This is the latest article published by Nick Strong at Select Your Franchise, friends of Coconut Creatives.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee or EFG has been released by the government to help the banks to fund small and medium size businesses. This is good news for everyone thinking about buying and building their own franchise business in the UK. EFG replaces the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme.

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme capped lending to £250,000 and was very much focused on the small business. The government has identified that small and medium size business is in urgent need off access to capital at this time and has extended provision to medium size business as well as small.

Under the EFG scheme the government will guarantee 75% of any loans made, with the bank covering the remaining 25%. The guarantees will mean that the government, or taxpayers, will pick up three-quarters of the the tab for any bad loans.
In total, the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme will see the Government provide £1 billion of guarantees to support £1.3 billion of bank lending.

At a recent British Franchise Association (BFA) forum of franchisors and franchise suppliers Launa Smith of HSBC franchise department shared the following information about the government’s new Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.
The Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme could be the right solution for you if you are a business customer:
looking to increase your working capital
looking to start up, expand or diversify your business
Key features and benefits of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme are that it is:
a government guarantee which secures bank loans to any viable business with a sound borrowing proposal
available for sums of £10,000 to £1,000,000 – a £10,000 minimum is available to limited companies and a £25,000 minimum is available to sole traders and partnerships excluding LLPs.

The loan can be repaid over any period between three months and ten years, individually negotiated interest rates choice of fixed and varied interest rates a quarterly premium is payable to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).  The guarantee covers 75% of each qualifying loan. But for whom is the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme available?

The EFG is available for you if your business has an annual turnover of less than £25,000,000. Your business must trade and be based in the UK. Your main business activity must be in a sector approved by the BERR and the purpose of the loan must meet the BERR’s eligibility criteria, for example:
starting trading – new start up funding carries a 1.5% premium
developing a project
expanding an existing business
purchase of equipment
business will not exceed the European Community State Aid maximum, as a result of taking out an Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.

The key objective of the EFG is to help provide liquidity and business development capital to existing viable companies. A comprehensive business plan is required when applying for an EFG loan via the banks.

If a company already has a Small Loan Guarantee they can still quality for a EFG loan.
All loans are subject to status. Terms and conditions apply.
For more information have a look at www.hsbc.co.uk/business and www.businesslink.gov.uk/realhelp.
To research business format franchise opportunities in the UK visit www.SelectYourFranchise.co.uk and www.Business-Opportunities.net.

Coconut Creatives is proud to announce the launch of one of its latest clients, Drain Away.
Drain Away is one of the South’s premier plumbing and drainage companies having been trading successfully since 1990.  However, the company was not always this impressive size or shape.  It was very much the brainchild of Jason Carpenter, who started the company as the original “one man and his van”, shortly after having completed his apprenticeship.

Having successfully built the company up from nothing, aside from hard work and commitment, Jason and his team at Drain Away are looking for like-minded individuals rather than trained plumbers to share in their ambitious expansion plans for 2009.

Drain Away offers all their franchisees a comprehensive three-week training programme.  The training programme, which is held in their HQ in Bournemouth, Dorset, has been specifically developed for the needs of the novice plumber.

Coconut Creatives Marketing Specialists, Victoria Bel Gil and Sarah Cook have been working with the directors to prepare for the launch by creating a franchise recruitment marketing plan. “The Drain Away franchise offers so much, including an incredible 15 day training programme,” explains Victoria.

The Franchisee fifteen-day training programme includes an induction to the Drain Away team and their customer service charter.   Franchisees are then taken step by step through what’s involved in the marketing and recruitment of new customers.  They learn about the enquiry to invoice administration system that Drain Away have developed to ensure franchisees will definitely not be distracted from making money by lengthy administration processes.

The majority of the training involves developing practical skills in drainage and plumbing.  In addition to learning the techniques in the traditional classroom setting each franchisee will spend 5 days reviewing and practicing at the Drain Away on-site plumbing and drain practice areas which include a real life residence with mocked up plumbing mishaps to fix and dummy drainage system to practice unblocking drains with the onboard van jetter and CCTV cameras.

