Drain Doctor Plumbing, the UK’s premier combined emergency plumbing and drain repair service, has voiced its commitment to further expand its business and has set ’15 from 15′ – 15 per cent growth in 2015 – as its target at its twenty first annual franchisee convention.
Staff who attended the long weekend of business presentations and social events at the Crowne Plaza hotel in the historic Belgian city of Bruges heard a bullish opening presentation from chairman Freddie Mitman, who is optimistic about sustained growth prospects for the company throughout 2015 and beyond.
He said: “Now that we are into our third decade in business it is essential that as a group we are firing on all cylinders in order to make strong progress. The past three years have been great. We established a break-through in acquiring jobs through the internet, national accounts grew by more than 15 per cent and some positive marketing was done in many areas. We need to keep that momentum by going for 15 per cent in 2015.”
Among the speakers at the convention who picked up on the same theme was Mary Kennedy-Thompson, president of Mr Rooter – Drain Doctor’s equivalent in the USA. She stressed the importance of maintaining momentum and the need to have a powerful purpose and a passion for what the business is doing.
She used the analogy of a motorcycle journey to explain. “Business has changed pace. It used to be made up of periods of ‘push’ and periods of rest. Now the need to grow requires more constant ‘push’. We must learn to ‘thrive in the push’, because time won’t stop and wait for us.”
She said that we must keep going – like a motorcycle – because when we stop we fall over.
“A certain forward momentum must be kept up because it is this momentum that makes it easier to circumnavigate the obstacles you will need to go around, and move fast enough to negotiate bad things.
“Life is like riding a motorcycle. Your bike will go where you are looking. So if you’re coming to a corner don’t stare and get fixated on the hedge, look around the bend where you want to go. The bike will be capable of getting you around the corner.”
Senior managers from Drain Doctor’s head office gave presentations on various aspects of franchise management, including marketing.
Other presentations stressed that Drain Doctor is a ‘people business’ which requires passionate leadership, setting goals in developing the Drain Doctor business and meeting the demanding standards which the company has set. There were also presentations on new launches including the Drain Doctor SkyVac gutter-clearing system, which is being taken up by franchisees.
The annual convention is organised by Drain Doctor for its franchisees. A number of franchisees were presented with awards for outstanding business performance.
Launched in the United Kingdom in 1993, Drain Doctor Plumbing now operates in every part of the country with each franchise run as an independent business.
Drain Doctor Plumbing provides a genuine 24-hour service with no call-out charge and no extra charges for calls outside normal working hours. Customers get a fixed price quotation so they know exactly how much they will have to pay before work is started.
