Elite Franchise Magazine Jan 2017

January 2017 ÂŁ4.50

elitefranchisemagazine.co.uk

Doing good

How supporting charities can bring your franchise network together

The Massage Company This new kid on the block is hitting all the right spots

Business Doctors

Matthew Levington reveals his prescription for success

PITCH PERFECT David Batch cut his teeth as the youngest UEFA-Aqualified coach in the world. He has since scored a hat-trick with the Premier Education Group, a trio of franchises that offers kids coaching on everything from sports to streetdance

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sausage sausage sausage anne egg anneegg egg anne McMuffin McMuffin McMuffin I am a franchisee & this is my McDonald’s I am a franchisee & ‘For me, it’s all about the people. I have some this is my McDonald’s

fabulous people working for me – quite a few who’ve methe since day one – and it’s ‘For me,been it’s allwith about people.

I have some a pleasure toworking watch them grow.

Someone fabulous people for me – quite a few who started out as ame Crew Member who’ve been with since day oneis–now andthe it’s Business Manager at one of my restaurants.’ a pleasure to watch them grow.

Someone Anne, operates four restaurants in Leeds who started out as a Crew Member is now the Business Manager at one of my restaurants.’

Anne, operates four 5 restaurants in Leeds restaurants in Leeds

Register online at www.mcdonalds.co.uk/franchising Come and talk to us at one of our Insight Days: Bristol, 3rd February London, 10th March York, 31st March www.mcdonalds.co.uk/franchising

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Anytime Fitness opens 100th branch

Anytime fitness is now the fastest growing fitness franchise in the world

London, January 2017 – Anytime Fitness, the world’s fastest growing fitness franchise, today announces the opening of its 100th UK health club.

The occasion will be marked with a ceremony at the new club in Ladbroke Grove. The opening is a continuation of the brand’s rapid expansion since opening its 3000th global club in Stroud 12 months ago, making it the fastest growing franchise model in the world - out-growing McDonald’s and Subway.

The opening also makes the UK the fifth country to have 100 Anytime Fitness clubs open, alongside the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan and means there are now more than 3,400+ clubs open globally.

The 24/7 health club provider opened its first UK club in Bristol in 2010.

Anytime Fitness CEO and founder, Chuck Runyon says, “We are so proud to be opening the 100th Anytime Fitness club in the UK. The first club was opened six years ago so this is an amazing achievement, which we are very thankful for.

“The 3000th global club was opened in the UK in less time than it took McDonald’s, Subway and Dunkin’ Donuts to open the same amount of branches, which shows the commercial strength of the brand and is testament to the commitment of its franchisees,”

Andy Thompson, Chairman of Anytime Fitness UK, says, “We couldn’t be happier to reach this milestone.

The work and effort put in by the whole Anytime Fitness family is remarkable and we are now seeing the rewards. The franchise sector contributes more than £15.1bn to the UK economy and we are delighted that our business is a big contributor to that figure.

“The key to our growth has been our dedicated and passionate partners in the countries we serve. They carry the Anytime Fitness flag proudly and are committed to making a difference in people’s lives.

“What’s exciting is to look ahead and see the massive growth potential still remaining for our brand, both on our existing markets and future markets. 100 locations is a great start, but the future opportunity is enormous.”

ANYT001

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CONTENTS

70

xx REGULARS 9 Editor’s letter 10 Contributors 13 News & events 81 Franchise diaries COLUMNS 15 17 27 29

Pip Wilkins .Claire Robinson Nigel Toplis Tony Bowman

FEATURES

30 Limbering up

The Massage Company is answering the need for a good knead

34 Offering a helping hand

What franchises stand to gain from doing charity work

40 Prescribing success

Business Doctors is diagnosing companies’ ills around the globe

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30 49 The taxman cometh Franchisees failing to pay their taxes can damage the whole network

54 Focusing on franchisees

Franchisees are your most important resource so why not use them in your marketing?

60 Tricks of the trade From operations manuals to e-learning, learn how to best train employees

64 Lessons in app development

Is your franchise really ready to go mobile?

70 A place of your own

Sometimes exclusive territorries are anything but

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18 THE ELITE INTERVIEW

From a one-man band teaching kids football, David Batch has grown the Premier Education Group into a children’s coaching franchise with a network of 84 franchisees

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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Raj Solanki and Caremark MD Anne O’Rourke

Join our homecare franchise Do you want to be part of an award-winning network of franchisees?

Meet one of our newest franchisees Raj Solanki, who has built a growing home care business in the Midlands since joining Caremark last year. n A UK franchisor with a proven track record and reputation of excellence across nearly 100 offices

A long opportunity in to a growing market One of term the best franchisee support sector; a network staff ratios of 3 : 1 turnover of ÂŁ54m for 2015 n n

The lowest management fees in the home care sector n

An award winning training of the proven Caremark formula and systems n

n

Opportunities from multiple income streams

Speak to David Glover on

01903 266392 franchise@caremarklimited.co.uk www.caremarkfranchises.com

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WELCOME

January 2017 £4.50

elitefranchisemagazine.co.uk

DOING GOOD

How supporting charities can bring your franchise network together

THE MASSAGE COMPANY This new kid on the block is hitting all the right spots

BUSINESS DOCTORS

Matthew Levington reveals his prescription for success

VOLUME 05 ISSUE 01 / 2017

PITCH PERFECT David Batch cut his teeth as the youngest UEFA-Aqualified coach in the world. He has since scored a hat-trick with the Premier Education Group, a trio of franchises that offers kids coaching on everything from sports to streetdance

EDITORIAL Josh Russell – Editor josh.russell@cemedia.co.uk Maria Barr – Web Editor maria.barr@cemedia.co.uk Eric Johansson - Feature Writer eric.johansson@cemedia.co.uk DESIGN/PRODUCTION Leona Connor – Head Designer leona.connor@cemedia.co.uk Jenny Allen – Junior Designer jenny.allen@cemedia.co.uk Dan Lecount – Web Development Manager dan@cemedia.co.uk SALES Gemma Campion – Sales Manager gemma.campion@cemedia.co.uk MARKETING David Thomas – Group Marketing Manager david.thomas@cemedia.co.uk CIRCULATION Paul Kirby – Circulation & Data Manager paul.kirby@cemedia.co.uk ACCOUNTS Sally Stoker – Finance Manager sally.stoker@cemedia.co.uk ADMINISTRATION Laura Hyde – Administrator laura.hyde@cemedia.co.uk DIRECTOR Scott English – Managing Director scott.english@cemedia.co.uk Circulation enquiries: CE Media Call: 0124 567 3700 Elite Franchise is published by CE Media, 1st Floor, Regency House, 16 Victoria Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1NZ Copyright 2017. All rights reserved No part of Elite Franchise may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the editor.

Elite Franchise will make every effort to return picture material, but this is at the owner’s risk.

Due to the nature of the printing process, images can be subject to a variation of up to 15%, therefore CE Media Limited cannot be held responsible for such variation. cemedia.co.uk

Kicking off the new year with a bang I t’s a new year and it’s a pleasure to see so many franchise aficionados returning fresh-faced from the holiday frivolities. And while some of you may have had enough of the festivities for one lifetime, I’d say there’s still plenty going on in this industry worth celebrating.

For those looking for a healthier start to the year, the Massage Company is getting to work on kneading Blighty’s knots and creating a relaxation sensation in the process.

Meanwhile, there are a whole host of franchises flexing their philanthropic muscles, placing charity at the heart of everything they do. But perhaps my favourite story of the new year is the tale of how David Batch went from professional football coach to franchising superstar, growing his franchise Premier Education Group into a kids education brand with 84 franchisees across the UK. And that’s definitely something worth toasting.

JOSH RUSSELL - EDITOR josh.russell@cemedia.co.uk

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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CONTRIBUTORS

Kate Legg

Komerse founder Legg attempted to practice restraint in December by not eating all of her advent calendar choccies all at once, saving herself for the copious glasses of mulled wine and mince pies she enjoyed during an extended Christmas break with the family. In between mouthfuls, she managed to squeeze in some time to write her feature on the legal aspects of securing a location.

NIGEL TOPLIS

Toplis, who is currently serving as the managing director of The Bardon Group, has been escaping the British winter by working from sunny South Africa for the past month.

And the distance has inspired his latest column about communication – in particular the value of face-to-face time. Once back in Blighty, the franchisor can’t wait to see what the next year will bring.

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James Ellender

Having cut his teeth founding a string of businesses including franchise and licensing consultancy Ibex Effect, Ellender went on to start Spun Candy – the confectionery franchise that’s winning over sweet-toothed fans at home and abroad. From his home in Hong Kong, the entrepreneur has used his experience developing an app for Spun Candy to advise other franchises on what to consider.

TONY BOWMAN

Bowman’s jam-packed December saw the etyres franchisor get elected to the bfa’s board at its Annual General Meeting, receive an invite to chair the bfa’s Quality Standards Committee, pen a column on the importance of having a go-getting attitude and even take a (short) break to spend Christmas with the family. We feel tired just thinking about his packed diary.

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SUPPORTING BRITISH BUSINESS

WE COMMIT TO GROW OUR LENDING TO BRITISH BUSINESS

We help brilliant British businesses grow. In the last four years we have helped over 500,000 businesses start up, and we back over 80% of the FTSE 100.

We approve 8 out of 10 loans and are lending to all types of businesses across Britain.

To find out how we can support your business, please contact Richard Holden, Head of Franchising on 07802 324018 or at franchising@lloydsbanking.com Find out more at lloydsbank.com/business

Any property given as security, which may include your home, may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or other debts secured on it.

All lending is subject to a satisfactory credit assessment.

Over 500,000 start-up figure relates to Lloyds Banking Group, correct as at December 2014. Lloyds Bank FTSE 100 figure correct as at January 2015. 8 out of 10 relates to period April 2012 – November 2014.

Calls may be monitored or recorded. Please note that any data sent via e-mail is not secure and could be read by others. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under Registration Number 119278. We subscribe to The Lending Code; copies of the Code can be obtained from www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk. The Lloyds Banking Group includes companies using brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland and their associated companies. More information on the Lloyds Banking Group can be found at lloydsbankinggroup.com

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NEWS McDonald’s moves to London McDonald’s has served up a great vote of confidence in the UK economy by announcing that the European home of the Big Mac will up sticks from Luxemburg to London. While Number 10 has welcomed the move with open arms, some have dismissed it as an attempt to avoid paying up to £397m in back taxes to the EU. The European Commission has recently grilled the burger giant about its taxes as a part of a bigger investigation into member states offering companies unfair tax incentives to set up shop in their countries.

Nevertheless, with an additional £800m in international royalty revenue from franchisees in Europe flowing through the UK, hopefully we should see some extra taxes come into the British economy.

Barking Mad’s big win You have to hand it to Barking Mad, the dogboarding franchise: it certainly knows how to end the year with a bang. Not only was the company acquired by Franchise Brands in November but it also rounded off 2016 with a huge win at the Amazon Growing Business Awards in December.

Being chosen as a finalist out of a selection of 500 trailblazing companies that were also nominated, including the babyswimming franchise Turtle Tots, is impressive in itself.

But to then go on and win the award for Micro Business of the Year is certainly something to wag your tail about.

Franchising fashion fashion company – which was founded in the 1950s – attempted to break into the UK in the 1980s but closed its last shop a decade later to focus on selling through retailers like House of Fraser and John Lewis. But now Oui is back with a vengeance.

Well, it certainly seems like haute couture in Blighty is only getting hauter.

NatWest Franchise Seminar January 17 RBS/NatWest Building, 280 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4RB

The British & International Franchise Exhibition January 20-21 Olympia London, Hammersmith Road, London, W14 8UX

The National Franchise Exhibition 17-18 February NEC Birmingham, North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham, B40 1NT

EWIF South Regional Meeting January 19 Mundays, Cedar House, 78 Portsmouth Road, Cobham, KT11 1AN

EWIF London regional meeting January 26 Under 1 Roof Kids, Unit 9, The IO centre, Skeffington Street, London, SE18 6SR

The Franchise Show February 17-18 ExCeL London, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London, E16 1XL

A full event listing is available on our website: elitefranchisemagazine.co.uk/events

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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Events

There will soon be a new fashionable face on the British high street. Oui, the German franchise specialising in clothes for women with an eye for quality, has announced plans to open the doors of up to 35 franchisee-owned stores within the next five years in Britain.

Oui is no stranger to the UK market, of course. The family-run

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Pip Wilkins, chief executive, bfa

The year of going global for franchises Whether you’re expanding beyond British shores or bringing an overseas franchise to the UK, the international opportunity is too big to pass up on Many entrepreneurs choose franchising as their model when they’re ready to expand. The structure, whereby local business owners can benefit from economies of scale as well as access a proven system, support and branding, is very appealing.

In the UK, a number of successful brands from abroad have established themselves here through franchising, such as Home Instead Senior Care and McDonald’s, along with countless other familiar names on the high street. These businesses are boosting the British economy and creating jobs. Similarly, a lot of British companies like VIP Bin Cleaning and Water Babies chosen a franchising model when expanding into foreign markets. Even companies like Marks & Spencer that don’t franchise at home use franchising

you on a local level, as well as how easy it will be to meet with and support them before – and after – buying the franchise.

It’s also worth looking into whether there could be any language barriers that might make collaboration harder. On a broader level, you should check that the overseas franchise team understands the UK market in terms of its culture, laws and demand patterns.

You may find that you have an opportunity to look at becoming a master franchisee, which means model when venturing into overseas you’ll be acting as a franchisor for a territories. defined area. Some master franchisee When you’re exploring the contracts can even cover the entire possibility of taking on an country. Again you’ll international need to fully understand franchise, you You should make sure the commitments, need to do the overseas franchise structure, timescales thorough research team understands the and costs involved. on the company.

UK market in terms of Finally, if a franchise If it’s only recently the culture, laws and hasn’t got any presence entered the UK demand patterns in the UK yet then market, this step you should look into is even more their reputation abroad and whether important. Communication with the they’re an accredited member of the franchisor and head office is key, so official franchise association in their if you’re dealing with an overseas home country. franchise you need to know if your Ultimately, there’s a huge number point of contact will be based in the of opportunities to bring an UK or abroad. This is important overseas franchise to the UK or use because if you’re dealing with a headfranchising to make your mark in office contact in another country, you another country. So here’s to a year of need to have a good understanding global growth for franchising. of how they might be able to support January 2017 | elitefranchise

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Reach out for renewables

Other benefits include:

The renewable market in the UK has a predicted value set to reach £50 billion by 2020 and the sector presents fantastic opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to establish a new business in a rapidly growing market.

• Exclusive products

Green Square is looking for like-minded people to join their team and experience a business model that is in high demand from domestic and commercial customers looking towards greener alternatives for practical renewable energy solutions for the future.

The Green Square franchise offers the opportunity to work in an ethical environment and penetrate a ring fenced business area, while minimising the risks associated with starting out alone, with a sales potential of over £1 million in three years.

