Sandip Chauham and Ketan Patel reach the magic £1 million
5th June 2008 - Jani-King
A chance meeting
This is the story of the rapid rise to business success of two young men from Leicester who became close “beer buddies” after moving into the same halls of residence at Nottingham Trent University. When Sandip attended lectures, he had to send Ket text messages to get him out of bed to meet them at the Student Union for fun and frolics!
The boys often then needed a break for an hour or two to freshen up before hitting the bars and clubs of Nottingham where they would chase the ladies and, when unsuccessful, drown their sorrows. Ket, in particular, clearly had a fantastic time at university and willingly admits that it took him only seven years to complete a four-year degree course!!
Entrepreneurs in the making
In the months immediately after starting full time employment Armadip (an initial 3rd partner), Sandip and Ket realised their priorities needed to change, not least to repay their student loans. This realisation gradually led them to develop burning ambitions to become successful businessmen.
Being very determined young men and believing they possessed the ideal mix of skills for a successful business partnership, they continued to develop individual careers while being watchful for alternative opportunities.
A Trip to USA
A family wedding in the USA dramatically altered Ket & Sandip’s lives. They were introduced to the concept of franchising by Ket’s brother who had recently invested in a “Subway” franchise and was achieving great success. To pursue this opportunity, Amardip, Ket and Sandip considered emigrating. However, after much deliberation and taking into account a poor exchange rate, the inspired trio decided instead to research possible franchise business ventures within the UK.
“Bearing in mind this was our first business venture, we soon realised we needed to step outside of our current surroundings and evaluate the opportunities around us,” Ket comments.
After six months of detailed research, Armadip, Sandip and Ket were attracted to the Jani King concept not least because it offered guaranteed turnover and uncapped potential business growth. Following an initial enquiry, the entrepreneurs were further impressed with the Jani King business model and the 10% margin realignment offered to franchisees. Consequently, their confidence in the Jani King system quickly grew.
After a number of meetings with Jani King’s Paul Haworth, the trio examined all the potential challenges they might face, such as “Will we make this franchise into a successful business?” After considering various business scenarios and tactics, the trio were confident that, with hard work, they could make the franchise a success.
Whatever it takes
On 7th July 2004, Armadip, Sandip and Ket invested in a Jani King cleaning franchise, naming their new business: “ASK Consultants Ltd”. Following the initial training course, ASK Consultants Ltd started its first account on 1st October 2004 and the three budding entrepreneurs rolled up their sleeves undertaking some of the cleaning work themselves.
While confident that the new business would succeed, Armadip, Ket and Sandip worked through a fairly slow start with a few transfers of accounts from other franchisees. This was not the start they wanted, so they decided to grow the business by selling themselves and carrying out specialist jobs such as “strip and seal” of wooden floors. ASK Consultants Ltd received ongoing support from Jani King’s training manager and this enabled the franchise to convert work demos into contracts. “Whatever challenge a new franchisee is faced with, there is always someone at Jani King to turn to for advice and guidance,” Ket explains.
The hands-on experience gave ASK Consultants Ltd a valuable insight into their customers’ expectations. Further new business followed. Ket recalls “After cleaning a pub in Leicester, the landlady mentioned her flat needed decorating. Of course, we jumped at the chance for the extra work and before we knew it, we were tiling her bathroom and painting the lounge - I don’t remember this being in our business plan!!”
Within four months, they received a major breakthrough when Jani King offered ASK Consultants the opportunity to service accounts for retailer Superdrug. By March 2005, the franchise still in its initial stage of growth, was turning over approximately £6,000 per month. Ket and Sandip then jumped at the opportunity for additional cleaning contracts in the Coventry area and within one month their turnover had grown to £22,000.
Ket, Sandip and Armadip began to realise that it would be best for the franchise if Armadip exited the business due to personal reasons. In the following month, Ket and Sandip worked day and night to generate extra funds to buy-out their business partner. In November 2005, Armadip exited the franchise.
Building the foundations to a fortune
Ket and Sandip remained focused on their franchise and followed the implementation plan provided by Jani King to steadily grow their business and achieve success. However, they would be the first to admit that when difficult situations arise – as they do in any business – the support received from the Jani King HQ has been like a ‘parental tough-love’. Sandip says: “As a franchisee, if your attitude is not right, you are in danger of damaging the brand for other franchisees. Therefore, we recognise that it is in the interests of everyone that the head-office team gets involved to help resolve any problems.
From day one, the ASK Consultants identified their customers as their first priority and provided a fast response to build good relationships for customer retention. This attitude contributed to increasing business growth resulting in a much higher level of profitability.
The sweet smell of success
In November 2005, an opportunity to clean an Odeon cinema in Sheffield became available. There was an underlying concern that they were taking on too many accounts. They were also warned that they could fail and jeopardise their wider business operation, but, in true ASK Consultants style, the ‘can do’ attitude resulted in a further increase in turnover to £34,000 per month. This success provided a massive confidence boost to Ket and Sandip and motivated them to work even harder.
Six months later, Ket and Sandip hit their first milestone of £500,000 turnover, achieved within just two years of trading. Their growth has been a mixture of working proactively to generate new business, supplemented by contracts received centrally from the Jani King (GB) salesforce.
Ket and Sandip have put their business success down to the simple Jani King philosophy that ‘seeing is believing’. Sandip says: “You need to ensure that the customer sees that they are receiving a service which provides good value and good quality.”
Sandip and Ket are the proud owners of a large Jani King franchise region which includes Leicester, Warwick, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Leeds, Doncaster and Sheffield. Splitting the region between them, Ket and Sandip work to ensure a high quality service is provided for all clients. With Ket having formerly worked in Customer Relations, and Sandip a former accountant; they have an ideal combination of skills for a successful business partnership.
They also know determination has been a big factor in their success. Ket comments: “I think the fact that we are passionate and really motivated to make our business a success is really important. Having the right attitude, being focused and knowing what we want from the business has helped a lot and ensured that our team has the right approach.”
Sandip adds: “We found, particularly in the early days, that from time to time, things didn’t go to plan. However, the important thing is to learn from the experience and not become negative as this can be a downward spiral.”
Both Ket and Sandip both have the support of their friends and family and are active members of the local communities in which they operate. They also have a strong relationship with the Jani King head office team. When asked what advice they would give to a prospective franchisee, the partners say: “Learn as much as you can from the Jani King training programmes, get into good habits and work as hard as you can from day one.”
In January 2007, Ket and Sandip collected two new BMW convertibles as self recognition of their hard work, although Ket is somewhat disappointed he couldn’t obtain insurance for the M3 Sports model!
The first million
Sandip and Ket are now proud that their customer portfolio consists of leading retailers and leisure groups including Odeon, Tenpin, River Island, Esporta, Superdrug and HMV. In total, ASK Consultants have 84 customers and, when recently taking over an additional “Next” account, their annual turnover reached the magic one million pounds!
Ket comments: “Now that we have reached the £1 million mark, the £2 million mark is our next goal and we aim to reach this a little quicker now that we have our structure in place. We plan to maintain the level of growth with all the challenges involved. We hope to continue our success and grow our business indefinitely!!”
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