keep yourself motivated, as you do not have a boss to worry about!

Personally I would not change a thing as i believe that working from home is really great, but what I am trying to convey is that there are often disadvantages in many things that we do.