• Fully certified training and qualifications in renewable technology • Quality Management system for microgeneration technologies in place (MCS) • Supported by legislation • Reasonable franchise fee • Bespoke software allowing full system design and calculations for complex installations • Full marketing support: website, launch event and marketing campaigns • Turn-key business concept

For further information please visit our website, or to express an interest in finding out more information email:

franchise@greensquare.co.uk

T: 03333 707 707

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Claire Robinson, managing director, Extra Help

What to do when your franchisees underperform Supporting struggling franchisees when times get tough shows your entire network what your values are

can damage your brand value and drain resources, so it’s important to identify its causes as early as possible and steer your franchisees back on course.

Understanding the why before reacting must be the initial step.

Unfortunately, franchisors tend to spend more time putting out one fire after another without stopping to think about what A good franchisor will offer ongoing the root cause might be that’s support and training to their franchisees and ensure they have all the resources they need causing so many issues. It can help to go back to the franchisee’s to run their business successfully. But there are recruitment file and review moments when, regardless of how much effort, any notes you made on their time and money you’ve invested into your weaknesses during the application network, you find that some of your franchisees aren’t delivering as expected. Underperformance process. Could any of those weaknesses be the reason for their poor performance Underperforming now? Sometimes your training programme franchisees can may not have resonated damage your with the franchisee, no matter how thorough it brand value and was. Discuss this with drain resources your franchisee and find out what training could help them improve, whether it’s a hands-on digital course or advice on improving their presentation abilities.

You should also review the history of your franchisee’s performance and any communications you’ve had with them to date. As you look at your reports, action plans, letters, emails and phone logs, you might start to get a clearer picture of what’s going on. How did you deal with each issue? Did

you do enough or were other alternative approaches available?

Find out what worked, what was less successful and try new ways to provide feedback to your struggling franchisee.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that in some cases the franchisee’s poor performance may have more to do with a personal issue than your training programme. Having a hard time at home or dealing with an illness may affect their enthusiasm or focus. Those franchisees need support and an injection of motivation. This is where having a forum in which franchisees can support each other is so valuable. For example, we have an Extra Help Facebook group, which two of our franchisees are running, where franchisees share best practice tips and advice. Make the franchisee feel included, let them know you’re there for them and give them time to get back on track.

Focusing on improving your existing training and communications processes while understanding the reasons behind a franchisee’s poor performance will not just help them but will also demonstrate your values to the entire network. By being supportive, you’ll show all your franchisees that you’re dedicated to their success and wellbeing, as well as that of the business as a whole.

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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DAVID BATCH

When former professional footballer David Batch first set up the premier education group, he could scarcely have known that in 20 years it would become one of blighty’s largest franchise brands

O

ne thing becomes apparent after spending only a short time with David Batch: he has a genuine passion for education. “Learning is brilliant,” he says. “I had a Mandarin lesson this morning: about my fourth or fifth. Then I was listening to a the audiobook of Peter Guber’s Tell to Win as I was driving down here.” Whether it’s topping up his linguistic literacy or brushing up on how storytelling can boost your sales, Batch certainly doesn’t shy away from gathering new knowledge.

Hardly surprising then that he now sits at the helm of the Premier Education Group, a national sports coaching and education brand with 84 franchisees and 987 coaches and tutors around the UK. Despite this love of learning, when Batch was attending school in rural Norfolk, it was perhaps the extra-curricular activities he undertook that had the largest impact on the man he would become.

“The kind of stuff I learnt at school was a little bit more about life,” he says. Without a doubt, Batch demonstrated considerable entrepreneurial flair: at the age of 13 he set up a company with friends, selling everything from pens to breadboards at an “unbelievable profit margin” at Christmas fairs. “We

even used to copy tapes off the ZX Spectrum: we’d record them, then go and sell them for a fiver in school,” he says. “I always had a bit of a thing about buying, selling and making things happen.”

Wheeling and dealing weren’t his only loves however: after leaving school at 15, Batch got to exercise his passion for the pitch. “I played for Cambridge United Football Club for a couple of years,” he says. “I became captain of the youth team and then of the reserve team.” Within a few years, Batch had decided to make the move into coaching and secure his license. But given that UEFA ran separate courses for the general public and for professionals, he suddenly found himself rubbing shoulders with famous managers and seasoned global stars. “In some cases, I was doing sessions with international footballers that were twice my age and having to tell them what to do,” he says. “So it was quite daunting.”

Becoming the youngest UEFA-A-qualified coach in the world at just 20, Batch soon started running his own coaching business before selling it to focus on coaching professionally full-time. But when he decided to drop in on one of his fellow

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IN THE

BIG LEAGUES

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entrepreneurs from his school days, he began to realise something was missing. “I spent the day with him in his office in Bristol, doing all of the things that a small, one-man band would do and I just felt really jealous,” he says. “It was much more exciting: I realised it was what I wanted to do.”

Although Batch acknowledges that working in professional football sounds glamorous, he found he wasn’t able to innovate as much as he’d like. “Doing that particular role we were always trying to push new learning, push new barriers,” says Batch. Whether it was emphasising the importance of stretching and warm downs, encouraging the use of carbohydrate drinks or educating players about loading, Batch dedicated a lot of time to introducing new ideas that at the time weren’t even being considered by the coaching industry.

And he began to think that starting something up of his own would allow him to forge his own path. “Whilst I was trying to be a bit innovative, that still wasn’t enough,” he says. “That day in Bristol, I found myself thinking ‘I need to do this’.”

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Our mantra is accelerate the growth, rather than simply supporting it: we’re actively pushing each territory’s business Before too long, Batch had formulated a loose plan. “In the summer of 1999, I intended to run some holiday football courses and then leave my job in full-time football straight after with a load of cash behind me,” he says. However, things didn’t quite go to plan: despite the fact that the board had offered Batch a new three-year contract when it was due to be renewed, a clash of wills led his manager to renege on this promise. In light of this, Batch was forced to move up his plans and ploughed his £5,000 payoff into building the business.

“That was three or four months before the summer, so it was an ideal time to get cracking,” he says. “Within a few weeks of launching that summer, we

had about 50 or so holiday courses set up already.”

Getting the word out to kids and parents didn’t prove to be much of a struggle: in fact before long Batch found himself with more customers than he could handle. “We used to go and visit a lot of schools, showcase what we did and then get fliers into the hands of children to take home,” Batch says. Each day, he’d return home to find several hundred bookings on his answering machine, which would all have to be pushed through by hand that evening. “Then about midnight or 1am, I’d go to bed and do it all again the next day,” he says.

Clearly taking on more staff had to be a priority. Fortunately, Batch

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had the perfect candidates in mind: Karl Fox and Jonathan Mills. “They were two really good players who used to play for me and left the club not long after I did,” he says. “So I asked them to come and help run some football courses during the summer.” Once the season was over, Batch wanted to keep Fox and Mills on but had a slight predicament: he didn’t have the funds to pay fulltime staff, particularly given the reduced demand for out of school coaching. “I had to come up with slightly different products that they could deliver during term time and pay me for the rights,” he says.

And this is how Premier Sports found its way into franchising. But to begin with it adopted a fairly organic approach to its expansion. “We didn’t ever actively recruit anyone: they came from the coach pool and friends of friends,” says Batch. And even without an aggressive franchisee-acquisition drive, by 2007 Premier Sport accrued 20 franchisees.

However, some systemic issues had arisen that seemed likely to limit the franchise’s growth if they went unaddressed: at this stage, very few of the businesses processes were automated and Batch was still very much dependent on leading his own classes to make a living. “I was running the business with a one-manband, small-business mentality,” he says. “It wasn’t until that point, seven years in, that I started to change our approach.”

By this stage, Batch had begun to realise that there was no reason that Premier Sport’s model had to be constrained solely to coaching football. “Having the core skills around delivering a certain thing, whether that’s football, basketball or rugby, that’s irrelevant really,” he says. “What is far more important is stuff like control of a group, how you teach, how the kids learn.” But it was Mel Lusty, a franchise expert recommended by several banks and franchise consultants, who helped Batch see that by building systems and technology into the model, it could easily be used to teach more than just sport. “We thought ‘if we can go from coaching football to coaching multiple sports, why can’t we sell multiple different activities to schools?’” he recalls.

Thus Premier Performing Arts and The Golden Mile – brands dedicated to drama and fitness respectively – were born, joining Premier Sports under the banner of the Premier Education

Group. Given that the kind of teaching offered by a sports coach differs wildly to that of a performing arts tutor, one might be forgiven for thinking that each franchise would require significantly different kinds of franchisees.

However, nothing could be further from the truth.

“Whether we’re deploying a sports coach or a performing arts tutor, it doesn’t matter,” Batch says. “It’s about the franchisee’s relationship with the customer as well as their ability to build their business and team.”

One thing that did need to change though was Premier Education Group’s approach to inducting new franchisees. Initially the franchise was putting new franchisees through one solid block of training that lasted for weeks on end.

“After a while we realised that what we were doing wasn’t actually particularly effective,” says Batch. “We were putting a lot of information into somebody’s head, some of which they weren’t going to need for another 12, 15 or 18 months.” Since then the franchise has scaled down its induction period, instead concentrating on providing targeted training in the flesh and online at the precise point in their journey that franchisees require it. “Learning has become much more personal as time’s gone on,” he says. “We can also assess the online learning to make sure they’ve understood it and if they haven’t the system kicks in with more training.

So it’s much more bespoke and measurable.”

I was doing sessions with international footballers twice my age and having to tell them what to do In Batch’s eyes this approach to training gives the Premier Education Group an edge over the competition. But this is far from the only factor that’s made its model such a success.

First of all, Batch believes that the franchise’s underlying technology gives it an advantage when so many in the industry are still reliant on blunt tools like consumer-satisfaction surveys.

“Our systems allow us to record everything, which makes all of our coaching and tutoring

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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measurable,” he says. “Now when we go to stakeholders like the government, we can press a button and they can see right away the impact we’re having.” Secondly, Batch maintains that having a well-defined set of guiding principles helps the Premier Education Group provide the highest level of service to kids and schools. “We try and live by our core values,” he says. “There’s lot in there about problem solving, being innovative and creative: all of those things contribute to what we do now.”

Perhaps the biggest reflection of this ethical stance is Premier Education Group’s commitment to giving back to the communities in which it operates. “The nature of the business we work in means we’re embedded in the local area,” says Batch. “It’s important that we appreciate that and support those local communities.”

Not only has the franchise launched individual initiatives to give back to local schools, for example pledging £150,000 of professional sports coaching to 1,000 schools in 2012, but it has also helped children who may have otherwise been expelled by using physical activity to influence their behaviour. “We’ve now even got coaches working for us that started off as kids 15 years ago on our courses,” he says. “So it’s going full circle.”

And these kids aren’t the only ones who have undergone a stark transformation over the last couple of decades: Batch himself has changed considerably during this time. “I’ve literally gone from doing everything, including painting the office, cleaning the office and answering the phone, right the way through to now solely

We’ve now even got coaches working for us that started off as kids 15 years ago on our courses; it’s going full circle

22

focusing on strategy,” he says. With a chief operating officer now handling much of the day-to-day running of the franchise, Batch has been freed up to develop new initiatives and programmes to add to the Premier Education Group’s portfolio. “It’s my job to get anything that will complement and enhance what we do and that fits our core values to a point where it’s ready to be dropped into the business,” he says. “Then I’m on to the next thing.”

This will certainly stand the Premier Education Group in good stead as it continues to grow. “Premier Sport alone has now got 123 territories across the UK and we’re at about 70% market penetration,” Batch says. “In the next two or three years, we expect to be at our maximum.” In light of this, Premier Education Group is not only expanding abroad into China, India, the US, Australia and eastern

Europe in the early half of 2017 but it is also looking to add new facets to its business, including new programmes for franchisees and a non-franchised education brand. Additionally, it’s starting to focus on ensuring each franchisee gets the most out of its territory. “Our mantra is ‘accelerate the growth, rather than simply supporting it,” he says. “So we’re actively pushing each territory’s business.”

When asking Batch whether he has any other plans for his own future, he’s characteristically frank. “I don’t ever want to leave the business,” he says. “Why would I?” As it enters a whole new stage of its growth, there’s more for the founder to sink his teeth into than ever before. “The long and short of it is, I really enjoy and I’m really passionate about what we do,” he says. “As long as I’ve got value to bring to the company then I will continue to do that.”

elitefranchise | January 2017

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06/01/2017 15:55

Healthy food.

Healthy returns.

Fresh, nutritious, delicious and cooked to order in minutes.

Wok&Go is a brand-led, fusion food chain, blending the best in Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese cuisine.

With more than 20 stores currently open in the UK and Middle East, and with plans for further stores here and internationally, we’re going from strength to strength.

We offer flexible franchise options and help new franchises every step of the way, from locating and designing your store to support with recruitment and marketing.

To find out about opening your own Wok&Go noodle bar contact: franchise@wokandgo.co.uk 01244 376310

www.wokandgo.co.uk Wok&Go FP.indd 1

WOK001

04/11/2016 10:34

ADVERTISING FEATURE

A new start If you’re looking for a new career path, it could happen sooner than you think

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s the words ‘did you have a good Christmas?’ ring through the office, you’re back to work and December 25th seems a long time ago. You sit at your desk – now lacking festive decorations – and are ready to face another year executing your normal routine. But what if that routine didn’t have to be so normal? It’s not too late for you to make a new start this year by becoming a business owner in a growing market.

Property prices rose by 6.9% in 2016 according to the Land Regsitry, the non-ministerial government department. And Rightmove, the online real estate portal, forecasts that house price will increase by 2% in 2017 – which will mean we’ll be in the seventh consecutive year where house prices have risen. So it makes sense to work with an estate and lettings agency if you’re thinking of starting a new business venture.

Estate agents are currently the third least trusted professionals behind government ministers and politicians, with only 25% of poeple trusting them to tell the truth according to a study by Ipsos MORI, the market research company. Wouldn’t it be reassuring to find an estate agent you could confide in? That’s your gap in the market and what will set you apart from the rest. You’ll join the new generation of estate and lettings agents who are delivering an impressive level of customer care.

HomeXperts provides a franchise opportunity that promotes its customer-centric values from the first discovery meeting to the day you sign your franchise agreement – and beyond. It recognises the need for

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change within the industry and offers franchisees the chance to join the estate and lettings agency revolution by providing an exceptional level of customer service.

The national, award-winning franchise encourages you to add your enthusiasm during the training stage. Its two-week HomeXperts training academy helps all new franchisees achieve National Federation of Property Professional (NFOPP) standards. All franchisees gain membership to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). This leaves agents confident that they have an appropriate and up-to-date knowledge of the property industry.

The HomeXperts franchise model has provided a platform for agents to take control of their future while enjoying the financial benefits of owning a business. This is proven by the fact that an impressive 72% of established franchisees have earned over £10,000 in a calendar month in invoiced commissions. This is a staggering statistic, especially considering that all HomeXperts agents have begun their estate agency journey working from home.

“HomeXperts has provided me with the freedom to settle down in Cambridge and spend more time with my family while allowing me to be in control of my own decisions and make a good living,” says recent franchisee John Burkill.

