Coade tracks business performance using an internal management system.
“These days everything we do is online and everything we do is on the IMS. All our accounts are done through the system and all new contracts which are raised come in my email system and these days all our invoicing is done online by the franchises and delivered to the clients via email.”
AMC’s client mix is “varied” and nationally it looks after around 4500 buildings.
“Some of our major clients are Sportsgirl, Country Road and Medibank. We also look after a lot of schools such as Melbourne Grammar, who we’ve looked after for 20 years.
“We do everything from small stores to industrial facilities, but it’s all commercial work,” he says.
Recently, Coade launched a range of cleaning products as part of AMC, which it has partnered with HealthGuard to produce.
“The only reason we’ve taken on this new component is transportation. Transportation of cleaning products has always been a problem, so we’ve teamed up with a company which can transport them to the back of Bourke.
“Having our own products also means we have uniform cleaning, we’re able to replicate the whole thing,” he says.
Within AMC, Coade says he’s not selective about the staff he hires; however, all must be trained, be dressed in uniform, and have passed police and working with children checks where appropriate.
“The beauty with our industry is anyone who wants to work and can swing a mop and can vacuum a carpet, we’re happy to have.
“It’s a $5.5 billion industry and we do a very small part of it at this point in time, but having well-trained staff is still very important.”
When AMC started, Coade didn’t have much time for leisure, but that’s starting to change.
“In the past few years I’ve started playing golf and I also love cooking and being able to get together for a nice meal and relaxing with friends and family.
“I like to be home by 6pm these days. I’m there about 10 hours a day, but I was doing 14 hour days when I first started. My eldest daughter is also state manager of the Adelaide branch now.”
The early days involved long hours for Coade.
“If you’re building a business and running a business without huge numbers of staff you have to be available at all times. If a cleaner didn’t turn up at 8pm, I had to go and do it myself.”
But Coade says maintaining some kind of work-life balance is “absolutely important”.
“You see too many people where work overcomes their personal life and it can often destroy relationships too,” he says.
Coade is aiming to double the company’s current turnover.
“We’re about number two in the country in terms of the size of turnover when it comes to franchise commercial cleaning businesses, so we’d like to get to $100 million in turnover.
“It’s about building the business and getting more franchisees on board.”
Coade says the business’s major stakeholders meet four times a year to analyse growth and create a strategy for the next quarter.
“My role, and my staff’s role, is to look at how we’re tracking constantly – what sales are coming on board and what contracts we’re losing. We’re also looking at the wins and losses and making sure we remain profitable.
“There have been a number of high large profile businesses in the sector which have gone belly up this year and we look at this strategically and think how we can buy them – we are lucky to be one of the few companies which have no debt,” he says.
Coade is bullish about the future.
“I’ve always been positive about business and I teach this to the guys who are running the state operations, and if you get caught up in the negativity, it can be self-defeating.
“There’s no huge secret, it’s hard work and it’s about understanding the customer’s needs and working hard to be the person your customers want to go to – in a nutshell, it’s as easy as that.”
