Back in 2019 when we were evaluating our brand and making decisions for 2020, we could never have predicted what was in store for our franchise in 2020.
That said, our brand has developed, our franchise owners have built resilient businesses that have stood the difficult trading conditions that the pandemic has brought upon the globe.
The very early part of the year in January and February, the brand operated as expected, delivering regular commercial cleaning services and carpet & upholstery cleaning.
In early Spring, news on the horizon was of the virus and we were able to communicate to our customers some changes required to ensure the businesses could operate safely, at distance and with enhanced hygiene measures in place to protect our employees.
As our franchise owners were able to adapt quickly, it meant that many customers were still able to receive the cleaning services that they have come to expect, and franchise owners saved much of their business through delivering services differently, but safely.
Our Contract Services franchise implemented heightened cleaning regimens to enhance the already stringent hygiene measures in place. Our Residential and Commercial Services franchisees introduced social distancing and paperless invoicing and payment.
Access to a specialist cleaning product effective in killing enveloped viruses helped restore customer and employee confidence as this product was used for on all customer premises for high touch points.
Whilst some franchise owners lost customers who closed their businesses and no longer required cleaning, some franchise owners reported new customers as they were more intent on ensuring that their premises were clean and hygienic and upped their cleaning regimen to guarantee this. Residentially, some customers chose to reduce the number of tradespeople entering their property, whilst others required carpet and upholstery cleaning to give their carpets and upholstery a much needed deep clean
In short, whilst 2020 proved to be a difficult year, utilising our support, ServiceMaster Clean franchise owners have showed new learnings and developed their businesses to survive in the new normal. As such, our brand has become more unified and much stronger.
All franchise owners are fully supported in all aspects of business not only by the franchise support centre, but also by the peer network of existing ServiceMaster Clean business owners.
Stronger together, ServiceMaster Clean Franchise.
