Molly Maid couple wipe the floor with their competitors to win major award
09-September-2021
When the sky falls in, followed by your office ceiling, you find out just how resilient and adaptable you are - and Glenn and Magali Sunman, faced with both those calamities, not only rescued their business but ended up winning a Great British Franchisee Award.
The wife-and-husband team who own Molly Maid in Teesside won the prestigious accolade for the way they responded to adversity during the pandemic, and their determination to make the business even more successful.
Not only did they have to contend with staff who were afraid to work during the early days of Covid, but they were victims of poison-pen letters and anonymous complaints - all malicious and unfounded - to the Environment Agency and the Health & Safety Executive.
And when they tried to recruit new cleaners, not one of the 10 applicants they’d invited for interview in one day turned up - due, Glenn says, to the unbelievable number of grandmothers who’d suddenly needed to be taken to A&E.
“We’d never been told so many lies in our life,” he says. “Nobody was interested in working. But when we did manage to recruit, a direct competitor rang us up and asked us how we’d done it.”
He and Magali attribute their success in the awards - and in their business - to their ability to react to conditions and be ready to change their whole way of thinking.
When the first Covid restrictions were imposed, they studied the Government guidelines carefully and discovered they could, if they changed the way they did things. And when the ceiling fell down, they decided it was time to get a new office.
They wrote to or e-mailed every single one of their 450 customers and sent out a newsletter with a crossword and a “Where’s Molly?” puzzle that clients loved.
“We knew our staff were worried - and so were we - so Magali and I went out to do the cleaning and show it could be done safely before we brought the girls back in. They saw us do it and it motivated them.
“It meant 12-hour days for us, but once we started providing a service to customers again, we stole a march on our competitors. We reopened a good four to five weeks before them.
“When you get set-backs - and we had plenty - you need to get back up and dust yourself off.
“My heart goes out to someone running a business totally on their own. We have the Franchisor behind us with Zoom meetings, phone calls, encouragement, home safe procedures, and risk-assessments all done for us. We just had to implement it.”
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/