HomeXperts offers a great franchise opportunity to any determined selfstarter at a low cost. This is made even more appealing by the opportunity to expand your business when you

feel confident enough to do so. Chris Tunnicliffe, for example, began life as an agent with one franchise territory but has recently acquired three more territories: “Simply put, I decided to take on more franchise areas because I love being a part of the HomeXperts family and it’s helped me build not just a fantastic business but a fantastic life too,” he says.

If you enquire now, you could get yourself enrolled into HomeXperts’ March Training Academy. This ensures that you’ll have your franchise launched the Monday after your training is complete, thanks to the HomeXperts 12-week KickStart programme. It’s not too late to make a new start by becoming a business owner in a growing market.

The helpful HomeXperts recruitment team will be happy to answer all of your questions via the contact details below: T. 01905 678850 E. franchise@homexpertsuk.com W. www.Home-Xperts.co.uk

elitefranchise | January 2017

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22/12/2016 16:25

Wanted Property Entrepreneurs

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Jason & Gaya chose HomeXperts for their support and training...

“There are a number of reasons why I chose HomeXperts. I have worked in estate agency for approximately 17 years and enjoyed building a good name, contacts and market awareness. I have also been a landlord and let property for over 10 years.

The HomeXperts franchise enabled me to continue working in the area that I have great knowledge and contacts while offering me Jason & Gaya Barnett, greater flexibility running my business working from home. As I enter my second year my business is healthy, growing at a rate of HomeXperts Worcester knots and I have established a reputation for excellent customer service which is creating some excellent referral business for HomeXperts.

Sussanne Chambers, Managing Director and Founder, accepting The Sunday Times’ Gold award for Best Estate Agency Franchise from Matt Dawson MBE

It scares me now that I may have missed out on this amazing opportunity by not having the courage to branch out on my own.

But with the support of the amazing team at the Central Support Office my dreams are coming true.”

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HomeXperts is the only property franchise delivering an industry-leading monthly programme of Continual Professional Development.

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We work with you to make your business a success.

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Our top franchisees become members of the HomeXperts ‘Altitude Club’ by earning more than £25,000 in a month in invoiced commissions.

Clever marketing has helped our franchisees to achieve profitability and sustainable businesses.

Our intensive training academy trains to National Federation of Property Professional (NFOPP) standards.

12 weeks Kick Start programme to guide new franchisees through their business set up process.

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06/01/2017 17:29

Nigel Toplis, managing director, The Bardon Group

Why franchisors and franchisees should work cheek by jowl Working side-by-side with franchisors can help franchisees throughout their franchising journey In this world of social media, Skype and digital technology, it is easy to downgrade the value of faceto-face time – but while new technology has its place in communication, in my view these tools actually highlight the importance of meeting in person. Franchising is personal: it’s innatly dependent on a strong relationship between franchisor and franchisee. The most personal of relationships are created, built and retained through direct contact and that personal interaction is absolutely critical in business.

Frankly, if you’re serious about a franchise then you

The most personal of relationships are created, built and retained through face to face contact

should meet the franchisor at their premises during the initial interview. While you’re purchasing a business system, it’s important to remember you’re also buying into the franchisor so it’s critical that you see the whites of their eyes. When you meet the franchisor, you begin to understand the soul of the business and only then can you answer any questions you may have about trust, integrity, ethics and business approach.

There’s always an element of negotiation between franchisor and franchisee and whilst the franchisor will never negotiate on franchise agreements, there’s often an opportunity to discuss things like territory size, the launch programme and ongoing support. As you sign the franchise agreement, you want to be able to look into the face of the franchisor and say to yourself ‘yes I am happy to be signing’.

Typically, the franchisees who succeed are those who fully take to heart the business system they’ve bought into. For this reason, when you launch your business you need to work closely with your franchisor and make the most of their expertise. Inevitably, with so much going on – and your nose continually at the grindstone – an off-site meeting with the franchisor can really help because it will get you away from the intensity of the business. This will then give you the chance to properly chat through the issues you’re facing – both good and bad. It can help you to refocus and prioritise what really needs to be done.

Finally, there’s the whole area of ongoing support. Whether you have been working in the franchise for 12 months or 12 years, the franchisor should be on hand to offer business advice and support. Having frequent one-to-one review meetings is a great way for franchisees to access guidance on boosting their business’s efficiency, accessing new opportunities and maintaining best practice.

Human beings naturally crave personal contact and thrive on interaction – whether that’s with our friends and family or with our customers and suppliers. For franchisors and franchisees, meeting face-to-face sets the tone of the relationship, builds confidence and respect in the relationship and allows both the franchisor and the franchisee to work together more cohesively to build the business.

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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23/12/2016 15:19

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06/01/2017 11:48

Tony Bowman, managing director, etyres

Unleash your go-getter attitude in 2017 Possessing a positive perspective should be on everyone’s list of New Year’s resolutions – whether you’re a franchisor or franchisee There’s an old joke that constantly does the rounds in our industry. “A bad attitude is like a flat tyre: if you don’t change it, you’ll never go anywhere.” Admittedly it’s not so funny when you hear it for the 27th time but nonetheless it conveys a serious message, one that’s extremely relevant in the franchise industry today. Ambition, hunger, tenacity, desire, passion, grit and self-motivation – no, I didn’t get a thesaurus for Christmas – are all equally important for obtaining franchising success.

But while these are just some of the attributes a franchisee has to be armed with, the onus is also on the franchisor to grab hold of a good opportunity – in this case a focused and determined new franchisee – and welcome them into their business.

These are attributes that need to be demonstrated by both sides.

It’s often said that finding the right franchise is like finding the perfect partner. For this reason, it’s important that those who are

interested in joining our team offering assistance with creating also want to meet us halfway to business plans or seeking funding demonstrate their desire and are two tangible ways to demonstrate commitment to our business. But how both sides can work together to as in a traditional courtship, it’s also achieve a common goal. up to us to make them feel wanted.

The economic climate is tough at And while mutual attraction and the moment: redundancies, zero-hour passion are great starting points, contracts and a fiercely competitive compatibility and job market all make willingness to pull carving out a rewarding Ambition, together are what make new career much hunger, the relationship last. harder. Equally, there’s tenacity, Following up calls and desire, passion, a cautiousness about emails sounds basic but investing a large lump grit and selfforwarding on marketing sum – whether that’s motivation initiatives – such as a redundancy package are all needed monthly customer or savings, in a bold to make a e-shots and even internal new venture. This is franchisee newsletters – only takes why franchisors have successful a few minutes and can to go the extra mile to convey the message that demonstrate their desire the franchisor holds its nationwide to get new franchisees on board. network in high esteem. Inviting Nothing in life just falls into your prospects for meetings in your lap, whether it’s your dream franchise head office so they can see how the or your ideal franchisee. You have to operation works or even catching go out, find and grab it. So let 2017 up in their region helps to create a be the year you unleash your gofirm foundation to build on. And getter attitude and reap the rewards.

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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23/12/2016 15:33

THE MASSAGE COMPANY

Elliot Walker is a man on a mission: to change the way the UK views massage

BY MARIA BARR

M

ost people don’t think twice about forking out for a monthly gym membership but getting someone to work on the knots in your back is generally seen as a once-in-a-blue-moon indulgence for the majority of Brits. But perhaps not for long, if Elliot Walker, cofounder of The Massage Company, has something to say about it.

Having cut his teeth running skincare brand Murad, Walker is certainly no stranger to the beauty

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industry. But it was while travelling the world with Murad that he came across a massively popular US concept that had seemingly never been tried in Britain: a membership-based massage service where people pay a set fee for a certain number of treatments. “So many great international brands and ideas start their lives in America that by spending time there you get a sense of what’s successful,” says Walker. “But you can’t just plonk an idea into the UK and hope it will work: you need to consider the differences.”

This idea bubbled away for years in the back of Walker’s mind and when Murad was acquired by Unilever in 2015 he realised the time was right to bring the concept across the pond. “The number of spas in this country had mushroomed and we could see there was massive demand but nobody had quite cracked it yet,” says Walker. So he partnered with Charlie Thompson, chairman of the UK Spa Association and former head of health and beauty at Virgin Active, to form The Massage Company, a membership-based massage destination where people can pop in for a treatment in a purposebuilt facility.

elitefranchise | January 2017

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THE MASSAGE COMPANY

The duo is trying to disrupt the standard approach to massage by offering affordable treatments, making it easy to book an appointment at convenient times and encouraging people to view them as a regular habit, much like going to the gym. “There’s a lot more recognition now of the benefits of massage to people’s physical and mental health: we want to make it a more regular part of people’s lives,” says Walker.

Franchising was the obvious route for Walker and his co-founder. “We both knew franchising was the best route when it came to a venture like ours,” he says. After all, the entrepreneurs were well aware of how it could help a business concept blow up: they already each had their ‘ones that got away’. “I remember speaking to Subway right before they became really big,

while Charlie’s eye was caught by Big Box Self Storage when it was in its infancy,” says Walker.

After much consideration, the first site in Camberley, opened in March 2016. While many franchises choose to open a pilot in London, Walker wanted to find somewhere that was more representative of the country as a whole. “I lived in London and it would have been so easy to do a roaring trade in Knightsbridge but we needed to prove that the success of our initial outlet would be replicable elsewhere,” he explains. After scouring locations in Milton Keynes and various other spots within the M25, Walker came across premises in Camberley. There was nothing remarkable about it: in fact, it was its very ordinary demographic profile – which matched so many other UK towns – that appealed most.

The first order of the day was making sure that as franchisees were brought on board, they’d be able to take on therapists capable of delivering a consistent and professional service. Just like a McDonald’s Big Mac, which tastes the same whether you order it in Surrey or Shanghai, Walker wants everyone to experience a similar standard of massage. “One of the initial problems we had was that therapists often come with varying – and sometimes only basic – skill levels,” says Walker.

“We actually spent a long time just getting the training programme in place to ensure the service standard will remain the same as we grow.”

And so massage guru John Holman was brought on board and tasked with devising a plan that would help therapists deliver a superior massage. “We want to professionalise

You can’t just plonk an idea into the UK and hope it will work January 2017 | elitefranchise

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THE MASSAGE COMPANY

come in 2017, Walker is hoping to corner the affordable luxury – but not bargain basement – market segment. “We’re not offering a luxurious, £200 spa day or a questionable backof-a-beauty-salon job where massage services are strapped onto a host of other treatments,” he says. “We’re somewhere in-between.” But positioning itself above some of the cheaper competitors also means having to invest more in some areas, with staffing perhaps being the biggest outlay. “Things come at a price: we can’t pay our staff the minimum wage and expect them to deliver a good treatment,” he says.

While it’s still early days for the franchise, the industry and ensure both men and women feel Walker is feeling confident that the combined comfortable,” says Walker. marketing experience he has with his coTo further get franchise-ready, Walker has been creating founder will give them an edge. “We know how a strong brand identity that franchisees can buy into. Stock to use both traditional and new media to get images of people with perfect teeth grinning artificially people into the centres and how to anglicise an and posing with a therapist are banned: instead, The American concept for the British market,” he Massage Company takes original photos to create a sense says. “It’s not like we’re newcomers of authenticity and build trust. An equal to the industry.” amount of thought has gone into the colour We needed to And Walker has grand ambitions scheme chosen for its marketing collateral to expand throughout the UK. and the facilities’ interior decor. Walker pored prove that The company is in talks with over colour samples with his branding agency the success interested franchisees and has trying to find the perfect combination that already identified potential sites. would convey both warmth and energy, finally of our initial As a vote of confidence in the settling on pink and orange. outlet would company’s success to date, the Walker also recognises the importance of founders have been swooping up a having a strong online presence in the UK, be replicable string of awards, including gongs so the company has started a blog that helps elsewhere for Best New Business in Surrey at people get to know the therapists and has the SME Surrey Business Awards created an online booking system with all the and Best New Business of the Year 2016 at the bells and whistles. “Unlike in the US, the majority of UK Collectively Camberley Business Awards 2016. spa bookings are made online,” says Walker. “We’d be dead “Eventually I’d like 80% of people in Britain to in the water if we didn’t have robust e-booking technology live within 20 minutes of one of our franchise built in that all franchisees can tap into.” outlets,” the franchisor concludes. “I want to Another key point of difference is the brand’s lower price revolutionise the entire market.” point. With consumers being warned of higher prices to 32

elitefranchise | January 2017

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07/07/2016 10:36 18:14 27/03/2015

charities

Offering a helping hand Supporting charities can be a great way for franchises to boost their brand identity and bring their networks closer together whilst doing a lot of good in the process

BY ERIC JOHANSSON

S

uccessful franchises are no strangers to changing the world for the better. From providing children with fun pastimes to assisting the elderly with their daily chores, franchisors and franchisees alike are intimately involved in every stage of most Britons’ lives. And many do so not only through their product offering but also by setting up charities to help people in need. One of them is Rebecca Robyns, franchisee at InXpress Hull, the delivery franchise, who founded the charity EyeSeeMe in 2014 to help impoverished children in developing countries learn to use cameras in order to document their lives.

The inspiration to found the charity came during a sabbatical Robyns had taken from her regular job to follow her passion for photography. She was helping a charity by taking pictures to raise awareness at an orphanage for children with HIV in Thailand but she was startled when the kids lined up to get their medicine. There was one boy who Robyns couldn’t take her eyes off. “He looked just like my son,” she says. This boy didn’t just have HIV but he was also visually impaired. However, despite these disadvantages, he still tried to help the other blind children with their medicine. “I had to put my camera down and have a cry because it really affected me,” says Robyns. “It was one of those things that goes right through your heart like a knife.”

The next day she sat down at her computer and created EyeSeeMe. And it didn’t take long before her franchisor took notice. In September this 34

Analysis.indd 1

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charities

g s bi nie ly a s al p ip re om sh he ve r c ion ut r t ha fo at b fo n ts el ies st ca efi e r rit ju it It en av ha it ing b h c o o to ith ’t d f d ood w on e o orthw ,N d k is sa k Harr

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year, InXpress announced that it would support EyeSeeMe through its charity programme InXpress Gives Back by first helping Robyns set up an exhibition of the children’s photographs and then in November pledging 10p to EyeSeeMe for every shipment made. “It’s unbelievable,” says Robyns. “This support means everything to me because it ensures that 50 children will be able to go to school next year. It’s enabled us to really make a difference.”

Close to home While franchisors can help important causes by assisting charities franchisees have set up, they can also find ways to support franchisees’ fundraising efforts more broadly. The Northwood Charity Foundation provides an excellent example of this. The organisation was founded

by Northwood, the property franchise, after it lost its managing director Nick Cooper to pancreatic cancer. “He was good fun, full of energy and always in a hurry,” says Nick Harris, franchise sales director at Northwood. “He was the life of the party and there were plenty of nights where he was the last one out but still the first one in the office the morning after.”

But Cooper wasn’t just well-liked in the franchise network: he was also respected across the property sector in

general after campaigning to raise the industry’s standards. This only became more apparent after he died. “After the funeral, there were many people who came to us because they wanted to do something to support pancreatic cancer research,” says Harris.

In a bid to assist franchisees who wanted to raise money, Northwood’s leadership decided to set up the foundation. “We take care of the administration,” Harris explains. In other words, the foundation does all of the paperwork whenever franchisees want to run a marathon or set up an event to raise money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. It also takes care of the admin if franchisees would like to raise money for other causes too.

