Dec 20, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Smith & Henderson, a specialist franchise research firm, has announced today the winners of the inaugural Best Franchise Awards. This follows an industry-wide study of franchisee satisfaction, involving over 1,000 existing franchisees, to understand what franchisors best deliver on their promises, training, support, financial and non-financial rewards.
“With almost 1,400 different franchise opportunities available in the UK, prospective franchisees are faced with an overwhelming challenge when trying to find the very best franchise opportunities,” said Steven Frost, Partner at Smith & Henderson. “What makes these awards unique is they are based on what the real experts think – actual franchisees who work in those businesses day-in-day-out and their first hand experiences. The four franchisors recognised in this year’s awards are in an elite group and represent the very best franchise opportunities in the UK today.”
The industry-wide study of franchisee satisfaction, known as the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark, involved gathering feedback from over 1,000 franchisees. Questions included everything from training and support, the actual franchise system, the relationship with their franchisor, the value of the franchise and ongoing management fees, and how the rewards on offer compared to their expectations. Franchisors from all corners of commerce participated, ranging from children’s sports coaching to business coaching; from lawn care to domiciliary care; and from retail to accountancy.
Presented with the awards were:
Overall Best Franchise: Puddle Ducks
Puddle Ducks provides baby and children swimming classes and has 19 franchisees in the UK. As the Best Overall Franchise, Puddle Ducks received the best overall feedback from its franchisees.
Jo Stone, Co-Founder said, “We commissioned the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark survey to get feedback from our franchisees to see what improvements could be made to our systems, with no thoughts about winning awards at all. We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to win such prestigious awards amongst such tough competition. Winning the Overall Best Franchise is just fantastic endorsement from our franchisees that our training, systems and every other aspect of our franchise is of a high standard within the industry.”
Best Training & Support: TaxAssist Accountants
TaxAssist Accountants provide tax accountancy services and advice through over 200 offices in the UK and Ireland. Recognised as having the Best Training & Support, TaxAssist franchisees rated the quality of its initial training and support, head office, marketing and franchisee-to-franchisee support the best in the UK.
David Paulson, Franchise Recruitment Manager said, “At TaxAssist Accountants we have invested in the resources to provide training and the right level of support to ensure our network can build profitable businesses. Being recognised with this award and knowing it is the result of the opinion of our network is testament that our training works!”
Best Franchise System: Home Instead Senior Care
Home Instead Senior Care provides award-winning home care to elderly people, allowing them to stay in their homes for as long as possible. It has almost 100 franchisees in the UK and these rated its services, systems, brand and approach to innovation as the best in the UK.
Dan Archer, Marketing Director said, “We are delighted to have been recognised as a winner in the Best Franchise Awards 2011 – Best Franchise System. As the results of these awards were based solely on the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark survey conducted amongst franchise owners from many established brands, we are very proud to be recognised as a leader in the eyes of our franchisees.”
Most Recommended Franchise: Puddle Ducks
94% of Puddle Ducks’ franchisees would recommend its franchise to a prospective franchisee – the highest in the UK.
Best Growing Franchisor (franchisors with 8-14 franchisees): Jasper’s Online
Jasper’s Online provides corporate catering throughout the UK. It was rated the best franchisor with less than 15 franchisees (a minimum threshold for entering the main awards).
Nathan Siekierski, Director, said, “Being able to compare your franchise model to the industry standard is something new and refreshing in the franchising world. Winning an award based on franchisee opinions is the icing on the cake and makes the hard work of the Jasper’s team worthwhile.”
Best Franchise Conference Seminars
As well as the awards, franchisors benefited from seven best practice seminars from:
- Smith & Henderson
- The Franchising Training Centre
- O2
- The Alternative Board
- Puddle Ducks
- Home Instead Senior Care
- Coconut Creatives
These were attended by over 50 franchise professionals and designed to help them improve franchisee satisfaction and develop even stronger franchise networks. Matt Trevor-Roper, from Toni & Guy, summed up the day: “A fantastic opportunity to go behind the scenes and find out other businesses’ approaches to running a successful franchise operation,” while Dan Archer, Home Instead Senior Care said, ““A really valuable discussion of franchising best practice – book next year now!”
With a dozen additional franchisors already registered to participate in the 2012 Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark that did not take part in 2011, Smith & Henderson is on target for 80 franchisors to participate in 2012 as the programme becomes a key feature in UK franchising.
Oct 18, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives client, Goldshield launched in the UK last month! Goldshield is a new technology which was introduced to the UK public for the first time at the Infection Prevention Society Exhibition in September. This disinfectant is unlike any other disinfecting or bacteriostatic agents that will provide a long 
term residual protection on surfaces, equipment and textiles, mitigating the spread of infectious diseases.
