Coconut Creatives have just secured an exceptional guest speaker to speak at our ‘Public speaking and presenting skills’ workshop on 17th September. Celia Delaney will be helping us to deliver this workshop with her expert knowledge and experience on the dreaded topic of public speaking!
Celia is one of the UK’s top speaking trainers for people who want to promote their business through speaking. A regular speaker for the Academy of Chief Executives, the Institute of Directors and Ashridge Business School, she is focused on one thing: to show you how to get people interested in what you have to offer when you speak.
Celia read Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, then joined Unilever’s graduate scheme and went on to be HR Director of one of their factory sites. She then trained as an actress and worked in stage & television for 5 years, before deciding to use all of her skills – Psychology, People and Performance – in setting up her own training and speaking business in 2007.
This is a great opportunity not only to gain knowledge from our experience in the franchise industry but to learn from other experts in their fields.
Contact us to book your place on our workshop or click here to find out more about the event.
“Since working with Celia I’ve now sold 90 franchises – I thank Celia for giving me some great skills and techniques to communicate my passion for my business. Celia totally delivered beyond my expectation – which in my eyes makes her exceptional.”
Sarah Cressall, The Creation Station
”Celia captivated an audience of 150 highly experienced professional speakers, consultants and business people. Her wonderful balance of humour, great content and audience engagement hit the right mark brilliantly.”
Demonstrating authority within your sector can be a very powerful tool. While establishing yourself as an industry expert may take some time, cultivating a reputation of authority for your brand will help you gain respect and develop trust with existing franchisees and can also help you recruit new franchisees!
When putting yourself as an expert in your field, it is important to build authority in a variety of different ways and to get your voice heard.
Watch our video to hear Sarah Carlile, Founding Director of Coconut Creatives to find out her top tips on building authority.
Coconut Creatives are always glad to help out a worthy organisation and, as the National Co-chairs of Encouraging Women into Franchising, widely known as EWIF, we were keen to lend a hand to organise last week’s NatWest EWIF awards. Having received a couple of EWIF awards ourselves, we were only too happy to support this great not-for-profit group.
With record attendance this year, the awards were a massive success and we’d like to congratulate each and every winner. Coconut Creatives led the event organisation with great support from Clive Sawyer, CEO of EWIF, Diane Wilson of Business Options and EWIF’s Regional Chairs. With over 10 years of experience in the franchise industry organising exhibitions, conferences and workshops, we know how to make an event go off with a bang!
Guest speakers included Rachel Elnaugh, a successful business woman who appeared on the first two series of Dragon’s Den and Andrew Taylor from NatWest, lead sponsors of the EWIF Awards. Both of their speeches gave us all food for thought and put the achievements of our award finalists into context.
“The EWIF awards are a great chance to celebrate the successes of so many women in the franchise industry and Coconut Creatives are extremely proud to be part of the organisation. We’d like to thank all the sponsors and the people who attended the event for making it such an inspiring day. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the National Conference in September,” explains Sally Anne Butters, Director of Coconut Creatives and National Co-chair of EWIF.
Snap-on, a client of Coconut Creatives, strengthens the bonds of their relationship with franchisees with the launch of their very own National Franchise Advisory Council (NFAC) for the UK and Ireland. This exciting forum gives franchisees an open channel of communication between themselves and the company. The NFAC is about management and franchisees working together to improve Snap-on’s offering to franchisees and their customers.
The NFAC is made up of eight franchisees plus two invited members all voted for by the franchisees themselves. The council hold a monthly conference call and two meetings per year and work alongside the team at Snap-on HQ. Involving the franchise network in company decisions helps Snap-on grow stronger with constructive comments, hands-on suggestions for improvements and the combined knowledge and strength of the franchise network.
Snap-on is the world’s number one professional tool brand. They are the leading global manufacturer and distributor of tools for the professional technician. Franchisees deliver gold-standard, premium products to technicians up and down the country. Snap-on’s fantastic business offers you the chance to be your own boss whilst being supported by an elite team of experts.
“Whilst we cannot promise to change the world with a wave of a wand, our belief is that with proper open discussion and sharing of ideas, real improvements can be made to the benefit of all involved. This has certainly been the experience of our colleagues both in the US and Canadian NFAC’s,” Lisa Law, Snap-on’s National Franchise Manager.
Snap-on franchisees are so successful because they are passionate about their business and the growth of the network as a whole. All council members play a constructive role in helping Head Office build a stronger and more profitable business for the future for all concerned.
“We recognise that it’s the franchisees who are out on the street every day and they know the problems that come up on a day to day basis. This makes them the best people to come up with the solutions to the problems and share them with the management team. It creates a win-win situation and means we can strengthen the company together, as a unit. Our franchisees are not treated as numbers, we recognise each and every one of them as individuals who are trying to build good businesses and support their families so they need to have an input into how the business is run – the more minds the better!” adds Lisa Law.