However, setting up the foundation wasn’t something that was done in the blink of an eye. “We had to register with HMRC, which was painful, and have lots of discussions with the charity commission,” reveals Harris. The foundation also had to appoint trustees, of which Harris is one, and set up dedicated bank accounts for it. “It was all very time-consuming,” he continues.

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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23/12/2016 15:11

charities

After the funeral, there were many people who came to us because they wanted to do something to support pancreatic cancer research Nick Harris, Northwood

Since launching the foundation, the franchise has raised over £45,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund by doing things like cycling from London to Paris and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. An unforeseen benefit of these efforts is that the franchise network has grown closer than ever before. “People who wouldn’t normally come together were suddenly hanging out through these events and they were having fun,” says Harris. “They created an amazing community spirit, generated good PR for the network and raised a lot of money along the way. So it was a huge win all around.”

Making a splash Jo Stone, co-founder of Puddle Ducks, the prenatal and childswimming franchise, has definitely noticed how doing charity work can boost the profile of a franchise.

Through its pyjama parties, the franchise raises money each year for different causes and charities chosen by their clients. “And in return we get a good PR story,” says Stone.

The pyjama parties were founded 36

Analysis.indd 3

through a class where the kids are encouraged to wear pyjamas in the pool to learn how to swim if they fall in water with clothes on. “It’s an essential life skill,” explains Stone.

When Puddle Ducks heard that the Children’s Trust, the charity dedicated to helping children with brain injuries, also had an event referred to as a pyjama party, Stone decided to see if the two organisations could do something together. “It sounded like a good match,” she says.

So when the franchise first organised an event around the country in 2012, all franchisees collected cash for the same charity and this collaboration continued for three years. “But because the Children’s Trust is based down south and isn’t in everyone’s back garden, our franchisees wanted to pick their own charities,” says Stone. In light of this, Puddle Ducks began allowing local communities to choose which charities they wanted to support and it quickly proved a huge success. “We raised £26,000 in 2014 and we doubled that in 2015 by raising £55,000 for local charities,”

says Stone. But the franchise also supports causes outside of its pyjama parties, such as the National Childbirth Trust and the National Deaf Children’s Society.

It’s safe to say that franchises certainly can do a lot of good by supporting or setting up charities of their own. However, it’s not something that should be done lightly. “It’s a really personal decision,” says Harris.

“Sure it can have really big benefits for companies to have relationships with charities but don’t do it just for the sake of doing it.”

While admitting that launching and supporting charities is a lot of hard work, Robyns urges other franchisees and franchisors to take the plunge and support the causes that matters to them. “Don’t leave it until it’s too late,” she concludes. “Just do it.”

elitefranchise | January 2017

23/12/2016 15:11

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

Becoming the UK’s Best Franchise: ActionCOACH’s journey in 2016 It’s all about supporting franchisees and their clients to success

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ast year ended with a wave of awards for ActionCOACH. Franchisee, Shweta Jhajharia won Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Coach of the Year at The Stevie® Awards, the world’s premier business awards. Created in 2002 to honour the achievements and positive contributions of organisations and working professionals worldwide, The Stevies have become the Oscars of the business world. ActionCOACH has twice won The Stevie for Best Overall Company in the Business Services category but this is the first time a franchisee has been recognised at the annual awards ceremony held in New York City.

Shweta became one of the first franchisees to bank a million pounds in a calendar year in 2016.

Unsurprisingly, she has won many awards because of the growth of her

Graham Orange with his Award for Service Leaver Franchisee of the Year

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business but she continues to credit her success to her clients, “It’s a proof of all the hard work that clients are putting in to make an impact on their own businesses and the work we are doing together. It means the world to all of us to win. They are a global benchmark of success and to win not just one but two Stevies shows we are playing a word-class game and making a difference out there.”

Former RAF Chief Technician, Graham Orange, had been an Action Coach for less than two years when he scooped the Nationwide Resettlement Award for Service Leaver Franchisee of the Year. Now supporting businesses in South Wales, Graham was recognised for his successful transition from the services to civvy street, “I felt honoured to be nominated as a finalist in the Service Leavers Franchisee of the Year award and felt very excited about attending the dinner to celebrate the winners’ accomplishments. Little did I know that I would be walking away with the trophy and the biggest smile ever!”

And it wasn’t just ActionCOACH’s franchisees in the limelight. European CEO Magazine awarded Ian

Shweta Jhajharia celebrating her two Stevie Awards

Christelow, co-founder and Managing Director of ActionCOACH UK, the Business Coaching “Entrepreneur of the Year 2016” for Western Europe.

The magazine explains, “These awards recognise those special traits which make successful entrepreneurs so inspiring. Ian Christelow’s true entrepreneurial spirit made a compelling case for winning this award. He had the vision to invest in ActionCOACH, consolidating the team across the UK. He is seen as a leader and authority in his field and is the driving force behind ActionCOACH’s development.”

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Unprecendented third successive Best Franchise title for ActionCOACH In November, ActionCOACH was awarded Best Mid-Priced Franchise (£25-99k investment) at the RBS Best Franchise Awards 2016. This isn’t just the first time they have won this award, it’s the third win in three consecutive years.

Steven Frost, CEO of Smith & Henderson, the award organisers, said, “We would like to congratulate ActionCOACH on being recognised as the UK’s Best Franchise in the £25k-£99k investment level. This was an extremely competitive category and what makes this award even more special is it is based on feedback from ActionCOACH franchisees, who provided outstanding feedback about the support from ActionCOACH, its leadership and products and services. In 2016, for the third successive year, ActionCOACH has been recognised as one of the very best franchise opportunities in the UK.” Smith & Henderson’s Franchise Satisfaction Survey has been adopted by over 100 franchisors since it started in 2011 and ActionCOACH franchisees were invited to rate their franchisor, its products and services and its infrastructure.

The results of this survey produces a benchmark of satisfaction scores and high-scoring franchises are invited to present to a panel of judges for the RBS Best Franchise Awards. ActionCOACH beat franchises Ewe Move and Tax Assist to the top spot for Best Mid-Priced Franchise this year.

Ian Christelow with his award for “Entrepreneur of the Year 2016”

Ian Christelow & Julie Wagstaff Area Developers of ActionCOACH UK celebrating record breaking Franchisee satisfaction scores

5-Star Franchisee Satisfaction Status for the fourth time In 2013 ActionCOACH became the first recipient of Smith & Henderson’s coveted 5-Star Franchisee Satisfaction Award with record-breaking satisfaction scores. In 2016, ActionCOACH became one of just five franchisors to receive the 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction rating four times.

ActionCOACH UK Co-founder Ian Christelow had the honour of being presented with the trophy by Smith & Henderson CEO, Steven Frost, for an unprecedented third time, “We’re elated to win a hat-trick of Best Franchise Awards. This year the mid-priced category increased to £99k meaning we were up against the likes of last year’s Best Large Franchise winner, Tax Assist, and to finish top again is testimony to the tireless efforts of our UK Support Team.

“I have to mention Julie Wagstaff, our Recruitment Director, who makes events like our Business Excellence Forum better year after year. James Vincent, Director of Coaching, and his world-class team of master coaches. John Asquith, our sales guru, and his dedicated lead and client generation team.

“Most of all, I have to thank our fantastic network of over 150 franchisees, the calibre of individuals in our network is second-to-none and our culture of teamwork and abundance means support is readily available at the end of the phone. On top of that, our franchisees volunteer to run webinars and training days for free to share best practice and successful innovation, which means we can put on a franchise industry ground-breaking 70 days a year of support in the UK. “We’ll all celebrate this award as a team but now the challenge begins to make our franchise deliver even more rewards, personal growth and fulfilment for everyone who invests in an ActionCOACH franchise.”

If you’d like to join this award-winning team of franchisees and you get a buzz from helping others succeed, love learning and developing yourself or have enjoyed success in your career or sport…

Then find out more by watching the 6 minute overview video at actioncoach.co.uk ACTI002

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BUSINESS DOCTORS

PRESCRIBING

SUCCESS 12 years after the founders of Business Doctors first met for a pint, the franchise is set to remedy corporate bugs around the world

BY ERIC JOHANSSON

E

stablishing a prosperous international franchise requires oodles of effort. Whether it’s building an effective business model or signing up your first franchisees, the best companies are the ones that take the time to get the recipe just right. Which is why Matthew Levington is tired of listening to startup success stories from Silicon Valley. “You hear a lot about these high-tech businesses that become solvent within three years of being founded,” he says. “People forget that companies like Snapchat account for maybe 0.00001% of businesses. The rest of us make our companies successful through strong foundations, gradual growth and lots of resilience.”

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Given that Levington is the cofounder of Business Doctors, the business consultancy franchise with a presence on three continents and an eye on a fourth, it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about accomplishing corporate success.

And if there’s one thing he’s learned, it’s that having the right people by your side is everything. It was over a quiet pint in 2004 that Levington met the person who’d prove essential for Business Doctors’ future endeavours: his co-founder Rod Davies.

At the time, Davies was working as the group sales and marketing director at the CCA Group, the investment banking firm, while Levington was finishing his first year as a freelance business consultant

advising SMEs. When they met, they were both on the hunt for new opportunities and identified a growing demand for small-business consultants. “The big four didn’t really communicate well with the market,” says Levington. “And the government programme kicking about at the time only sent out someone to signpost the business rather than provide any effective intervention.” Responding to the demand, the pair launched Business Doctors and adopted a more holistic approach to business support. “We don’t just fix problems by sticking plasters over things,” says Levington. “We actually help owners to take a step back, realise what their ambitions are and get the business to work for them, rather than the other way around.”

And with their eyes firmly set on future expansion from the get-go, the pair quickly identified which business model would best help them grow. “We intended to franchise Business Doctors from day one,” says Levington. “We knew that the individuals we needed to help us grow wouldn’t be the kind of people who would simply be satisfied working for me and Rod.” However, it would take until 2008 before Business Doctors signed up its first franchisee, as the founders

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BUSINESS DOCTORS

wanted to ensure that the business model would really work. “You can’t franchise a business that doesn’t have a proven record of success,” says Levington. “That’s what franchisees buy into, so there’s no room for mistakes.” So in order to safeguard the success of the business, the pair embarked on four years of trial and error to put together a winning recipe. “We made lots of mistakes and went down lots of blind alleys,” he says. “It was a rollercoaster but by the end of it we had created a business model that was sustainable, effective, profitable and, most importantly, enjoyable.”

Having proved itself as a corporate tour de force, Business Doctors embarked on the process of becoming a franchise and hired a consultancy to help them out. “We needed that expertise because even though we understood franchising, we weren’t experienced franchisors by any means,” says Levington.

Recognising the importance of establishing the franchise the right way, the pair set out to become a bfa member from day one. To get the word out to budding franchisees, the company also invested in a new recruitment process and a marketing push to spread the word. Given all the elements involved in getting the new franchise model off the ground, it’s hardly surprising that the process didn’t come cheap. “We were both leant £100,000 to do it,” says Levington. And while borrowing from the bank and a

You can’t franchise a business that doesn’t have a proven record of success

funder from Liverpool came with the inherent risk of not being able to pay back the money, the founders didn’t hesitate go all in. “If you want to do it properly you need to stick your neck out,” says Levington.

And the gamble certainly paid off. By offering franchisees training and ongoing support, Business Doctors kept growing the network anqd in 2014 it began to look for its first international franchisee.

Levington explains that the process was kicked off by the fact that Business Doctors began to receive a lot of enquires from aspiring South African franchisees wondering if the company would bring its model across the country.

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Looking to capitalise on this interest, the co-founders reached out to a consultant in the country to help them find a master franchisee. But that proved easier said than done. “They actually didn’t find anyone for us,” says Levingon. “Or, rather, the people they put forward weren’t good enough.”

While a strong business acumen is vital for all their franchisees, it’s doubly so for international master franchisees because they can’t rely on the support services that Business Doctors could supply in Britain. “You have to build everything from scratch and adjust to the market conditions,” says Levington.

Additionally, they felt that the candidates put forward by the consultancy lacked another factor essential for any international franchisee: trustworthiness. “It’s like asking someone to babysit your children,” he says. “Trusting

Things that go wrong in a different country can easily damage the UK business someone with your brand is a massive consideration and especially so on the international stage because things that go wrong in a different country can easily damage the UK business. Brand protection is everything.”

When they eventually found someone who fit the bill, it wasn’t through the consultancy. Instead, their chosen candidate Steve Sutton had accidentally stumbled upon the Business Doctors’ site when he was thinking about setting up a similar business. Intrigued by the concept, he ended up applying to become the master franchisee for South Africa.

Wanting to assure themselves of his ethical and professional competence, the franchisors made a point of getting to know their candidate intimately.

“We introduced him to our friends and families and met his as well,” says Levington. This was an approach they had 42

used before to recruit franchisees in the UK and would later use to vet candidates in other countries.

“When we went to India, we probably met over 200 of our franchisee’s family members and friends,” says Levington.

Having satisfied themselves that Sutton’s professionalism was just what the doctor ordered, the franchisors signed up Sutton as their first international franchisee in 2014. Since then, the South African master franchisee has helped Business Doctors set up 14 franchises across South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Botswana.

While Sutton was the first international franchisee, he wasn’t the last. Having expanded its global reach by signing up new master franchisees in Ireland, Malta, India and United Arab Emirates this year, Business Doctors may soon recruit its first franchisee from across the pond. “We jumped through all the hoops to become a legally accredited franchisor in the US,” says Levington. But even though the legal footwork is done and dusted, there is still

one thing missing. “We haven’t found a partner yet,” he says.

“But we have everything in place to push the button when we do.”

When asked about the future of Business Doctors, Levington says that the cofounders will focus on growing the 40-franchisee-strong UK network by continuing to supply SMEs with high-quality services.

“But if we meet the right people with the right approach, then we are certainly open to approaches from abroad,” he says.

Looking back on the 12 years since that first pub visit kicked off what would prove an international success, Levington says that it’s certainly been a rewarding, enlightening and challenging journey. And for any franchisor who may still be dreaming of fast-tracking their success like some San Francisco startups, he has a few concluding words of advice. “There is no magic wand,” he says. “You don’t make money by selling franchises but by having successful franchisees. In order to reach that point you have to go through the journey that we have.”

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5 brands 5

Five Brands Five Opportunities opportunities 1 award-winning One Award Winning Company

company

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

THEB002

The premier garment alteration and repair franchise in the UK The ZipYard is the most successful and fastest growing garment alteration franchise in the UK and Ireland. With its distinctive yellow and black corporate colours, it’s one of the most recognised brands on the high street

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ith exceptional growth potential – the opportunities for new and existing franchise owners are limitless.

Part of The Bardon Group stable of franchises, all franchisees benefit from firstclass ongoing business support, excellent training and comprehensive marketing programmes, tools and collateral.

ince opening, the S reaction has been amazing and business is going so well that we have opened a second centre

Richard McConnell, franchise owner in Altrincham and Wilmslow

With over 70 years’ experience in franchising, the management team are very much on the franchisee’s side and there to advise, guide and support the franchisee with business development and help recruit experienced seamstresses, dress makers and tailors.

