Welcome to training, a very important part of the induction process for our new recruits. This is a brief overview of what actually during this 5 day period.

Firstly we should mention that this course evolved over a 6 to 7 year period from a 2 day session to 5 days of total involvement by the participants. Many skills, handy hints, tricks of the trade etc have been incorporated through the involvement of our franchisees. It is quit amazing the skill base we have in our network.

COURSE OVERVIEW

The course is split up into the following topics and sections:

OH&S AWARENESS

“Yes, another one of them” is the reaction. However we soon realise that this follows on from all the legislation, regulations and all that red tape that we can’t ignore and takes into the day to day operations of a typical “Hubby” Franchise and highlights some of the risks & hazards they can be confronted with. This is particularly valuable to people that have been off the tools for quite some time.

QUOTING PROCESS

Without a doubt this would be the most worrying issue that a new franchisee is confronted with. Will I get it right, do I over quote and lose the job or is the price to low and I don’t make any money or still more important, how do I estimate how much time jobs will take, are some of the question that come to mind. The process of preparing a quote is addressed in this section.

This is followed by practicing a range of simple quotes which are then evaluated. Here we quickly realise common mistakes and typical oversights but at the same time learn typical “tricks of the trade”, knowledge and new skills By the end of this session our franchisees are far more confident and generally ready to go out there and try it.

WORKSHOP & HANDS ON

This one and a half day session has a number of varied hands-on exercises which allows people to learn and try out new skills. There is also an opportunity to compare few of the quotes to see how they stack up with the actual job carried out in the workshop. More handy hints and tricks of the trade are learned as we sail through this period (a general comment is “time flies when you have fun”)

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Here we look at some home truths that trades people in general don’t like to hear. What are customer’s expectations, how should we conduct ourselves in someone’s home, how do we greet and communicate with our customers are just the some of the issues we address. Addressing quotes, follow-up and asking for work are some of the other important issues in this section.

MARKETING & WORK GENERATION

This is a topic most tradesmen would rather ignore or forget. We detail a range of sales marketing and promotional ideas that franchisees should take on board if they intend to run a successful business.

ACCOUNTING

A session conducted by an outside accountant to stress the fundamentals of good book keeping and accounting. This session also provides an opportunity to ask questions on various methods of doing this effectively.

BUSINESS PLANNING

Here we address the issue of planning an important section to take on board especially for someone that hasn’t been in business before. We leave our franchisees with new disciplines to be implemented and much food for thought to take away to the new venture.

TRAINING REVIEW

Here we review the week’s training and the recruitment process. We asked for comments and many have been incorporated into to our training sessions over the years.