Green Acres a serial winner at NZ Franchise Awards

Green Acres a serial winner at New Zealand Franchise Awards 2015

15 November 2015 – Home services franchise company Green Acres once again took out the category award for best home and lifestyle services franchise system at the 21stWestpac New Zealand Franchise Awards 2015.

Green Acres was first named home services franchise system of the year at the inaugural New Zealand Franchise Awards in 1993: this is the 15th time that the company and its franchisees have carried off an award. The company won last year as well.

The winning streak is sustained by continuous investment in improvements and innovations to keep the business ahead of the pack. Over the last 12 months Green Acres, and sister company Hire a Hubby, have moved all aspects of the business online to achieve a “paperless environment”.

The company has developed software that lets its over 600 franchisees run their businesses entirely from tablets and personal computers, regardless of the service they’re offering. The design mantra was simple: everything has to be mobile, current and easy.

All transactions between franchises, clients, suppliers and head office are digital: advertising, customer inquiries, bookings, quotes, training, invoicing, newsletters, GST and social. That includes recruiting new franchisees. When they purchase a franchise, set up a company, sign up with the IRD, order their uniform, phone, signwriting and insurance, and take out a bank loan, there’s only one actual piece of paper they have to sign, and that’s the loan guarantee. Everything else in online and paperless.

According to the judges, “Green Acres is a mature, well-managed franchise system with a clear understanding of its business environment and sound business objectives, supported by a state-of-the-art digital office system.”

“We treat these awards as a major challenge to our business every year, and every year the competition gets tougher,” said Logan Sears, CEO of Green Acres and Hire a Hubby.

“We don’t treat entry lightly. It’s an extremely thorough external review of our business and systems, benchmarking us and our top performing franchisees against internationally recognised criteria. We never take anything for granted and we work to improve our overall operational performance and the skills and professionalism of our franchisees.

“Each time we win this award we know we’ll be under even more pressure next year. But that helps us keep improving, so we’re not complaining.”

The Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards criteria are administered by the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation and are independently evaluated and judged under the internationally-recognised Baldrige criteria for business excellence. Entry is restricted to members of Franchise Association of New Zealand (FANZ).

The Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards 2015 were presented at a gala dinner in Auckland before an audience before an audience that included Craig Foss, Minister for Small Business, members of FANZ and their guests.

ENDS

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