Franchisees need to be as dedicated, passionate, focused and hard working as the franchisor’s team is.

However, new franchisees don’t need to be familiar with repairs or alternations as the franchise isn’t looking for tailors or tailoresses.

Successful franchisees will be ambitious to run their own business, customer driven, organised and keen to follow a proven business system.

All ZipYard centres are finished to a distinctive specification, with a corporate image designed to stand out in the marketplace.

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Experience to date suggests that a unit of around 600 sq.ft. to 800 sq.ft. is the ideal size for a ZipYard centre – where the initial fit out will include industrial sewing machines, blind hemmer, over locker, button holer, ironing station, computer, till and software programme, EPOS system, stock, corporate branding and merchandising Additionally, new centres will have a complete shop fit – including but not limited to external and internal signage; fitting rooms; counters; flooring; fixtures and fittings.

By investing in the franchise, budding franchisees will be given a fully operational and fully supported business, with trained staff and comprehensive marketing activity from day one.

The market potential is huge and ZipYard expect all their new centres to be profitable in the first year – and interestingly the clothing alteration business is not economy driven.

The brand has a very professional image which is reflected in the quality of the shopfit, online presence and all of the marketing collateral provided by the franchisor. Additionally, there’s a high level of business support and all franchisees also have free access to a very proactive PR agency. None of this could be replicated easily if you set up on your own business from scratch

DETAILS: Investment level: £38,500 + VAT + Shop fit Business type: Retail Franchise contact: Emma Downes The ZipYard Unit 2, Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 1UE Tel: 01530 513307 Email: edownes@thezipyard.co.uk Web: www.thezipyard.co.uk

Graeme Mulheron, The ZipYard Bedford

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

THEB002

Recognising the Potential Every organisation needs to increase its recognition factor, whether it’s a multinational corporation, a medium-sized charity or a local flower shop

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ecognition Express franchisees can serve all of these markets, whether it be 100,000 name badges a year to a major airline or supplying personalised umbrellas to local hairdressers to lend to their customers.

Companies not only seek to generate recognition on a corporate level, but they strive to give it to their employees. Name badges provide instant identification and credibility, whilst performance award schemes provide excellent staff motivation.

ou get what you are Y promised. The training is excellent and afterwards there is always someone on the end of a phone to help you get to grips with everything. Nigel himself still visits me regularly and is particularly helpful at business strategies Stuart Fisher, Recognition Express Harrow

Recognition Express has been successfully operating franchises in the corporate recognition and promotional products market since 1979. It’s a market leader with over 35 years experience. It’s the most successful franchise network for the sector in this country, with over 50 franchisees in the UK and Europe.

From business gifts and promotional products to personalised name badges,

I ’ve been a Recognition Express franchisee since 1981, which means I’ve seen how the business has developed and improved every year. The business today is very different from when I launched. There’s a huge emphasis on branding and marketing – a focus on making Recognition Express the first choice for our customers. The market has also changed too, due to the growing importance of branding to any business. This means that there’s a lot more potential – any business can be considered a potential client Paul Mitchell, Recognition Express franchisee, Slough

medals, plaques and trophies to the full range of corporate clothing and uniforms for schools – the range is extensive and at £3bn plus the estimated market is huge. Hardworking, organised, ambitious and driven prospective franchisees with good people skills are sure to fit in with the company’s ethos.

As a successful company operating in the business to business sector, Recognition Express has been a full member of the bfa since 1980, and is a former winner of the bfa Franchisor of the Year award.

The company’s markets are extensive and growing and Recognition Express is geared to help new franchisees serve them profitably.

The company is renowned for its high level of ongoing support, advice and programmes – specifically, but not solely, in the areas of marketing, sales, product sourcing, technology and business planning.

Centrally designed, managed and implemented direct marketing programmes form the backbone of the company’s marketing systems and are augmented by high quality collateral, marketing tools and ongoing training designed to drive business growth, client contact and brand awareness.

Recognition Express is a true businessto-business franchise opportunity for those people who’re looking for a proven and successful management franchise.

DETAILS: Investment level: £35,000 + VAT Business type: Branded promotional items Franchise contact: Emma Downes Recognition Express Unit 2, Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 1UE Tel: 01530 513300 Email: edownes@recognition-express.com

Web: www.recognition-express.com

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

THEB002

The UK’s leading specialist system hygiene business Techclean started trading in 1983 and since then we have become the UK’s leading specialist system hygiene business.

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echclean are proud to provide a comprehensive range of specialist system cleaning solutions to a diverse range of customers from FTSE 100’s to government to local businesses, charities, schools and even medical establishments amongst others.

The franchise cleans PCs, laptops, printers, photocopiers, fax machines, scanners, telephones, EPOS, ATM’s and other system peripherals. In addition, it’s a market leader in the provision of computer room, data room and communications room cleaning services, with a tried and tested approach for carrying out this specialised cleaning.

Techclean is a customer-centric business offering advice and practical solutions to its customers and is recognised as an authority in the sector with robust cleaning processes and procedures using products unique to the franchise.

The company is ISO 9001 and safecontractor accredited – an internationally recognised quality system which provide customers with immediate credibility.

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Techclean is a customer centric company offering a broad range of specialist services to a wide range of customers and we need franchise owners with the ambition, communication skills, drive and energy to maximise the business opportunity in their own territory Nigel Toplis, managing director of Techclean

Techclean offers one of the best value franchise opportunities currently available.

Given that the relationship between the franchisee and the franchisor is critical to the long-term success of the business, Techclean believes recognising this relationship like it’s a marriage in the sense that budding franchisees must trust the franchisor as a business and a partner.

The Techclean team has extensive knowledge of franchising and are well-versed in sales, marketing, procurement, finance or business planning.

The franchisor believes in supporting new franchisees fully in their marketing efforts, The Bardon Group have years of experience creating excellent marketing tools, programmes and collateral that are effective and practical for franchisees to follow alongside the other demands of the business.

Centralised direct marketing is at the heart of this approach with mailings being sent out to the person with the money, authority and need. This is also followed up by phone calls through a specialist agency to secure appointments for the franchisee to attend.

This activity is backed up by regular email marketing, a comprehensive range brochure, product leaflets and other relevant collateral.

DETAILS: Investment level: £19,500 + VAT Business type: Specialist system hygiene Franchise contact: Emma Downes Techclean Unit 2, Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 1UE Tel: 01530 513308 Email: edownes@thebardongroup.co.uk Web: www.techclean.co.uk

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

Teachers love it parents want it children need it

THEB002

Children learn best when they are having fun at the same time and it’s that premise which underpins ComputerXplorers.

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nyone looking to run their own business, take control of their future and make a genuine difference to children’s lives are advised to check out ComputerXplorers’ franchisees.

The company is part of the world’s largest franchised network providing quality technology education for children and allows you to work from home.

It’s the leading provider of quality technology education for children from the ages of three to 13.ComputerXplorers deliver are engaging, educational and fun clubs and classes. They are run in a variety of settings such as after school clubs, preschool and nurseries, summer camps and in-curriculum time classes.

ComputerXplorers’ goal is to help children discover new technology and computer skills through innovative exploration of a wide range of the latest technology.

One of the reasons I chose ComputerXplorers was the knowledge that the Franchisor had an excellent pedigree in the market and being a former British Franchise Association Chairman affirms this. The initial training was in 2 main stages UK & USA and both courses have been thorough and exceeded my expectations. I have been particularly impressed with the openness and approachability that the franchise offers as far as support and advice are concerned John McGill, ComputerXplorers, South West Scotland

For pre-school children ComputerXplorers covers everything from podcasting, digital photography, programming and robotics to digital microscopes and an introduction to the internet. Primary school children learn programming, digital storytelling,

animation, web design, coding, forensic science, video game design, music technology and much more. Classes are linked to the national curriculum in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

The potential market in the UK is huge with more than 11m children, at least 34,000 nurseries and pre-school groups, over 24,000 primary schools and numerous afterschool clubs and holiday schemes.

I always feel we are very well supported and the franchisor is always keen to share his knowledge and experience.

Having a team like that who can be relied upon to give you their attention and support is a real comfort in business Stephen Hall, ComputerXplorers, Birmingham East

Prospective ComputerXplorers franchisees can rest assure that they’re making a good business decision considering that the company has over 30 years’ experience in the US, is a recognised expert in children’s computer education with a dedicated team of education professionals, has continuing programme of curriculum development and software review.

In addition to this, the company also offers a regular supply of new software options, ongoing one to one business advice and business planning, professionally developed sales system, a range of seminars and ongoing training opportunities for franchisees and their staff.

Every new franchisee will also benefit from three weeks of comprehensive training programme. Two weeks of traning will be in the US and one week at the UK headquarters in Leicestershire.

Above all though ComputerXplorers is about education with a small E and fun with a capital F.

DETAILS: Investment level: £29,500 + VAT Business type: Children’s computer tuition Franchise contact: Emma Downes ComputerXplorers Unit 2, Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 1UE Tel: 01530 513308 Email: edownes@computerxplorers.co.uk

Web: www.computerxplorers.co.uk

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

THEB002

A 21st century opportunity Kall Kwik has been in business since 1979 and with around 50 centres, it’s proud to be the UK market leader in the provision of print, design and other business services to the local community

K

all Kwik centres provide first-class services and offer bespoke solutions rather than a fixed product range.

The company achieve high average order values and excellent profit margins selling to a broad and diverse customer base. The business is not subject to the fluctuating demands of the retail market and Kall Kwik franchisees can influence the level of demand for the services by actively generating sales through their own effort and determination.

Kall Kwik is not easy, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme but if you are looking for a partner to help develop your own long term ambitions to create a successful business it could work for you. It certainly worked for me Terry Woods, Kall Kwik Chiswick

It’s evident that only those businesses who embrace change will succeed in today’s market and by establishing the Kall Kwik business services concept, the company is certain to remain the market leader in the provision of the full range of communication services to businesses.

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Kall Kwik Business Services Developments in communications technology and digital print capability combined with changes in customer buying habits have enabled Kall Kwik to evolve the company’s proposition.

In today’s world, this franchisor no longer needs huge printing presses, extensive premises nor tens of thousands of pounds tied up in associated equipment.

Today is much more about brain over brawn, about adaptability over print set up and about providing not one answer but a number of potential solutions.

The Kall Kwik business services concept offers a lower entry cost to the marketplace and by outsourcing high-end production ensures lower on-going operating costs.

By being very front-end and customer focused Kall Kwik has widened the range of services the company offers. It has also devoted time and energy to fully develop its client base as well as the products and services it delivers.

The company is a firm believer in collaborative working, providing a range of solutions and having multiple income streams as well as developing customer relationships. This has allowed Kall Kwik to deliver a range of products and services across the whole spectrum of communication media; it’s more than just ink on paper.

In fact the centres will concentrate on print design, website design, direct mail, email marketing, online print management, digital colour, digital black and white, posters and banners, plan printing, scanning and archiving, marketing management for SMEs and full-colour print.

The philosophy Kall Kwik’s commitment to quality and excellence underpins the business’s entire culture. Given that the company has high standards for it franchisees, the franchisor expect them to demand advisory excellence, superb training and marketing tools as well as high-quality products and services in return.

Kall Kwik wants new franchisees to care about the success of their clients and be determined to play their part in achieving the Kall Kwik vision. However, the franchisor thinks the most important thing is that new franchisees are passionate about the business, the clients and success.

DETAILS: Investment level: £50,000 + VAT + Shop fit Business type: Print, design and marketing services Franchise contact: Emma Downes Kall Kwik Unit 2, Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 1UE Tel: 01530 513300 Email: edownes@kallkwik.co.uk Web: www.kallkwik.co.uk

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Paying your taxes

It can reflect poorly on the entire network and cost a lot of money if one franchisee misses paying their taxes, which is why it’s vital that everyone understands what the state is due

BY ERIC JOHANSSON

S

ubways’ warm sandwiches are one of the main reasons for the brand’s enduring popularity but in 2012 they ended up taking centre stage due to something other than their hunger-sating abilities. The subs became the main focus in a series of court cases in which a Yorkshire franchisee argued that her business had failed because HMRC counted them as warm food. This resulted in her being charged a VAT rate of 20%, rather than the 0% she thought she should have paid.

However, neither the first-tier tribunal, the upper tribunal or the court of appeals agreed with her and instead sided with

The taxman cometh

the government body. And when the franchisee reached out to the supreme court for permission to appeal the case in 2015, it rejected her claim. “It’s quite understandable that a franchisee can get this wrong,” says Carl Reader, affiliate forum chairman at the bfa, author of The Franchising Handbook and director of Selling a Franchise, the franchisepurchasing website. “The thing that jumped out in this case was that the tax office used it as trigger to look at other franchisees in the network.”

In the end, nearly 1,200 Subway franchisees ended up being affected by the erroneous VAT calculation of one

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PAYING YOUR TAXES

single franchisee. “It cost both time and professional fees but most importantly it caused a lot of worry,” says Reader. “No business owner wants to be subject to a tax investigation because of the concern that you may have missed something.” The case also highlighted how vital it is that franchisees know and understand what taxes they’re expected to pay when they launch their businesses, something that’s easier said than done considering the complexities surrounding the British tax system.

Calculating your claim There are a few ways in which franchisors can help alleviate any tax-related qualms franchisees may have. For starters, they can set up an in-house team or appoint a single accountancy firm dedicated to solving these issues. “That allows either the team or the firm to really get to know the ins and outs of their business and make sure that all franchisees operate ” says Reader.

Obviously, we’d consistently, Franchisors can also hate for our help franchisees tackle franchisees any tax hurdles that they to miss any may have by helping them make a business plan to deadlines and forecast what their profits incur any fines and losses, including taxes, will be. “That’s usually Jo Nockles, TaxAssist a good way of getting a sense of how successful the business will be,” says Jo Nockles, senior training and technological communications manager at TaxAssist, the tax service and accountancy franchise.

Nockles also adds that tax is one of the things that’s covered both by the operations manual and the 40 days of training aspiring franchisees go through when they join TaxAssist.

“Obviously, we’d hate for our franchisees to miss any deadlines and incur any fines,” she continues. “It’s such a waste of money. And not only is it damaging for everyone but for us it would be particularly

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embarrassing if one of our franchisees picked up some penalties.”

Speaking of training, it’s worth mentioning that some training can be deductible from a business’s taxes.

However, this depends on whether or not it counts as a revenue expense.

“This can be a little confusing a times,” says Reader. “Most franchisees incorrectly assume that they can claim back their initial costs straight away.

However, they need to split them between capital and revenue costs.”

The difference between these two is that capital costs – which refer to the purchasing of assets like vans or equipment that you need to start the business – cannot be claimed until the business is sold. Conversely, revenue costs can be claimed against immediately. Unfortunately for franchisees, initial training and franchising fees are counted as capital fees but secondary training counts as a revenue cost. “So if you go on any additional training after your initial induction, that would be claimable straight away,” explains Reader.

Going at it alone?

