Why franchise?

Franchising is a system for expanding a business and distributing goods and services - and often an opportunity to operate a business under a recognised brand name. In the case of a business format franchise, the franchisee also gets to use a complete system for delivering a service and for doing business.

This provides the franchisee with support from the ground up as well as a detailed plan to produce consistent results - something that is very hard to achieve when starting an estate agency from scratch.

The 2010 British Franchise Association in the UK revealed the following:

• The franchise sector has grown by 44% over the last 10 years alone
• Over 90% of all the franchises surveyed made a profit
• The turnover per franchise is estimated at £323,000
• Average turnover of a franchise has increased by 83% over the last 10 years
• Over 50% of all franchisees have no higher education qualifications
• On average it takes six months to find, plan and open a new franchise for business. However, it can take nearly eight months for franchise businesses that have a catering element as there is often a delay in obtaining all the required permits and sourcing appropriate premises for the new franchise

The Enfields Franchise enables you to operate as an independently owned company, which you can build into a substantial business over time by putting its brand and award winning systems to work for you.

In estate agency, there are a number of critical success factors in separating the market leaders from the also-rans.

First and foremost, estate agency is a service business. Customers who instruct agents to sell their properties are looking to achieve the best price for their property in as pain-free a way as possible. Therefore agents need to be very proactive in selling property and need to manage the vendor's expectations with ongoing communication.

To achieve this requires that sophisticated systems and procedures are developed and implemented within the business. This includes not only operational procedures for listing and marketing properties, but also cutting edge IT systems to ensure that staff time is optimized at all times.

To consistently deliver high service-levels, staff members must be trained and developed continuously. So successful estate agents must not only have mature recruitment processes in place to attract talented individuals - but also clear management procedures to ensure that individuals are performing as expected, and that the team delivers exceptional results.

Marketing communications provide the tools for ensuring that estate agents build awareness in their local market. Therefore, it is critical that integrated marketing campaigns are implemented to build the company's profile.

Successful estate agents not only spend their advertising budgets wisely across online and offline media, they also develop ongoing public relations programs to ensure maximum exposure in the local (and sometimes national) marketplace.

Proactive agents also engage in continuous direct marketing with targeted offers and promotions to ensure they match their property stock to their list of buyer needs. Finally, good salesmanship is often the key to winning the instruction, so top agents always ensure that the prospective customer (vendor) fully understands the benefits of the service.

Enfields has always strived to achieve best practice since we opened our first branch in January 2000. And we are always pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This has directly led to us becoming the clear market leaders in Southampton - and customers are willing to pay a premium for superior service. We typically list properties at a 2% fee (which is way above the market average of 1% to 1.5%).

It is for these reasons that we are now a highly profitable company, and our franchisees can benefit directly by operating in this way from day one (rather than attempting it on their own) which means that they will build their market position as quickly as possible, and potentially be in profit in the shortest possible timescale.

As a highly progressive company, we have always looked at ways to successfully grow our business. Having evaluated the options, we decided that franchising provided the optimum route to national expansion.

By partnering with motivated franchisees, we are developing a large branch network, and building a nationwide brand.

For franchisees, this is an exciting opportunity to benefit from an affiliation with an award winning company and proven business model - whilst at the same time being a business owner in their own right. There is also the chance to build a substantial asset over time.

Once you agree to become a Franchisee, you've paid your fee, and recruited your team the first stage of your new business is training.

We've spent months preparing our training course and training materials. They are all based on our operations manuals (which contain all the key procedures, systems and strategies we have developed since we first opened).

The training is designed to ensure you and your team commence business with all the knowledge you need to be successful. It is really broken down into 2 stages:

Branch open days - You will be invited to view a branch as part of your decision process for taking a franchise. But you are also welcome to spend further time to shadow our staff and franchisees as they go about their daily business. This will enable you to see what its really like to manage an estate agency.

• 10 day residential masterclass and hands-on learning - incorporating all aspects of 21 st century best practice in estate agency:
• Customer communications
• Management / leadership
• Valuations
• Selling skills
• Progressing the house sales process
• Management Information Systems etc.

You will also have one of our specialist field support managers assigned to you for the first week after training to ensure you are able to put everything into practice.