IP 2011 hosts the largest infection prevention and control exhibition in the UK, and is now classed as the major IP event of the year. It attracted over 700 delegates, around 150 exhibitors and an array of speakers covering all areas around infection prevention.
To assist with the UK launch Goldshield appointed Coconut Events, a division of Coconut Creatives marketing company, to manage all pre-event logistics and on-site management.
The 
show was a huge success for Goldshield leaving with over 220 leads and being shortlisted for the Best Stand in the large category.
Sep 5, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Driver Hire franchisee takes success into his own hands
Gee Bains owns Driver Hire’s franchise in South East London. Based in Cannon Wharf, his office is part of a nationwide network of almost 100 offices, specialising in providing recruitment services to the logistics sector. Driver Hire supplies some 3,000 personnel each day, mainly drivers and other logistics staff, to organisations in the public and private sectors.
Gee bought his franchise in May 2010 and is a fast-rising new star at Driver Hire. Recently named the network’s Office of the Month, in only his first full year of trading, Gee is on track for annual sales in excess of £700,000 – close to the Driver Hire average of £735,000. This performance is even more impressive when you consider that it is more than twice the £353,000 average turnover for a franchise in the UK, as revealed by the latest bfa/NatWest industry survey.
So how did Gee, still in his early 30s, come to choose to invest in a franchise, and more specifically in Driver Hire? His background is in IT and he had worked for a leading City law firm for over ten years. However, an entrepreneurial spirit was obviously lurking just below the surface – Gee’s father has his own successful business – and once the decision was made to become self-employed, there was no turning back.
Personal Recommendation
“I’d been looking for an investment opportunity for some time, and in fact had first spoken to Driver Hire a couple of years earlier, but the right opportunity wasn’t available at the time. A good friend of mine, Manjit Singh, is the owner of Driver Hire Enfield and he recommended the business to me. I knew how successful Manjit had become and naturally that appealed to me. Manjit is responsible for his own success of course, but he also explained how valuable being part of a successful franchise had been to him, especially through the recession. The package of support that Driver Hire provides really is second-to-none. It’s a franchise with a 50-strong Head Office team, all dedicated to helping make your business a success.”
Extensive Support Package
Driver Hire is a B2B management franchise, operating in a highly legislation and compliance-led industry. Over the years there has been an enormous investment on the part of the franchisor in ensuring that all of its franchisees have a detailed understanding of the relevant rules and regulations, but also in developing systems, processes and training that make day-to-day operations as uncomplicated as possible. This in turn enables the network to deliver market-leading quality standards.
The extensive package of support includes: administrative functions such as invoicing and payroll; a bespoke IT system which takes care of bookings, candidate and customer records, and helps to ensure legislative compliance; a National Accounts team, which delivers centrally-won business opportunities; a Marketing team providing a steady stream of professional marketing resources; and a dedicated Area Development Manager. Franchisees who follow the system and operate their business effectively can take home 10-12% of turnover and of course, build up significant capital value as their business grows.
Keeping it Simple
“It’s actually quite a simple business,” says Gee. “Recruitment is just bringing people together – finding the best match between people who are looking for work, with other people who need staff. We now also have a thriving additional revenue stream in driver training. What I love about my business is the fact that every day is different. I get a real buzz from helping my customers; sorting out their problems and helping them achieve what they are trying to do. The rewards are excellent too. If you are well organised, with great people skills and have the determination to build your own successful business, you should take a closer look at Driver Hire.”
You can find out more about the Driver Hire franchise opportunity by calling 0844 846 0031. Alternatively, visit www.driverhire.co.uk/franchise or email franchise@driverhire.co.uk
Sep 5, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Assist with Solutions keeps SMEs on the road to success!
There are over 4.5 million businesses in the UK, each with specific and different needs. Over 3 million of these are in the Small to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) sector and are looking for ways to expand without having to commit to employing new staff and expensive training programmes. Traditionally, SMEs look to organisations such as Business Link for advice but the reduction in Government grants and the withdrawal of funded support like Business Link, means that SMEs are now looking to the private sector for solutions.
Assist with Solutions is a business consultancy franchise that is filling this role in a sector now worth £10 billion; providing support to business owners wanting to develop and grow. At some point during their business cycle, companies need help in areas such as marketing, operations, finance or I.T. Assist with Solutions help them identify what they need and when, then they work with them to help make it happen. They help their clients to make money, save money and save time.
Andy MacDonald, MD of Assist with Solutions, explains: “We help business owners to achieve their dreams, goals and ambitions. It’s a little bit of business magic! Setting them free from the daily operational and growth headaches.”
