Look after your staff and your customers, and the business will look after itself.
That is Auckland CrestClean franchisee Sri Gunasingam’s approach to running his business, and for him it has been a winning formula.
Sri has the largest CrestClean franchise in the country, with 15 staff and a turnover of $800,000 — and he says 2023 is shaping up to be his biggest year yet.
Having weathered the disruptions of the past couple of years, he has set himself the goal of reaching a $1 million turnover by the end of the year.
“Adding more customers is very achievable,” says Sri, who has owned a CrestClean franchise since 2010.
“I plan to take on more staff and get more customers. I have stopped working on the tools, so I can concentrate on managing my team and my customers, and I have promoted one of my staff to help me. I love to manage people and am looking forward to the challenge.
“I look at job quality and making a difference to customer sites. I train my staff to treat their sites as their own. When you provide a quality service, it leads to more work.”
Sri came to New Zealand in 2007 as a refugee, after fleeing Sri Lanka when civil war broke out. Initially, Sri managed a service station in Auckland, but he really wanted to own his own business and a CrestClean franchise provided the perfect opportunity, as it enabled him to continue his ‘day job’ while building his cleaning business. In 2010 he went full time with CrestClean, taking on his first two employees soon after.
The pandemic has seen Sri’s business fluctuate over the past couple of years, but he says it’s now back to full strength.
“Now I’m hiring again and training up new staff. In the past four months, I’ve taken on four new people. Things are back to normal, and we are back on track.”
At the end of last year, Sri put on a Christmas party for his team, treating them to Sri Lankan cuisine and presenting them each with a thank-you gift to show his appreciation for their hard work.
“We didn’t have a Christmas party the year before because of Covid, so everyone was really happy to catch up and have a chat. It was a great boost,” says Sri.
“I like to look after my team, that’s important to me.”
Auckland Central Regional Master Franchisee Dries Mangnus says Sri is an outstanding example of operating a CrestClean franchise business.
“He is proficient in all areas of specialist cleaning and his team recently became the first to invest in steam cleaning technology. I am very proud to have Sri as part of my team.”
