The Best Franchise Awards 2014 are organised by Smith & Henderson and were held at the RBS Head Office in Aldgate, London in November. Smith & Henderson provides franchise feedback reports to franchisors to enable them to continuously develop best practice within their business.

Gary Rigby Regional Director of FDS Southern who is shown third from the right in this photograph has been a judge for these prestigious awards for the last three years, together with other distinguished franchise colleagues within the industry.

The categories that were judged were based upon the investment level of the franchise offering:

Less than £25k included didi dance, Puddle Ducks and Wagging tails
£25k – £75k investment included ActionCOACH, Business Doctors and Driver Hire
£75k plus included Home Instead Senior Care, Right At Home and TaxAssist Accountants
The winners of the various categories will be announced on the 27th November 2014

As with any business, knowledge, expertise, know-how and credibility is all part of the successful formula.  Having spent some 25 years in the exciting world of franchising Gary has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience both as a Franchisor and a Franchise Consultant.

When considering franchising your business, it is important to engage individuals who have the necessary knowledge and experience, more importantly, consultants that have first-hand experience of creating, developing and managing a successful franchise network, providing practical and effective solutions.

Working with a plethora of businesses from different sectors also helps with this wealth of experience and knowledge and can often relate to commercial advantages found in other franchise businesses.

Gary Rigby, having worked for some 16 years as a Franchisor, and  for the last 8 years as a Franchise Consultant working with many prominent franchise brands, has this fine balance of practical experience, coupled with the theoretical options for anybody considering franchising their business.  Also, after many years within the industry having seen and experienced both the positive and negative benefits of successful franchising, this knowledge is then put into practice.

Throughout a year, Gary will see several businesses which have decided to franchise the business themselves and have made some key fundamental mistakes during the process, often these mistakes cannot be rectified; for the sake of taking initial professional advice these pitfalls could have been easily avoided.

When setting up a franchise opportunity there are a number of key areas that potential franchisors must consider:

• Existing or Proposed Business – is the existing business or business idea the model that is best suited to franchising, or alternatively because of fundamental franchise principles are we looking to modify that business model moving forward?  Again, a franchise consultant can add considerably to this process because of their experience and knowledge.

• The Foundational Franchise – the reason that franchises have a greater degree of success over stand-alone start-up businesses is typically because of the foundational or pilot franchise operation, in essence what is happening is putting the theory into practice and, to a degree, proving that provided certain aspects such as social-economics are the same within each region, the business should theoretically work.

• The Franchise Offering – as with any business proposition the franchise offering or franchise package  should clearly define the key elements to the particular type of franchise opportunity with regards to the deliverables, again an experienced franchise consultant can add significantly to the original proposition, again drawing on the experiences from a plethora of different sectors and franchise operations.

• Knowledge and Expertise – often when Gary consults the smaller business owners have a wealth of knowledge and experience but this is seldom documented sufficiently for the franchise operation, in his experience.  Again, a suitably qualified franchise expert would be able to extract and provide this information to its “franchise partners”, this wealth of knowledge and experience can be significant, particularly if a business has operated for many years.  Of course, this forms part of the intellectual property of the company.

• Bringing the Concept to the Market – of course a good franchise consultant is nothing without the necessary experience to bring the franchise concept to the public domain and create interest in the franchise proposition, some consultants work independently, others work as part of a larger team with associated peripheral services.  The FDS consultant of course has in their portfolio a number of on-line and hardcopy franchise promotional avenues; again this is vitally important when a potential franchisor is considering franchising his or her business.

• Appointing Franchise Owners – a professional franchise consultant will be able to help and steer their clients to successfully select candidates to purchase their franchise opportunity, the process itself if you have experience as a business owner is somewhat different to the process of appointing employees, mainly because of the knowledge, expertise and, of course the intellectual property rights that you will be bestowing to the franchise owner, again the consultant should guide you through this important process and there are many things to consider.

