Day in the life
A green day G
reensleeves Cheshire West has been trading since 2009. However, in 2017, the franchise was divided, appointing my son, Matthew,
as the lawn care manager for Cheshire Villages. Cheshire West and Cheshire Villages both operate out of our base in Cheshire. Fortunately, our house has a vast amount of space beneath it, which acts as an offi ce and store facility for our equipment and products.
6.00am
This time is what I like to call ‘cat o’clock’. My two friendly felines decide that I have had long enough in bed and proceed with their morning ritual of waking up the rest of the household.
6.30am At around this time I head down to the offi ce and check any emails that require an urgent response. I will then run through the day’s job sheet to make sure everything is in order and look over the day’s planned route. During this time, I will start to prepare tomorrow’s planned route and customers’ invoices to ensure I stay on top of my important and critical administration duties. Once this has been completed, I then contact my customers via email or text message reminding them that I’ll be arriving at their lawns shortly.
8.30am Around this time in the morning (I tend to start earlier during the summer months), my team arrives to collect their planned routes and job sheets for the day. We then have a team briefi ng to discuss what’s to be expected during the day. This can range from what non-seasonal treatments we have scheduled to the potential diffi culties of accessing properties. During the meeting, opportunities for marketing and upselling are also discussed as a team, as I believe everyone’s opinions and ideas are vital to a successful business. Once the meeting is fi nished, we double check the vans to ensure that all of our professional equipment and products are suffi cient for the day. We then venture out on our planned routes, which have been carefully put together to ensure
Brian Wanford
Brian Wanford is the Greensleeves franchisee for Cheshire West and began trading in 2009. Here, he describes a typical day...
good use of time and fuel effi ciency. As a busy franchisee, I spend most of the day speaking with my customers, creating a strong rapport, which, in turn, results in a loyal customer return. Once I arrive at my customer’s lawn I begin by explaining what I will accomplish in that day’s visit and suggest additional treatments for future visits to keep their lawns healthy. The customer-franchisee relationship is one of the most important aspects of the business and I enjoy seeing my customers frequently while gaining new ones along the way.
3.30pm
Between 3.30pm and 5.30pm I return to the offi ce to debrief the staff , collect job sheets and payment slips. I then spend a few hours completing the day’s trading activity along with any outstanding administration work that needs attending to, such as updating my diary and writing up my customer notes from the day. Next, I follow up and book any mechanical treatments that have been identifi ed during the day at my customers’
properties. I will check on the marketing stock to ensure I have plenty of leafl ets available, which I use to promote our seasonal and annual treatments. At some point in the evening I will spend roughly half an hour looking over the business plan, marketing activity and work methods to make sure the business is reaching its full potential. I make sure the calendar is always booked six months in advance to ensure I maintain a good steady pace of work. Finally, I’ll prepare the vans for the next day.
5.30pm
I will wrap up any fi nal details and head back up to the house to enjoy the rest of the evening with my family and felines ready to do it all over again tomorrow. I enjoy my job immensely and I take great pleasure in working with such an outstanding franchise network like Greensleeves.
franchise@greensleeves-uk.com
March 2018 |
BusinessFranchise.com | 109
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
