Special Feature

Events - FRANCHISING CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE And make your dreams come true!

16th September 2009

Gay Turner provides exclusive features for Totalfranchise, to aid new franchisees in launching their business. Gay Turner runs GTPR and you can see further information on GTPR at the bottom of the page.

FRANCHISING CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE
And make your dreams come true!

Now that the experts are saying the recession is probably over, you may think this is the right time to look for a new career opportunity or start a new business. Franchising offers new opportunities but with training and support, as well as many benefits and advantages. Interestingly, despite tough trading conditions, the bfa says that franchising has flourished, with some 34,600 franchised businesses now operating in an industry worth an annual £11.4 billion.

There has never been a greater choice of franchises, across a wide and diverse range of sectors, appealing to people from all walks of life and with investments to match all budgets - all the more reason to invest time in careful research to find the franchise that’s right for you.

Franchising stars

If you’re one of the thousands of people who will be visiting the Birmingham franchise exhibition in October looking for a fresh start, you are likely to be inspired by the stories of countless people, just like you, who embarked on completely different paths to start their own businesses and today are extremely successful. These include the stars of franchising, whose achievements were celebrated at the annual “Franchisee of the year” awards the evening before the show opened. Look around at the show for news about the winners of 2009’s franchising Oscars.

Brands exhibiting at the National Franchise Exhibitionon 2nd and 3rd October include:

• ActionCOACH
• Auditel
• Car Medic
• Countrywide Signs
• Dietcare
• Dream Doors
• Expense Reduction Analysts
• FASTSIGNS
• Furniture Medic
• Global Travel Group
• Ovenclean
• Platinum Property Partners
• Prestige Nursing
• Revive
• WPA

Time-efficient way to meet companies and find facts

Going to an exhibition gives you an opportunity to meet a variety of companies all at the same time and attend seminars for specialist advice and information on many topics. Spending a day at a show is a very time-efficient way to gather masses of background and to learn a great deal.

Whilst it’s true that you can research the sector online for useful facts and figures, this is generally only the beginning which enables you to produce a checklist of your personal criteria and the companies that match them. But, what you see on screen and read in print are no substitute for meeting people face-to-face and getting a real feel of an organisation.

Meeting face to face

The ability to judge people is important for both franchisor and franchisee. Intuition can often play a big part in assessing a candidate’s suitability or a franchisor’s commitment. I’ve often heard franchisors and franchisees say things like “As soon as I met them, I felt comfortable and wanted to go ahead” or “The chemistry was right” or “You can tell right away”.

Be prepared

Having decided that you want to buy a franchise, that you would enjoy being self-employed but with support and you have the necessary finance, choose a sector and make a short-list of companies to visit at the show.

Franchisors are happy to talk to prospective franchisees on their stands but shows are very busy and you may have to wait to speak to a senior person. This is why franchisors like candidates who have done their homework and know a little about the business, so their questions are very focused. This saves time for both parties and also ensures that you will have time to see the optimum number of exhibitors during the day.

At the sharp end

Many exhibitors invite existing franchisees to talk to prospective franchisees. This is very useful because they talk from direct experience. They can tell you exactly what it’s like, what to expect, the highs and the lows, the level of support from the franchisor and the benefits of belonging to that organisation.

At a later stage, you can ask to talk to other franchisees in the network, not just the ones the franchisor suggests.

Looking ahead

Think about all the thousands of people who have profitable franchised businesses, enjoy the freedom and flexibility of being self-employed and the benefits of being part of a national network, who started off, just like you, by visiting an exhibition to find out what franchising is all about. They’ve realised their ambitions and prospered, many going on to become award winning franchisees. It could be you, in the future - why not?

Gay Turner Public Relations

For PR advice, or to explore how Gay Turner Public Relations could help you in PR, please contact Gay on 01295 770207 or email publicrelations@gtpr.com or visit www.gtpr.com

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