Jeff Longley, franchise owner of Mr Electric, up for Network Contribution Franchisee of the Year.
Jeff Longley, franchise owner of Mr Electric in Staffordshire, has been shortlisted in the Network Contribution Franchisee of the Year category in the prestigious annual bfa HSBC Franchise Awards 2018.
Run by the British Franchise Association (bfa), these widely-respected awards recognise both franchisees and franchisors who have demonstrated outstanding business acumen, innovation and achievement. Franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to trade under the brand, taking advantage of the systems and support offered by the franchisor.
Jeff joins two others on the shortlist for the Network Contribution Award category, which recognises franchisees who appreciate the benefit of being part of a network and are considered to be a significant contributing partner to the franchisor and a mentor to the network, which has resulted in increased profitability for the overall business model.
Mr Electric provides electrical services to both domestic and commercial customers, both emergency and non-urgent work, with no call-out fee and transparent pricing. Jeff took on a business that had been going for around 10 years, but not really performing which he has taken to become a well-respected, high-performing local business.
Jeff’s franchise turns over more than all the other Mr Electrics put together and he has won many awards along the way, including Rookie of the Year, Franchisee of the Year and Local Small Business of the Year. He’s grown his business to 25 employees, moved to larger premises in 2016, seeing an increased turnover in 2017 and developed smarter ways of working, increasing revenue network-wide.
Customer recognition has also been important to Jeff, with AXA recognising Mr Electric as being the best of all their contractors in terms of completing jobs on time.
Alongside great customer service, one of Jeff’s key achievements that has helped grow his business is the work he does on his company website. Although he had no training or any real internet knowledge, he managed to gain over 10 times the views on his own site as the nearest Mr Electric, at no cost apart from his time input. This is just one of the key things Jeff is passing onto the network currently, to help others grow their businesses too. He has encouraged the development of the microsites that Mr Electric supply, so that others can improve their presence, with many franchises gaining over 1,000 hits per month and he has been delivering training to business about how to put this into practice.
Jeff is feeding into the Mr Electric network in a number of other ways, by mentoring new franchisees, feeding into revising the training offered, with many of his ideas included in training and support programmes and sharing inspirational emails with other franchises about growing their businesses.
Sharing major contracts with the National Office, such as Homeserve and British Gas, means the network benefits from what happens at Jeff’s franchise, and he continues to come up with innovative ideas, the latest looking at adding a service to the network by tapping into the car-charging market. Jeff researched this and after discussions with the National Office, the first installations started in April, and there is no other electrical franchise offering this service.
On being shortlisted for Network Contribution Franchisee of the Year category, Jeff said, “It is fantastic to be a finalist for such a highly regarded award. These awards are the Oscars of the franchise world. The publicity will help both myself and the franchise as a whole.”
For more information on Mr Electric please visit: http://www.mr-electric.co.uk/
