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Business View Australia - November-December 2015 47
the field do are mowing and gardening
work. Most of them are involved in
soft landscaping which includes new
gardens. About 20% of our franchisees
are also involved in hard landscaping
which includes small retaining walls
and that kind of work.
“One of the major key points of
difference we have is that we sell
only one type of franchise and that
is mowing and gardening franchises.
There will never ever be a Fox Antennas
or Fox Cleaning or Fox anything-else.
We specifically want to be in mowing
and gardening because that is what we
know.
“Anybody else operating across
Australia is selling multiple franchises.
So for these people the model
is franchising itself. They are not
particularly franchising a particular
product or a particular service. So
that is a key point of difference. The
potential franchise owners can see that
and we don’t pretend to be experts at
something we are not good at.”
Focussed marketing
activities
There is a great need for making
clients aware about Fox Mowing &
Gardening’s activities. Even 10 years
ago it was possible for an independent
contractor to set up a gardening
business. All that was required was to
put an advertisement in a couple of
local papers and do some leaflet drops.
Over a six month period, a dedicated
contractor could build up a business of
a respectable size.
In thecurrentmarket, if an independent
person tries to set up a gardening
business by advertising in the local
paper, it is highly unlikely that it would
result in more than one or two jobs. Fox
Mowing & Gardening spends a large
part of its budget on advertising and
marketing. It has an elaborate website,
which is constantly upgraded.
The company also concentrates on
internet marketing and utilises search
engine optimization techniques to
increase traffic to its website. Fox
Mowing & Gardening uses a number
of online directories and websites like
Scoopon and Groupon to popularise its
services.
In an effort to get customers, Fox
Mowingoffersbigdiscountsforbusiness
sourced through these sites. They pay
the franchise owners more than the
amount collected from customers. This
extra expenditure is justified by the
visibility that the company gets.
There has been a sharp increase in the
level of business through Fox Mowing’s
FRANCHISING