This month Aire Serv welcomed Tim Baldock as its newest franchisee; here he tells us what made an already successful business man purchase an Aire Serv franchise.

 

Tim started his working career as an engineer with the Ministry of Defence, then 11 years working for a brewery as a quality control trainer, this gave him the necessary back ground to start up Dispense Solutions a drinks dispensing company in 2003 with just 5 employees which soon grew to 19 covering the Kent, Sussex area and became the number 1 provider for Heineken and Carlsberg. Wanting to provide his customers with a reliable refrigeration service he then launched Fridge Solutions in 2009.

 

“I started my own company when I saw a gap in the drinks dispensing market for a company that can care for its customers as a large blue chip company would but at the same time represent these same blue chip company’s when meeting the public”.

 

After taking the company as far as it would go in the Kent and Sussex area he wanted to expand and after a lot of research he was introduced to the idea of an Aire Serv franchise, he felt this would give him access to the National customers he wanted.

 

Aire Serv is a subsidiary of a worldwide franchise holding corporation currently trading in twenty-four countries worldwide. The businesses are diverse, but all are built upon the same philosophy of success - exceed the customer's expectations, which is a philosophy that Tim endorsed throughout his working career.

 

With a comprehensive training schedule including marketing, sales and an advanced computer software package which not only allows me to keep customers up to date and invoiced correctly but allows the technicians in the field to access information instantly ensuring all jobs are completed efficiently. The access to national accounts and the ongoing training which continues long after the initially training has ended, lead me to believe buying this franchise is going to help me to reach my end goal, which is to be the number one Air conditioning service provider in the South East of England.

 

The Aire Serv team at Home Office have many years experience working with and supporting all our franchisees from day one. The intensive training given at the Home Office will ensure that any franchisee can start trading straight away but it doesn’t end there, the training continues not only at the Home Office but with managers visiting the franchisees office to carry out on-going training.

 

Colin Booth , managing director of Aire Serv who works very closely not only with the franchisees but with the National Accounts, feels that with new regulations on air conditioning being introduced this year and the advances being made within this market sector means that there will be an ever increasing need for more technicians and therefore more franchisees. Colin goes on to say he welcomes Tim into the team. “I am in awe of Tim’s enthusiastic approach to business and his vision for the future, he has a very positive approach to franchising and he will be a great asset to the company, I am looking forward to working with him.”   

 

In a study of over nine thousand consumers, contractors affiliated with a national franchise were preferred by a 2:1 margin. Consumers want a name they can trust, a name with a national franchise standing behind it. In essence, franchising is systematic business support. Franchising enables the entrepreneur to learn from the experiences of others by following a system developed from the most successful companies in a given field. The Franchisee saves time, money and energy by following a proven pattern and receives support from both the franchiser and other franchisees.