From Pet Patrol to Dog Wash to Franchisor in 5 Years

The demand for your services has gone up dramatically.

Like now, probably the most unserviced leads in the group is dogwash.

I've had my leads turned off for a long time, as you would have seen.

The only customers I take now are referrals from existing customers.

The way my business has grown and evolved, it was what I dreamt of, but didn't think I was going to achieve it in such a short amount of time.

You have to build relationships with these people.

That's how your business grows because then they tell their friends or their family.

I've got one family that I do literally 20 customers from one family.

One family.

The way I structure my business in that way is that the person that gives me the referral, they don't get a price increase for that year.

Growing the business was, I have to say, the support of a good franchisor is absolute key.

It is imperative that you follow the Jim's model.

We're the biggest franchise in the Southern Hemisphere for a reason.

It works.

So Dot, thank you very much for jumping on the Jim's podcast.

You're obviously from our Jim's Dog Wash division and you've been with us since nearly, I think it was November 2022.

And I had a look at your ratings and stuff.

You've got great star rating.

Customers love you.

I had a look through the surveys and going over three years in business now is a really great achievement.

So how's it been for you overall?

Oh, it's been an excellent experience, even from the get-go, because I initially started with Jim's Pet Patrol.

Ah, right, right, right, right.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's actually been, I think, five years.

I've been with Dog Wash for four.

Right.

And even the transition over into Dog Wash, it was hectic.

Yeah.

to say the least because they say you're going to be busy but nobody really gets it until they turn those leads on and i started i had the two franchises simultaneously so i started dog wash with employees yeah i had i started with two employees and we were flat stick from the get-go

Wow.

And I was going to say, yeah, and how is the training for you then doing the dog wash training? Because I've been out with some franchisees on the road and I've seen how like it's a pretty full on job, but I can imagine it's a rewarding job.

But how's the training for you?

The training for me when I initially did it was, I would say, not as good as it is now.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

Sharon has put in place a lot of processes now.

There's an actual handbook now.

You know, there's a checklist where when I did it, there was none of that.

It was just sort of you just took on what the person taught you and that was it.

But now it's a lot more structured and I feel like we're producing better groomers because of that structure.