Hire a Hubby turns on mapping intelligence

Hire a Hubby has redefined its franchise territories using geospatial mapping software to introduce what it calls a more ‘plausible’ fee structure.

The company, which has approximately 300 franchisees nationwide, provides DIY trade services for both the domestic and commercial markets.

CEO, Brendan Green, told iTNews that the company has revamped the way it splits franchisee territories using ‘location intelligence’ software created by MapInfo.

“Back in 1999, we pulled out a big floor-to-ceiling map of Sydney, meshed it with some statistics from Australia Post on household numbers and defined all our territories,” said Green.

“There was no science to it whatsoever. Territorial borders were decided according to what looked like a logical fit in terms of household numbers.”

When Green took over as the franchisor in 2000, he was keen to move to more automated territorial mapping systems, but couldn’t afford to make the investment initially.

This changed in part because the franchise pricing structure hadn’t been revamped in up to 15 years.

Being able to effectively map business and socio-economic data would make it easier to show franchisees the revenue potential of a territory – and provide additional value to the point where the price of each franchise could be raised, said Green.

“We added $3,000 in real expenses to the [standard franchisee] start-up package but $20,000 in gross profitability,” Green told iTNews.

“To explain to someone why their territory is worth X tells its own tale.”

Hire a Hubby now divides territories into gold, silver and bronze, according to their earning potential. Most packages now sold are gold or silver, Green said.

The business has also been able to almost double the price of its gold package from $27,000 to $50,000, because it can now accurately map out the revenue potential of an exclusive franchise territory.

Revenue potential is calculated using a variety of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), census and other business data.

Hire a Hubby has plans to also bring in specific data from franchisees to augment existing data. This will happen once a franchisee decides they have realised their initial investment and want to sell.

“The goodwill they’ve built with their business can also be passed on and mapped,” said Green.

“We want to look at what the outgoing franchisee has built and overlay it with existing data so we can maximise the value of the system.”

The system can, for example, help to identify territories with a high rental market. Real estate agencies are proving to be a prime growth market for handyperson services.

Retail stores are also taking on these types of services to install the products they sell at a customer’s home. For example, a pet store might use Hire a Hubby services to install dog and cat doors.

Hire a Hubby has approximately 24 staff, and outsources its IT function.