Adrienne Stringer is a former nurse who some years ago was frustrated in her attempts to find a regular, dependable maid to help with the maintenance of her home. She recognized this as an unusual business opportunity, an opportunity which has since blossomed into an international maid service now operating in 7 countries and servicing over 50,000 homes a month.

The birthplace of this uniquely Canadian success story was Mississauga, Ontario. When Adrienne could not find a regular maid she recruited a friend and, armed with mops, buckets and cleaning supplies began to clean homes in her local neighbourhood. Realizing she had the beginnings of a successful small business she incorporated a company on May 8, 1979, formally launching her new service as Molly Maid. Offered were the services of a crisply uniformed team of two maids who visited customer homes in a sparkling clean car bearing the distinctive pink-and-blue insignia of Molly Maid. The maids were armed with their own cleaning equipment and supplies and the new company provided a guarantee of customer satisfaction.

Credit for the birth of Molly Maid belongs to Adrienne Stringer; however, credit for the Canadian and International development of the business goes to Jim MacKenzie, currently Chairman and CEO of Molly Maid Home Care Services Limited with the Canadian and International head offices located in Oakville, Ontario.

In 1979, the same year that Adrienne had started Molly Maid, Jim MacKenzie, a former marketing executive, had established an investment company with the primary purpose of acquiring and managing businesses which catered to working women. He identified residential maid services as a potential opportunity to serve this market. Upon hearing of the initial success of Molly Maid in the summer of 1980, he met with Adrienne Stringer to discuss the expansion of her business to other centres. Three days after their first meeting Jim MacKenzie's investment company acquired a majority interest in Molly Maid and an international business enterprise was on its way!

The initial staff of Molly Maid was small, but Jim MacKenzie worked closely with Adrienne Stringer and began moulding the business into an efficient business format designed for franchising into other markets. Along the way, MacKenzie retained research, financial and marketing consultants to develop the franchise package and began offering Molly Maid franchises to independent owners in major Canadian cities. It was important to locate and recruit those persons who shared the Molly Maid commitment to deliver the highest quality home-cleaning service available through the maid teams in each of their operations across Canada. This was the beginning of the basic Molly Maid credo: to provide quality, service and value to every customer on every visit to every home.

By 1988 the company had established over 300 individual Molly Maid franchises in North America and Europe and was growing at a rate of 15 new franchise openings per month. Three basic operating philosophies have guided the development of Molly Maid both domestically and internationally. First and foremost is a commitment to customer satisfaction. Second is a commitment to the development of people. Third is a dedication to community involvement.

The overwhelming commitment to customer satisfaction is first evidenced by the company organization chart. Reversing the traditional organization chart by placing the customer at the highest level ensures that everyone in the organization knows that: "the customer is the boss." This also ensures that every company procedure is geared to the preservation and enhancement of the highest levels of satisfaction amongst all Molly Maid customers. Monitoring of customer satisfaction levels through direct companycustomer contact and through extensive consumer research activities is a continuing Molly Maid imperative. This continuing commitment to customer satisfaction has resulted in both a satisfied customer base and referrals from existing customers being the greatest source of new business for the company.
 

1. Maid teams ready to start their day with Molly Maid automobiles spoiling the familiar pink-and-blue company insignia. 2. Santa gets help as two franchisees present toys collected as Part of the Molly Maid Santa's Helper program to their local toy drive co-ordinator.

When it comes to people, Molly Maid states as its philosophy, "You don't develop business; you develop people and business follows." This philosophy is put into practice throughout the organization. At the level closest to the customer, each member of a Molly Maid team is trained to be a cleaning professional. They are guided by an extensive training program which includes companyproduced training videos teaching the proven and efficient Molly Maid cleaning methods. Maid team personnel are regularly encouraged to share experiences, cleaning tips and suggestions through an international newsletter titled, "We've Maid News", an international publication devoted exclusively to the maids themselves.

Franchisees receive an initial one-week training program at the "Molly Maid Institute of Customer Satisfaction." Ongoing training is provided through refresher seminars, regional meetings, conventions

and periodic visits from corporate personnel. The franchisees share their experiences internationally through their own dedicated newsletter titled "The Molly Maid Rag." Corporate management, in addition to receiving training in their specialist functions, meet annually with their international counterparts to share experiences and insights.

This commitment to the development of people and the cross fertilization of ideas and experiences has produced many changes to the Molly Maid system with each change representing an improvement to the delivery of customer satisfaction. It has also resulted in opportunities for Molly Maid personnel. Maids have moved from one franchise to another, some moving through the ranks to become franchise owners themselves. Franchise owners have moved into corporate offices domestically and internationally just as corporate personnel have moved into franchise ownership.

Community involvement is another philosophy deeply embedded in the Molly Maid system. Through its corporately sponsored Santa's Helper program, Molly Maid with the assistance of franchise owners, maids and customers has collected thousands of toys making Christmas more enjoyable for many children. Franchise owners are encouraged to support their local communities through sponsorship of minor league teams and through contributions of time, money and services to worthwhile community projects. Individual initiatives such as participation by one franchisee in a local snowsuit drive and another in a food bank program receive systemwide recognition in the company newsletter stimulating similar activities by other franchisees.

The name Molly Maid is now a household word in Canada. Through its international franchise network the company is confident in its ability to achieve the same success in other countries. Each and every one of the over 3,000 Molly Maid employees is proud of their company's record of customer satisfaction, community involvement and development of people. And it is those same proud people, committed to the company's mission of providing quality, service and value who will carry the Molly Maid success into the next century.