Top franchisees recognised at Petpals’ conference
2nd February 2017
At the beginning of January Petpals held their annual franchise conference, not the stuffy, presentation-filled affair you might imagine, but a weekend at a rather lovely hotel with friends and colleagues, old and new.
Franchisees
Yes, we had the all-important talk from our MD, Kevin Thackrah, about how the network is doing, we’ve got over 50 franchisees so there’s rather a lot of numbers to crunch; we also saw the results of our PR and social media campaigns, always good to hear how they’ve done and the traffic they’ve directed to our website. The news was good so everyone was happy!
Businesses Great and Small
Petpal Darlington and Yarm
The thing you may not know about Petpals is that we can grow our businesses as large, or as small as we like. Some people are very happy keeping them fairly small whilst others are now buying their second or third territories and employing significant amounts of people; there are no set limits, we just all do what we want, what feels right for us and it’s great to have a franchisor who supports that.
Pets pets pets!
The fun thing is that no matter how big or small our business, we all look after loads of different animals; one franchisee told us about the llamas and pygmy goats he looks after which lead to a chorus of ‘oh I look after lambs/chickens/rats/spiders and mice’ stories too. The level of support we all receive is exactly the same, we just set different goals for ourselves and that’s fine. Many of us bought our Petpals franchises to get away from stressful jobs like banking, social work, teaching and being civil servants, the last thing we want is more stress, so we set the pace, set our own goals and build our businesses exactly the way we want them. It’s great!
Awards
Peter Martin, owner of Petpals Chelmsford, Maldon and Danbury who won 2017 Franchisee of The Year
As you’d expect at a conference, we recognised the big achievers of the past 12 months, so champagne and engraved plaques went to the following:
Top Performing Franchisees
- Peter Martin, Petpals Chelmsford, Maldon and Danbury
- Sallyann and David Gray, Petpals Darlington and Yarm
- Clare Stafford, Petpals Fleet
Fastest Growing Franchise
- Nigel Ham and Emma Read, Petpals York
- Lisa Smith, Petpals Leeds North
- Jean Wilson, Petpals Richmond and Northallerton
The Network
One of the biggest plus points of being a franchisee, isn’t just knowing we have an experienced franchisor and fully staffed head office, or being eternally grateful that they look after everything from the website and social media to PR, marketing and advertising campaigns but also that we have over 50 other franchisees running businesses just like ours, some of whom have been doing it for over 15 years, and wonderfully, who are only too happy to share their top tips and insider secrets with us because we’re never going to be in competition with each other. If only the rest of the world could work in such harmony.
Family
We’re proud of being one big happy family at Petpals; if one person needs help the rest are there, ready to step in and lend a hand, or an ear, or a shoulder, and sometimes all three. It was great to hear snippets of conversation during the day of ‘Thanks for your help with that charity event’ or ‘We loved coming over to meet your walkers and see how a bigger operation runs’. Most small business owners would give their right arm for that kind of support, we just call it franchising.
Golden Nuggets
Needless to say, much of the weekend was spent discussing the best way to do various jobs, from recruiting new dog boarders to doing the company’s books and every conceivable topic in between. I’m certain I heard one person ask ‘Has anyone found a waterproof bum bag’ at one point! Although they may not sound the most exciting topics of discussion to you, these bits of information are nuggets of gold because most of us would love to save time on the admin jobs, so we’ve got more time to get out walking dogs and visiting cats and furry pets in their homes (although the business works equally well with the franchisee doing all the pet care themselves or choosing to grow their business by employing staff). Petpals is really flexible and there’s no set limits, so you can have whatever size business you like.
Bowling
Serious business done, we finished off with dinner and a few drinks (a few more for some than others…ahem!) and a session in the hotel’s own bowling alley. More fun, more camaraderie and most importantly, more friendships built.
Run your own business
So the next time you’re having a bad day, wishing you could close the door on your stressful job and run your own successful business, where you know could earn you good money with a business that you could fit around your family, have a think about buying a Petpals franchise and who knows, in 12 months’ time you could be sitting around that conference table with us, discussing the best kind of welly boots for keeping your feet warm and dry, nodding in agreement when someone says ‘I’ve never been so fit and healthy’ and repeating the most often heard phrase of the weekend, ‘…buying my Petpals franchise? Oh yes, best thing I ever did.’
If you would like to know more about buying a Petpals Franchise please visit our website or call 01264 326362 or email us mailto:[email protected]
