If you’re familiar with the Jim’s brand you’ll know the business that began as a lawn mowing service has diversified considerably over the years. Jim’s Group now has more than 50 individual franchised divisions and continues to expand.

In its 42 years of trading, Jim’s has achieved an extraordinary reach across Australia, operating in many industries. Now Jim’s has embraced the driving school business and at-home care sector.

Founder Jim Penman says, “The driving school suits us well. It’s a business where reputation matters a lot; customers must have confidence in the brand and the instructor. And because of our social media presence, we have good brand awareness in the 15 to 25-year-old age group, which is an obvious customer base.”

And when it comes to health care, the opportunities are vast.

“We want to go into the home care market and see what we can do. Home caring is about helping people to live independently. Economically it is a better solution than hospital or managed care, and it is better for the individual,” says Jim.

The at-home care industry is highly regulated but that’s not a challenge for the Jim’s Group. Its extensive group of services includes other sectors reliant on regulatory compliance such as insurance, solar, electrical and plumbing.

“A business our size means we can get the right advice, something that smaller organisations can’t do. We have excellent systems and processes in place,” says Jim.

Jim’s Group needs scale for success

And as the divisional franchisors (who set up and head each sector at Jim’s) often convert their existing business to the Jim’s banner, they bring with them valuable industry experience.

“We look at each business idea individually before bringing it into the Jim’s Group,” says Jim. “It is also important that the proposed business has the potential to scale. We need to see good prospects for at least 100 franchisees,” he says.

The need for scale means businesses operating in major service industries are most suited to Jim’s branding.

“At Jim’s, we don’t take a high fee – the average fee is 6 per cent of turnover – so we need scale. Then we can do a lot of things in bulk, from holding meetings to developing software.”

Both franchisees and customers benefit from Jim’s Group technology advances, and the business annually invests several million dollars into developing software in-house.

“We’re developing Jim’s Jobs as a compelling way to look after the customer base, and this is probably another year away. Eventually, we want to enable clients to book directly into a franchisee’s diary. It will significantly help franchisees but it won’t be a compulsory tool,” says Jim.

The company is currently upgrading its franchise management system which allocates franchisee work.

Jim knows how much a robust and efficient system can boost business. He has seen the impact of strong processes on customer satisfaction.

Systems and software crucial to business

“Customer service complaints dropped to a fraction of what they were and our number of leads rose. We commonly find a customer will use several businesses in the Jim’s Group once they know the brand and are happy with the service.”

If a customer remains dissatisfied in the process of following up on customer complaints, Jim will personally step up and handle the situation.

The Jim’s Group has tried and tested ways to source leads.

“We’re fairly good at finding work. We don’t advertise that intensively but we find franchisee leads – we can get plenty of work at a good hourly rate,” Jim says.

“We knocked back 250,000 leads last year,” he reveals. “We even gave back the advertising fund contribution to a franchisor last year because we didn’t need to spend on any advertising.”

Jim’s most sought-after services remain lawn mowing and dog washing.

While the Jim’s Group has morphed into a mega group with more than 5,000 franchisees, it remains a personal passion for its founder.

It’s important to Jim Penman that the group delivers what franchisees need.

“For instance, we have a clause in our contract that we do not take a margin on what we supply to franchisees. The brand is only worth what it is worth to the franchisee.”

Jim is involved in driving group success

“I’m passionate about good franchising. My franchisees motivate me. It’s very personal. I write to them or ring them to find out how they are going in the business.”

Jim believes in adding value where he can and thinks nothing of taking a laser focus to a Jim’s Group business that isn’t maximising its potential.

“I had a fencing franchisee who wasn’t getting enough work. I had a look at his business and could see ways to improve the set-up so he could optimise the business.

“Getting involved in making a difference to franchisees’ businesses, that’s immensely rewarding,” says Jim.