The franchise industry in the UK is flourishing and it has a very important role to play in the economic growth of the nation currently. You can opt for any kind of franchise; it may be one which has a perfect work plan and a product that is instantly marketable. You do however need to be well-versed with the risks associated with the running a franchise prior to investing in one.

The role of the business owner

In a franchise, the business owner runs the franchisor’s business under his/her company’s name and rules. The franchisor is the owner of the business and the franchisee is the one who runs it by using the franchisor’s company image.

The advantages of buying a franchise

One of the simplest ways to gain profits and be successful is to have a franchise. In many cases, the brand image and recognition is taken care of by the parent company. The only aspect that the franchisee needs to look into is acquiring customers and selling the products to them.

Most franchisors have a functioning system which helps you run the business.

Types of franchise business

Franchise business can be split into three types, the business format, the franchising type and the distributorship. The business format is the most common format and here the franchisee is provided with training regarding the service or product. The franchising type is where the franchisor sells the trade name to the franchisee. The distributorship is the last and third type, the original parent organisation provides the rights to sell its products.

Thus it is completely your decision about the type of format that would suit your franchise.

If you are planning to buy a franchise business, you should know that it is one of the best methods to run a business successfully. It is not easy for everyone to run a business smoothly and take into account all the decisions you need to make on a daily basis.

What is franchising?

The definition of franchising differs from business to business. One of the most common forms of franchising is the business format of franchising. This occurs when a business owner readily agrees to offer a license to another person or business. This is the franchise, and that person is then allowed to use the original businesses data in a particular area.

As soon as the business is bought, the franchisee can than sell the products of the franchisor but only by following the name and trademark of the franchisor’s company. This can benefit the brand image of the franchisor and increase sales nationally. In return, the franchisee pays a fee and takes a percentage of the royalty on sales.

Other types of franchisees:

• Distributorship and dealership – Here, you can sell products but it is not obligatory to use the franchise name and you have more liberty in managing the business.
• Agency – You just need to sell the services or goods on behalf of the dealer.
• Licence – A licence provides you with the right to produce and sell products from the franchisor. In such cases, there are no limitations on how to run the business.

When INVEST Essex’s inward investment department of Essex County Council required 1000 completely customised USB flash drives quickly, Graham Marshall and his team at Recognition Express in Essex stepped up to the challenge of manufacturing them in just seven days. This task also included importing the flash drives from China.

Putting the Express in Recognition Express, Graham pulled out all the stops to ensure the USB sticks arrived promptly. Graham said it was essential for them to get the order completed quickly. As Chinese New Year was around the corner, it could mean a huge delay in the shipment of these flash drives from the Far East.

The entire team was aware of this and everyone from the team worked really hard to ensure that the USB sticks were with INVEST Essex on time. Invest Essex’s Marketing Development Manager; Paul Martin said Graham and his team at the Recognition Express Essex did an extraordinary job. He also said that they gave Graham and his team a very tight deadline. However, meeting the deadline was not a problem.

Paul further continued, making the point that USB sticks were essential for their marketing campaign in order to get more business, and they are really very thankful to Recognition Express that they had them ready on time. Essex is hoping for a boom in business with the imminent arrival of the London 2012 Games.

It is a new beginning for 29 year old Gill Brown, who recently started her new business, FASTSIGNS Derby this January. Gill was born in Crich, and presently lives in Church Gresley (close to Swadlincote). She left her job with a European IT solution company to become her own boss. Gill used to work as a Bid Manager.

Gill said that she really fancied going into the signage industry as she thought it was a solid business. People always need signs. She said that she is really excited about the future and meeting her initial customers. Gill’s previous job was quite demanding and she wanted to spend some quality time with her husband Steve.

Steve, who works for the RAC, has more than 35 years of experience in sales management and will be a helpful support to Gill in her latest venture. While Steve will still be working with the RAC as National Operations Manager, he will also offer coaching and mentoring support to Gill.

FASTSIGNS Derby provides an all inclusive range of graphics and signage to businesses, from exterior to interior signs, banners and posters to vehicle graphics and POS products. Gill’s lifelong friend, Sarah Godney will also be joining the business, and will be in charge of Customer Services and Relations and also the Company Secretary as well. Sarah’s husband Paul will also join in the position of Creative Designer. Paul has more than 10 years of knowledge in the graphics industry and served his apprenticeship as a printer in the early 90’s.

If you have decided to try your hand at franchising and open a franchise, you must know that there are several opportunities you can take advantage of. Many franchise businesses will fall under the most widely and popularly owned franchise sectors, such as retail, food, service, automobile, real estate, management and travel etc.

There are these franchise services that help you find your match of business sector by conducting a personality test. This test is carried out on the basis of certain points such as time management, leadership, customer service and others. Some people possess natural sales qualities and some are good at managing employees, some are aggressive leader types who encourage the staff or there are those who like working behind the scenes.

Most personality qualities are based on behavioural characteristics unlike some others, which are skill based. There are some franchise people who are educationally inclined while some are entrepreneurial types who are highly motivated. There are franchise opportunities for every person who plans to enter this field. The possibilities are endless and the profits gained are pleasing. Your education type and personality would help you choose the right direction and consider taking a test that assists you in making the right choice of franchise option.

If you are convinced that you possess the qualities and skills to make a good franchise operator you might as well take the plunge and see for yourself the benefits derived from this business.