Following training at the Drain Away’s Head Office, the franchisee will spend time with a Drain Away Operative, attending jobs, giving them a taste of what it will be like running their own Drain Away Franchise.

“A strong feature of the Drain Away franchise is the support they offer franchisees. For example included in the training package is 3 full days on site shadowing with a Drain Away senior member of staff to accompany franchisees to jobs with the option of further days at an additional charge. There will always be someone at the end of a phone able to give advice, if required,” explains Franchise Your Business Consultant, Tim Mott who has prepared the business package for the franchise market.

Unlike so many other opportunities Drain Away does not have to rely upon a good economy to grow, much of their work is a distress purchase or insurance driven response, so their clients have a need and they chose the most responsive and customer friendly service – which is Drain Away.

Jason explains why,
“We don’t feel the doom and gloom of the credit crunch as many of our customers purchase because they have an emergency or because they are making an insurance claim and they know they are dealing with professionals”.

Drain Away are keen to hear from individuals that can be both hands on and manage a business; no former plumbing experience is required.  Drain Away would love to hear from you if you feel you could be the person to help them in 2009, develop into your local area. Maybe you’re worried about your future or just fancy a challenge…but most of all maybe you want to earn some serious money!

Franchise marketing specialists, Coconut Creatives embarked on a special kind of photo shoot recently with a ‘Charlie’s Angels’ theme to celebrate their growth.

The now six strong Coconut team consists of Directors Sarah and Christopher Cook and Marketing Specialists Sally Butters, Victoria Bel Gil and Sharon Kennedy along with Coconut in training, Stephanie Randell.

After an exceptionally busy year, the Coconuts went without a Christmas party. Now that the business has expanded with two new team members, the Directors decided it was time to celebrate and reward everyone’s hard work. “It is always very important to us that dedication and hard work is rewarded. Our team demonstrates exceptional levels of detail and commitment to each and every client account and we wanted to reward this in some small way,” explains Christopher Cook.

“The photo shoot was a lot of fun,” says Sarah who founded Coconut Creatives to offer specialist marketing advice to owner managed businesses and franchisors. “We also organised the shoot to capture images of the six of us together that we can use on our website and in literature in the future,” Sarah adds.

Just hours after Sarah and Stephanie had returned from a client’s book launch event in York, the Coconut party started with the photo shoot, followed by bubbly, nibbles and later a meal at Truffles Restaurant.

Newest Coconut, Sharon Kennedy started in January 2009 and has been working on client accounts with Sarah, Sally and Chris. “This really is a fantastic team of people to work with and I am looking forward to meeting more clients in the coming months,” says Sharon.

Coconut Creatives assist many franchisors with franchise recruitment, overall marketing and PR strategy. “Quite simply we have been very pleased in the work they have carried out for us,” explains Hugh James, Director for Murcia Villas and Resort Morocco.  “There has been an absolute commitment from the start to understand our particular business, establish how we could improve on our brand awareness and assist in completing the objectives of our franchise recruitment plan. All of which was achieved in 2008 and therefore we look forward to continuing our business relationship with Coconut Creatives throughout 2009.”

“We are honoured and delighted to be working with so many excellent and exciting franchise brands,” says Sarah Cook. “It has always been our goal to offer a professional franchise marketing service covering the areas of franchise recruitment, company branding and business development. And because we keep our consultancy fees low, our clients can afford to work with us over the long term, plus we occasionally get to let our hair down and throw a party!”

Coconut Creatives will again be offering free one 2 one consultancy clinics at this years Franchise Marketing Conference on the 17th September 2009. For further information about Coconut Creatives services or to reserve a space on one of the forthcoming free clinics email Sarah Cook at sarah@coconutcreatives.co.uk or visit www.coconutcreatives.co.uk

One of the Coconut Creatives team, Sally Butters was invited to speak at an annual conference for franchisees recently. Held in Birmingham, the conference was attended by all the franchisees from Coconut client Spettro, a buildings insurance claims management company.

