Driving instructor Dale Brooks reveals the secrets of running a successful franchise that is both rewarding for its owner and the ADIs that work for it.
Creator of the Weelz Driving School franchise, Dale has built up a team of 14 ADIs over the past four years – but what has been the driving force behind setting up such a successful and enduring franchise?
Why did you make the move into instructing? I decided to become an ADI because of my love of driving, the opportunities for meeting new people and the belief I could give better customer service as an instructor than I did in the job I previously held.
What kind of ADI are you? A considerate and humorous one I hope – well, I laugh at my own jokes anyway! As far as pupils are concerned, I try to be flexible and understanding. After all, I realise that life can get in the way of learning to drive sometimes, whether it be due to college or university commitments or a lack of a child minder on the afternoon of the lesson, etc. Life very rarely runs smoothly for any of us so yes, the odd cancellation does happen but I find if you are fair and considerate towards the pupils, they will be too.
What is your teaching style? Learning to drive doesn’t need to be difficult and should be fun. I try to put the learning part across in a way that doesn’t make the pupil feel as if they are back at school either. Of course, learning to drive is a serious business and I teach students all about their responsibilities as a driver – but I do it in a way that doesn’t leave them feeling frightened to turn the ignition on!
What’s your favourite and least favourite part of the job? My favourite is getting a pupil to believe they can do something – within 30 minutes of their lesson, they are driving, changing gear and using coordination they never knew they had. As for the least favourite part, it’s having to cancel someone’s test as they haven’t quite made the standard required. That’s only happened twice in almost 10 years but it’s not a great conversation to have.
‘A local franchise like Weelz Driving School is more approachable and offers far fairer fees than national franchises, especially if you have decent people skills.’ – Dale Brooks, owner of Weelz Driving School.
What advice would you give to someone starting out on a career in driving instructing? Before taking the plunge, I would advise any prospective ADI to research thoroughly, consider the unsocial hours and make great customer service a top priority; I believe whatever the industry you’re in, you must treat people as you expect to be treated. Do that and you won’t go far wrong.
What motivated you to create a franchise? It was in part financial and aspirational but mostly to help fellow ADIs who may be paying above and beyond for a franchise. I didn’t like the idea of any ADI working all week only to find themselves barely able to pay the franchise fee. It’s simply unfair when they have to work so hard.
How have you built up your brand? Well, first off, I believe brand is everything for a company. I feel ours, which was designed professionally, stands out and should mean all the things a brand should mean, i.e., quality and great value for money. Social media has changed the way a driving school should promote itself too and we have over 5,000 ‘Likes’ on our Facebook page so we must be doing something right!
How do you ensure you protect your brand when you have such a large pool of ADIs on your team? All the ADIs that are with Weelz are handpicked by me based on their reputation. They all know how important the Weelz brand is and its focus on customer service – I can count the number of negative comments we have had in over four years on just one hand. Weelz’s ADIs are all very aware that any negative feedback affects us all, and not just themselves.
What are the benefits for ADIs being part of a franchise? I can only speak for my franchise but I feel the ADI is given all the tools they need to concentrate solely on teaching pupils; whether it be a roof box, welcome packs for pupils, workwear, business cards or of course pupils. It takes the worry away for them, I hope!
What does the future hold for Weelz Driving School? The future will be what it will be. There are no massive plans to be the next national driving school; I just want to be Weelz Driving School and if it grows then great. If any ADIs are looking to join us then we only take on an ADI if everyone else’s diary is full or as full as they want it to be. Otherwise you risk blanket covering an area with instructors, meaning work for them will be thin on the ground and you end up with disgruntled ADIs.
Finally, as a long term user of Theory Test Pro, how do you find the system helps your students? If the pupil puts the study time in, Theory Test Pro is fantastic. It brings together everything in one place and it allows us to monitor the student’s progress. I would advise pupils though to read up on the basics first using The Highway Code or Know Your Traffic Signs before jumping into the tests themselves.
