Great franchise performances
October 1st 2005 The The British Franchise Association's 'Franchisee of the Year' Awards- the highlight of National Franchise Week - were designed to showcase and celebrate Britain's best-performing franchisees in a booming industry employing more than 300 000 people and worth an annual £10 billion to the economy.
This year's theme was 'Managing Change', with franchisees having to demonstrate to the judging panel how they have overcome obstacles and managed change - and turned it to their advantage to achieve commercial success.
Success over the rainbow
A Rugeley-based business, specialising in disaster restoration and cleaning of carpets, has been crowned one of the UK's top-performing franchisees by The British Franchise Association in its annual 'Franchisee of the Year' Awards, sponsored by HSBC.
Beating off stiff competition, Andy and Carol West from Rainbow International were presented with their commemorative certificate before an audience of 300 at a glittering gala dinner, held at Birmingham's Motorcycle Museum.
When illness made Andy West retire from the police force, he and his wife Carol took the opportunity to purchase a franchise with the disaster restoration and cleaning company, Rainbow International.
It was a life changing decision that has seen the couple build their business into one of the largest Rainbow franchises, with 28 staff, 10 500 square feet of premises and a turnover approaching £1.5 million. All within four years!
The first Rainbow franchisees to employ a dedicated sales team, the Wests were determined to broaden the base of their business so they were not so dependent on head office secured insurance contracts.
Now over 50 % of their work is self generated and they operate an incentive scheme that encourages their staff to be equally pro-active in their approach to new business. With a work ethos based on teamwork and cooperation, this franchise thrives due to the dedication of a workforce that is happy, well-trained, flexible and responsive.
As well as investing heavily in training, Andy and Carol have also purchased more than £370 000 of specialist equipment, allowing them to diversify into other areas including laundry and dry cleaning and the restoration of electrical appliances. These services are marketed to other Rainbow franchisees as well as domestic and commercial clients.
Working closely with their franchisor they have also piloted a new internet-based system allowing clients to keep track of the progress of their claims, a new initiative that is now being rolled out successfully across the Rainbow network.
Always ready to help in a disaster, Andy and Carol were on holiday when they read of the floods earlier in the year in Carlisle. Instantly on the phone to their business development manager, they made sure Rainbow teams were ready for action. Within days they had 26 staff working to restore 50 homes and a large restaurant, while still coping with the requirements of their regular customers.
This husband and wife team have come a long way in four years.
They attribute their achievements to a willingness to remain flexible and to embrace change, which they view as an opportunity to increase their level of service - and, ultimately, their commercial success.
Maid for success
Simone Berisford-Ince, Molly Maid was presented with her commemorative certificate for being one of the UK's top-performing franchisees by The British Franchise Association in its annual 'Franchisee of the Year' Awards.
When Simone Berisford-Ince's youngest son started school, she decided to swap her part-time job for something more challenging. At the same time, with four children and a busy husband, she knew she needed support to give her the best chance of success.
Franchising was the answer and, having investigated Molly Maid UK, Simone signed up for training in May 2001, starting work just a week later. Her aim was to grow the business as quickly as possible and she took a hands-on approach right from the start - even mounting a personal search for staff in a nearby housing estate when her first recruitment ad appeared with the wrong telephone number.
Molly Maid franchisees are expected to secure three routes in 12 months and six in two years. Simone Berisford-Ince had six routes and 12 staff within thirteen months and was ready to make her next big move forward.
Employing a supervisor to handle the administration, she purchased a second franchise. It was a bold move and involved a number of problems - poorly presented staff, low standards, incorrect pricing and a wage bill that was far too high.
Simone set to work once more and, although it took her two years to achieve, she succeeded in turning round the ailing business which now supports five profitable routes, bringing the total over the two franchise areas to twelve.
Simone attributes her success to the fact that she trusted the Molly Maid business system and followed it implicitly, adapting the skills she learned building her first business to help her rescue the second. She now runs the second largest Molly Maid franchise in the UK and has achieved her own personal goal of setting up a thriving commercial enterprise.
Director General of the BFA, Brian Smart, said : "The Franchisee of the Year Awards are designed to recognise the very best within our industry - and highlight, through practical example, how powerful franchising can be as a business model.
"The breadth and quality of all the finalists in this year's awards has been extremely impressive and we congratulate Simone Berisford-Ince and Andy and Carol West on scooping the title 'National Finalist 2005'.
The BFA Franchisee of the Year is sponsored by HSBC and presented in association with the Daily Express. | 