Fundamentally, franchisees are like any other SME. They usually go through similar processes when they set up their business and the tax they pay is reliant on whether it’s a limited company or not. “If they are, they must pay corporation tax and tax on the dividends they draw,” says Reader.

Technically, if a franchisee takes out a salary, then they’d have to pay income tax too. “But normally they don’t draw very much and therefore it doesn’t trigger much tax,” says Nockles.

“Instead franchisees tend to top up their income with dividends because the tax rate on dividends is lower than it is on a salary.”

Essentially, a limited company is one out of several ways franchisees can structure their companies. The others

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Paying your taxes

as sole traders. “But there is nothing are sole traders, partnerships and stopping you from swapping at a limited partnerships. Establishing a later date once the company is more business as a limited company means profitable,” says Nockles. “You don’t that it exists as a separate entity from have to choose one structure and stick the franchisee. “It basically puts up with it.” a wall between the person and the But corporation and income tax business,” says Nockles. For a sole aren’t the only factors trader on the other that franchisees need hand, their personal to take into account. It’s and the company’s No business important not to forget finances are intimately owner wants the tax that caused tied together. “That Subway so much grief: means you can make to be subject VAT. “There is a bit use of the company’s to a tax of peculiarity around losses personally,” says investigation VAT and it all comes Nockles. A partnership down to the Trading is basically the same Schemes Act of 1996, thing but with two which is aimed at preventing what you or more franchisees instead of one, and I know as pyramid schemes,” says while a limited liability partnership Reader. “This legislation unfortunately is a mix between the structures of a catches franchises out too, which is partnership and a limited company. why it’s usually a part of franchise Given the personal tax advantage agreements that each party must be it offers, she explains that most of VAT registered.” This law is designed TaxAssist’s franchisees usually start out

to prevent pyramid scheme scams by imposing strict regulations on multitier companies like franchises when it comes to things like advertising and contracts, as well as by forcing them to register for VAT. Failure to pay the right amount of VAT may result in franchisees having to pay more tax and additional fees.

At the end of the day, franchisees and franchisors are in business together and what happens to one will affect the other. Given this intimate link, Reader urges franchisors to provide all the help they can if their franchisees are still struggling to understand the taxes they should pay and which costs they can claim back from HMRC. “Any franchisor is only successful if they’ve got successful franchisees,” he concludes. “If they get stung by unexpected tax bills then the franchisee could end up losing their businesses, which only leads to the franchisor getting a bad reputation.”

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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22/12/2016 11:51

MARKETING WITH FRANCHISEES

FOCUSING ON franchisees Why putting your franchisees front and centre in your marketing is so much more effective than relying on facts and figures alone

BY MARIA BARR

P

eople crave stories, especially when they’re about other people. In fact, according to a report by Headstream, the contentmarketing agency, 79% of British adults want brands to tell stories and two-thirds thought those that were about regular people worked best.

Unfortunately, 85% couldn’t cite an example of a memorable brand story they’d come across recently.

Many franchises already recognise the power of telling stories about their franchisees for both recruitment purposes and in order to give their brands a more personal dimension.

“Whether it’s reading about a mum juggling family with work or somebody who’s overcome a challenge, people respond well to things they can relate to and that make them think ‘I could do that’,” says Natalie Sanderson, managing director at Sublime Public Relations, the communications agency.

Another convert is Ian Christelow, master franchisee of ActionCOACH UK, the business-coaching service 54

that routinely highlights franchisees in its marketing collateral. “It’s about telling the human story,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a chocolate bar or a professional service; people buy things based on emotion more than logic. I’d say it’s usually a case of 80% emotion and 20% logic.”

So what exactly is the anatomical makeup of the kind of peoplecentric story that would make someone sit up and take action? “It has to contain an element of human interest,” says Sanderson. “What can also help is using statistics to give it credibility or hooking it onto something topical that’s already on the news agenda,” she adds.

The trouble is, franchisees are often doing amazing things but don’t even realise they have a story to tell, so its up to the franchisor or marketing team to carry out story-mining exercises and be adept at knowing when one is staring them in the face.

elitefranchise | January 2017

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MARKETING WITH FRANCHISEES

It doesn’t matter if it’s a chocolate bar or a business service; people buy things based on emotion more than logic Ian Christelow, ActionCOACH

Creating storytelling engine If you’ve traditionally relied on promotional content or focused on the franchisor rather than franchisees, Christelow warns that it can take time – even years in ActionCOACH’s case – to start seeing results. It requires a concerted effort to put a process in place in order to sniff out and then tell more peoplecentric stories. “As you start building a bank of profiles, you should try to develop a good relationship with the network by going to conferences and

events and actively looking out for stories so you get to know franchisees better,” says Sanderson.

But not everyone may be comfortable with being in the spotlight and may need some coaching. “The British don’t tend to be major self-promoters,” says Sally Anne Butters, director at Rev PR, the public-relations agency specialising in the franchise sector. “That’s where your questioning techniques can help them come out of their shell.” Butters believes that if you ask the right questions about not just their business successes but about their personal life too, you’re more likely to stumble across an interesting nugget to build a story from. It also helps if franchisees understand the purpose of being involved and what the value to them is. At ActionCOACH, for example, an internal newsletter rounds up all the positive coverage franchisees have received, which spurs others to put their hands up and share their story.

That being said, not everyone will be a suitable candidate and it’s important to recognise when a story just won’t work externally. “Sometimes the information you’re getting is just not meaty enough and you have to face facts and move on,” says Sanderson. “There’s no point in creating a story that has nothing to it.” One of the reasons why a franchisee might not be forthcoming with the details is that while they’re comfortable talking about their business or successes, they might not want to share personal or sensitive anecdotes. But its exactly those probing questions that will uncover information that makes a story feel genuine, rather than something masterminded in a slick PR department.

The franchisor also needs to resist the urge to give people the hard sell. “Naturally I’m very proud of our franchise but at the same time I know that it’s far more effective to take an indirect approach or you’ll end up pushing people away,” explains Christelow.

Butters couldn’t agree more, emphasising that the content should be told in people’s own words and not feel like it’s self-serving. “If it doesn’t feel authentic, it might backfire.”

If a story is lacking in any tension or challenges and starts to feel a bit formulaic, you might need to be more disciplined about reining in the urge to boast.

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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MARKETING WITH FRANCHISEES

More than words When making franchisees the star, it’s not just the content itself: the delivery and packaging is equally important. In today’s visually driven world, franchises are using a range of mediums to tell their story. Some are encouraging franchisees to manage their own social-media accounts to engage with people at a local level – a task the central marketing team would struggle with. As for imagery, stock photos don’t really scream authenticity and it’s important images aren’t just treated as an afterthought.

“For one client, we made sure we shot the franchisees while they were working and tried not to draw attention to the photographer so the images would come out more natural rather than posed,” says Butters.

And ActionCOACH believes so much in the power of video that it’s created a dedicated production team and invested in state-of-theart equipment so it’s able to produce around one video case study a week. For Christelow, the cost is easily justifiable. “We can’t have long conversations with everyone, so to a degree having videos of our coaches automates that for us,” he says. “Video case studies are a really important part of our marketing plan.”

If it doesn’t feel authentic it might backfire

Sally Anne Butters, Rev PR

Prepare for the worst Of course shining a light on franchisees isn’t without its risks. “You can’t know everything about a franchisee at the start and skeletons can emerge from closets later on,” says Sanderson.

“With social media, a crisis can develop instantly so it’s important to be prepared.” To protect your brand from any blowback if a franchisee gets embroiled in a negative story, both Sanderson and Butters prescribe a crisis management plan so the communications team knows how to respond. It’s also crucial that the people at the centre of the story are aware of the risks. “We ensure franchisees understand that by playing an active role in the company’s marketing material they’re essentially becoming brand ambassadors,” says Sanderson.

But when you add up the time spent hunting for stories, creating visual content and prepping for a potential crisis, putting franchisees at the heart of your marketing can be a big ask and many franchisors will wonder what tangible benefits the effort will bring. After all, while this strategy can create awareness early on, it can take time for that to translate into a sale. This is why ActionCOACH’s marketing team makes a point of asking potential franchisees how they came across the company to try and gauge the effectiveness of a piece of content.

And you can’t argue with the results: it’s seen a huge spike in franchise recruitment figures since overhauling its marketing strategy a few years back to focus on its people. “We used to sign up maybe 12 franchises a year but that’s more than doubled. One year we had over 80 new people joining our network,” says Christelow. “The returns of focusing on your franchisees are there but you need to be willing to invest in it.”

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

A Dynamic and Recession-Proof High-Street Franchise The ZipYard is the fastest-growing garment-alteration franchise in the UK. With distinctive branding and well-planned shop fits that minimise square footage for maximum profit, the opportunity provides owners with a business that is welcome on any high street

O

fficially launched in Britain

by The Bardon Group in 2011, The ZipYard’s growth has been very strong and the company is well on the way to achieving its first target of 50 centres in the UK. The business provides a much needed service and has a real role to play in the rejuvenation of UK high streets.

The ZipYard concept offers total flexibility, providing the opportunity to simply run one centre or build a bigger business through owning multiple ZipYard centres throughout the country.

Specifically designed to project a stylish, high quality image, the ZipYard offers a wide range of alteration and tailoring services, all done on site by trained professionals in purpose-built, beautifully shopfitted centres, branded with the ZipYard’s signature eye-catching yellow and black colours.

From dress restyling and taking in or letting out to bridal-wear fitting and formal wear alterations, The

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ZipYard provides convenient, speedy and cost-effective clothing alterations and repairs.

The ZipYard franchise package is a total turnkey operation, comprising a complete shop fit, state-of-the-art machinery, computer systems and a comprehensive marketing package that includes regional PR activity.

The package includes industrial sewing machines, specialist alteration and repair machinery, a computer, software, EPOS system, signage, fixtures and fittings, various consumables, starting stock, plus training and ongoing support from the franchisor, and a marketing and PR campaign to launch each centre.

Why choose The ZipYard?

Former driving instructor Richard McConnell opened England’s first ZipYard franchise in Altrincham in 2011 followed by a second centre in Wilmslow in 2013.

“We did lots of research in the franchise press and online, and looked into a wide variety of franchises,” says McConnell.

“The Altrincham ZipYard has exceeded all of our expectations and the model is so well thought out that it was easy to replicate in Wilmslow.

Our reputation went before us and the customer base in the new ZipYard is building very nicely.

“Initially it was my wife who noticed the ZipYard advert and she thought it was a fantastic idea. We did some research and quickly realised that there was no real competition in our area. Most of the time clothing repairs

are done as a bolt-on service at dry cleaners. The turn-around time isn’t very good and they don’t offer a very wide range of services.”

Marketing Head office provides a wide range of marketing support to the network including email marketing, a comprehensive range of promotional collateral and window posters that are supplied free of charge throughout the year to each centre.

All franchisees also have access to a retained PR agency that carries out regular activity on behalf of the ZipYard to raise awareness and generate footfall.

I have been extremely pleased by the success of our ZipYard store so far. As with any business, if you can combine excellence in service with excellence of products you have a winning formula and we certainly have that here at the ZipYard Bedford Graham Mulheron, The ZipYard Bedford

Contact: Emma Downes t: 01530 513307 e: edownes@thezipyard.co.uk Total Cost:£38,500 + VAT plus shop fit

elitefranchise | January 2017

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07/10/2016 10:23

STAFF TRAINING

TRICKS OF THE TRADE A huge amount of attention is dedicated to getting franchisees up to speed. But how should their own staff be trained?

BY JOSH RUSSELL

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STAFF TRAINING

R

egardless of how you look at it, effective training is absolutely essential when it comes to ensuring a company remains commercially viable. “If you’ve got someone representing your business and they’re not doing it properly, that risks everything,” says Richard Dancy, senior marketing manager at Barking Mad, the dog-boarding franchise. But whilst this can cause problems for any business, it has much wider ramifications for a franchise. As they’re operating under the same brand, substandard training of one franchisee’s staff can actually negatively impact the livelihoods of all members of the network. “If a consumer forms their opinion on a bad experience they have in one location then in their eyes that’ll tarnish the brand across the rest of the country,” he says.

In light of this, it’s hardly surprising that many franchisors take an active

interest in the training of franchisees’ staff. “We try to undertake induction training for franchisees’ staff at a head-office level so we get all of the basics absolutely right,” says Rik Hellewell, managing director of Ovenu, the oven-cleaning franchise.

Not only does this allow the franchisor to ensure its franchisees’ employees are given comprehensive training on how to carry out their day-to-day responsibilities but it also guarantees franchisees and their staff are singing from the same hymn sheet. “The training is absolutely identical to what a franchisee would receive,” he continues. “That means that when the contractor returns to their territory, the franchisee knows that they’ve gone through exactly the same process as they themselves did a few years before.”

Head-office training isn’t the only resource available to franchisees when looking to train new staff.

If you’ve got someone representing your business and they’re not doing it properly, that risks everything Richard Dancy, Barking Mad

“Often the training has already been given to the franchisee, so it will be outlined in the operations manual,” says Dancy. “How that’s used is a whole different question however.”

Given that the operations manual can often be a rather hefty tome, simply sitting employees down to read it from cover to cover is hardly likely to lead to a effectively trained workforce. “The skill is how to communicate it in the best way to ensure things run as smoothly as possible: that means you actively need to train people, rather than just getting them to refer to the operations manual,” he says.

But while face-to-face and paperbased processes have their place, it’s important to remember that these analogue tools aren’t the only way for franchises to train frontline staff. “It’s the modern age,” says Luke Hutchings, employment solicitor and partner at Taylor Rose TTKW, the specialists in commercial, finance and business law. “The days where people need to physically come and visit are over.”

Whether it’s conducting sessions via Skype or running refresher courses through their websites, increasing numbers of franchisors are embracing tech to help bolster the training of franchisees’ staff. For example, Ovenu has an internal CRM that allows all its stakeholders to gain access to any training materials they may require.

“It’s all a cloud-based system where the contractors and the franchisees can find the relevant help, support and ongoing training,” Hellewell says.

One last factor that can help ensure that employees are trained consistently is the judicious use of accreditations – Ovenu for example trains all staff to the ISO 9001:2008 standard that governs quality management systems. “Having accreditations like the ISO in place teaches franchisors and franchisees how to run, manage and administer systems to make sure that everything January 2017 | elitefranchise

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STAFF TRAINING

is getting done in a truly uniform way,” says Hellewell. Ensuring things are being handled in both a consistent and compliant manner networkwide can certainly give franchisors some peace of mind, especially when operating in sectors like food preparation or cleaning where having exacting standards plays an important role in protecting consumers.

“Although these accreditations might have a nominal reaccreditation fee every year of a few hundred pounds, you should see that as money well spent,” he says.

