Operating a national franchise from Perth can be challenging; time differences and sheer distance from large cities on the east coast can throw obstacles in the path of franchisors from Western Australia.

Rowena and Richard Clark, owners of the Australia-wide franchise Ovenclean have devised a way of reaching prospect franchisees on the eastern seaboard where there is currently not a regional master franchisee: the Ovenclean Roadshow. “The idea behind the roadshow was to be able to travel to the east coast to meet prospective franchisees and to be able to stay there for a period of time long enough to have further meetings with these interested people and to establish a rapport through personal meetings instead of e-mail and phone calls,” explains Rowena.

The road show consists of Rowena and Richard, a ute, a (much needed) satellite navigation unit and a mobile office. The couple were to drive from Perth to Sydney and back to Perth over approximately six weeks. This return journey would see the owners travelling a total distance of 12,000 kms, through a total of six time zones and across four states.

This was to be an epic journey.

They needed to keep in close contact with OvencleanÕs head office located in Perth, which was relatively easy to do, says Richard. “Using a mobile office these days is much easier due to technology. We had our laptop, USB modem and mobile phone. We managed to speak to head office and receive our e-mails daily, except when crossing the Nullabor.”

Rowena believes the main benefit of the road show was “not being confined to the city or a hotel. We would set up office at Narrembeen Holiday Park on SydneyÕs North Shore and if we needed to meet a prospective franchisee we would un-hitch the office and drive in our ute. It drew lots of attention to us and was a great method of advertising.”

Before leaving Perth, Ovenclean placed adverts in a number of SydneyÕs northern newspapers. As calls came through to head office they began to schedule meeting with these people and were soon ready to go.

After almost four weeks in Sydney the pair had to take a detour on the way home to meet prospects in Melbourne. Returning home after a successful six week trip the Clarks were thinking of the next trip. There are plans hope to run the roadshow again, perhaps in Victoria or Queensland.