Manu Sareen

Manu is Flying High with Jani-King

Negotiating with airlines and arranging business travel for high-profile clients such as Harrods, Starbucks and Blackstone was the daily routine for Manu Sareen just a few years ago. After ten years as a travel agency executive, however, Manu felt life had become a bit monotonous. He realised that he no longer wanted to work for someone else and became drawn to the idea of setting up his own operation.

Unfortunately, at that time, the travel agency business was consolidating. Internet providers had started to make a real impact in the market and Manu felt that it wasn’t the right moment to start his own travel enterprise. So, he started to cast his net around and, as it was to be his first venture, the idea of being a franchisee rather than starting his own business from scratch seemed to appeal.

Manu soon decided that franchise would be his best route into business ownership. His bank was prepared to lend him money against a tried and trusted business model and he would not be completely on his own. He would also be able to rely on an existing brand name, head office support, and a network of other franchisees to help him succeed.

Travelling to Pastures New

Once Manu had decided to take the franchise path, he started to look at the range of opportunities available. He attended two franchise exhibitions and short-listed the possibilities down to three. One of these was Jani-King, the “King of Clean”.

Manu knew nothing about the contract cleaning industry and didn’t really fancy doing cleaning himself. However, when he looked closer at the Jani-King proposition he liked what he saw. “Their brand is well-known and they do provide good support to their franchisees,” states Manu. “I also liked the idea of guaranteed turnover, where Jani-King ensures each franchisee achieves a minimum turnover level during their first eighteen months.”

The thought of going into a completely new industry really appealed to Manu. Although he knew there would be much for him to learn, he recalls: “I couldn’t believe that cleaning was rocket science, so I was sure I’d be able to pick it up.” He continues “I really wanted to take a risk and change everything about my work life. To me that was really exciting!”

Taking the Express Way

Manu decided to go with Jani-King in November 2005, but because there weren’t many contracts available at that time in his chosen area of West London, Jani-King advised Manu to stay in his job and run the franchise part-time. “This was very honest advice,” declares Manu, “and I value that about Jani-King. They have always been very straight with me.”

After an initial slow start, Manu’s business took off like a rocket. Business started to flow in, particularly when he landed the contracts for five Odeon cinemas all in one go. “I wanted to expand quickly,” admits Manu. “If you operate on a small scale you can’t put a management structure in place, because a structure costs money. And I didn’t want to do the cleaning myself!”

Now, Manu has a supervisor and a mobile cleaner, who covers sick leave and holidays, as well as a large number of part-time cleaning staff. Manu does sometimes have to do some cleaning himself when necessary, “I will polish floors or use a carpet cleaning machine if there is no one else to do it. But it’s better if one of the trained cleaners does the work, as I’m not as good as they are, I’m too slow!” he reveals with a smile.

“Stick to what you are best at” is definitely Manu’s motto. He lets his cleaning staff do the cleaning, whilst he concentrates on talking to his clients, sorting out any problems, and doing the back-office work. “There are a lot of different aspects to this job,” explains Manu. “I have to do the finances, collect the money, resolve complaints, acquire new business, hire and fire staff…” He grins as he reels off all these tasks – a far cry from the monotony that his previous job had become.

The Only Way is Up

Manu has built his business to a level where he now has around 34 client accounts, and that has happened in just 18 months of hard work! Most of these clients have come through Jani-King’s sales force which acquires national and local clients on behalf of its franchisees. However, Manu also has three or four clients that he acquired for himself.

With a current turnover of £600,000 per annum, Manu’s business has leapt skyward in a very short period of time. Whilst this initially caused some short-term cash flow issues for Manu, he is confident these will soon be behind him and he can start taking on new contracts again. “Taking on five new contracts all at once was a bold decision,” he confesses, “But now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. My aim is to be turning over £1m on an annualised basis by the middle of next year,” he states confidently.

These targets cannot be met without a great deal of effort. Manu has worked very hard to get where he is now. Although his main territory is West London, he has clients as far apart as Surrey Quays in East London’s Docklands and Guildford in Surrey’s commuter belt. This means Manu spends a lot of time driving to see his clients as he believes it is important to meet them face to face on a regular basis.

Learning from the Experts

Manu brought some good skills from his previous work, which he feels have been invaluable to him in building his Jani-King business. One of these is his ability to manage and prioritise work: this has ensured he hasn’t become overwhelmed by the amount of new business he took on in such a short time. Another key skill for Manu has been the ability to recruit and build a team. “I find it’s often better to take inexperienced people and train them well, rather than take on experienced cleaners. Jani-King has its own system, and it’s important that my staff know that system inside out and stick to it,” he clarifies.

Manu has also found Jani-King a good company to be with. “They are a very forward-thinking company,” he affirms, “and, they have been very supportive to me, both financially and operationally.” As a franchise company with nearly 40 years of experience, Jani-King understands the need to support its franchisees if they are to grow and develop into successful businesses.

“I contact other franchisees regularly,” acknowledges Manu. He is able to call them if he needs to borrow some equipment or ask for advice and finds that most problems can be solved this way. He has also been able to pick the brains of some of Jani-King’s top-performing franchisees in order to understand how they achieved their success so he can try and emulate them.

Jani-King also provides operational meetings for Manu, where he can meet one-to-one with an advisor from head office. “It’s like having your own business consultant,” laughs Manu. “My advisor used to be a franchisee before joining the Head Office team, so he knows all about the problems that can arise, as well as how to solve them!”

Coming Home

Manu has a 5-year-old son and his wife is expecting another child, so he is keen to be able to spend more time at home around his growing family. “When I joined Jani-King, my goals were similar to many other franchisees,” says Manu. “I wanted financial independence, to be able to work flexibly and to spend more time with my family.”

Whilst Manu is the first to admit that he hasn’t yet achieved his lifestyle goals, he is nevertheless, confident he will get there. “At the moment, I can do all the back office work at home, so that’s a start,” he remarks. Manu reveals that he is now planning to involve his wife in the business. “She is keen to help me with the back-office support,” he explains, “and it will be nice to make it more of a family concern.”

Manu believes that he needs to get more of his business structure in place to allow him to have more time for himself and his family. His view is that this will start to happen when his business reaches the next stage of growth, which may be as soon as next year – less than three years from taking on his first client. It has been a really fast road to success for Manu Sareen!