Page 32 | The Apprentice Thread Two - Fire Them All...

var123 · 18/12/2015 08:38

sadwidow28 - I know its a franchise model.
I'm not an expert, this is just what I've worked out for myself, but surely when you franchise you sell a brand.

It makes sense to franchise when its something that can be replicated elsewhere if a specific set of instructions are followed to deliver the product to the customer e.g. McDonalds or Dominos pizzas or fitting a tyre. The franchisee benefits from the bulk purchasing and the franchisor's advertising. The idea is that the customer gets the same thing irrespective of the franchisee.

But what makes a plumber different when the jobs vary so much? The problem with plumbers is that they don't turn up, or you can't trust them to diagnose the problem accurately or they don't complete the work to a high standard. So, I can't see how you can franchise this service because it is so specific. I can see how you can franchise a plumber's merchant but not a plumbing service.

var123 · 18/12/2015 08:39

Maryz - I agree. I think Vana will win, but I would rather Joseph got the leg up.

VegetablEsoup · 18/12/2015 08:41

a plumber franchise makes sense to me.
ever had to get one urgetnly and looked at the yellow pages? a familiar, trustworthy name would be helpful.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 18/12/2015 08:52

I actually think a plumber franchise makes sense too. A franchisee should be emotionally committed to making it work because they have invested and as long as you have lots of training and robust quality control procedures then there's no reason for standards to dip.

However, since they didn't like the franchise model, I thought the new plan was that Joseph would just extend his existing business into other areas? From Sir Alan's pov that makes more sense because if they buy more vans, tools and offices in each area then they have a growing asset base as well as a customer base. Yes, the vans and tools are depreciating assets but the offices/depots should appreciate.

BYOSnowman · 18/12/2015 09:09

When we had a plumbing emergency I ended up calling Pimlico plumbers - outrageously expensive but I needed someone I'd heard of as reliable

APlaceOnTheCouch · 18/12/2015 09:38

If Joseph wins maybe we can get MN to contact him and arrange a special MN membership code. He gets to thank us for our support; we get a plumbing company we feel can trust - win/win

var123 · 18/12/2015 09:49

Its the reliability thing that's my point. You want a plumber who is honest, reliable, competent and won't overcharge you.
Most of those things are personal characteristics, all of which i am guessing Joseph has (apart from maybe quoting high - see property sales task!). How do you get other plumbers to work for you who are the same standard? If the people who you send out let you down, your business reputation falls through the floor and the value of the business with it.

Maybe he can just do new boiler fits or similar instead of all plumbing - something bog standard that you can quality control.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 18/12/2015 10:19

But it's the same process as he uses now to find staff ie you interview; perhaps have a practical test. I'm not saying there would never be issues of quality control but that's a challenge for every business. Someone running a McDonalds could ignore the McDonald's bible, burn the food, have dirty floors and employ grumpy staff. It's how you deal with those problems that's important. It's not a reason not to have a franchise business.

var123 · 18/12/2015 13:14

Maybe my experiences have made me a little pessimistic about how realistic it is to hire several staff and leave them to get on with their jobs, without damaging the company's reputation.

Good people do exist, there is no doubt about it. However, there are more people who are good, if they get supervised and get a bit lax if they don't. Then there's obviously a number who pour their efforts into how far they can push things without getting sacked.

I have experience of all of these. The people I employ/ have employed in the past get a fair degree of autonomy about they do their jobs. We have policies and procedures but when they aren't in the office and you aren't checking everything, they can slip. You only find out that someone has taken a chance on not doing something when it goes wrong and a customer complains. But by then the damage to your reputation is done and all you an do is try to repair it at whatever expense you can afford.

lorelei9 · 18/12/2015 13:29

I'm caught up now
Anything to do with plumbing sounds a better bet than dating!

that said, Vana's idea needs a tweak IMHO - she could have them do a gaming thing after seeing a picture? That way you pay for a gaming experience as well as a dating site, but don't run the risk of hours of gaming with someone whose looks ultimately don't appeal. As someone who is neither a gamer nor an online dater, I might have that totally wrong.

sadwidow28 · 18/12/2015 13:33

Sadly, Maryz I think you could be right.

