Franchisees' tips for success: Harrisons Carpet

Kris and Lisa Burn, owners of the Harrisons Carpet franchise in Hobsonville. Photo / Carolyn Robertson

Kris and Lisa Burn are the owners of the Harrisons Carpet franchise in Hobsonville, which last year was named franchise of the year from among the 48 in the Harrisons franchise group.

Can you tell me about your business?

Our business is a Harrisons Carpet franchise, so we operate a mobile carpet shop. Our franchise is the Hobsonville one, and we cover a fairly large area. We've owned this franchise for over two years, and before owning this one we owned the Harrisons franchise for the Napier area for more than three years. In our team there's my wife Lisa and myself, and we have a team of contractors who do our installation work. I do all the appointments and selling, and Lisa takes care of the office work.

Why did you want to buy a franchise?

Before owning our first Harrisons franchise, Lisa and I worked for big companies. I was a baker for 10 years for Goodman Fielder and had various roles, starting as a part-time bread packer and ending up being a manufacturing manager. Lisa worked for the Just Group for about eight years and managed several of their stores over that time.

But we got to a stage where we were wanting to have our own business. We had a young family - our two girls were then aged two and four - and we wanted to have a different lifestyle.

We were both working full time and wanted to get a better work/life balance, as well as have the independence of owning our own business. At that stage we were living in Napier and mainly used Trade Me to look for businesses for sale.

There were a couple of businesses we enquired about, but we didn't take them any further until we found the Harrisons Carpet One franchise for sale. We enquired further, did our due diligence, and then got approval from Harrisons head office to join the team.

We never really set out to buy a franchise over an independent business, but as we were looking at buying a business it became pretty clear to us that as first-time business owners a franchise was a better option for us because of all the training and support you get from the franchisor.

What factors do you think have made you successful as a franchisee?

I think a key factor that's made us successful is following the process that we've been taught by the franchisor. I like to refer back to my baking days, where if you have a successful recipe and you follow that recipe, you'll end up with a good end product. It's the same with a franchise: if you have a system and you follow that system, you'll have a successful business. Having goals is important - our goal was to be franchise of the year - and achieving this gave us a great feeling of satisfaction.

You also need to listen to your customers and understand exactly what they want. Follow-up calls after consultations are really key for us, so planning how we're going to do these is important as is having key notes from our first appointment so I can answer any questions the customer might have. And it's important to follow up when you say you will.

I'd also say don't be afraid to work long hours when it's needed. I'll regularly go back to a customer two, three or four times to show samples, or go back in the evenings to show samples to a husband who might not have been at the original consultation. I think dealing with issues in an urgent manner if they arise is another important factor; issues aren't going to go away by ignoring them.

What are your top three tips for success as a franchisee?

1. Follow the systems put in place by the franchisor.
2. Listen to your customer.
3. Deal with any issues in an urgent manner.

Coming up in Your Business: When, why and how do entrepreneurs come up with their ideas? And how do they turn that initial idea into reality? If you've got an interesting story to tell about how you came up with your business idea, drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com