Peter Jenkinson saw great potential for a new service in his home town of Broome but didn’t dream of the success his new franchise would bring.

He left his role as the regional manager of one of Australia’s largest air-conditioning companies and signed up as the  franchisee for HydroKleen, a business that maintains and services air-conditioning systems.

“When you live somewhere like Broome, people genuinely value the level of comfort that air conditioners can bring to a highly variable climate,” Peter says. “Because of this, people in the area are quite proactive about having their air conditioners serviced in order to ensure this ongoing comfort.

“For most peoople it’s not a hard sell. We focus instead on educating our market about the health and economic benefits of our service.”

Since establishing his franchise back in 2009, Peter’s business has grown to three further locations: Karratha, Port Hedland and Geelong.

The result has been a year-on-year revenue growth of about 100 percent, and it’s a rate Peter doesn’t see slowing down in the near future.

“With Broome as a kind of litmus test, I saw the possibilities that the bsuiness offering would afford me in a range of other locations,” he says.

“To date the response has been overwhelmingly positive and growth has been continual, which I believe is at least partly the result of power prices increasing and people generally taking a great interest in their health.”

Peter has won awards for his business, and believes a hands-on approach has been a significant help in achieving success.

“Part of the reason HydroKleen Broome took off in the way it did is because I took such an active role in promoting the business,” he says.

“We get great marketing support from head office, which has been crucial to our success, but it’s the direct communication with clients that has made all of my franchises a success.

“To this end, I didn’t just place ads or send out flyers – I went out and met with potential customers and showed them exactly what we do.

“While there is now a fairly large managerial element to what I do now, I’m also frequently out in the van myself, meeting new and returning customers.

“There’s no substitute for that kind of marketing.”