Vana has at least 4 on-line businesses - including the wine one which is linked to Virgin Wines (Richard Branson)

Joseph appears to be a mini-Lord Sugar and I really hope that he gets the step-up and backing that he deserves. But I doubt it will happen. Whatever happens, Joseph is an inspiration to young teenagers. Expelled from school at aged 14 yrs old, learned plumbing skills and then launched a business.

I really admired him when he was challenged about reading Lord Sugar's book. He knew every answer! But he has grown up during the programme. Joseph is an inspirational role model who listens to advice and suggestions. I don't think he will win but I do hope that this launches a z-list celebrity career for him.

lorelei9 · 18/12/2015 13:45

My money's on Joseph
actually there's a point....

sadwidow28 · 18/12/2015 13:51

I can see what you are saying var. I watched Undercover Boss when it was focussed on Pizza GoGo (a franchise operation) and the boss discovered some major health and safety issues, as well as one outlet that had changed the menu to focus on chicken and not pizza.

He called into one outlet just to buy a pizza - a spur of the moment thing - and it was filthy, lacked customer care, and the pizza dough wasn't made to their recipe. He demanded that the Pizza GoGo sign was removed the following morning.

The boss admitted that they were so busy 'growing' that they had taken their eye off quality control, training and support.

var123 · 18/12/2015 14:17

sadwidow28 - I can see how that can happen (pizza Gogo). In my case, we go into people's homes and deal with them on a 1-1 basis. I can't do spot checks without turning up on someone's doorstep and asking them questions about what they experienced.

The issue is that client's relationship is a personal one with the people who work for me, not me. If I turn up on their doorstep and start questioning, they would just look at me as if I was a really controlling boss who doesn't trust the people who work for her at all! So, I only find out what goes on if I either get a complaint or a compliment or something has gone so badly wrong that my staff are calling me to firefight.

If Joseph expands to 200 plumbers (say), then he'll never be able to manage them all so that they deliver the service levels that he delivers himself. To be honest, if they were as good as he is, then they'd have their own companies...

RockyRoadster · 18/12/2015 16:19

You don't need to do spot checks on customer's doorsteps, just send them all a customer service questionnaire. That gets you the feedback you require, and the franchisee/staff are aware that all jobs are followed up for good and bad feedback.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 18/12/2015 16:28

Or you do random after-sales phone calls. You have a checkbox on the initial contract asking if you can contact them for a chat afterwards. After-sales is just as important as the initial sale and then delivery of the service. There should be a process for everything

var123 · 18/12/2015 16:32

I do that and I get very good replies 99% of the time, even from the people who I know we screwed things up for. They don't realise what happened because it got sorted out before they found out, or because someone took a risk that something wouldn't be needed and they got lucky that it wasn't.

Its hard to explain this without saying what the business is, but put it this way, we are the experts and our clients don't know what to expect so they are just grateful that we've looked after them, which mostly we do, but sometimes not as well as we should.

There are a few people who always complain too, even if you really have done the job in an exemplary manner. I was shocked the first time I came across this - the motivation was to get a discount after the service had been consumed.

This is all by the by. If Joseph expands, he'll have the same problems. Most people will say it was great and their number could easily include the ones whose boiler appears fine but it isn't really or for whom the plumber replaced more parts than were necessary.

ENTirelyTrimmedUpForChristmas · 20/12/2015 11:03

REMINDER

The Apprentice Final starts tonight (Sunday) at 9pm and is on for two hours.
BBC1.

BondJayneBond · 20/12/2015 11:08

Thanks for the reminder. I still had Wednesday in my head.

sadwidow28 · 20/12/2015 17:51

Thanks for the reminder. The change to Sunday had gone out of my head completely!

ENTirelyTrimmedUpForChristmas · 20/12/2015 20:03

Glad it's a useful reminder. Sunday's odd isn't it, especially with the BBC doing Sports Personality of the Year tonight too.

chocomochi · 20/12/2015 20:03

Omg! Tonight! Thanks for the reminder!! Otherwise I would have missed it.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 20/12/2015 20:12

Ooh! Less than an hour to go [excited smiley]

ENTirelyTrimmedUpForChristmas · 20/12/2015 21:07

Coming on now.

sadwidow28 · 20/12/2015 21:09

I am on live player (laptop) - it appears we are running late from here.

Sports Personality of the year just finished NOW