With the franchisor providing so many resources for their franchisees, one might be forgiven for thinking that setting the agenda for staff training is solely the domain of the franchisor. But in reality things aren’t quite this straightforward. For example, while Ovenu has a very prescriptive approach for frontline staff carrying out valeting work, when it comes to other business functions franchisees are more able to stamp their own mark on the training they provide their staff. “When it comes to things like advertising, marketing, promotions and PR, we give

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any oversight. In fact, it’s vital that franchisees a little more free reign franchisors introduce some checks to put their own personality into the and balances to ensure that staff business,” says Hellewell. training is up to snuff. “There’s a good In fact, it’s worth remembering deal of flexibility in how these are put that many franchisees will be in place,” says Hellewell. Whether bringing with them a whole host they rely on mystery shoppers, online of supplementary skills from other satisfaction surveys, self-reporting sectors. “Some people who decide to or social-media open a franchised analysis, there are business are very It’s the modern plenty of ways for experienced and age: the days franchisors to ensure have had long careers front-line staff in other fields,” where people are appropriately Hutchings says. need to trained. “The most This means that physically come important thing is wherever possible franchisors should be and visit are over to make sure you’re doing something,” looking to embrace Luke Hutchings, Taylor Rose TTKW Hellewall says. the innovations And if franchisors franchisees have hit identify areas where frontline staff upon for training staff and roll them don’t quite meet their expectations, out across the network. “The most Hutchings recommends this is first successful franchises are going to addressed in the regular meetings be the ones that really see the value they have with the franchisee. “The in the individual franchisees and next step would be perhaps informally actually use what they say,” he says. offering mentoring or guidance,” “They will adapt and try to get the he says. “Experienced people can best out of these ideas for the future.” coach junior people and get them But this doesn’t mean that to start good habits.” In cases where franchisees should just be given there are more severe or chronic carte blanche to train staff without issues, he believes that franchisors should take things down a more formal route and utilise their existing performance-management process. “A franchisor and franchisee should have a procedure by which they can set improvment targets that are bespoke to each individual,” he says.

Ultimately, perhaps the most important thing is to view the training of staff as an ongoing commitment, rather than as a patch and fix.

“Franchisee staff training should be made available by the franchisor regularly,” says Dancy. While this may result in higher costs for both parties, ensuring all staff across a franchise are operating at their best is worth the investment. “You might not see the return immediately but making sure that you’re not cutting corners on staff is really important,” he concludes.

elitefranchise | January 2017

23/12/2016 15:08

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07/09/2016 17:13

App development

Rather than developing an app to jump on a bandwagon, Spun Candy founder James Ellender believes there are a few important questions franchises need to ask first

BY James Ellender, founder, Spun Candy

Lessons in app development T

he rise of mobile has changed the world forever and when it comes to apps, businesses are only really limited by their imagination. However it’s all too easy to launch right into development without carefully thinking through what you’re aiming to achieve and how you’ll execute your app engagement strategy in the long term.

Not long after I founded Spun Candy, my confectionery franchise, I realised there was a demand for personalised candy for corporate events, weddings and individual customers. But while speaking to customers, it soon became apparent that rather than trying to imagine what the finished product would look like, people wanted a mockup of their bespoke design before buying.

Customers would routinely ask us ‘what does my name look like with those colours in candy?’ but all we could do was show them a sweet with 64

my name on it and ask them to use their imagination. It just wasn’t costeffective to make a batch for one or two samples. That’s how we came to develop an app that allows people to choose the colours, designs, type of candy or words they want and have fun trying out different designs.

While I never set out to create an app, there were two basic but important elements that drove its development. Primarily, it had a purpose and served a real customer need. Secondly, I knew it wouldn’t just be useful for engagement or entertainment purposes but would actually help us win new business by making people feel more comfortable about ordering something personalised. That’s not to say that an app that’s designed entirely for engagement purposes isn’t valuable.

But for us, the investment had to be backed by a reasonable expectation that it would help us boost sales.

elitefranchise | January 2017

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App development

Technology and consumer trends or expectations are constantly changing, so it’s vital that franchises ensure their mobile strategy is fit for the long term

Going down the app road Generally speaking, there are a few things to consider when judging whether or not an app is right for your franchise. First, be clear on what you’re trying to achieve. Do you think you need a mobile app because everyone else has one or is there a real benefit to your consumers, business and brand? You need to balance the financial investment against the projected benefits, so it’s essential that your business objectives are both clear and measurable.

For some businesses, an app is secondary to their core function. For example, TripAdvisor has a website and an app, both of which provide travel-related content. Meanwhile, McDonald’s has an app that enables customers to find restaurants and view menus, which is a secondary function. It’s important for businesses to be clear on this distinction as it will affect not only the app’s functionality but the benefits gained and the level of investment too. At the end of the day, apps should solve a problem. For example, do you need to improve the customer journey and experience, reduce resources, change perceptions of your brand or add a new dimension to the services you already offer?

From there, you can start setting key performance indicators, based on what sort of actions you want people to take. Some apps that are directly related to sales will call for metrics like in-app sales, while others that have been developed to help people feel close to your brand are best measured by looking at how many times people engage with the app or share it with their friends.

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Plotting a journey Once you know what you want to achieve and embark on the planning stage, you need to map out the entire customer journey from initial install to the final destination, including prompts along the way and exploring methods to re-engage with lapsed users. Social media and targeted paid advertising can be particularly useful for delivering personalised messages to keep people engaged. With so many apps available on the market and new competitors popping up every day, brands need to keep working hard to retain people’s interest.

It’s also important to plan for the future – building an app isn’t a one-off action. If your business changes or expands into new territories, the app needs to evolve too. Technology and consumer expectations are constantly changing, so it’s vital that franchises ensure their mobile strategy is fit for the long term and invest accordingly. This means you need to be prepared for continual investment so your app’s functions don’t become outdated. Franchises should consider their app a long-term investment or customers might stop finding it useful or engaging. At Spun Candy, we’re continually auditing ours and looking for ways to improve and tweak it over time.

Apps can be incredibly powerful sales and marketing tools but to reap the benefits, you need to ask the right questions and be aware of the long-term commitment you’re making.

elitefranchise | January 2017

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Talked Expense Reduction Analysts UK to Ltd association with The Irish Had a great show in Next year we plan to have Coyote Ugly in India, great potential clients Franchise Association.

London!

Talked to more than 200.

Had a great show in UK, Ireland, Italy, about expanding great potential clients London!

Talked to Slovakia, and Coyote Ugly inmore!"

India, about expanding great potential clients - Justin Livingston, Coyote Ugly UK, Ireland, Italy, Coyote Ugly in India, about expanding Saloon Slovakia, and more!"

UK, Ireland, Italy, Coyote Ugly in India, Justin Livingston, Coyote Ugly Slovakia, and more!"

UK, Ireland, Italy, Saloon

- Justin Livingston, Coyote Ugly Slovakia, and more!"

Saloon - Justin Livingston, Coyote Ugly Saloon

Why exhibit Why exhibit anywhere else?

Why exhibit anywhere else?

Why exhibit more exhibitors, more visitors, more international brands, anywhere else? than any other UK show. anywhere else? more exhibitors, more visitors, more international brands,

Contactmore Matthewexhibitors, Parfrey - 0330 1222 049 - matthew.parfrey@newstartexhibitions.com more visitors, more international- @FranchiseShowUK brands,

than any other UK show. more exhibitors, more brands, than anyvisitors, othermore UKinternational show.

Contact Matthew Parfrey - 0330 1222 049 - matthew.parfrey@newstartexhibitions.com - @FranchiseShowUK than any other UK show. - @FranchiseShowUK Contact Matthew Parfrey - 0330 1222 049 - matthew.parfrey@newstartexhibitions.com

Full Page Ad for Making Money.indd 1

Contact Matthew Parfrey - 0330 1222 049 - matthew.parfrey@newstartexhibitions.com - @FranchiseShowUK

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NEWS001

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

A TOUCH OF GOLD A business opportunity not to be missed. Goldgenie have re-invented the way in which partnerships are formed and successful ventures created

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

W

ith nearly two decades in the gold industry under his belt, Laban Roomes, founder of Goldengenie, the gold plating and luxury customisation business, is seeing an opportunity for incredible expansion. After appearing on Dragons’ Den and procuring funding from James Caan, the company’s popularity skyrocketed as it emerged as the obvious choice for some of the most elite businesses and individuals in the world.

Now capitalising on its position as a premier force, Goldgenie is reaching out to dynamic entrepreneurs looking to invest in an endeavour which could prove to be highly lucrative.

The premise is simple and but could certainly redefine the luxury customisation business.

It provides motivated entrepreneurs with the tools and startup support necessary to become a Goldgenie franchisee. With some current partners earning between £200 and £500 per day, this Goldgenie expansion program has definitely proven to be very successful.

Unlike other siimilar business We provide you ventures, this one with the tools, requires no franchise the roadmap and fees, fixed rates, overheads or other the guidance to fees. Rather, the team set up a proven at Goldgenie are business in your simply interested in local area growing the brand while helping others who long for the flexibility and freedom of being self-employed while actually making a fairly substantial profit.

Goldgenie will provide new franchisees with a ‘business-in-a-box’. The system has been designed to allow virtually anyone to be able to gold plate within just a couple of hours of receiving and opening the package. This comprehensive kit has been the launching pad for a number of successful Goldgenie franchisees. It contains everything new

franchisees need to get started: froma plug-in-and-play gold plating system along with marketing materials, business cards to qualified leads.

Goldgenie has built up a number of international franchisees that profit from all sales generated in their respective countries. The business is also continuing to seek new franchisees to further expand its reach in global territories where the demand for luxury products is high.

Current franchises are experiencing success and increased wealth by working with luxury car dealers, yacht owners, churches, schools and homeowners throughout their respective regions.

How new franchisees build their businesses is limited only by their own imagination. A robust support team is at the ready to help new franchisees. It consists of successful franchisees and an affiliate link which facilitates sales commissions from the website.

Given this support, it’s safe to say that new Goldgenie’s franchisees can see their imagination could take them very far.

The complete system is directly available from the Goldgenie website for only £2447.50 plus VAT. www.goldgenie.com Call Marcus on 0208 8046200 e-mail frank@goldgenie.com to learn more

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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EXCLUSIVITY

A place of your own Having the sole rights to a territory can certainly sway someone’s decision when choosing which franchise to buy. But it’s worth bearing in mind that exclusivity comes with plenty of exceptions attached

BY Kate Legg, CEO, Komerse

W

hen it comes to choosing a franchise, picking the right network is only half the battle. It’s also important to be in the right location and to understand what geographical rights franchise agreements give you. This is one area where the franchise agreement must be read very carefully as things may not be as they first appear.

Often franchise agreements give the franchisee exclusivity in their local territory but this can mean different things in different agreements and might only apply in certain circumstances.

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Most people would assume that exclusive rights mean that the business owner is the only person allowed to operate the business in that area. However, there are franchise agreements that also allow the franchisor to trade there in some cases.

For example, the franchise agreement may give the franchisee exclusivity provided that certain performance criteria are met: the franchisor may have the right to withdraw it if standards fall or targets are missed. It’s easy to see why this would be attractive – if a franchisee has exclusive rights to

elitefranchise | January 2017

23/12/2016 14:54

EXCLUSIVITY

allows the franchisee to be compensated for an area, the franchisor will want to be sure they’re the customers they’ve won in the neighbouring developing it to its full potential. But withdrawing area. Unfortunately, there are many that don’t exclusivity in this situation may not be the best and this could mean that the franchisee is solution. The effect of doing so is that two or left disappointed when their customer base more franchisees are then competing for the suddenly shrinks or they’re forced to hand same customers. At best, this is an inefficient use over part of their customer list without of resources; at worst, there’s a risk of customers compensation. To mitigate this, some networks getting annoyed by multiple sales calls. offer franchisees a right of first refusal before the Equally, a franchise may reserve the right to neighbouring territory is sold. choose who gets to deal with national accounts A similar problem can arise if a franchisee in the franchisee’s territory. That could mean receives an unsolicited enquiry from a customer that the franchisor or another franchisee serves outside their area. Some networks will simply those customers, even though they’re based force the franchisee to pass it on. Others have in the franchisee’s area. The logic behind this schemes in place that enable them to receive is twofold. Firstly, national accounts are best a commission for the sale and some allow the managed centrally – this means, for example, the franchisee to serve the client in full without the franchisor may negotiate special deals that apply need to compensate the neighbouring franchisee. across the country. Secondly, a network won’t Issues can also sometimes arise where a want to risk losing an entire account because franchise network is sold one franchisee doesn’t get on or merged with another with their local customer. It’s If a franchisee has business. Joining together the far better to allow someone exclusive rights to an two brands may lead to there else to look after that customer being multiple branches in the and preserve the national area, the franchisor same territory. For example, relationship for the benefit of will want to be sure when Dollond & Aitchinson the network as a whole. they are developing Opticians merged with Boots Rather than offering Opticians in 2009, the former’s exclusivity, some agreements it to its full potential stores were rebranded under will give the franchisee sole the latter’s logo, often resulting rights. This usually means in multiple Boots Opticians stores within the that the franchisor won’t appoint any other same town or shopping centre. franchisees in that area but can continue to It’s also worth remembering that only the operate in the franchisee’s territory. This is specific business activities that are authorised unusual but not impossible. However, the big under the franchise agreement will apply in risk with this approach is that the franchisor the exclusive area. If the franchisor branches might try to cream off the most profitable work out into a new but related activity, additional in the area and leave the franchisee to deal with franchisees may be allowed to move into that the rest. area to promote the new goods and services.

Things become even more complicated if a This is rare but can be a common source of neighbouring territory is temporarily empty. contention if it does arise, particularly if the The franchisee may be allowed to operate in old and new business activities are indirectly that area in the interim but could find access competing with each other. Most reputable to those customers is denied once the territory networks will give existing franchisees a right is sold. Some franchise networks have a formal of first refusal if new products or services are process in place to deal with this situation that introduced but that won’t assist a franchisee who is unwilling or unable to take on the new line.

Overall, the important key message is that franchisees ensure that they fully understand the extent of geographical rights – if any – that are being granted to them, including any circumstances when the boundaries may be moved or exclusivity withdrawn.

January 2017 | elitefranchise

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Franchise RESALES

Visit FranchiseSales.com DYNA001

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A resale opportunity has arisen in one of our Franchises based in the Gloucestershire area.

Investment: c£650,000

The franchisee started in 2006 and operates from two prominent shop front locations within their designated territory.

Location: Gloucestershire Established: 2006

Turnover: c£440,000

The Franchisee’s business services around circa 550 clients and enjoys gross annual recurring fees of circa £435,000.

With established shops complete with furniture, IT and telephone systems any purchaser would be walking into a ready-made business. This represents an excellent foundation upon which a new franchisee can further develop an already substantial business. The business has enjoyed regular growth with the majority of new clients coming from recommendations, walk-in business and inbound leads generated from the support centre.

For a franchise re-sale you only pay us a half franchise and training fee as we recognise that you will also be investing in purchasing the business. For further information please call us today on 0800 0188 297 or visit us at www.taxassistfranchise.co.uk/resales

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Franchise RESALES

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FRANCHISE FOCUS

ActionCOACH

A fantastically rewarding and fulfilling business to be in...

“I had a tough 2 years building this business and learning my new profession, but now I’m eclipsing my corporate earnings, in a 2 1/2 day week, so I get all the time I want with my wife & kids. I admire the calibre of people I get to work with & learn from & I’ve got the satisfaction of knowing that my clients are the biggest winners.”

