News

This year, Coconut Creatives decided to sponsor the EWIF (Encouraging Women into Franchising) awards which recognises the achievements of women throughout the franchising industry.

We recommend that all Franchisors that have a suitable candidate enter the awards as winning logos can use used on everything from flyers to presentations to email footers.

Back stronger than ever for its second year of awards, there are 6 different categories to choose from:
 Woman Franchisor of the Year 2011 – the one we are sponsoring!
 New Woman Franchisor of the Year 2011
 Woman Franchisor Employee of the Year 2011
 Woman Franchisee of the Year 2011
 New Woman Franchisee of the Year 2011
 Woman Service Provider of the Year 2011

Sarah Cook, Founder of Coconut Creatives won the Woman Service Provider of the Year category last year, along with long term client, Sophie Brooks from Clives Music. “I was thrilled to win the award and it was fantastic to be recognised for all the work we do towards making Franchisor businesses as successful as possible. Yet I was even more excited that Sophie won her award as well!” explains Sarah.

Anyone can enter the EWIF Awards! All you need to do is download the Entry Award Form relating to the Award Category you wish to enter. Entry forms are available on the EWIF website here.

But make sure you send it back to EWIF before the 5 p.m. on the 24th February 2012.

Yes the book is finally here! The long awaited Franchise Recruitment Marketing bible by Coconut Creatives Founder, Sarah Cook. Her book takes a pacey and highly informative romp through the world of the most effective marketing systems and strategies for recruiting franchisees.

And while we’re waiting for the paperback version to be delivered in mid January, we’ve issued a Kindle edition – available for download now on Amazon!

Franchise recruitment marketing might sound more than a little niche, but much of this book also makes for fantastic general business marketing advice - Sarah is a Chartered Marketer who has worked across many different industry sectors in both large and small businesses.  The information is easy to follow, easy to digest and, best of all, her methods really work, as is evidenced by the number of clients whose testimonials appear in the front.

The paperback should be available on Amazon in the next couple of weeks but, for now, why not avail yourself of a digi-copy? (Click below)

“Having known Sarah through her university years and through her respective highly successful career in Marketing and Business Planning, one has to respect the wealth of knowledge, drive and passion that has come to define Coconut Creatives as a very special company.  Sarah’s advisory work with industry organisations and enterprise groups shows her energy and beliefs to be at the forefront of her profession.”
Nick Rowles, Senior Lecturer in Marketing Communication and Strategic Management at Bournemouth University.

“This is an inspirational book for anybody who wants to market their franchise.”
Linda Whitney, Freelance contributor to the National Press, including the Daily Mail’s careers and franchise pages.

Steve Almond, 48, has spent most of his career in the pharmaceutical industry but after taking voluntary redundancy twice he decided to take a step outside of his comfort zone into the world of franchising, and hasn’t looked back since.

“I started in research and development at AstraZeneca and after a few years I moved on to operations and latterly spent 10 years as a project manager. I enjoyed this corporate role, and project management in particular, but during a major oprations re-organisation, AstraZenica offered a voluntary redundancy package to their staff that was simply too good to turn down! “At the time, the idea of franchising hadn’t really popped up and I took another project management position in the same sector. SSL International, well-known its brands Durex and Scholl, was taken over by Reckitt Benckiser just 12 months ago and I was given the option of relocating from Cheshire to either Hull or Slough. My wife’s family all live locally and my eldest son was soon to take his GCSEs, so relocating just wasn’t a sensible option. I guess that’s how I found myself taking voluntary redundancy for the second time! “I met up with an old AstraZeneca colleague and, over a coffee, we chatted about what I could do next. She suggested I spoke with Andrew Pendleton at MatchPoint. Having worked with Andrew herself, when she was considering buying a franchise, she thought that the MatchPoint process of matching people to franchises could help me figure out my next step.

“I first met Andrew for an informal chat where he explained the MatchPoint suitability profiling process; he was very patient and took the time to understand what I was looking for. Our second meeting started the profiling activities and our subsequent meetings talked through the franchise opportunities that had been matched to my skills and attributes. The process is well worthwhile as not only do they offer a suitable franchise to someone like me but it means that once you are introduced to the franchisor, they are happy and confident that you are a suitable candidate for them.