Sally has been working with Spettro since October 2007 on their franchisee recruitment campaign and with 21 franchisees now running 27 territories across the UK it was time for their first annual franchisee seminar. So, as one of the Coconut’s Marketing and PR specialists, she relished the opportunity to mingle with the Spettro crowd and deliver their session on marketing to improve their business.

“People who know me would laugh as they say that I am not lacking in confidence! I am used to public speaking from my experience with new business pitches, media relations and delivering talks to lectures theatres of 200 students so this was a very tame crowd!”

The day was a great success and feedback from the attendees included requests for the annual event to become biannual so the directors at Spettro will be looking forward to organising the next event soon!

Sally answers questions in the break!

Sally presenting at Spettro’s Franchisee Seminar

by Nick Strong, MD of www.SelectYourFranchise.com

Like in any sales cycle the franchise sales manager needs to understand the process of managing the buyer and the psychology of buyer. All franchise buyers are driven by aspiration and need. The balance will often be determined by the economy. In times of high employment and job stability buyer enquiries normally deliver high aspiration individuals. In times of economic uncertainty forced unemployment and redundancy often provides buyers who have find a new we carrier.

In both cases the buyer is motivated and looking for a better way forward for their working lives. This is especially so during times of a slowing economy. At such times hard working and productive people can loose their jobs though no fault of their own. When redundancy strikes the once loyal employee can move towards a future where their fait is in their own hands. Franchising offers just that opportunity.

When a buyer first approaches a franchise business he is usually looking for reasons to buy and move forward. The closer the buyer moves to the ‘close’ the more he will look for reasons not to buy. This is normal psychology. The cost and commitment required by the franchisee is huge. A franchisee may have to put his house on the line to buy the franchise so belief in the franchisor and their business system must be absolute.

This means that the franchise sales manager must treat the buyer with great dignity and respect. The sales manager must providing the buyer with clear information and support during the buying process. This will inform the buyer just how he expects to be supported should he become a trading franchisee. A good business system alone is not enough. The franchisee is a ‘disciple of the brand’ he invests his time, money and effort into. He must trust the franchisor and identify strongly with the system’s products, services and values.

The most important attributes in any successful franchisee are:
Enthusiasm
Hard working
Follower of the proven system

It is vital therefore that during the recruitment process the franchise sales manager has a clear path for the buyer to follow. The reason for this is to demonstrate that the buyer can follow a system effectively. Early failure or disagreements on behalf of the buyer should set alarm bells ringing for the franchise sales manager.

Selling a franchise is not like selling a product. It is more like the process that leads to a long term contractual commitment such as marriage. Both sides better make sure that they can and want to work together as separation after contract can be messy, time consuming and expensive.

When franchise sales is done well both seller and buyer can do very well. Franchise business added £13 billion to the UK’s GDP according the the Nat West BFA franchise survey of 2008. Franchise business grew five times that of the UK economy during the same period according to the report. This all happened because motivated franchisees followed the franchisors well developed business models enthusiastically and effectively.

Franchise business works for the franchisor, franchisee and their customers when they all believe in the system and in each other.

Franchise marketing specialists, Coconut Creatives has been involved in a number of exciting projects over the last year. Many of these projects could not be publicised due to confidentiality agreements, yet here for the first time, some details can be disclosed!

FitKid, who announced the launch of FIVE new franchisees just before Christmas is now entering its third year of working with Coconut Creatives. The Coconut team work with FitKid on a number of projects including franchise recruitment campaigns and franchisee training, to assist them in achieving their objectives and offer fun fitness classes to help combat childhood obesity.

This week, Coconut Creatives assisted FitKid to send out its ‘breaking news’ of its latest strategic partnership with the international brand LazyTown. Its creator Magnus Scheving, appeared live on BBC Breakfast to launch the new partnership between FitKid and LazyTown, on Wednesday 7th January.

