The long and short of V.I.P. Home Services

Bill Vis was featured in Business Franchise Aus & NZ magazine.

You can read the article here.

Here are some excerpts:

What made you decide to begin franchising?

Basically, I bought everyone off the market. After a while I took a $50 deposit for other lawn-mowing rounds, which I eventually changed to a membership fee. This was in 1979 and I’d never heard of the term ‘franchising’. I didn’t even realise at the time that I was indeed franchising my lawnmowing business.

What do you think sets V.I.P. apart from its competitors?

Our franchisees can enter our system at a level that suits them. In a way we view ourselves as life and business coaches. Although we’re in the lawn mowing and cleaning business, if you don’t provide good customer service you can’t retain clients. We encourage our franchisees to look after clients and follow our best practices. If our franchisees aren’t achieving the things they want to achieve, we have a strong commitment to work with them. This might mean being able to send their kids to private school, own their own home or take regular holidays. This might even mean helping them to set up their own self-managed super funds by connecting franchisees to professionals in the industry.

What do you feel are the positive aspects of mobile services franchises in comparisons to other options that are available in the market?

Firstly, there are no overheads or reliance on ‘position, position, position’. You can take your service to your clients. You’re advertising your business while you go about your daily business driving around. You have a constant billboard on the street with consistent exposure. We’ve estimated that from our 1100 strong franchise network that we generate over $5.5 million in free advertising. This is a powerful mechanism and we’re constantly encouraging our franchisees to upgrade their trailers and take pride in their work materials.

When looking at investing in a franchise, what do you consider to be the top three things people should be looking for?

Firstly, return on investment. You should achieve a 12 month return for what you pay in fees. Work out what your net return will be. Secondly, consider if you are buying regular clients or a territory. Finally, make sure you like the people you’ll be working with, especially the franchisor, as this relationship is much the same as a marriage.

Bill Vis supports Port Adelaide Football Club Multicultural Round

port_multicultural_round

The Port Adelaide Football Club was again very proud to be associated with AFL Multicultural Round on the weekend which provided an opportunity to highlight our club’s partnership with V.I.P. Home Services and our community programs delivered by Power Community Ltd.

AFL Multicultural Round promoted ‘many cultures, one game’ and highlighted how Australia’s greatest game has opportunities for everyone.

V.I.P. Home Services was established by Bill Vis, a migrant, who was selling vacuums door-to-door and noticed an opportunity to offer lawn mowing services to the homes he was visiting. The V.I.P. empire was born and V.I.P. Home Services are now a Joint Major Partner with the Port Adelaide Football Club.

Bill is also very supportive of the multicultural programs delivered by Power Community Ltd, who are taking the game of AFL to new communities.

PCL have a six-week program for primary school students who are new to Australia and excited about everything the great game has to offer. PCL have a program for the African community at Kilburn that has been embraced by teenage girls who train twice per week and play every Friday night. PCL have also established the International Student Supporter Group for tertiary students studying in Adelaide.

Many of the students from our programs joined staff from V.I.P. Home Services and our community partners at AAMI Stadium on Saturday to celebrate AFL Multicultural Round. Some students had a kick on the famous turf, or proudly paraded the boundary waving a flag. Others attended a pre-game function to hear the Bill Vis story, his passion for Ice Hockey and his support of the AFL.

Source: Port Adelaide Partnerships Corporate and Community eNews July 18th

Bill Vis organises for V.I.P. Home Services to be Joint Major Partner of the Port Adelaide Football Club

Bill-Vis-Matt-PrimusV.I.P. Home Services has signed on as a Joint Major Partner of the Port Adelaide Football Club.

In 2011, V.I.P. was a Premier Partner for the Port Adelaide Football Club when it was the coaches’ sponsor.

As a passionate fan of the Port Adelaide Football Club, Mr Bill Vis, founder of V.I.P Home Services is thrilled the partnership has grown from being a Premier Partner to a Joint Major Partner.

“It’s thanks to the great results we have seen from the partnership and the fantastic relationships we have with the club that increasing the sponsorship was an easy decision,” said Mr Vis.

“To be partnering with a club that shares similar values and is the only club to be playing in every AFL market in 2012 makes sense from a business and brand exposure perspective. We welcome the club wholeheartedly to the V.I.P. family.