Lucas Vigilante, ActionCOACH Franchise Partner

• Winner 2014 Best UK Franchise Award sponsored by RBS • Guaranteed £10k per month by month 7 for the best applicants (Ask us about Ts & Cs) • 1st to achieve 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction Award • Personal investment can be as low as £10k • You get to reap the rewards; the more you put In, the more you get out • Best UK Business Opportunity according to Compare The Financial Markets

Watch the opportunity video at: actioncoach.co.uk

Contact us: | Call: 01284 701 648 | Email: freedom@actioncoach.com | actioncoach.co.uk

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HomeXperts

The innovative HomeXperts franchise model enables you to start your own estate and letting agency working from home or a small serviced office. You will be trained to industry standards, whilst receiving continuous, comprehensive support and receive access to the awardwinning HomeXperts Franchisee Hub. By working hard and following the proven franchise model, you could secure your financial future by earning more than £25,000 in invoiced commissions in a month.

• Industry leading training package • iPad, Wide-angle lens camera, Digital measurer • 24/7 access to the award winning HomeXperts Hub • Access to all of the major UK property portals • Local website and a national branch page • Full back office support

Phone: 01905 678853 | Email: franchise@homexpertsuk.com | www.home-xperts.co.uk

HOME002

Clear Brew

Professionally Cleaning Beer Lines Since 2006.

Our Tried and tested methods. coupled with our own unique portable water fed mixing units, market leading chemicals and industry tested inhibitors means that our eco led repeat Beer line cleaning service reduces costs, cuts waste, minimises risk, maintains and in most cases improves draught beer line quality, with no upfront costs and seeking no contracts our service becomes a vital repeat service that are customers come to rely on and are happy to endorse.

• Business in a box • Excellent repeat business • Internet and web support • Great cash flow • Full ongoing support

Phone: 01209 219889 | email: enquiries@clearbrew.co.uk | Introduction video: https://youtu.be/mT5xbzUAeXo

CLEA001

TaxAssist Accountants

TaxAssist Accountants is the UK’s largest network of accountants servicing the needs of small businesses and the self-employed. TaxAssist takes on both accountants and business/finance professionals as franchisees can employ accountants while they concentrate on building their business.

With an established brand and known for breaking with tradition in an industry that has not experienced this before, TaxAssist Accountants stand out from the crowd operating from highly visible and welcoming shop front premises.

• 5 star franchisee satisfaction award for three years running • Awards from franchise and accountancy arenas • Accountancy fee banks are a saleable asset • In demand services • 1st class support and training

Contact Jody Macmillan | Call: 0800 0188297 | Email: jody.macmillan@taxassist.co.uk | www.taxassistfranchise.co.uk

TAXA001

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FRANCHISE FOCUS

Franchise Sales

FranchiseSales.com is the leading internet resource for franchising. Online since 2001, we have extensive experience helping prospective franchisees find and buy the right franchise and franchisors find and recruit the right people for their business.

We aim to help you become an owner of your dream business, by making the process quick, simple and easy. Our clients are successful, wealthy and happy with their franchise business.

• High quality leads • High conversion rate • Number one in Google and other search engines • Global reach

www.franchisesales.co.uk

DYNA001

McDonald’s

Have you ever considered what a life-changing opportunity a McDonald’s franchise could offer?

Being a McDonald’s franchisee means owning your own business – working for yourself, but not by yourself. It’s about setting your own goals, managing your own restaurants and reaping your own rewards.

McDonald’s franchisees are hands-on, business-savvy and ambitious people who are ready to make a long term commitment to a business.

“I didn’t know anything about the food industry, so coming in and getting all that training gives you a lot of confidence and comfort.”

Jane Blackwell - McDonald’s franchisee, Banbury

www.mcdonalds.co.uk/franchising

MCDO002 MCDO002

BBX UK

Over 60% of businesses have the ability to service more customers without increasing their fixed costs – this is called their SPARE CAPACITY. If their spare capacity is not used its value will be lost forever which costs UK businesses hundreds of billions in lost revenue annually.

BBX is the largest Global Cashless Trade Exchange offering businesses a facility to turn their spare capacity into additional revenue without discounting. Building on 22 years of franchising we have opportunities in the UK offering:

• Multiple income streams – earning 24/7 • Dedicated territories • Renewable income leading to exponential profit growth • Immediate cash flow • Global market leaders

Contact Matthew Harding | Call: 0333 4002014 | email: matt.harding@bbxuk.com | www.bbxuk.com

BBX001

Zip Yard

Are you ambitious to run your own business?

Customer driven and well organised?

Can you follow a proven business system?

All Zip Yard franchises are finished to a distinctive specification and you are presented with a fully operational and fully supported business with trained staff and comprehensive brand marketing from day one.

• Marketing and promotion tools • Group purchasing power • Internet and web support • Ongoing training programmes • Continued concept and product development • Day to day troubleshooting

Contact phone 01530 513307 | email: edownes@thezipyard.co.uk | www.thezipyard.co.uk

THEB002

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FRANCHISE FOCUS

Now Boarding Pet Hotels

Do you have a passion for small pets? Do you want to work from home with flexible working hours?

If this sounds like you, then why not open your own Now Boarding Pet Hotel. With our complete start up package, you could be ready to open for business within weeks! We provide you with everything you need to get started, and will help you every step of the way.

Phone: 01322 471801 | Email: enquiries@nowboardingpethotels.co.uk | www.nowboardingpethotels.co.uk

NOWB001

Mobile Workwear

Mobile Workwear is an innovative new franchise opportunity, bringing our range of reliable, hardwearing products to the businesses that need them most. Our success is built on being ‘tested to work’, from the products we offer, to our staff, suppliers and partners. As a franchisee, you can unlock the potential within that brand to create a mobile retail business limited only by your ambition.

• Low investment <£5k • Low running cost • High earning potential • Unprecedented level of support • Centralised accounts, stock and delivery control • Discounted samples

Phone: +45 87244700 or 07769 882775 | Email: mobile.workwear@mascot.dk | www.mobileworkwear.com

MASC001

The Interface Financial Group

IFG 50/50 is an affordable home-based franchise that provides short-term working capital to businesses by purchasing current, quality invoices at a discount. In IFG 50/50, all transactions are handled by both the franchisor and the franchisee. Both handle due diligence and funding.

The franchisor, however, handles 90% of the paperwork, leaving franchisees free to handle the ‘people’ part of the franchise.

• Above-average ROI • Low overhead - home-based • Virtually paperless • All transactions worked together • Non-territorial & Portable

Phone 0845 834 0332 | Email: ifg@interfacefinancial.com | www.interfacefinancial.co.uk

INTE002

To advertise in this section please call: 0124 567 3690

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A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found at www.british-business-bank.co.uk.

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06/01/2017 11:30

taimoor taimoor milktaimoor milktaimoor milksheikh milksheikh sheikh sheikh

DISCOVERY DAYS

To find out 100% of the information about the award-winning HomeXperts model, book your discovery meeting by emailing franchise@homexpertsuk.com.

am a a franchisee franchisee & & II am is my McDonald’s this this is my McDonald’s

A discovery meeting will explain the innovative franchise model in full, helping you to decide if HomeXperts is right for you. Discovery meetings are held around the country on a weekly basis, including London, Manchester and Worcester.

‘The best part of being franchisee ‘The best part part of of being beingaaafranchisee franchisee ‘The best is the the responsibility that comes with is the responsibility responsibility that thatcomes comeswith isam a franchisee & with Ilooking looking after a large workforce. am a franchisee & after a large workforce. looking after a large workforce.

Givingis local people chance to Giving local people chanceto to this mypeople McDonald’s Giving aaa chance this islocal my McDonald’s develop their skills, grow in develop their skills, skills, grow grow in in develop their confidence, progress progress their confidence, progress their their confidence, ‘The best partsomething of being career – it’s it’s something Ifranchisee find ‘The of being beingaaafranchisee career something I find find best part of – Ifranchisee is the responsibility responsibility that comes with really rewarding.’ that is responsibility thatcomes comeswith with really the rewarding.’ looking after a large workforce. looking large workforce. aa large workforce.

Taimoor, after operates four restaurants Taimoor, operates four restaurants restaurants operates four Giving local people a chance to chanceto to in South Southlocal East London London Giving people a chance in London East develop their their skills, skills, grow grow in grow in in develop confidence, progress progress their their confidence, their – it’s it’s something something find career – something III find find rewarding.’ really rewarding.’

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Taimoor, operates operates four restaurants Taimoor, operates four 4 restaurants restaurants in South South East East London London in London

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Find out about our seminars and book your FREE place at www.franchise-seminars.info.

Ahead for Business Franchise Seminars

STEP INTO FRANCHISING

Ahead for Business What is franchising? How does it work?

Can I be successful?

All of these questions and more are answered at the NatWest Franchise Seminars. We will provide advice and guidance to help you identify and choose the right franchise, so that you can enjoy the rewards and freedom of being your own boss.

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DISCOVERY DAYS

IFG operates regular Franchise Office Discovery Days. For those interested in a self-employed career that involves a world connected to finance and who have a business curious analytical mind, we hope they will enjoy spending some time investigating this fascinating franchise opportunity.

DISCOVER THE FUTURE OF THE FITNESS INDUSTRY AT A YZ45

There with you are co-attendees researching IFG; different ages, career backgrounds and perspectives...it all adds to a constructive, productive day.

Right from the start, the heart of IFG has been to place its franchisees in a serious leadership position. Only with a network of skilled, committed and industrious franchisees can we correctly find, service and underwrite our small business clients who need prompt payment of their bills.

We are proud of providing an ethical and sustainable source of fast finance to businesses. We’d be delighted if you wish to join us at one of our Discovery days to learn more.

discoveryDAY YourZone45 is a boutique fitness studio revolution that delivers comprehensive 45 minute body-changing workouts.

If you’re looking for a management franchise that has fantastic scalability and represents the future of its industry, YourZone45 is your answer.

Reserve your space on the next discovery day by calling 01376 341333, or contacting franchise@yourzone45.co.uk.

Phone 0845 834 0332 Email: ifg@interfacefinancial.com www.interfacefinancial.co.uk

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Become a ZipYard Franchisee

Butcher, baker and cabinet maker... our franchisees come from all works of life!

But they all had one thing in common. They all wanted to take control of their own destiny and become their own boss.

Why did they choose The ZipYard?

We are the most successful garment alteration business in the UK. They were presented with a fully operational business from day one. It’s a recession resistant high street franchise.

“The Altrincham ZipYard has exceeded all of our expectations.

We’ve now opened a second centre in Wilmslow.”

Richard McConnell (former Driving Instructor)

Call us to learn about our discovery days

IF YOU’D LIKE TO TELL POTENTIAL INVESTORS HOW YOU RUN YOUR DISCOVERY DAYS OR 1-2-1’s PLEASE CALL: 0124 567 3690

to speak to a member of our team

The ZipYard Unit 2, Cartwright Way, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 1UE t 01530 513304 sales@thezipyard.co.uk www.thezipyard.co.uk

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8-12% NET fixed income for 10 years Fully managed, effortless UK property investments

Emerging Property are an established UK property consultancy, with a focus on two of the UK’s highest yielding property sectors - Purpose Built Student Accommodation and Serviced Apartments.

Both of these sectors are benefitting from high and increasing demand, with record numbers of students and tourists, respectively, in the UK over the past few years.

All of our property investments provide 8-12% NET yields, fixed over 10-year periods, with flexible resale options throughout.

With onsite management teams responsible for all operational aspects of each of our properties, buyers also receive a completely effortless income.

Immediate 8-10% NET income fixed yields for 10 years

Scholar’s Village Student Property

Ava

£45ilable from ,95 0 Award winning developer founded in 2001

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,000 0 6 £1

Zero additional costs throughout 10-year period 10-year NHBC build warranties on all new builds Proven track record across close to 20 developments Flexible resale options with capital growth potential Onsite management teams - every detail, every day

For more information: +44 (0) 203 287 8727

Westbeach Serviced Apartments

Proven income from operational 10-12% NET fixed phases yields

www.emergingproperty.co.uk info@emergingproperty.co.uk EMER001

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Franchise Diaries Jane Maudsley, founder & managing director, Little Voices

A lack of sleep is having a major impact on the British economy and Jane Maudsley can see why from first-hand experience

F

Why sleep is a business issue

ranchisors are no strangers to burning the candle at both ends. But we often get so caught up trying to power through our to-do lists that we end up losing sleep and being less, not more, productive. In fact, according to Rand Europe, the independent research institute, sleep deprivation costs the British economy an estimated £40m pounds a year.

When I’m particularly stressed and have a lot on my mind, it affects my sleep. I never struggle to nod off but I often wake up during the night and end up lying awake and thinking a million thoughts into the very early hours. Last Wednesday, for example, I went to bed at 10:45pm but woke at 2am and just couldn’t go back to sleep. I had a cup of tea and wrote everything that was on my mind down on a piece of paper but nothing did the trick. I eventually gave up trying at 3:15am and started working. And boy was I feeling the effects by 3pm the next day. I wasn’t as productive as I could have been that afternoon. Everything seemed to require so much more time and concentration than usual so my poor January 2017 | elitefranchise

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night’s sleep affected my entire day and, ultimately, my business.

Using the time you have at work efficiently is so important. If you and your staff are overworked and under-rested, you’re more likely to be unproductive and tasks will require more manpower. It could even lead to costly mistakes that need fixing.

As a business leader, it’s important to set an example and recognise that prioritising sleep isn’t just some wishy-washy lifestyle issue. In fact, your franchise’s bottom line depends on people sleeping well.

Rand Europe’s study also uncovered some findings about how a lack of sleep can affect people’s health and mortality, discovering that, regardless of their age, people who slept less than six hours a night were 13% more likely to die sooner than people who managed to sleep an average of seven to nine hours. I know that there are many nights when I’m sleeping a lot less than i should. In fact, six hours is probably my maximum. And unfortunately, I’m probably not alone when you compare me to others in the industry.

Getting a good night’s sleep doesn’t just happen: it takes planning and a concerted effort. And since stress is often the underlying cause, it often requires some soul-searching. I know that I need to learn how to handle stress better and I’m working on not taking everything to heart so much.

I started my business from nothing and with no investment so I’m very personally attached to it. Sometimes I’m perhaps a little too attached, 82

It’s important that you get to the root of the problem or all the lavender and fancy mattresses in the world won’t be effective

which is probably what’s preventing me from nodding off. If you’re having sleep issues it’s important that you get to the root of the problem or all the lavender and fancy mattresses in the world won’t be effective.

You should also pick a sleep routine that suits you. I know, for example, that I’m most alert, productive and inspired very early in the morning. I’ve always been this way and it isn’t something that’s going to change. So if I want to be at my computer by 5am, I have to be sound asleep by 10pm at the latest. This means being ruthless about how I spend my time in the evening, even if I have to stop myself from watching another episode of my favourite programme. Of course, having such an early night isn’t always possible when I have important commitments or work to do but I am aware that this is an area of my life I need to be paying more attention to, for the sake of my personal wellbeing and my business. I intend to be managing director of Little Voices for a considerable number of years to come so I need to stay healthy.

elitefranchise | January 2017

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