Clean sweep for high flyers

Work pressure means growing numbers of people can’t find the time or energy to do their housework, which gives Belle Casa management franchisees the chance to earn more and still enjoy extra time at home

Going into business with one of your best friends is always going to be fraught with risk, but they were risks Philippa Pedder was prepared to take when she started a Belle Casa domestic cleaning franchise with her friend, Clarissa Jopling.

As they reach their sixth anniversary this month, the Richmond-based pair are celebrating having built a business with gross profit into very high six-figures and the fact that clients are beating a path to their door.

HUGE STEP

Taking on a franchise was a huge step for both high flyers - Clarissa left a well-established career as a bank manager and Philippa turned her back on a computer training career that had enabled her to take frequent trips to Europe.

“When I had my son everything changed,” admits Philippa, who at the time was an entrepreneur with a thriving business in her native Jamaica. “When I was in Jamaica I met David, who is a pilot, and moved to London. My husband spends days away from home and I simply didn’t want to leave my small son in the care of a nanny for his whole life. In fact, I didn’t want to leave my family at all.”

Arriving in Britain, Philippa returned to university and began a career in computer training, until her own success meant the job became too demanding. She wondered about setting up her own business, and even thought about a cleaning company, but had no idea how to go about getting insurance and establishing herself. Then she went to the British and International Franchise Exhibition at Wembley and was struck by the Belle Casa concept.

“I loved the simplicity of the idea,” admits Philippa, “without any fancy add-ons which would have ruined it. And the company’s ethos reflected my own so closely. I loved the fact that Belle Casa provides a call centre for each franchise, on top of a really good package.”

When Philippa talked it over with Clarissa, her friend was keen to come on board. “I know it’s a risk working with a friend,” says Philippa, “but we’re a very good personality mix. We can talk about what’s bugging us and we have different strengths - I’m very much the ideas person, while Clarissa is great at implementing things. We’re both good lateral thinkers and we feed off each other.” It took the pair just two months to do their due diligence checks before starting the Belle Casa franchise.

The franchise purchase price of £8,950 (plus VAT) includes full training, a dedicated call centre (Belle Casa believes it’s the only cleaning franchise that provides this service) plus help with local leafleting. “The Belle Casa team also distributed 1,500 leaflets for us - which gave us a great start,” says Philippa.

The response from some areas was simply huge - but a few other areas were less responsive. “I know the leaflet method works very well in most areas of Britain, but in this part of London we’re simply inundated by leaflets,” says Philippa. “It doesn’t work as well as it might have 10 years ago.”

So the pair started a major advertising campaign, targeting local papers and glossy magazines as well as ‘Yellow Pages’ and Google, which brought a huge response. “People here do look at magazines, and now with the power of the internet if they keep seeing our advertisement then we’re building brand awareness,” Philippa points out. Soon the couple were inundated with enquiries and started recruiting housekeepers via a finely-honed recruitment method that is one of Belle Casa’s unique selling points and a closely guarded secret.

“I simply hadn’t believed that we could recruit so many housekeepers in Richmond,” admits Philippa, “and I told Peter Dalton, Belle Casa’s managing director, that I would blame him if it didn’t work. But I was amazed. I had to phone him that first week to apologise for my scepticism. It really does work.”

“The method we have is unique to us,” confirms Belle Casa’s franchise director, Jenny Wilson, “but it works very well. It’s a brilliant system, which helps us recruit the best staff and retain them too, with far greater success than most people have when they employ their own ‘Mrs Mop’ from around the corner.”

And as Philippa and Clarissa worked through Belle Casa’s rigorous three-part vetting system, visiting potential housekeepers in their own homes, they found a wealth of domestic talent. “You get all kinds of people, from university students to people just learning English,” Philippa says.

As new clients came rolling in - some even on Christmas Eve - Philippa and Clarissa were amazed by the sheer momentum of their business success. “You might find five or six new clients a week, and they pay for the next quarter,” Philippa explains. “But in the meantime you’re still getting payments from clients you recruited last year. It’s really an amazing system, and I’m filled with admiration for it.”

WINNING IDEA

The winning Belle Casa idea was born just over 10 years ago in November 1998. Founder Peter Dalton was a sales director for a Portsmouthbased housewares company. When the business relocated to Norwich, Peter did not want to be burnt out with the extra travelling and working 80 hours a week, so he gave up a salary package of £65,000 plus expenses. People thought he was mad. But he wanted to work for himself, and thought just two options would work - food or domestic cleaning.

The decision to go for cleaning stemmed from his feeling that Britain was focusing increasingly on the service industry, leaving behind its manufacturing roots. So he ordered 10,000 leaflets to distribute. When they arrived he had no cash in the house and had to borrow £250 to pay for them. Yet that initial gamble was the start of huge expansion. The first appointment came rolling in that same evening and the business grew fast. Within weeks Peter’s client base had exceeded 50 customers.

The rapid expansion meant Peter quickly needed offices, and by the time the first office in Northamptonshire was purchased in early 1999 the company’s client base had grown to over 280. It was becoming impossible for Peter to operate alone, so he brought in staff and a leafleting team - while client numbers went on rising.

Says Peter: “We all talk about the credit crunch, but we are 19 per cent up on last year, and appointments are still coming in thick and fast. We simply carry on with our business in the normal way. We are very happy - if we can be up over 19 per cent in these tough times, what will the business be like when we see the green shoots coming through? Even better times are ahead.

“We have all our systems in place and our workforce will not be reduced. In fact, we are recruiting day on day. It’s our belief that our clients are working longer to keep in work, therefore they need help at home.”

As for Philippa and Clarissa, they are simply happy not to be working in the corporate world any longer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For a free DVD pack or more information visit www.bellecasa.co.uk or call 0871 9512345.