Essential Service

Commercial cleaning specialist NIC Services Group wants to add to its franchise network across the UK

“There’s nothing better than a franchisee finding out that the managing director of a company was once himself a franchisee,” points out Steve Calvert, franchise recruitment director of NIC Services Group.

The company, which is well into its second decade in franchising, is proud of the fact its first ever franchisee, John Pinnick, is the managing director of the business.

Award winning

The award winning commercial cleaning company with a national network of franchise businesses is now one of the UK’s leading providers of commercial cleaning and support services through a franchise network.

“The fact our senior management team combined has more than 150 years of industry experience - in both cleaning and franchising - means that when you make an investment into NIC you’re putting it into a very safe pair of hands,” Steve adds, who himself has 23 years’ experience in franchising, including a number of years as a director on the board at the British Franchise Association.

“The NIC business model allows us to offer national solutions without compromising at a local level, providing consistent quality and value across all sectors, services and contracts.

“We supply a variety of public and private sector organisations, including offices, distribution centres, manufacturing facilities, industrial buildings, retail and leisure.”

Commercial cleaning is virtually a recession proof industry, as it’s an essential service, and the market is one of the largest single industries in the UK.

As Steve explains, NIC offers the chance to run a true management business: “The franchisees don’t go out and do the cleaning, they work on the development of the business, making sure cleaning operatives continue to provide excellent service and so build the business from within.

“What we’re aiming to do is add to our network across the UK and key to our continued success is the way we go about looking for franchisees and who we consider.

“One of the things I focus on is that potential franchisees possess the skills needed to grow the business; we put a lot of emphasis on attracting the right calibre of person to join our network.”

Steve’s aim is to appoint between 8-10 franchisees per year. “We take it very seriously that we have people who have invested in our brand and we want franchisees to get a good return on that investment,” he says.

Extensive training

All new NIC franchisees undertake an extensive training programme at a purpose built in-house training centre, which covers practical training on cleaning methods as well as business training, sales and marketing advice - all delivered to BICSc (British Institute of Cleaning Science) standards.

Franchisees manage both large and small contracts, which includes visiting existing clients to conduct monthly audits, managing cleaning teams, visiting potential clients and networking to build new relationships and grow the business.

Usually time is split between being on the road and the essential management of the business, which can be run from a home office.

NIC, a full bfa member, runs a number of regular discovery sessions both regionally and at its head office in Leeds for those interested in the huge potential of the NIC cleaning management franchise.