• Managing a Franchise Network – any good franchise consultant will explain the pros and cons to the business owner, franchising a business is not the panacea to all problems and issues that exist in a company, in fact, it is quite the opposite.  As a Franchisor you are in effect starting another business, both businesses have to thrive and survive and for this to happen an experienced franchise consultant should guide you through the process both initially and on-going, this can be either finding suitable key individuals to manage and develop the franchise or, as we often find, individuals within the company that have the potential to grow and develop with the franchise operation, training these individuals is an important aspect that Gary provides.

Hopefully this brief introduction to developing a franchise business provides an insight into how Gary Rigby as an FDS Consultant, helps businesses to develop their existing business or concept because getting it right from day one will pay dividends both in the short and long term.  In essence, engage the best expert within franchising that your company can afford from the start.

Gary Rigby, Regional Director and Franchise Consultant has been involved in franchising for some 27 years, having successfully run and operated a franchise and worked with many high profile and prominent franchising brands.  Franchise Development Services (FDS) has been providing advice and guidance since 1981 to help both prospective and established Franchisors and Franchise Owners to succeed.

Fair and Equitable Reward for the Franchisor
The Franchisor’s relationship with their Franchise Owners is one of mutual co-operation to achieve the end result of success and profitability for all concerned.  There is much talk about a win – win situation in franchising, without a doubt successful Franchisors practice and embrace a true win – win scenario.

The Complete Business System
For the relationship to work the initial training provided and on-going support services need to encompass all aspects of the business to ensure that the Franchise Owners business remains successful and profitable.  There are a number of ways income can be derived from a franchise network but this needs to be proportional with the initial training and the associated support services both in the short and long term.

What are the income sources for a Franchisor?
The Franchise Package – this relates to a number of core deliverables and licensing rights that are provided to the Franchise Owner by the Franchisor, to help them succeed within their specific business.  It needs to be comprehensive enough to provide all the training, marketing, operational, sales or, indeed, service activities of the business; it also needs to provide them with what is known as a “turnkey” operation or a complete “Business in a Box”.

The initial franchise fee needs to cover the cost of the core deliverables, associated licences, the related training and to provide the initial support and assistance for the development of the franchise network.

Group Concessions
As with any business there can be commercial advantages when buying a relatively large quantity of a particular product or service.  These so called commercial advantages can benefit both the Franchisor and Franchise Owner in developing each of their respective businesses, again a win – win approach is an essential part of this; I applaud a situation where a prospective Franchisor truly embraces this for the success of their network.

Commercial Premises
There are many ways that a Franchisor can assign commercial premises to the Franchise Owner if they so wish.  Often landlords have the commercial experience in negotiating rents that a start-up Franchise Owner does not possess; also consideration with regards to the freehold of premises and how this works with them.  Again, the commercial aspect of this needs to be fair and equitable to all concerned and should not be considered as a means of increasing the profitability for the Franchisor.

On-going Fees
There are specific ways of presenting and collecting on-going fees from the Franchise Owner by the Franchisor and a number of key decisions will need to be made at the early stages of franchising a business, remembering that all chargeable items in relation to the franchise offering will have an impact upon the decision of the Franchise Owner to proceed or not with the franchise proposition.  Again embracing a win – win situation with regards to these fees is vitally important both in the short and long term, at the end of a Franchise Agreement.  The Franchise Owner should be happy to renew the agreement and continue with the successful relationship between Franchisor and Franchise Owner.

There are a number of franchise fees or levies which could be payable to a Franchisor and these include, without limitation, advertising, software support or indeed any specific related costs to that particular type of franchise opportunity.

Having gained know-how and expertise throughout my career, I often find that there is a solution from another business sector which may fit an unrelated business, again providing a commercial advantage for the Franchisor; of course, confidentiality is always paramount to our business.  Gary offers a complimentary discussion, without fee or obligation to explore the possibilities of working together in developing a bespoke franchise opportunity.