When Susan Williams was an employee at a removals company, customers wanted a service her company did not offer: unpacking. So she started a business to meet their needs.
| Entrepreneur |
Susan Williams |
| Company |
Finishing Touch Unpacking Service |
| Business type |
Business services - unpacking |
| Head office |
St Kilda, Victoria |
| Contact details |
+61 3 9534 4400 |
Key Learning Points |
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Business name registration
Williams found that when she went to register the company name “Finishing Touch”, others who had beaten her to it. She did not let this deter her. Instead she added “Unpacking Service” to the end. To prevent confusing clients, she sent out magnets and coffee cups to other companies with the same name so that they knew where to send people looking for her company.
Skill weaknesses
Take on a partner who compensates for any area where you are weak. Williams knew she was poor at technology and hired an information technology specialist, Steve Hitchings, as her general manager. He had extensive experience in large companies. He has ensured that the e-strategy, which includes the internet, e-mail and personal computers, will be able to grow with the company.
Cost-cutting technology
Introduce technology into the business as soon as possible. All staff at Finishing Touch have access to e-mail and a free Web-based e-mail account. Most information is delivered via the internet, including shift times, training, superannuation forms and operational documents as well as internal memos and client feedback sheets. If there is any change in documentation, everyone is sent an e-mail with the new version of the document. Williams says this has produced cost reductions and greater efficiency.
Managing growth
As a company grows, so does the hierarchy in head office. This should be avoided, as small companies can not afford the overheads. Often a manager will protest as their responsibilities grow. If the staff can not keep up, it may be necessary at some stage to bring in new people who can handle the greater workload. This can often bring a lot of heartache as original staff can be like family.
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The Finishing Touch Story
Susan Williams was in her early 30s and working a very routine job for a removalist company when she got her new-business idea. She noted that although removal companies packed up houses and moved the belongings, they never unpacked. Yet at least once a week, time-poor people asked Williams whether she knew of an unpacking service. She took the idea to her managers who told her they were not interested. However they told her to feel free to run an unpacking business on the side.
For the next year, Williams gave customers two quotes - one for a packing and moving service, the second for an unpacking service. Initially her mother and sister unpacked for customers before demand for the service saw Williams’ friends join the company. By 1994, at 34 years old, Williams realised she had a legitimate business and resigned from her old company. With money from the sale of her car and borrowings on her credit card, she set up Finishing Touch Unpacking Service.
Williams did not set out to chase growth. Instead she set up the business properly, beginning with professional looking brochures and business cards, which were sent to both potential clients and moving companies who could recommend her services to their clients.
From the start, Williams hired mature women who were mothers - people who wanted to work part-time and valued their flexibility. In return for flexible schedules, Williams has found her staff loyal and hard working. About 15% of her employees are ex-customers. She ensures staff have a professional appearance and are well spoken.
Williams quickly realised that it was not enough to just run an unpacking service. Clients were often emotional and stressed because of the move and there was a need for staff to do more than just unpack. Williams’ staff co-ordinated clothes in cupboards, cleaned dirty dishes, did the shopping and ironed. One client who had been living in a hotel for months expressed a wish for a roast meal. Company staff went home and cooked him one.
Williams has continued to expand Finishing Touch by hiring women in new locations and adding new services to the business. For example, there is a new service whereby staff arrive before the removalists to prepare for the shift. Williams says: “We will clean and defrost the fridge, collect the garden hoses, make sure there is no washing in the machine and collect other things that go missing. There is a long list.”
If a move is local, the same employee may organise both the pre-removal and post-removal preparations and unpacking. Williams is also starting a service to help commission new apartment blocks. Her employees ensure microwaves are connected, bath plugs are present and washing machines are hooked up.
Williams now operates in 50 locations, has ten full-time staff at head office and 300 women working part-time for her. Turnover has doubled every nine months and is now $2 million. Williams says she is earning far more than she would back in her old job. However she invests everything back into the company. “My goal is to get home before midnight,” she says.