Pandemic resilience helps home-care couple win prestigious franchisee award
02-September-2021
Tripling their business through the pandemic and providing care-in-the-home when others couldn’t has helped Caroline and David Balmer win the coveted Great British Franchisee Award.
David and Caroline, who’ve owned Caremark in Worcester and the Malvern Hills for five years, employ a team of 70 and, despite the turmoil of the pandemic, have just signed contracts to take on a second franchise territory.
“This award is a great honour and recognition for all the hard work we’ve put in,” says David. “We’ve got a great team about us, they’re very adaptable, and they’ve changed a lot as the business has changed with the pandemic and everything that’s been going on.”
Caroline, a Registered Manager who’s finishing her Masters degree and considering going for her Doctorate, says their secret is being tenacious characters who don’t take no for an answer.
“If you want to achieve something, there are all sorts of barriers, but success is about finding a way through all that - and there have been some quite high-pressure situations in the last 18 months.
“When the pandemic first hit, it was a big worry. How was this going to affect our business? We’re in a key-worker industry, so we couldn’t just shut up shop for six months.
“We had to knuckle down, everybody did what needed to be done, and we ended up increasing our business three-fold during the pandemic.”
“Having really good communications with everyone involved in and around the business - the local authorities, hospitals, and so on - has been key to the business remaining stable,” adds David.
He and Caroline have helped other franchisees out by lending them key staff at times of difficulty, and always believe in promoting the brand rather than merely their own business.
They won the newly-created award from whichfranchise for being an outstanding franchisee in all aspects of their business.
The Great British Franchisee Awards recognise franchisees’ exceptional performance and business experience, ability to drive business growth, staff retention, customer satisfaction, community involvement, inspired leadership, and franchise involvement.
The awards are run by whichfranchise, supported by Lloyds Bank, BDO, AMO Consulting and Chantry Group.
• Read more about the awards at https://www.whichfranchise.com/awards
• For over 25 years, whichfranchise has promoted ethical franchise opportunities in the UK. Learn more at https://www.whichfranchise.com/