Richard and Cynthia Allen certainly have the understanding and dedication to accomplish any mission.
New Jersey husband and wife team invest in large
franchise
Richard and Cynthia Allen certainly have the understanding
and dedication to accomplish any mission. As Captains’ in the
United States Army, the married couple from New Jersey both
served six years of active duty before leaving the military for
civilian life. Now, they intend to put their military
leadership skills and previous business experience to work for
them as they prepare for their next mission.
“Both of us are accustomed to hard work and mission
accomplishment,” said Richard. “We strongly feel that our
previous military experience, sales, product presentation and
management skills will be key to ensuring our success. We know
that this will not be easy, but we are willing to put in the
effort and resources that are necessary to be
successful.”
After the military, Richard began a career in the window
and patio door business mostly selling to The Home Depot and
Cynthia continued her career in hospital administration. While
the couple experienced success in both roles, they had a great
desire to have a business of their own.
“We have always wanted to be our own boss – to have an
integral part in our own success and when an opportunity arose
we began investigating franchises,” said Richard and Cynthia.
“We researched several franchise opportunities before deciding
to open a Jani-King franchise.”
The couple initially met with Leo Mac, Regional Director
of Development, and the regional office team in New Jersey and
quickly realized the potential that exists in the commercial
cleaning industry.
“We were very impressed by the opportunities Jani-King had
to offer and were extremely impressed by Leo Mac and his team.
We feel that they have a desire to help us succeed and grow our
business,” said Richard and Cynthia. “Jani-King is a first
class organization and we felt that it would be a very good fit
based on our skills in sales, operations, and administration.
We liked the idea of a home based business so we could focus
our capital where it mattered- equipment, promotion and people.
Many of the franchise companies we spoke to wanted us to make
the investment but did not have a plan to get us sales.
Jani-King was the only opportunity that was willing to
guarantee sales at a pace we wanted to grow.”
The couple isn’t wasting any time getting started, having
already begun training in the New Jersey regional office. In
addition, they anticipate specific roles for each person that
will help them manage their business.
“I have extensive sales experience which will be
instrumental in landing new accounts and making sure that we
not only meet but exceed our customers’ expectations to retain
them. Cynthia’s expertise is in attention to detail in dealing
with all of the supporting documentation necessary to ensure
our business’s financial success and maintain regulatory
compliance,” said Richard.
Right now, the couple also plans to take immediate steps
to recruit and hire staff that they can eventually promote and
train into supervisory positions. But they also have set
short-term and long-term goals in order to keep them focused on
their mission. “Our short term goals are to become as educated
as quickly as we possibly can regarding all types of commercial
cleaning practices, cleaning agents and services that we can
provide and get our franchise up and running while delivering a
first class product. We want to obtain a variety of new
accounts with the understanding that there is a learning
opportunity with each different type of clean. Eventually, we
would like to investigate the possibility of becoming a master
franchisee.”
