Carol Stewart-Gill is cleaning the floor with Dublcheck’s competition

To get Dublcheck off the ground, founder Carol Stewart-Gill hit the streets and started knocking on doors. Over two decades later, the cleaning franchise she chairs boasts 120 franchisees across the UK

Carol Stewart-Gill is cleaning the floor with Dublcheck’s competition

Building a business empire from scratch isn’t easy. But if you have a degree of tenacity and determination, you can make your dreams a reality. Carol Stewart-Gill, founder and chairwoman of Dublcheck, the cleaning franchise, is living proof of this: with sheer grit and resolve she has created a company that has drawn both adulation and emulation in equal measure.

Like many entrepreneurs, Stewart-Gill found the education system inaccessible – although perhaps not for the reasons you might expect. “I went to a Welsh-speaking school but didn’t speak the language,” she explains. “It was frustrating because I knew I had a lot to give.” Stewart-Gill left education with five O-levels and entered secretarial college; fortunately she has since found that aptitude, rather than academics, are more important in creating commercial success. “I truly believe now – having been what I’ve been through – that it’s not about your qualification set,” she says. “It’s the person that actually creates success.”

“But Stewart-Gill didn’t rush out into the world of work: for some time her main focus was being a stay-at-home wife and mother. However, in 1993, a change in life circumstances meant that her family needed an additional income stream. And one of the first ideas that came into Stewart-Gill’s head was commercial cleaning. “I thought ‘blimey, it can’t be that difficult’,” she says. “So out I went, knocked on doors and eventually got my first contract.” Before long, this one contract had multiplied into many more and she realised that she needed to take on some outside help. Franchising seemed the obvious choice.

While the transition from business owner to franchisor can be a tricky one, the fact that Stewart-Gill was still a relative newcomer to the industry meant that she could more easily relate to those she was looking to entice. “You’re singing from the same hymn sheet as people who are going into it,” she says. “Even people that have previously been managing directors can still be nervous because they’re going into an industry that they’re not familiar with.”

This helped her create an attractive model with which to draw in franchisees. But it’s not just a case of building it and assuming they will come; the fledgling franchise needed to start getting the word out. “At the time, we were just a Chester-based operation,” Stewart-Gill says. “So we advertised locally and, before I knew it, we’d got our first franchisee.”

Having taken on its first franchisee to keep up with demand, Dublcheck suddenly found its client numbers exploding. “Once we began franchising, we just kept getting more and more contracts,” says Stewart-Gill. In part, she attributes this to customers liking the fact that they would be dealing with someone who had a direct stake in the business. “We were able to say the person responsible for the cleaning of your office owns their business,” she says. Rather than being handled by an individual who had little reason to do a good job, they knew the team cleaning their office would be being managed by someone with a genuine interest in delivering the best results. “That’s how we stood out from the crowd,” she says.

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<p>Inevitably the appetite for its service meant that Dublcheck needed to rapidly scale up its franchise operations. Fortunately, it not only gained some significant traction from featuring in magazines and exhibitions but a slew of word-of-mouth recommendations also helped it to start securing significant organic growth. “We went from a local franchise to a regional and then a national one,” Stewart-Gill says. “It was that kind of expansion.”</p>
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<p>Other factors that undoubtedly contributed to Dublcheck’s rapid growth are the wide range of investment options it offers and the fact that it provides a concrete income to franchisees. “They’re guaranteed a certain turnover,” Stewart-Gill says. At the lowest end of the scale, there are packages available for £9,950 that offer a hands-on cleaning business turning over £14,000, whilst, for those with a little more cash in their pockets, a £190,950 investment will put a franchisee at the head of a £500,000-a-year operation.</p>
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<p>Part of the reason the investment level is so variable is down to the rather radical way in which Dublcheck structures its opportunities. “We’re not just selling franchisees places within a big territory,” says Stewart-Gill. “We’re actually sourcing contracts for them.” Operating national telesales and field sales teams in-house, Dublcheck allows franchisees to invest based upon how much business they require and guarantees them the exact number of contracts they need to run their franchise. “They can either come back for some more or, alternatively, we run sales courses to train them how to get their own contracts,” she says.</p>
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<p>As Stewart-Gill goes on to explain, if Dublcheck concentrates on connecting franchisees with a consistent stream of new customers, then those franchisees can focus on providing the best possible service to their existing ones. And it’s this that formed the inspiration for the company’s name. “It’s a ‘double check’ system,” says Stewart-Gill. “Franchisees check on the needs of the customers; we check on the needs of the franchisee.”</p>
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<p>But the support Dublcheck provides doesn’t stop at generating leads for its franchisees. As well as providing a comprehensive training package – covering everything from the practical skills to managing personnel and health and safety – the franchise also provides help with invoicing, credit control and payroll. “The help we offer is second to none,” Stewart-Gill says. “Our franchisees say that they can’t believe how much support they get.”</p>
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<p>Stewart-Gill is keen to stress, however, that the assistance Dublcheck provides doesn’t necessarily just follow a prescribed formula. “It’s a very personal approach,” she says. “We’re there at the other end of the phone.” And, just in case a franchisee would rather speak to someone more on their level, Dublcheck also runs a mentorship scheme for franchisees, effectively providing them a buddy who can help guide them through the trials and tribulations of their first year. “You have a mentor who is on a par with you and you can just pick up the phone,” Stewart-Gill says. “It means you’ve got an ally there.”</p>
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Josh Russell
Josh Russell
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