Special Feature
rent4keeps Alan Symons
Alan Symons lives in Westcliff-on- Sea, Essex, and has had a long and varied career in sales, sales management, franchising and business ownership, and the military. Alan has served in Northern Ireland, sold ice cream and doughnuts on the beach in the south of France, played bass in punk and reggae bands, owned a successful franchise business and was the president of a local football club in Australia for nine years. He recently returned to the UK for family reasons.
A
lan says: “In February 2011 I was contacted by a man called Kevin Payne. I knew Kevin well, having previously worked for him in his finance
broking business, First Money Options. I knew him to be a determined and successful businessman who did not suffer fools gladly but was extremely loyal to the people who were loyal to him. He asked me to meet him to discuss an idea he had for a new business. I knew that if Kevin had an idea, it would undoubtedly be worth listening to.
“Over a coffee he explained that, during
research into finding a business for a client, he had come across the furniture and home appliance rentals industry. He found the competition in the marketplace to be very complacent, and with low levels of customer service. In other words, it was a highly profitable market, ready to be exploited by a new, innovative player. And so rent4keeps was born and I was taken on as its first-ever employee. “Between February and October 2011, Kevin and I worked on all aspects of preparing rent4keeps for launch. During that time, we attracted interest from three potential franchisees in Victoria, Australia, and launched them all simultaneously in October 2011. The business took off immediately, with rental agreements being written from the first day onwards. Within nine months we had launched approximately 12 new franchisees in Victoria.
“In 2012 we looked at attracting interest interstate. We garnered interest from many local investors, but my partner Roz also realised the potential of a franchise for us. Within a short space of time, I had quit my role at head office and we were up and running with our franchise, rent4keeps Melbourne North! “We ran the business for five years until I decided to return home to the UK to be close to my ever-expanding family. It was the most challenging but also most exciting thing that I have ever done in business. It was hugely rewarding to build a business from scratch, with great support from the master franchisee and to really make a difference in people’s lives. “rent4keeps now has over 100 company- owned and franchised territories in all states across Australia. Its growth, business model, world-leading Salesforce customer relationship management system and, most importantly, its franchisees, are the envy of its competitors.
“I’m now looking forward to the next big challenge: launching rent4keeps in the UK. The groundwork is done, so as soon as we find the right investor or partner we can move to launch very quickly. I can’t wait!”
April 2018 |
BusinessFranchise.com | 65
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