Molly Maid franchise, the most experienced and reputed domestic cleaning company of the UK, has planned a celebration of the release of the famous offbeat comedy film ‘Sunshine Cleaning’ by teaming up with all local cinemas across the UK. The film which stars Amy Adams and Emily Blunt is scheduled for general release on June 26.

Molly Maid has announced a prize for one lucky winner. Local press and local cinema halls are advertising this competition in which the winner will be presented with a voucher by Molly Maid, who will visit his or her house and clean from top to bottom until it sparkles.

Molly Maid, which is one of the most experienced and well known domestic cleaning companies in the UK, has been serving people for the last 25 years. Molly Maid franchise is very excited to be teaming up with this hilarious comedy film. According to Pam Bader, Molly Maid is a strong and famous brand in the UK and partnerships of this kind further strengthen Molly Maid’s brand awareness nationally.

Domestic cleaning services have acquired more importance in people’s lives and are becoming an essential element of the household budget. With the busy nature of peoples’ daily lives these days, people now resent spending their free time on domestic work. More and more people are seeking Molly Maid’s high quality, reliable services to keep their homes ever sparkling.

Molly Maid is celebrating growth of its customer base with release of ‘Sunshine Cleaning’ and who knows you could be that lucky winner!

Starting a franchising business can be both exciting and frustrating and you may witness ups and downs. But you can easily get through bad times if you have determination and are never hesitant in asking for guidance and help from others. It is not just management of franchises, but the ownership of business which keeps you motivated to turn the tables in your favour under adverse circumstances.

Just ensure you have support teams in place and never shy away from seeking help from franchisors when you need it. One of the major reasons why franchises are so successful is the strong support that franchisors lend to their franchisees.

Support teams must be created from the very beginning of your franchise opportunity. Your first support team should be your family. Be sure that your family is fully behind you as you embark on a big mission which will bring a sea-change in your family’s lifestyle. There cannot be a bigger support network than your family when you pass through a tough time or need some encouragement while managing your franchise.

You should also make sure while selecting a franchisor that it has good support network. Franchises, as compared to independently run businesses, are more successful because their franchisors are already well established in business. Due to their experience in the business, franchisors usually already have solutions worked out for various problems. They offer great assistance to franchisees when needed.

There is also nothing wrong in establishing support networks with other franchisees of your franchisor. Take advantage of support that is available and ask for help without hesitation.

The Local Bookkeeper (TLBK) has announced the introduction of Discovery Days for finance and accountancy professionals. These will be used to give information about franchise opportunities for starting their own business.

In response to the demands of franchise companies, TLBK is organising ‘Discovery Days’ at their offices in West Sussex and Gatwick.

The initiative will allow qualified and experienced professionals to explore franchise opportunities and allow them to explore the idea of fulfilling aspirations of becoming their own boss.

TLBK has been holding one-to-one sessions with prospective franchisees, but it only led to a long list of people waiting for a meeting. It has now established that by allowing a larger group of around 20 professionals to participate in ‘Discovery Days’ both participants and the organisers will benefit in a bigger way. Participants will be given a choice to attend one-to-one sessions in the later part of the day after attending joint session. They will benefit hugely from both sessions.

The ‘Discovery Day’ schedule will include a seminar on overview of concept, values and packages of franchise, followed by talks from franchise solicitors, representatives of the British Franchise Association and affiliated banks on how they can help prospective franchisees on legal and funding aspects.

Professionals will also have the choice to attend afternoon sessions for technical and personal assessments by two of the management teams at TLBK. In this one-to-one session, participants will be able to discuss franchise ideas in more detail.

The first ‘Discovery Day’ will be held on July 8 and every month thereafter. No commitment will be sought during sessions from both the participant and franchisor. Those interested in attending the day to discover more about TLBK’s franchise opportunity, can fill up the form at: www.bookkeepingfranchise.co.uk/franchiseAppForm.asp.

After online submission of the form, the TLBK team will be in touch with further details.

Kall Kwik Brighton, based in St Joseph’s Business Park, Hove, was honoured at an international awards function earlier this month in the United States.

International Centre for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED) has recognised Kall Kwik Brighton, for outstanding sales in 2008 and conferred on it ICED Franchise System’s “The Best Print Franchise in the World” award.

