Do you want to know how to grow a business, how to make the phone ring more, how to manage staff? If so, you’re in good company. These are the main needs of Jim’s Plumbing franchisees, says divisional franchisor Chris Chaviaros, who runs the division.
“We focus on helping franchisees streamline their business and keep down the cost of goods,” Chris explains. “We need to increase leads for franchisees and we provide business support and marketing.”
Chris and his business partner (who own and run Jim’s plumbing and roofing divisions), have invested in an inhouse marketing expert to take marketing and lead generation to the next level.
It’s worked. Since March customer leads for franchisees have risen 10 per cent, and Chris now wants to double leads by July.
“We try not to let anything distract us from our focus on providing franchisees with leads. We have spent money on advertising across all states, investing more in regions which are more competitive.
“And we asked franchisees to participate in an investment to help drive more leads,” Chris says. “We give our franchisees choice and flexibility to invest in their own local area marketing.”
Chris joined the business three years ago to jointly lead the roofing division, which quickly grew from six franchisees to 15. Eighteen months ago Jim Penman, the Jim’s Group founder, asked Chris and his business partner to tender for the dormant plumbing division.
It had operated for almost 20 years as an employee model with 200 plumbers nationwide before losing its licence after bringing the brand into disrepute for poor quality service and high costs, Chris says.
Jim’s Plumbing is stringent about customer service
Chris relaunched the plumbing division in September 2023 and now there are more than 100 plumbers across the division working for the 25 franchisees and territories.
“Our franchisees are in control of their own staff members, quality control is managed and we really do police it,” Chris says.
While Jim’s Plumbing is as stringent about excellent customer service as other divisions in the group, it does differ when it comes to training.
“We don’t provide any technical training, we have highly-experienced plumbers. They join the group because they want to be part of a well-known Aussie brand,” he says.
Franchisees must be qualified plumbers
Jim’s Plumbing now only recruits qualified plumbers who have backed up their four-year apprenticeship with at least three years on the tools.
“They need to have gone through the hard yards to be highly-qualified; we need to ensure a high quality of work,” Chris explains. “We would rather bring people on who have already made their mistakes; Jim’s is a big brand and we have to look after our reputation.”
The ideal candidate is a single operator who has worked for a boss, wants to go out on his own, and wants to grow the business in a measured way.
“If a plumber is busy, they’ll tell everyone, so they are our ambassadors. With the Jim’s brand they have the best chance to make as much money as they want.
“We’re not the cheapest, we have had complaints about costs but we justify our prices with good service and good work. If you charge for a high quality service and deliver, and solve the problem, customers don’t mind paying,” Chris points out.
Jim’s encourages franchisees to follow a certain costing structure using a program called Servicem8. This online database controls a franchisee’s diary, quoting and invoicing.
Franchisees also work with tradies’ sales tool FlatRateNOW (which integrates into Servicem8). This plumbing database itemises every piece of equipment with costings and margins. It also shows average charges for services which is a guide for franchisees to use when quoting for work.
Jim’s brand name and service guarantee helps secure quotes
Jim’s brand name and a 12-month guarantee on services help franchisees secure work from new customers, even in regions where other plumbers are undercutting costs.
“We back our services so our warranty cover all the costs relating to installation,” Chris says.
“People are very price savvy right now, because of the cost of living. If something doesn’t need to be fixed, they will put it off until it’s a problem.
“People are doing a lot of DIY jobs, but following YouTube videos can be costly, with more serious problems down the track, and we’re seeing that happening now.”
To help alleviate the financial burden customers can access up to $5,000 through Jim’s payment plan.
“We provide free quotes for customers, and our franchisees will come to the job or Facetime a customer if they need to deal with immediate problems,” Chris says.
“Our challenge is servicing the number of jobs available. In April we had 30 jobs in Tasmania unserviced, because we don’t have a franchisee there. Yet we were still getting leads. That’s the power of the Jim’s brand.”