MD Pipeline Services Ltd is one of UK’s top providers for sewer desilting, inspection, cleaning and repair, their MD David Evans explains: “We needed help to get our business model from the idea stage to the marketplace and the assistance we received from Assist with Solutions has enabled us to secure the funding the business needed to achieve its strategic objectives.”
Andy adds: “We are currently achieving up to 50% net profit margins and so that we can continue our excellent level of support to win and keep clients, we are only looking to recruit 10 franchisees in 2011.”
To register for a discovery day or find out more email andy.macdonald@assistwithsolutions.co.uk or call 0844 669 8827.
Aug 8, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Adept Cleaning Services trades well on its reputation
Adept Cleaning Services’ founder, Alan Thomson, knew from the outset that if he wanted to gain an edge over the competition, it would take an exceptional level of service…and he’s succeeded. The business, which has been providing a flexible, reliable cleaning service for commercial and industrial premises for 17 years, boasts a high level of client retention and was franchised in 2007. Adept itself, as Franchisor, is an Associate Member of the British Franchise Association and has obtained ISO 9001 accreditation for its Quality Management System.
First franchisee is credited with award
In the Summer of 2010, Adept was delighted to learn that its cleaning service had been credited with having made a significant contribution to The Beatles Story in Liverpool winning Best Large Visitor Attraction at The Mersey Partnership’s annual awards ceremony.
“Your company played a huge part in this, as we were showcased as a Quality venue and the level of cleanliness was particularly mentioned in the report. Please can you thank all your staff on our behalf.” Mary Chadwick, General Manager Commercial, The Beatles Story.
Keep ahead of the competition
When Michael Holt became Adept’s first franchisee, four years ago, there were six other new cleaning companies that started up in his area at around the same time. Today, Michael is the only one still trading and he’s grown the business quickly, already turning over £500,000 with a pre-tax profit of around 20%. He puts his success down to having the right business model and reputation, which has resulted in most of his new business now coming from referrals.
“It is testimony to the hard work of the Adept team that the Floral Pavilion still looks as good as when it first opened in 2008. All their staff are flexible, courteous, friendly and always willing to go that extra mile for us and we truly value Adept as part of the Floral Pavilion family.” Kate Carpenter, Commercial Manager of the Floral Pavilion Theatre & Conference Centre
Want to join the Adept family?
Having already expanded from the Birmingham area into Liverpool, Warrington and Chester, and won some sizeable and prestigious contracts – including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and an office premises contract worth £80,000 a year – Adept is keen to take on more franchisees who will expand the operation further afield.
To find out more about becoming part of this well-respected and profitable management franchise, contact Alan Thomson on 01827 287100 or alan@adeptcleaninggroup.co.uk
Aug 8, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Assist with Solutions takes a look at the business support market
There are over 4.5 million businesses in the UK, each with specific and different needs. Over 3 million of these are in the Small to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) sector and are looking for ways to expand without having to commit to employing new staff and expensive training programmes. Traditionally, SMEs look to organisations such as Business Link for development opportunities but the reduction in Government grants and the withdrawal of funded support like Business Link, mean that SMEs will need to look to the private sector for solutions.
Assist with Solutions is a business consultancy franchise that is filling this role in a sector now worth £10 billion; providing support and advice to business owners wanting to develop and grow. At some point during their business cycle, companies need help in areas such as marketing, operations, finance or I.T. Assist with Solutions help them identify what they need and when, then they work with them to help make it happen. They help their clients to make money, save money and save time.
Andy MacDonald, MD of Assist with Solutions, explains: “We help business owners to achieve their dreams, goals and ambitions. It’s a little bit of business magic! Setting them free from the daily operational and growth headaches.”
Assist with Solutions has developed a simple-to-follow system for their franchisees that provides predictable results with the additional benefit of tapping in to over 50 years collective industry experience. Their training gives franchisees all of the management tools they need to be operational within six weeks. Franchisees operate in a Managing Director style position, so previous Directors and Managers of any business types are ideal for this franchise. They look out for prospective franchisees with certain key attributes:
- A good understanding of how a business operates
- Previous Management or Director experience
- Enjoy working in the B2B environment with clients & suppliers
- Enthusiasm to run a business & work with other business owners
- Passion to work on a business as much as in a business
- A drive to achieve success!
Andy adds: “We are currently achieving up to 50% net profit margins and so that we can continue our excellent level of support to win and keep clients, we are only looking to recruit 10 franchisees in 2011.”
To register for a discovery day or find out more email andy.macdonald@assistwithsolutions.co.uk or call 0844 669 8827.
