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The Finn Review - Issue 7

Interview with SafetyQuip founder, Gary Shearer

Gary Shearer watches over a growing network of six SafetyQuip franchises, and yet already he is one of Australia's most respected Franchisors. He is absolutely passionate about franchising and is committed to building a solid foundation on which to grow a very successful business system.

SafetyQuip is Australia's only franchised player in the $1b workplace health and safety sector, and his franchisees are achieving incredible sales growth. Gary was kind enough to speak with me recently.

SF: Hi Gary, would you mind explaining how SafetyQuip evolved?
GS: Sure Steve. We started the business in Queensland in 1992 from a garage and the back of a van! This was very much against the trend in the workplace health and safety sector, and yet we were very successful. Our customers loved the idea of great service and regular visits. We considered franchising throughout the '90's but we learnt early on that it's best to build a solid foundation first and it wasn't until 2002 that we granted our first franchise.

SF: How is your franchise model structured?
GS: At SafetyQuip we have three tiers. Franchisees start off as a van-based mobile business. They then progress to a multi-van operation and then naturally evolve into a dedicated premises with vans on-the-road servicing the customer base.

SF: How successful are your franchisees?
GS: Well we're very proud of the fact that our start-up franchisee achieved a $1 million turnover within their second year of operation. We're really determined to help our franchisees build multi-million dollar businesses.

SF: Your franchise network is growing at a moderate pace - can you explain more about this?
GS: Absolutely. Laying the best foundation possible is the key to success. It doesn't matter if you've got one franchisee or 100 franchisees - you've got to have the systems in place to accomodate them. This might sound extreme but for example we had an intranet system in place when we had only one franchisee! We're a family business and a lot of our own capital has been used to build this infrastructure. We don't have an infinite amount of capital so we've been careful to invest in the areas that have the highest priority. For us these areas were setting up systems, and building our own franchise software.

SF: Tell me more about the software you have developed?
GS: As far as I'm aware we are the first franchise system in Australia to build an entire software system to accomodate the franchisee, the franchisor, and even the franchisee's sales reps. It communicates backwards and forwards from head office all the way through to the sales rep. We needed something that interfaces between the franchisee and the franchisor, that will report KPI's, and also enable us to generate royalty invoices. It really does everything any franchisor could possibly need. In fact we are now marketing this software to the franchise sector itself.

SF: I understand you and some of your key personnel are undertaking the new Diploma in Franchising course?
GS: Yes that's right. I've already completed the initial AFE (Accredited Franchise Executive) course that was offered by the Franchise Council of Australia and with some recognition of prior learning I'll be moving onto the full Diploma course shortly.

SF: How beneficial have you found these studies so far?
GS: Very good - in fact I don't think I could have set-up the SafetyQuip franchise system without it. It was essential because coming into franchising completely green you need to get the advice of others. One of the benefits I found was that, in addition to the professional presenters such as Professor Andrew Terry and people like Greg Nathan, I got to mix with the other franchisors and bounce things off them. I learnt as much from them as from the course itself!

SF: What did you notice about the group of franchisors that attended the franchising course with you?
GS: Steve the thing that stood out to me was that they were all passionate. That's something that you don't see in a lot of industries. They were passionate for franchising and about what they're doing. Believing in the franchise model and wanting to roll it out. I found very quickly that I was of the same mindset and I realised the opportunities and rewards that franchising offers. Although I originally planned that SafetyQuip would eventually be a franchise one day, without a course like that I'm not sure I could have got there despite the fact that I used various consultants along the way.

SF: As a result of these experiences, what important features have you ensured are part of the foundation of the SafetyQuip franchise system?
GS: We are committed to doing things right from day-one rather than making mistakes and learning from them. We won't allow our franchise network to grow faster than the support structure. Also I've learnt from others how important transparency is with your franchisees. You've got to be transparent, you've got to have the trust of your franchisees. Compliance is also paramount and needs to be well managed.

SF: Where have you based your head office?
GS: We're based here in Noosa - it's certainly a nice place to be, very pleasant. We do a large part of our training out of here which comprises about three weeks and then a further four weeks of training takes place in the field for our new franchisees.

SF: Is any of your ongoing training online?
GS: Yes, our training manuals are on our intranet and we require our franchisees to train their staff using these tools and of cource there's internal accreditation for this. We are working towards being a Registerd Training Organisation in our own right but that's a little while away yet.

SF: Who do you admire most in franchising in Australia?
GS: Look I've got to say John O'Brien from PoolWerx. He's been extremely supportive of me and my business and I'm very grateful to him. The other guy that I admire greatly is Tom Potter from Eagle Boys. There's a guy that's been there and done it.

SF: I've seen you at the franchise expos - have you found these very successful in identifying potential franchisees?
GS: We've had mixed results. Having said that we are very particular about the type of candidates we want to bring-on. Two of our franchisees were influenced by meeting us at the Melbourne franchise expo back in 2002.

SF: Finally, do you have plans to take SafetyQuip overseas?
GS: We sure do. New Zealand is obviously the first stop for us. Already we've had enquiries from people in the United Kingdon and Canada. The reality is that it's far too early for us to be considering these things yet -we've got to learn to walk before we try and run.