“Tutor Doctor was one of the first three options brought to me by Andrew. After some initial screening, I was allowed to talk to existing franchisees and each of them explained without prompting: “we work really hard but we make a difference to people’s education every day” and this simple statement ultimately sold it to me.”

Tutor Doctor provides the highest quality private tutors in the UK. The franchisee manages a network of tutors and visits each new student to assess their needs before allocating the best possible tutor.

“I launched the East Cheshire franchise of Tutor Doctor in May this year and have grown from nothing to a business now requiring 30 tutors to cover the tutoring demand. The business model seems to be stacking-up nicely as, even over the quiet summer holiday, we are on target for around 75 students at the end of year 1.

“Tutor Doctor is set apart from agencies because we know all of out tutors personally and we can find a tutor for almost every need. We have students from 5 to 75 years old and we could have renamed ourselves ‘University Rescue’ for the number of students we’ve helped over the past couple of months with subjects such as economics and aviation to geology and law!

Using the Match Point service was just what the doctor ordered for Steve:

“It does what it says on the logo! It took the pain out of the franchise search. Just like Tutor Doctor, they fully assess the need and provide the most appropriate solution.”

You can find out more about MatchPoint by calling 0843 289 2645 or visit: www.matchpointnetworkuk.co.uk/MM

Jenny Boreham set up in FASTSIGNS^® Chelmsford in 1996 after she split from her partner. She had started and established a training company working with large organisations so was no stranger to running a business but this time she was completely on her own – or so she thought.

Jenny explains how she came to choose FASTSIGNS and how 15 years with FASTSIGNS has been:

“It was time for me to start afresh, I had been looking at franchising and during a visit to the National Franchise Exhibition I was very impressed with the support FASTSIGNS seemed to offer. They were very open and seemed to be genuinely nice people; I still enjoy their company all these years on.

“FASTSIGNS may not seem to be an obvious choice for a woman because the signs and graphics business is considered technical (and also considered by some to be a male-dominated industry) but with the support given by the head office team in the USA and the UK this has never been an issue for me. The most important factor is having sales and marketing skills to grow your business. When I first began I also really valued the support of the rest of the network – I never felt alone. In fact, I think it is an advantage being a woman in this industry, because people remember you!

“15 years on and I have a business that has grown year-on-year, with a great team and as secure a future as anyone can hope in these turbulent times. I’ve taken on the FASTSIGNS ethos of support in my day-to-day work with great benefit to my business. Chelmsford is a small town so I have ensured that FASTSIGNS is very much involved with the community and we support several local charities. The majority of our business is repeat business and our customers are truly supportive in return.

“I’ve also learnt to think big! If you act like a big company with professionalism and reliability you will achieve big results so my advice to others starting a business is don’t think small. We have had several large rebranding projects that have been very successful and I always am looking for new projects.

“I’ve won a number of international awards for achieving top sales and growth, competing with over 500 FASTSIGNS centres globally. Going from working as a partnership to running the business alone was a challenge, but I’m glad I did it.

“If you want to do well you need to put in the effort and I work a lot of hours. Having a franchise and working for yourself is not an easy option, although in my view the results are worth it. Starting your own business is the best way to ensure that you are in control of your future. You put in the effort and you reap the rewards; I have a small house in a beautiful French village and I’ve kept to my plan to have one adventure holiday a year!

“If someone was thinking about starting a FASTSIGNS franchise I would definitely recommend it.  They have never let me down, their assistance, support and care is, I believe, unmatched. The technical support and visits mean that FASTSIGNS stay ahead of the game.”

If you like the sound of the FASTSIGNS franchise you can join one of their Discovery Days available throughout the year, call 01246 456512 or visit www.fastsigns.co.uk for more information.

Faye Cochrane loves coffee and, having held management positions with coffee houses in the past, it didn’t take her long to choose Cafe2U as her new business venture. Just 3 years on she has celebrated launching her third van onto the roads of Edinburgh!

Cafe2U is the world’s largest mobile coffee franchise system and their franchise partners are reaping the rewards of the fast-growing coffee industry by providing the highest quality espresso coffee, hot chocolate, premiuim teas and complimentary snacks to people in non-traditional locations including workplaces and events.

Faye, Cafe2U’s Edinburgh Franchise Partner, explains how the Cafe2U franchise has built to a successful multi-van business.