Kall Kwik Brighton centre’s owner, Barry Cool, flew to Texas to receive the award at the ICED Awards Dinner, hosted on Saturday, June 20, which was attended by several delegates from across the globe.

After acquiring the centre in March 2007, Barry adopted an aggressive proactive approach which resulted in business growth of 55% in the first year itself and took the centre to top position in the UK rankings. The centre succeeded in repeating this extraordinary feat in 2008-2009 despite turmoil in the global economy. This outstanding performance clinched first place for the centre in the world rankings.

Barry has given his dedicated team the credit for producing extraordinary results.

He stated that the award is testimony to the centre’s belief that even in the hostile economic climate you can win new clients if you are able to offer reliable services with more value for money.

He thanked his Kall Kwik Brighton team, which he claimed worked incredibly hard with creativity and dedication for delivery of exceptional results.

Managing director Mike Dewsbury, congratulated Barry and his team for their fantastic achievement of outperforming all centres across the globe despite a recession.

Kall Kwik provides a wide range of services to businesses including design, print, exhibition boards and advertising materials.

People aspiring to start their independent business feel hesitant due to the risks associated with it. But franchising involves much less risk, as your franchise is strongly backed by a well established business model.
The following paragraphs describe the numerous advantages of franchising that may make you think seriously about buying a franchise.

Easy availability of funds: Funding is the biggest worry when you think of setting up any business. Franchising significantly minimises this problem. The biggest advantage of franchising is that a major part of the finance is available from the franchisor itself. You are usually required to pay an upfront fee of a few thousand dollars along with on-going royalty fees on a pro-rata basis of your gross sales.

No difficulty in locating property on lease: If you own a commercial property, you can put it to good use for your franchise. You will not only secure return on your property investment but also eliminate fluctuation in expenses on real estate. If you don’t own it, franchising puts you in an advantageous position, to find property on lease at affordable rates without much difficulty.

Quick returns from business: If you buy a franchise of a reputed brand, your returns start coming much early. The products or services of your franchisor being already known to customers, you don’t need to work to build up brand image.

Strong brand sells easily: On the basis of strong brand identity, your business can move faster and gain quick credibility in the market. The right to use a franchisor’s trade mark and brand name is one of the biggest advantages of franchising. This provides you huge savings on marketing expenses.

Additional support: A strong franchisor, apart from rendering financial assistance, provides an efficient trouble shooting service, regular training on services, products and marketing trends.

Buying a franchise minimises your risks, but you must investigate the credentials of the franchisor and study commercial terms of franchise agreement very carefully before you sign up.

A great route to the strong growth and expansion of your business is by franchising. Although it is not suitable for every business, you can take a decision by determining where you stand with respect to the following important aspects:

1. Will you be able to teach your business model to franchisees inexperienced in business?

2. What will be the cost of recruiting new franchisees?

3. What are the unique features of your business?

If you have answers to all these questions, then the next step is to seek advice on preparing a franchise agreement as this will be the cornerstone of your business. You should also seek advice on creating support systems, marketing strategy and training programs, from an expert professional.

Training can either be imparted by you or outside professional trainers. These professionals not only impart initial training but also lend ongoing support in the running of a business.

You can seek ideas on how to recruit the best marketing people and methods of marketing from experts in the franchise industry. Simply offering a franchise to anybody that has money cannot guarantee success. A franchisee should possess some knowledge and skill to manage a business.

In order to present your franchise project to banks for seeking finance to buy a franchise, you will need an accountant. Your funding agreement should be in place before starting the recruitment of franchisees. Banks do extend financial support to franchisees for buying your franchise.

To attract good franchisees you will have to present your franchise idea in a professional manner. Presentation and recruitment are equally important tasks. After recruiting the right franchisees, organise their training on basics of business and its management. And assist franchisees in the selection of a suitable location for their franchise.

If you consider all of these aspects, you may start and expand your franchise business to achieve better profitability and resounding success.

At the beginning of June, the Dream Doors franchise, which is the largest door replacement company in the UK, launched its latest flagship showroom in Waterlooville. Councillor Jackie Branson, the Mayor of Havant, was highly thrilled to be able to attend the occasion and cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the showroom.