Nicky, Managing Director of FitKid comments “We really enjoy working with Coconut Creatives because they understand what we want to achieve and offer such fantastic support. They are not only our franchise marketing arm; they have become good friends and trusted associates.”

Later this month, Coconut Creatives founder Sarah Cook and her colleague franchise marketing specialist Sally Butters will be speaking to the national franchise network for Spettro Ltd, at their first annual franchisee seminar in Birmingham. Spettro are now in their second year of working with Coconut Creatives and have helped take Spettro from 2 franchisees to over 20 in 12 months.

Jenny Smith, Co-director at Spettro comments “Sally and Sarah from Coconut Creatives have become very much a part of our team and part of our company. They have exceeded our expectations in pushing Spettro forward in so many ways and we are truly delighted with the progress that we have seen. We wholeheartedly recommend them, they are not only a delight to work with but extremely professional and knowledgeable in marketing and public relations.”

Just days after returning from her South African honeymoon in September ‘08, Sarah Cook was back on the plane, this time to Morocco on a site visit for franchisor client, Murcia Villas, a successful property management company based in Spain. This month sees the expansion of Murcia Villas with Resort Morocco and the first franchisee for Morocco is already on board and working in Saidia.

“Coconut Creatives assists us in our franchise recruitment, overall marketing and PR strategy. Quite simply we have been very pleased in the work they have carried out for us. There has been an absolute commitment from the start to understand our particular business, establish how we could improve on our brand awareness and assist in completing the objectives of our franchise recruitment plan. All of which was achieved in 2008 and therefore we look forward to continuing our business relationship with Coconut Creatives throughout 2009,” explains Hugh James, Director for Murcia Villas and Resort Morocco.

“We are honoured and delighted to be working with so many excellent and exciting franchise brands,” says Sarah Cook. “It has always been our goal to offer a professional franchise marketing service covering the areas of franchise recruitment, company branding and business development. And because we keep our consultancy fees low, our clients can afford to work with us over the long term.”

Coconut Creatives will again be offering free one 2 one consultancy clinics at this years Franchise Marketing Conference on the 17th September. For further information about Coconut Creatives services or to reserve a space on one of the forthcoming free clinics email Sarah Cook at sarah@coconutcreatives.co.uk

***breaking franchise news***
Magnus Scheving appeared live on BBC Breakfast to launch a new partnership between FitKid and LazyTown on Wednesday 7th January.

LazyTown and FitKid have joined forces to launch an exciting new franchise business opportunity enabling franchisees to deliver official LazyTown classes and Parties within FitKid’s proven franchise business network.

With so much concern and media interest over child health and obesity, LazyTown and FitKid’s partnership will cement two companies with drive and passion to offer healthy lifestyle choices to Children. We offer the perfect solution to providing healthy fun activity classes which are enjoyable for all.

Learning the joys of an active life as a child is a vital skill that enables children to become healthy, confident adults. LazyTown classes ensure the children enjoy themselves so much that they keep coming back for more.

Nicky Kay, Director FitKid says “It is fantastic to be working with LazyTown, Children love Sportacus and Stephanie and now they can come along and have fun at the LazyTown classes. This new opportunity will assist in encouraging more Children to be active and meet our aims of inspiring them to lead a healthy lifestyle.”

Magnus Scheving, the creator/director and star of LazyTown, will be attending interviews in January to support the launch of LazyTown FitKid (UK) – fun fitness classes for kids. Sessions will incorporate the LazyTown music and dances along with fun play equipment such as parachutes, space hoppers, balls, etc. encouraging kids to move and get active. Parents will also be able to book LazyTown themed birthday parties for their child.

Magnus says, “We’re very excited about working with FitKid (UK).They’re a terrific company who really understand the LazyTown philosophy of making fitness fun for kids.”

