Len Donnelly
Len has been with Dublcheck for over 10 years and his franchise covers the Shropshire area
What did you do before franchising? Before I joined Dublcheck, I spent 30 years in food retail management. However, this ended in redundancy and so I began to look at a number of other avenues. I could see other retailers restructuring as well and I realised that I needed to get into another sector.
Why did you choose a Dublcheck franchise? I looked at franchising with a few different companies to begin with. However, I felt that Dublcheck had the best offering when it came to finance, both in terms of the investment and the return I would get.
What is the training and support like? The training and camaraderie within Dublcheck is excellent and we all communicate with each other for help and advice. I help with the mentoring programme, delivering the training to six new franchisees.
What do you attribute your success with your Dublcheck franchise to? It has to be my commitment to customer service – word of mouth has played a huge role in generating much of my success. I spend the first week of any new contract working onsite and getting to know the client’s requirements. All my clients have my personal phone number so they know they can contact me with any issue they might have.
How has investing in a Dublcheck franchise influenced your personal life? In retail, it is all long hours and working weekends. Since I changed my career path and decided to become a Dublcheck franchisee, my work-life balance has improved a huge amount. I can now spend more time with my wife, Sue, and see more of my children and my eight grandchildren, as well as take more holidays with them without worrying too much about work.
Would you recommend a Dublcheck franchise? I would recommend Dublcheck to anybody. I also encourage people to go and visit the franchise exhibitions, where I help out onsite.
What has been your proudest moment? I was awarded a one-week holiday to Bellagio in Las Vegas for being the Franchisee of the Year at Dublcheck’s 20th anniversary celebrations in 2013. I took the holiday in 2014 and, with permission, I extended it into a three-week trip to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary.
What are your plans for the future? I want to keep building my business and my reputation. Recently, I have been asked to carry out some cleaning on barn conversions. I don’t want to get so big, however, that I don’t have the personal contact with my clients and staff. I enjoy this element of interaction within the business a great deal.
Graham Hey
Graham ran his franchise in Leeds for eight years and now provides franchisee support
What tools do you use to provide support to franchisees? I make use of all the experiences I had as a franchisee; for example, I think about the problems I encountered and the ways in which I addressed them and subsequently resolved them. In addition, my understanding and trust in the Dublcheck organisation, gained over a number of years, has proved to be very helpful in giving new franchisees confidence that they are on track, particularly in their early days.
Does the members of the franchisee network support each other? Yes, through the various training and social events. There are many opportunities to build helpful relationships with fellow franchisees.
Before starting your current role in franchisee support, you spent eight years as a Dublcheck franchisee. Why did you make the change? Over the period I had grown my franchise from scratch to almost £400,000 per annum. It was a
profitable and mature franchise. By chance, an opportunity arose that allowed me to capitalise on that growth and increased asset value and sell the franchise and take the money. It was important to me that the people I sold
the franchise to were capable of sustaining and growing the business further. This has been achieved with the new franchisees recently hitting the £600,000 turnover mark.
How have you used your experience of being a franchisee in your current role? Just being there for the new franchisees, as someone to talk to who has ‘been there and done it’ is helpful. It can be a bit lonely out there by yourself and having someone to chat to about the issues you may be facing can be a reassurance.
How has your life changed since starting your Dublcheck career?
Without a doubt it was the best thing I ever did. Throughout my career I was always used to working within a rigid corporate environment
with well-defined reporting and performance requirements – the freedom and independence of the franchisee lifestyle has suited me down to the ground. I wish I had done it earlier.
Do franchisees need to have previous experience in the industry? No, everyone has their own background and they are all very different. What is important is the fire in your belly and the desire to achieve and make a success of the route you have chosen.
What sort of person do you think would suit a Dublcheck franchise? Almost anyone – we have franchisees from almost all walks of life and backgrounds. A Dublcheck franchise can be shaped to suit anyone.
What advice would you give to someone looking to invest in a franchise? Spend time trawling the market. Look for stability and look for continuity of operation. What’s more, make sure you have a good emotional fit. n
101
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248
