Sharing key performance data helps franchisees to grow and improve
Molly Maid Franchisees have long used a bespoke management system to help manage the day-to-day aspects of their business, with the rich data from this loaded into a centralised data warehouse.
Ask Jonathan Holden, COO of Molly Maid UK, what his key job at the UK’s number one cleaning franchise in the Elite 100 is, and he doesn’t hesitate, “Helping Franchisees to better manage and grow their business. It’s embedded in our culture and is the basis for everything that we do.” And with their eye-popping sales growth results it’s evident that this philosophy is working. Since December 2020 the company has been on a rocket ship of growth, having increased their average weekly turnover by an astounding 60%, with many Franchisees achieving even higher rates of growth. Holden is quick to point out that the changes in the cleaning industry coming out of COVID and Brexit have boosted customer demand so much that some Franchisees still have waiting lists of customers wanting to start service, but he believes that their approach to helping Franchisees has played an equally important role and central to this, is the data they share with Franchisees.
“Everyone has access to so much data now to help better manage key parts of their business but what you do with the data is so much more important than the actual data itself and by this I mean, it’s sharing it with Franchisees.”
Molly Maid Franchisees have long used a bespoke management system to help manage the day-to-day aspects of their business, with the rich data from this loaded into a centralised data warehouse. “This is probably something that every leading Franchisor does and is clearly not unique”, notes Holden. But the company extracts all of this data into two key reports that they share with Franchisees at the end of each calendar quarter. They are called Under the Bonnet Reports because Holden says is allows Franchisees to get a really good understanding of the results that will drive better performance.
The reports show the data for all Franchisees as well as the top 10 performers which Holden says stimulates discussion at company meetings and through their widely used intranet. “Sharing this data has been hugely important to helping Franchisees make better decisions in their business. We review it with them at our support visits at their office and on most support Zoom calls too. It’s really about improvement – if you can make small improvements in just a few areas of your business, you are going to achieve higher rates of growth which is going to help you make more profit and make your business more valuable.”
The Customer Growth Report focuses on the key elements that help Franchisees to increase their customer base, which in turn helps them to achieve higher levels of sales growth. It shows the number of new customer enquiries, the conversion rate (the percentage of enquiries who booked a clean), the number of new customers who started service and the number of customers who cancelled their service.
The Price and Profitability Report focuses on the key elements that help Franchisees to generate more profit. It shows the average cleaning fee for their different cleaning frequencies (weekly, fortnightly, monthly and one time cleans), the hourly rates for each frequency (as the time to clean each home varies significantly), the average revenue for a cleaning team per week (a team consists of two cleaners) and the average number of homes cleaned for a team.
While some Franchisors may find the data to be more exciting than the Franchisees, Holden says some Franchisees actually bring the reports with them to company meetings. “We have one Franchisee who calls within a few days of the end the quarter asking when the reports are going to be published!”
The company also uses them to share key data with new Franchisees who are just starting their business and on resales. “It stimulates so much discussion about what is possible to achieve. I especially like drilling down to the top 10 performers. These are business owners who are truly achieving some remarkable results and it’s important to share with Franchisees the practices, processes or tips that they are doing. It allows us to share best of class management practices.”
Holden says their data-savvy approach to business is something that has helped them to maintain their top ranked position in the fast growth domestic cleaning industry. They are always drilling down into the numbers to help them know what is working and equally, what isn’t. But Holden adds, “The data means nothing unless you actually put it in the hands of Franchisees to help them act on it.”
For more information about new and resale opportunities at Molly Maid, contact Aaron Watson, Director of Franchise Development, by email awatson@mollymaid.co.uk or by phone 01628 583765.