FE ATUR E : h o m e serv ices FRANCHISES
e x pert adv i c e
“Demand for home improvement, renovation, gardening and pool servicing has increased with many businesses extending their offerings to meet the demand.”
These new appointments not only mean increased support for our franchise partners but also ensures we stay ahead of our competitors and honour our key values – ‘dare to succeed’ and ‘find the better way’.
Success Begins Outside your Backyard How can an established business stay top of its game after 30 years? At Poolwerx, time and time again we’ve found that life begins on the edge of your comfort zone. Whether you’re a fresh startup, established business or part of a bigger franchise group, maintaining entrepreneurial culture and spirit is essential to continual growth and openness to innovation. We’ve found bold ways to inject new blood and ensure the business has a culture of constant improvement to maintain our spot at the top. We identified two key global macro trends to leverage across the business that are relevant, engaging and deal-breaking for our clients – health, encouraging family connections through creating a safe and healthy backyard; and environment, looking at the long-term sustainability of the pool industry encompassing chemical, water and energy use. We also look to the US – who are experiencing everything six months before we do in Australia and New Zealand – and apply the experience of market challenges before they occur. Those early insights
invariably benefit our network down under and act as an early warning system. Within this global scale, be aware of supply chain shortages – it’s amazing to see this boom in home improvement, but if we cannot deliver, then what’s the point? Poolwerx has an advantage in the sense that we have greater stockholder capabilities than most in the industry, so we can order in bulk and in advance. If that means renting out more space, then so be it, there is too much uncertainty at present with delays in delivery and shortages in both stock and containers – work with your manufacturer and make sure your house is in order.
Contemplating the future As we continue to navigate living a COVID normal life, I believe in order to plan our future it’s imperative to look at the past. We need to lean on our biggest learnings from the pandemic – and how these can be heightened moving forward. Future innovation is a no-brainer for us and we have been improving internal operations first, before looking outward. We are reimagining the way we educate and upskill our teams to improve the client experience, turning data into actionable insights to enable more informed decision making, and finding new ways to create efficiencies that achieve greater profitability for our franchise partners. The pool industry specifically has seen a handful of trends grow in the innovation
48 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand
space such as smart everything, anywhere operations and hyper automation. I am the first to admit the industry needs to catch up with innovation to meet the growing needs of the business, and that includes a number of elements such as reporting, compliance andtech, along with apprenticeships and female focused recruitment. We are looking at all these components with a close lens and weaving into our ongoing plan for the future. Home has become a place to live, learn and play, serving more than just a practical role. It’s a workplace, a classroom, a home restaurant to replace the special meals they once had dining out. We have an opportunity to continue from strength to strength – and we can all ride this wave. Poolwerx is the world’s largest global franchise pool service brand. Founded by Australian CEO and entrepreneur John O’Brien in 1992, Poolwerx has grown to nearly 600 service vehicles and 160 stores in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Poolwerx has multiple revenue streams, repeat clients, limited competition, is secure in the growing home services sector and is a technology leader. Poolwerx also champions the importance of teaching life saving water skills through its annual community initiatives, Responsible Pool Person and Learn2Swim Week, in partnership with Kids Alive.\