The current FitKid franchise package will be relaunched to include LazyTown, enabling the fantastic opportunity for our franchisees to also deliver branded LazyTown classes and parties to help encourage children to lead an active lifestyle. If you are interested in finding out further details about this franchise opportunity or would like your child to attend the new LazyTown classes, please email nicky@fitkid.co.uk for further details.

FitKid are looking for people to join us in taking this opportunity to the next level and delivering LazyTown Classes and Parties to Children in their local community offering a substantial business opportunity.

E-mail Nicky now at nicky@fitkid.co.uk for further information on how you can become involved in this exciting new business opportunity. Visit www.fitkid.co.uk for further information.

Check out – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast to view Magnus’ interview.

Coconut Creatives Ltd like to announce the arrival of our latest new Coconut, Stephanie Randell who joined us before Christmas and works at the head office in Somerset.

Stephanie’s profile will be arriving soon at www.coconutcreatives.co.uk giving nosey people an opportunity to read all about her. We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and if you’re feeling the January blues, why not take advantage of a Travel Lodge special offer we came across and book up a weekend away for £9 a night, bargain!

… as four new franchisees join the team in just one month!

Since Coconut Creatives assisted FitKid with the launch of its franchise package in 2007, this national child fitness brand has been establishing a number of key franchise zones around the UK with a great deal of success and gradual growth.

This month sees a further FOUR new franchisees undertaking training at FitKid’s HQ in Dorset. Training will be undertaken by Coconut Creatives founder, Sarah Cook (formally Sarah Dyer).

Nicky Kay, FitKid’s Franchise Director is delighted with the progress. “We welcome four new franchisees to the team which will cover North Sunderland and Tyne and Wear, Norwich, Islington and Stoke Newington and Wood Green. All are to launch in January 2009. Many individuals are realising that FitKid offers a superb franchise opportunity and suits those who may be returning to work after having children,” says Nicky.

Franchisees can earn £50K through this opportunity by purchasing a 5 year FitKid Franchise at a very low cost of £7.5k. The franchise provides a realistic solution for part time or full time work where franchisees effort equals their own reward, as well as helping to make fitness fun for so many children.

“I think the franchise is popular because it is really affordable. Franchisees also undergo specialist training and gain a nationally recognised child fitness qualification that equips them with the skills to run the business. This franchise is so important to us to help spread the word about childhood obesity and work with as many people as possible to give our children the best start,” adds Nicky.

The pilot franchise, in Poole and Bournemouth is doing really well with over 35 classes a week. New projects have also been secured with Bournemouth School Sports Partnership this academic year.

Sue Young is one of the new franchisees starting training next week and comments, “I’m very excited about bringing FitKid to the North East. I’m looking forward to having fun with the kids while having a positive influence on their health.”

The FitKid Franchise supports government initiatives to improve child fitness and reduce child obesity, currently estimated to be 30% by 2010. FitKid achieves this by making active play a priority and most importantly, enjoyable.

To request a prospectus contact Nicky Kay at FitKid on 08700 85 1000 or email nicky@fitkid.co.uk

The Coconut girls, Sarah, Sally and Victoria recently travelled up to Birmingham to support a very special charity event. Organised annually by advertising guru agency, ARC Media, Coconut Creatives arrived in true Coconut style dressed to impress in full pirate costume!

The event was hosted at Birmingham’s finest Greek Athens Restaurant on the 3rd October with over 130 guests (majority also in pirate costumes!) from around the country who were invited to join in the pirate-y fun and helped raise £520 for the ‘togetheraware’ charities.

Guests lined up to put their 10 ‘X’s on the pirate map to try and win one of the treasures including magnums of champagne and a 32″ plasma TV! Coconuts Victoria and Sally managed to bag great prizes including a luxury wine hamper and a DVD box set of Pirates of the Caribbean. Sally also deservingly won the Best Dressed Pirate award and took home a magnum of champagne (that we secretly hope she’ll share with the rest of us Coconuts at Christmas!)

For more images of the Coconuts and friends getting pirate-y in Birmingham visit http://www.arcma.co.uk/GreekNight-2008-Pics.htm