Franchising is one of the most popular modes of conducting business nowadays. However, certain misconceptions pertaining to the franchising business keeps the budding businessmen away from this popular method. Several individuals feel that they should have a prior knowledge and experience concerning the business. However, on the contrary, individuals can start a franchising business without prior experience.

Previous experience can certainly prove to be an added bonus to the individuals. However, the franchisor usually imparts their knowledge and provides training and support to the franchisee. Franchisors teach the intricate details pertaining to handling of business. The training provided by the franchisor ensures that the franchisee can handle the business within a certain time period. This is the case with the majority of large fast food and retail franchises.

The franchisee usually has to pay training or start up fees to the franchisor. The training session will begin from the basics and the franchisor will help the franchisee in the following departments:

• Selection of appropriate location for the firm
• Draft of a business plan
• Marketing techniques
• Negotiation of funding packages with lenders
• Technical support
• On-field training

Franchising has also a low risk value compared to the traditional methods of conducting business. However, it is advisable that the franchisee conducts a detailed study before arriving at a decision. It is evident from the above features of franchising that this method can yield the desired business results for budding businessmen.

The British Franchise Association or BFA was established in 1977 by various leading franchises in UK. This association helps to promote franchising in UK. It is an ethical and fair community that helps in setting some rules and standards for all the franchisees and franchisors.

Learn about British Franchising Association

One of the best things about BFA is that it provides services and advice to all their members. For this, the BFA has hired professionals such as solicitors, accountants and also experienced franchisees. With the help of an online resource, all the members of this association can read various publications based on franchising in the UK. They also offer franchisor guides, survey reports and other information packs. N addition to all this, the BFA holds seminars for educating and advising the franchisees and franchisors.

The BFA is also known for conducting annual surveys which contains all the latest statistics about the franchising world in UK. These surveys and reports are reliable to know about franchising trends. BFA also announces annual franchisor and franchisee awards. This has an impact on the performance of franchisors and franchisees to some extent.

According to the latest reports, the franchising industry in UK has been growing rapidly over the last few years. The total number of franchises which are operating in UK has gone up by 60%. At present, there are 759 franchises in the UK, which has more 364,000 working employees. The yearly turnover of the whole industry is around £15 billion. So, investing in franchising is a perfect option for earning profits without any risk.

Selecting a franchise is indeed a difficult decision. Franchising, like any other business method, contains certain risk factors. This is the reason why it is recommended that the franchisee conducts a detailed study before selecting any particular franchise. You can now reduce the number of risks with the help of a solicitor.

Such professionals with legal knowledge will help you in the selection process. It is important that you select a skilled professional that is well versed in commercial and franchising law as well. Generally, individuals fail to understand the legal intricate details involved with this business method. Solicitors simplify the legal matter for the interested individuals. Such legal attorney services are rather inexpensive. In addition, their services will certainly help you in the long term.

Purchasing a franchise involves several legal considerations and the prospective franchisee should understand all the details before signing an agreement with the franchisor. The legal solicitor will help you to resolve all the potential doubts that might create a problem at a later stage. Therefore, such doubts need to be cleared before arriving at any decision. Some of the tasks that the solicitor will perform are as follows:

• Checking the terms of the of the contract
• Ensuring that the franchisee benefits via the agreement
• Examining the financial details such as the franchising fees
• Discussing details such as location, marketing and trademark issues

Therefore you can eliminate the potential business risks thanks to the expert view of the solicitor. Seek the help of a legal solicitor and invest in a franchise.

If you are planning to invest in a business then franchising is a perfect option for you, as it offers more benefits over self-owned business. Before investing, you need to make sure that the franchisor is a well-known brand in the market. In addition to this, you can also enjoy faster start-up than with an independent business.

According to records, franchise businesses have seen more than a 90 percent success rate. One of the best things about franchising is that it requires minimal amount of finance which is not the case with a self-owned business. This is possible because the franchisor provides the franchisee with various advertising materials.

Here are some of the benefits which are offered by franchising:

First of all, banks provide loans to franchises more readily, as they are more stable than independent businesses. Other than this, as a franchisee, you can enjoy the benefits of national advertising. Generally, franchisors choose a medium which helps them to advertise their products. This will ultimately help you to increase sales and gain profits.

In addition to this, franchisors will also train you and your employees. This helps you to run the business smoothly. Moreover, they also offer their marketing strategies, accounts and customer base to franchisees to increase sales.

Technical support is one of the best things which is offered by franchisors. For instance, if anything goes wrong in your system, then the franchisor will send their technical team immediately to fix it. Thus, managing a franchise store is simpler and more beneficial in comparison to starting up a business of your own.

Farzana Parkar is the new franchisee for the London borough of Ealing for CityLocal. She was earlier a journalist and has worked for Fabulous Magazines. She invested in this franchise as CityLocal offered her with great opportunities.

According to Farzana Parkar, the CityLocal franchise is one of the best franchises and she likes the whole idea of helping local businesses. She worked in marketing for six years and she is impressed with the business model of CityLocal.

She also said that the head office of the CityLocal is very helpful and has fulfilled several needs and answered the many questions of franchisees. She is looking forward to the new venture and wants to develop a successful business in Ealing, London.

At present, you will find that the CityLocal community site offers various startup packages which are lower in cost. This will help most new franchisees in the initial stages to set their business up quickly. In addition to this, the products and marketing of CityLocal is amazing. This means that if you are looking for some home based businesses with lower overheads then go for CityLocal.