Enfields offers the most competitive support structure in the property franchising market. From the moment we mutually decide that the franchise is right for you, we begin working with you to find premises, assist in business planning, researching your territory and finding staff (though we do advise that you also seek professional advice from accountants and franchise specialist solicitors - as required).

Once you open your branch, we are with you all the way. This is down to our unique support infrastructure. We are committed to having no more than 10 franchisees for every dedicated field support manager. We are also continually building the head office support team to ensure our franchisees always have someone to turn to.

This is in direct contrast with many franchisors that are not prepared to invest in their support infrastructure - and hence the success of their franchise networks. In fact, many franchisors only offer support ratios of one support manager for every 30 franchisees!

Our versatile support team will make sure you have all the contact and ongoing support that you need as you strive to build your own successful business - whatever it takes!

Providing lettings is a key part of becoming a fully fledged property services company. We are just as proud of our lettings operation as we are of our residential sales proposition.

This is backed up by the fact that we were also awarded Bronze for Lettings at the Estate Agency of the Year Awards 2006. We offer a range of customer service levels:

• Silver (finding tenants)
• Gold (collection of rent)
• Platinum (a fully managed service)

Your lettings service will perfectly complement your estate agency business and will provide a valuable income stream. Equally, you will receive the same marketing and operational support in this area to further build your brand in your geographical location.

There is an additional fee of £5,000 + VAT to take our lettings model

We only recommend professional and customer-service oriented business partners. By referring business to them, you can also generate additional income streams by offering the following add-on services:

• Mortgage advice : we will place a mortgage advisor in your branch and will pay you a fee for every mortgage that is successfully processed as a result of your recommendations
• Surveying : our surveying provider will pay you commissions on successful referrals
• Conveyancing : our legal provider will pay you commissions on successful referrals
• Land and new homes : we will show you how to build relationships with local builders to help them acquire land, and market their properties
• Overseas properties : our foreign property partner will pay you generous fees on any properties they sell as a result of your referrals

Yes, you will be the only Enfields branch in your local area - no other office will be allowed to market properties in that territory.

Each and every Enfields Franchise territory is carefully planned and mapped (based on local market factors including number of homes, average house prices, number of properties sold annually etc). We also do extensive research on the competitive dynamics of the market so you know what you are up against from day one.

Each territory is designed to enable you to grow a thriving business from your branch - with a view to expanding into adjoining territories when the time is right. Additional licenses are £7,500 + VAT. This ensures that you "own" a wider area for when you want to expand the business. This is very important if you are considering opening in a large urban conurbation.

However, each additional territory can be reserved for just £1,000 + VAT. Having reserved additional territories, you then pay the balance of £6,500 before you open (which covers the additional costs of training your new staff).

Entrepreneurs, business professionals and talented estate agents are all suitable for an Enfields Franchise - though the appeal for each will vary accordingly:

• Entrepreneurs and business professionals who want to build their own estate agency business will benefit from having an award-winning proposition to operate "out of the box."
• Employed estate agents who are tired of making money for other people and want to use their knowledge to build their own market leading business will benefit from having a full business infrastructure around them from day one.

For those who have never run their own business, we will also guide you in how to manage your cashflow and build your business profitably.

Regardless of your background, you need to be driven, hard working and totally committed to the business. You will also be employing people from day one, so good communication skills and the ability to manage are essential. The most successful franchisees will also be 100% committed to customer service excellence.

Typically you will look to set up in your local town or one near to you. So it will be easy to familiarise yourself with the areas that estate agents operate in. We will give you very specific instructions on the type of premises that would be suitable and will help you narrow down the choices you have available from the local commercial agents. We would also be happy to assist you in securing the lease.

We will guide you closely through this process, as part of the support you receive in setting up your business - from advertising strategies to online recruitment and hiring agencies, we have it covered. When it comes to keeping staff happy and motivated, the reward systems and training are again first class. This is why we have such low staff turnover.

The total amount of capital required to launch an Enfields Franchise does vary by size, location and other factors. However, the average is somewhere between £100,000 and £140,000.

We have good links with all the major lenders who (subject to status) will be willing to lend 50% or more of the total capital investment required. We will also assist successful applicants in the business planning process.

Fees

• Enfields Franchise fee is 15,000 + VAT
• The management service fee is 10% of turnover (paid monthly)