Cllr Branson thinks it is unbelievable that Dream Doors has got assurance in the area of Waterlooville and Havant. The area requires new businesses to open during this downturn and it is fantastic that Dream Doors have commenced at this time. The newest showroom of Dream Doors is located just opposite the Friday market and so it should attract dozens of customers who are keen to know more about the services of the company.

Dream Doors’ operations director, Kelly Chambers said that there has been a lot of interest in the new showroom and before it even opened, they had given out over 250 brochures. People were knocking at the door and were eager to know what was going on. This gave them the confidence that they can easily secure market share in the area. Presently, Dream Doors owns more than 30 UK franchises and the expansion continues despite the economic downturn,

Troy Tappenden, founder and managing director of Dream Doors franchises, said that since opening their first local showroom about a decade ago, they have launched a number of franchised outlets and each and every franchise outlet is better than the previous one. He also said that he feels very proud to open their 3rd showroom in Hampshire, which is presently one of the best and biggest among the network.

The Ovenclean franchise has served for the entire Watts family, with wife, husband and also two sons being involved. Four years ago, when Mike Watts invested in the Ovenclean franchise, he never thought that franchising would become a real family affair. Initially, he involved his wife Janeane followed by his sons Daniel and Bryon. When asked, Mike said that he had not originally planned to build a family business but he is glad now that all of them are working together.

Mike previously had a small shop in his village and when it closed, he relocated his stock and for a time started looking after the newsagent side of the other store. However, he deeply missed having his own business and after realising that he had lost interest in retailing, he then started to look around for something that was completely different including franchise opportunities.

Mike’s wife Janeane said that they spotted the opportunity in Ovenclean franchise and thought it was very interesting. Before taking things ahead, they carried out research and surveys in order to find out how concerned people were in using a household oven cleaning service. After asking family, friends, colleagues and neighbours, they got an overwhelming response which encouraged them to visit the head office of Ovenclean and find out more about a franchising opportunity. After their visit to the company’s head office, Mike and Janeane were convinced. So they launched their franchise in June 2005. Since then, due to the profits they have made, the entire family has become involved.

The Texas Chicken company recently reported on responsesource.com that it is expanding its portfolio of Texas Chicken restaurant chain in the UK. Texas Chicken is the international brand franchisee of Atlanta based Church’s Chicken. Hugely popular in the USA, Church’s Chicken takes the form of Texas Chicken in the UK. New locations will include Walsall and Huddersfield with restaurants opening their doors this quarter.

Texas Chicken’s first UK franchise opened for business in February 2008, in a bid to step up the company’s profile into the European market in order to provide the consumer with another alternative to KFC.
Insider information shows that Texas Chicken is in the process of opening ten restaurants this year in the United Kingdom with another fifty in the pipeline for 2012 and beyond. The franchise model of Texas Chicken enables single franchisees to operate one or more restaurants.

Texas Chicken is a global fried chicken chain with more than 1600 locations in twenty one countries. Founded in 1952 in San Antonio, Texas it started its international expansion in 1979. Texas Chicken is known as Church’s Chicken in the United States and Texas Chicken in the rest of the world.

Despite of the global economic meltdown, Autosheen Professional Car Cleaning which is one of the top mobile valeting franchises in the UK still continues to shine. According to the Chief Executive, Lloyd Evans, the secret of Autosheen’s success lies in the highly professional approach and polished performance of both, their exclusive product range and their franchise owners.

The valeting marketplace is vast along and has untouched potential which is highly fragmented. There are a very few companies that offer a truly professional and high-quality services. Franchise owners of Autosheen are well trained to offer full valeting services that include clay barring (which is described as ‘exfoliation’ by Autosheen that is used for removing every last scrap before applying the polish for achieving an ideal mirror shine), tyre dressing and application of unique protective coatings to the upholstery and paintwork, giving an amazing showroom result that continues to please their existing customers.

The owners of franchisees are themselves dressed up in smart corporate work wear and they work from remarkably liveried vehicles that are fully equipped. They are also trained in sales and marketing techniques, so apart from impressing with the excellence of their valets, they are also able to professionally deal with their customers which can help to build a strong relationship. This will help to get repeated and regular bookings as well as recommendation to their family, friends and colleagues.