“I started working in the hospitality industry at the age of 13 and have worked in the food and hospitality sector ever since. I have always wanted to start my own business but the recession meant that it wasn’t a good idea to start a business from scratch; I liked the idea of the support from a franchise’s head office.

“I loved the idea of being completely mobile but with the barista quality coffee and all the equipment that it requires all built in to the bright red Cafe2U van. After signing the franchise contract, I spent 2 days training in Leeds at the Cafe2U head office. I took my first van out in June 2008 and since then the Cafe2U head office has provided ongoing support via phone and email and I receive regular quarterly visits from a member of Cafe2U team.”

Faye now owns three Cafe2U vans and celebrated her third year as a franchise partner by enjoying a record day on one of her vans with coffee sales up from the average by a whopping 58% for the day!

“My customers include HSBC, Tesco Management Offices and JP Morgan in my Edinburgh Park territory. Each van has regular stops every day but I also have some regular management and marketing tasks each week. The usual bookkeeping activity won’t come as a surprise to anyone but I also produce a weekly newsletter for my customers and award someone with free coffees for a week each week; my promotions build customer loyalty and bring new customers to the van on a daily basis.

“If anyone was thinking of buying a Cafe2U franchise I would say ‘Go for it!’ but remember that running your own business is much harder work than you think – your success is your responsibility.”

If you would like to know more about Cafe2U, why not join one of our Discovery Days? You can register by calling 08456 444708.

You can also see more from Faye on our events video: http://cafe2u.com/uk/cafe2u-at-events

The world’s largest mobile coffee franchise Cafe2U has welcomed Will Vernon to the post of Operations Director. Will’s 21-year career with Whitbread including 4 years as Head of Brand Standards & Training at Costa shows Cafe2U’s drive to take its last 5 years of success in the UK and build an even brighter future.

Tom Acland, UK Managing Director at Cafe2U explains: “We picked Will for his operational experience, vision, drive, enthusiasm, and understanding of the branded coffee market place that we aim to continue to dominate, from a mobile perspective, into the future. He will lead the operational support and supply side of the business. This means he will have responsibility for training, launch and support of our franchise partners, as well as the equipment and product supply chain.

Will is really excited about joining Cafe2U: “Although adapting to life away from my previous corporate background won’t be without its challenges, I am looking forward to the involvement and impact I can have on the development of one of the most exciting brands to arrive in the UK for a long time.

“I started with Cafe2U on 7^th October and two days later I was in Sydney, their founding franchise country, for a fortnight of intensive training and orientation. Now I’m back in the UK, I am working hard with the head office team to make the next 5 years an even bigger success.”

Proudly born and bred in Australia, Cafe2U is already the world’s largest mobile coffee franchise with over 100 mobile coffee vans in Australia and over 50 in the UK and Ireland. You can find out more by visiting www.cafe2u.co.uk or by registering for one of our discovery days on 0845 6444 708.

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, Tony & 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.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a PR & Media Executive (ideally with charity/fundraising experience) to join the team in our Bournemouth office.

Coconut Creatives is a marketing agency that specialises in the franchise sector but also has accounts in the charity and healthcare sectors.

Based in Bournemouth, the role will involve handling new and existing accounts, taking responsibility for a range of written communication and media relations activities.

Key responsibilities of the role will include:

• Drafting editorial content, press releases, e-newsletter content and other research and writing tasks
• Monitoring advertising bookings
• Supporting the PR and major events activity for our charity client
• Monthly PR and keep warm activity reports
• General office admin tasks
• Plus much more…

Essential key skills and experience:

• EITHER a PR or related degree with at least 1 year of experience (this could have been completed during a sandwich degree placement) OR at least 3 years PR or related experience.
• High level of accuracy in all written communication
• Strong understanding of writing for a target audience
• Full driving licence

Based in the media division of Coconut Creatives, you will bring a clear understanding and focus to our charity client activities and a fresh perspective to our franchise client activities. Ultimately, you will have the ability to work in a fast-paced environment with a great variety of clients.

£17k and a fun seafront office!

Send your CV and covering letter to sally@coconutcreatives.co.uk

Application deadline is 4pm on Monday 14^th November 2011.

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 IPS 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.

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.