Snap-on offer an outstanding training and support programme designed to launch and grow your business quickly and with maximum impact. Before you even turn on the engine of your custom built mobile store, there is an exclusive territory full of professional tool users just waiting for you to call in. You don’t have to wait for the customers to come to you because Snap-on find your customer base before you even start. Their aim is: to empower you with the tools for success.
Mr. Electric, a client of Coconut Creatives, has recently plugged two extra people into their franchise support team. Dave Galvin and James Mooney have both joined the head office support team boosting the help on offer to Mr. Electric franchisees.
Dave has a varied career background and uses his range of skills and knowledge to offer Mr. Electric franchisees the finest support to build profitable businesses across the network. James is responsible for helping franchisees maintain constant communication with their customers and with helping to build and maintain brand presence both in the UK and in each franchise territory.
“At the moment everything’s all very new and exciting. I’ve been working in the franchise industry for a long time so it’s an industry I know well but this is a completely new service sector for me. I spend most of my time working with franchisees to help them grow their businesses through financial monitoring and understanding the finances of their businesses. I help them to grow through lead generation and new business generation,” explains Dave.
“My time is split 50/50 between supporting the franchisees and working on franchise recruitment. I help franchisees with generating new business and maintaining constant communications with their customers in order to help bring in repeat business. I also help the franchisees with building their social media platforms and finding opportunities to make sure they’ve got a good presence in their local areas,” adds James.
“It’s great to work with the franchisees so closely. I’ve met all of them now and they’re all very keen to develop their businesses with my help. They accept that you’re there to help and not to interfere. They’ve all been very receptive to the idea which makes my job much easier,” explains Dave.
“We create a profit and loss for each and every franchisee. They monitor where they think they are and where they actually are. Philip Milburn, Head of Mr. Electric UK, and I go and visit them once every quarter to have a formal review and look at where they have to be and where they’re aiming to be. It’s early days at the moment but this financial planning and management is what sets our franchisees apart from many independent electrical businesses. You’ve got to have something to aim for so that you know where you’re going,” adds Dave.
Mr. Electric is part of the global franchising giant, The Dwyer Group and, as such, benefits from being seen as the go-to supplier of electrical services; appealing to the domestic and commercial customers as well as household names such as The AA, B&Q and British Gas. Franchisees supply contractors for all aspects of electrical servicing and maintenance work but have also become renowned for their innovative energy-saving products that cut household bills and help businesses to meet energy-saving targets.
“I think Mr. Electric offers a great opportunity for franchisees to be recognised as part of a huge service brand in the UK. There’s a huge opportunity to build up brand presence and franchisees can leverage the brand reputation and generate business for the long-term,” adds James.
Both James and Dave have very different roles within the Mr. Electric support team but it’s clear to see that they are both dedicated to developing the Mr. Electric franchise and supporting the franchisees to achieve their ambitions.
The electrical services market predicts growth of just over £2 billion to £20.6 billion in the four years up to 2018. Mr. Electric franchisees are positioned perfectly to take advantage of this growth using the huge benefits of their energy-saving products to win new business and secure long-term contracts.
Sally Anne Butters, Director at Coconut Creatives, has her very own speaking slot at this year’s International Franchise Expo in New York.
Why Franchising? How Women Can be Successful in Today’s Franchising Marketplace
Thursday, 18th June 2015- 12:15pm – 1:30pm
Franchising is not a business opportunity for men alone. More and more franchise owners are women – women who are extremely successful and making a difference. Learn from some of the savviest female franchise leaders, representing a wide variety of backgrounds, who chose franchising for their career path. Why did they look to franchising? What have been their biggest challenges and how did they overcome them? What are the rewards? What would they do over again? Hear real stories, personal experiences, best practices and lessons learned from an elite group of female franchise founders/CEOs and franchisees. By attending this session, you will walk away with the following: insights about franchising and determining whether it is the right fit for you; who can help you learn more about franchising and the steps necessary to become a successful franchise owner; tips for overcoming obstacles in launching a successful franchise business.
Moderator: Melanie Bergeron, CFE, IFA Chairwoman and Chair of the Board, Two Men And A Truck International, Inc.
Speakers: Marla Topliff, President, Rosati’s Franchising, Inc; Renee Maloney, CFE, Owner, Painting with a Twist, LLC.; Sally Anne Butters, Director, Coconut Creatives; Maureen Nickel, CSA, Owner BrightStar Care of North Shore Nassau County
If you’d like to talk to Sally while she’s there why not contact us?
speaking and presenting skills’ workshop on 17th September. Celia Delaney will be helping us to deliver this workshop with her expert knowledge and experience on the dreaded topic of public speaking!
Sally Anne Butters, Director at Coconut Creatives, has her very own speaking slot at this year’s International Franchise Expo in New York.