Coming back from the brink – battling a franchise split and global pandemic

  Posted by: electime      20th August 2020

Able Electrical now ‘stronger than ever’ thanks to Government cash and fighting spirit

By his own admission, stalwart businessman Jeff Longley from Tamworth works better ‘with his back against the wall’ – which is just as well considering the huge challenges he has faced in recent months.

At the twilight of his career, just as he was preparing to retire, 66-year-old Jeff was hit with his biggest crises in half a century of business – both of which threatened to jeopardise the family legacy and retirement income he had worked so hard for.

However, thanks to his fighting spirit, lots of forward-planning, some financial help from the government and sheer determination, Jeff and his family electrical business have come back in a stronger position than ever.

It all started when a 12-year partnership with a national electrical franchise business soured and came to an abrupt end. Jeff’s franchise was incredibly successful, and business was doing well, but the sudden parting of ways led to all work being lost overnight.

This threw Jeff’s retirement plans into disarray and he stepped back in to help his sons Dominic and Luke, who are preparing to take over the business completely.

Then the global pandemic hit. 

Jeff said: “I was supposed to retire last October, and I was just getting ready to take more of a back seat, when we suddenly had to part ways with the franchise. We lost all our work overnight. We set up a new company – Able Electrical– and fought hard to come back. Despite the split costing us around £100,000 in rebranding and lost work, we managed to keep all our staff and were just starting to turn things around when coronavirus hit.

“We had to effectively close down for a month to six weeks. I furloughed all the staff and then instead of retiring or going on furlough myself, I stayed in the business and spent my days doing marketing, learning Zoom, teaching myself video editing, networking and creating web pages for the business – I set myself the target of creating 100 new web pages per week.”

As well as taking advantage of the Government coronavirus furlough scheme, Jeff also successfully applied for a £10,000 Small Business Grant, which helped cover some of the bills.

Slowly but surely, as restrictions eased, the work started coming back in.

Jeff is now also reaping the rewards of two business opportunities he has been preparing for, for several years. Recognising that electric vehicles are the future, Jeff has invested a lot of time and energy ensuring his business is in prime position for people wanting electric vehicle charging points installed at homes and commercial premises.

He has also spent years preparing for a new law which came into effect this July, which requires landlords to carry out regular electrical safety inspections (EICR testing) on all properties they let.

This has seen Jeff teaching himself the art of search engine optimisation and working with various partners such as marketing companies and content writers to establish himself as a leader in the field.

These efforts are now hugely paying off and helping to facilitate the business’s comeback after its two major disasters.

Able Electrical has recently won large contracts with housing associations, letting agents and landlords for EICR testing, resulting in more than 400 jobs scheduled, another 2,000 to book in and around a further 3,000 in the pipeline. Electric vehicle charger work is also picking up again after an expected quiet period due to coronavirus.

As a result, not only is everyone back in work off furlough, but the company is now recruiting.

“I have been pushing EICR and car chargers for the last few years and these are now the bulk of our work.  Not only are we back, but we’re busier and stronger than ever and need more people,” Jeff said.

“It has been challenging these last few months, but to be honest I’m better with my back to the wall when I have to fight, otherwise I just get bored. The income from this is my retirement income so I had to fight for it.

“We had Government help from the coronavirus schemes and like most other companies, without that, we would have had to close. We’ve now managed to come back stronger than ever.”

Jeff is also campaigning for regulation in the franchise industry following his recent experiences. You can read more about this via his blog at https://30yearsafranchisee.blogspot.com/.