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BUSINESS AND TRAINING
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BUSINESS AND TRAINING
Mark Pratt admits it has been a hard sell in South
Africa, and for this reason three years ago it opted
for a period of consolidation while it fine-tuned its
model. It was relaunched in November last year with
the opening of its first new franchise in some years.
Drain Surgeon started franchising in 1989, but
Pratt says they’d “parked the concept” for about
three years until signing their first new franchisee in
the Rustenburg/Brits area in November 2019. The
initial Pretoria Drain Surgeon commenced in 1979
following his father’s (Glenn Pratt) experiences in
Canada where franchising is rife, and in fact he had
proposed to bring a Mr Rooter franchise to South
Africa at that time. From that experience, he learned
all the systems and knowledge.
Amandla Plumbing’s franchising concept is
similarly being reviewed at the moment for the
same reason - it is working on its model and is
not yet ready to talk about it.
One reason franchising has not flourished in
maintenance plumbing in South Africa, says
Pratt, is that few firms have built up the longevity
required to become a recognised brand that
may be franchised. Firms which boast longevity
and established name recognition either have
unsuccessfully tried franchising or insist it is not
their model. “It’s difficult to franchise something
that doesn’t have longevity, brand recognition and
everything that brand stands for, such as proven
systems and service, because that is essentially
what franchisees are purchasing. In the US some
plumbing franchises are rated among their top
100 (of all franchises) and so there’s no doubt it
should be bigger and more popular locally.”
Another challenge in the profession is how many
plumbers are one-man businesses from a bakkie,
and simply view their operations as an income
rather than a business which has sustainability
beyond themselves (and consequently can later
be sold as a going concern).
“The traditional model of franchising is to appeal
not just to the one-man plumber, but to investors
who in turn set up a plumbing business and
recruit plumbers and admin people. We have
consequently reworked our model: to cater
to that market (the private investor as well as
the plumber); to look at it from an enterprise
development perspective; and looking at the
funding options. We are now ready with the
new model and are aggressively marketing the
franchise opportunity.
“First prize for us in this relaunch would be for an
existing plumbing business to decide to convert
to a Drain Surgeon franchise – a plumber who
knows the business but currently lacks that
brand recognition. The reality for the one-man
plumber is that when he decides to move on from
the business after a lifetime of work, all he can
do is sell his assets and shut the business with
no value attached to it. However, the moment
he purchases something like a Drain Surgeon
franchise, he has something tangible. He has an
exclusive right to regional use of the name and
a source of business independent from his own
efforts. Someone else can now purchase that
business as being something which has years of
goodwill attached to it and an existing customer
base. It’s easily transferrable,” explains Pratt.
Drain Surgeon group general manager Louis
Minnaar says the plumber himself is the entirety of
the typical plumbing business, and in many cases
there’s nothing to on-sell, “Whereas when you
have a history, a reputation and a brand, you can
sell it. There’s a perception that a strong brand has
more legs than an individual plumber’s name.”
Minnaar explains how the brand is monetised
in the case of Drain Surgeon. Its Google SEO
(search engine optimisation) is so advanced that
anyone googling for a drain cleaner will find Drain
Surgeon. “In addition, we have a centralised 24-
hour 365-day national call centre which takes all
calls and despatches the nearest franchisee to that
location. In addition, the franchisee gets training
on our systems and marketing, and even technical
plumbing information. All our systems are built
around 40 years of experience, down to shopfitting
the bakkie to ensure it has adequate spare parts
and tools for the most likely jobs.”
Burgess Plumbing’s control centre. Burgess is one of the largest and best-known plumbing
brands in Johannesburg.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
@plumbingonline
@plumbingonline
@PlumbingAfricaOnline
April 2020 Volume 26 I Number 02