Interview With Franchisee Jack Fisher

Jack, could you tell us about yourself?

I am 25 and have lived in Rugby, Warwickshire all my life. I didn’t go to University but started an apprenticeship and eventually decided to buy my franchise and start earning for myself.

What aspects of the World Options franchise model appealed to you and motivated you to purchase one?

The main aspect for me was that there are no geographical boundaries in growing your customer base. There are obvious upfront costs to starting a franchise and so we wanted to be able to approach the largest pool of new prospects that we could, to grow as quickly as possible.

After speaking with Howard and Leland and seeing World Options Head Office for the first time, I could also quickly tell what a fantastic ethos there is and a genuine want to see franchisees do well for themselves. I think that is the most valuable trait any franchise management team can have and one which was very apparent to me at World Options from the outset.

Your franchise has experienced remarkable growth in a relatively short time frame. What strategies have you implemented to accomplish this feat?

There are a few things I would say which have really helped us grow quickly; the first being investing in staff.

It is important to appreciate that you will not get immediate return on investment but the time it frees up for yourself to focus strategically on how you want your business to grow, I have found to be very beneficial.

Whether it be someone in Customer Services or a Salesperson, I will always be an advocate of concentrating on the jobs you like (as you will be good at them), and those that you don’t like, give to someone else that does enjoy them.

We have also tried to be as diverse as possible with the type of customer we go after and similarly the services that we offer to them. This goes back to wanting to keep the number of potential customers as large as possible and whether it be freight or domestic parcels, always having a solution to provide to a company moving goods from A to B can only be a positive.

What can we expect to see from your franchise in 2023?

I am planning to hire a Sales Rep full time and of course continue growing. What I am very conscious of is bringing on new customers and not continuing to look after our current ones. Our overarching goal for 2023 is to keep retention levels high and not undo any of the good work we have put in during the past few months. In my opinion, retention is the most important aspect of any business.

Bringing on a new customer is probably the hardest part of what we do but losing a customer is without doubt the easiest!

Would you like to share any advice regarding finding leads, managing customers and staff, hitting business targets, and dealing with setbacks?

In regard to hitting targets and dealing with setbacks, persistence is the word I would use!

The benefit with a franchise network is that you know what other franchisees are doing in terms of revenue, margin, customer activations, margin percentage etc. and so we can solely hold ourselves accountable if we are not reaching the growth expected.

Managing customers is certainly my favourite part of being a Franchise Owner. I don’t think there could be anything more powerful than being able to directly converse with the person/people that put money into your bank account every month; ensuring they are happy as frequently as you can, should be a pleasure.

What is your favourite holiday?

I’m not sure I have a favourite but going anywhere sunny in the middle of the year combined with a bit of Golf can’t be beaten. The Lake District has also got to be one of my favourite places for a time to relax and the benefit of being literally unable to get any phone or internet signal.

What are your hobbies?

I play a lot of hockey throughout the week and weekends, along with some golf whenever the weather allows!

I also play in a brass band and do some conducting every now and then when required. I really like to stay active after sitting down at work all day and to help stay fit whilst still being able to go to the pub.

Who is the most influential person in your life, and why?

I would have to say my Mum. She will always be the person I go to for anything I am unsure about or when I just require a bit of reassurance.

She must be the kindest person I know and always encouraged me to go into everything with both feet and continue smiling regardless of the outcome. With any of my plans, she is always a good gauge to tell me if I am being crazy or actually have a decent idea; more often than not she will say “go for it”.

Both my Mum and Dad were incredibly supportive when I said I didn’t want to go to University and were always right behind me to take the plunge to setting up my own business; the best advice they could have given me!