More gain with less pain
Growing a business is all about careful planning and tackling challenges head on. Clean Planet’s Tony Pattison shares some lessons from their own journey. In recent years, Clean Planet has […]
Growing a business is all about careful planning and tackling challenges head on. Clean Planet’s Tony Pattison shares some lessons from their own journey.
In recent years, Clean Planet has experienced strong growth in New Zealand, and with that growth there have been some associated challenges and lessons.
The health and sustainability-focused cleaning and life services franchise company is headed up by CEO Tony Pattison, who is only too happy to share some insights and advice on how Clean Planet successfully navigated the various roadblocks to business growth.
Tony reports that there was 22 percent growth year-on-year over FY22, and 34 percent over the most recent financial year – spurred on not just by the core commercial cleaning business, but also by traction in the newer verticals such as domestic cleaning, grounds care, car valet, carpet and floor care.
“The newer services we offer are playing a proportionally larger part of the business, and we continue to invest in these for further growth.”
Tony says that while it would be wonderful to be able to say there’s just one thing they’re doing that’s enabling these positive results, “because we could then do more of that one thing and get even better results”, there’re actually many contributing factors.
“We spend considerable time focusing on our strategic goals, and the plans to achieve this. We regularly review results and may adapt our plans accordingly. But we always keep our eyes on the prize.”
Leadership is a great enabler, he believes, and this comes from the board down through management and staff to the franchisee teams. “I strongly encourage delegation, so managers and staff are continually stretched and grow professionally. This doesn’t mean that the people who have delegated their tasks then have nothing to do – quite the opposite.
“In fact, they are then free to focus on tasks of greater strategic importance.”
Authenticity is vital too, he explains. “We walk the talk regarding sustainability and health and wellbeing of the planet and the people on it. There is no one box you can tick to say you are now ‘sustainable’ – we continually look to achieve more and more to demonstrate our credentials in this area.”
Initiatives in this space include ‘Sensitive Choice’ approval for Clean Planet’s services and products; ‘BioGro’ organic certification on selected cleaning products; staff undertaking regular street clean ups of a local business park; sponsorship and assistance for Pātaka Kai food pantries to minimise food waste and assist community food security; and lawn mowing services using e-technology.
“There are also a number of other initiatives we are working on now as there is no finish line,” says Tony, “just continuous improvement and achievement.”
Another growth driver is the focus on quality outcomes at a competitive price. “We have no desire to win on price – as the cliché states, that’s just a race to the bottom,” explains Tony. “Through this quality focus we retain most of our customers, and work hard on bringing new ones on board.”
Investments in technology have also enabled greater visibility more quickly with less manual data input and manipulation, he adds. “Technology isn’t cheap and you need to ensure you invest in the appropriate solutions. But get it right and the outcomes can be transformational.”
Challenges and insights
When it comes to preparing yourself and your business for growth, Tony says it’s not just about wanting that growth to happen. You must plan for it, implement the plan and review the actual results against the plan regularly. “All the while asking what if the best-case scenario comes to pass? Ideally it will.”
From experience he knows of three common challenges that come with growth. These are:
- Development of the structure of the business – where do you add further head count and what are the tasks of this role development?
- Systems development to handle the volume and variation of functions now required with the growth.
- Communication changes with the growth. “We are now no longer a small, intimate team and we don’t know all our franchisees individually,” explains Tony. “This requires different communications approaches to ensure we keep in touch.”
Tony has three further insights that can help you deal with growth. They are:
- Train and empower your team. The leadership team need to continually grow their skillset to handle the different dynamics of a larger business and team. They must develop their team members as well.
- Get external advice. You will continually face new challenges and you will likely need experienced people from outside the business to enable you to recognise those challenges and manage them.
- Maintain your work/life balance. There will be times when the job will be all-consuming and you simply have to put the time and effort in. But you also need to find time for your own personal wellbeing. Burnout is real and all too common.
Building a solid foundation
Strong growth can take some digesting and a business needs to have a solid foundation to support growth, says Tony. “At Clean Planet we will be focusing on systems and procedures, strengthening some and streamlining others to remain as robust but agile as possible.”
Tony recently read Walter Isaacson’s biography on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in which he learnt that rather than technical developments, it was market vision and innovation that made Jobs particularly brilliant, and enabled Apple to grow from a small player into one of the world’s market leaders.
Tony’s key message for business startups is that not everything you attempt will be successful.
“There will be some misfires along the way but analyse and learn what is working and quickly discard those things that aren’t.”
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