Showcase for success (Manchester 09 franchise exhibition)

Showcase for success

 By: Linda Whitney

PEOPLE looking for a franchise can meet dozens of franchisors face to face at The British Franchise Exhibition in Manchester this week.

The exhibition is at Manchester Central on January 30 and 31, so you still have a few days to prepare for your visit. Make a plan of action or you risk emerging with nothing but sackfuls of leaflets and sore feet.

Think about the kind of franchise you want. Do you favour certain sectors, working from home or premises, or a van-based business?

Franchises at the show vary widely, including High Street buy-and-sell shop Cash Generator (expanding to deal with the increased business resulting from the economic downturn), business training specialists Pitman Training, business signage producer Fastsigns, and Blazes Fireplaces, launching a new part-time, home-based central heating sales franchise.

Work out how much you can invest. Don't forget that banks might lend you 70 per cent of the total investment. Banks and accountants specialising in franchising will be at the show to give advice.

Plan your time. Click here for a list of franchises with stands at the show. Once at the show, staff in the Find Your Franchise zone can also produce a route round the stands that will suit your preferences.

You can question experienced franchisees at the franchisee forum, or on company stands, so bring a list of questions to ask.

Plan a break to take in a free Introduction To Franchising seminar, which includes advice on franchise choice, business plans and financing. They take place at 11am and 3.30pm on Friday and 11am and 2.30pm on Saturday.

Also set aside time to visit the free Growing Your Own Business exhibition and conference that runs alongside the franchise show and offers free presentations by successful entrepreneurs.

There is also a business advice zone where you can meet business specialists such as accountants, lawyers and Business Link North West.

• Click here for more information
• Advance tickets cost £8 each or £7 for two-plus, from the website or 0870 777 1082, or £10 on the door.
  

Don't get swamped with information

FRANCHISE exhibitions are great places to fire your imagination, according to Kevin Green, who found his niche during a visit to the Manchester franchise exhibition in 2007.

'I was made redundant as a training manager with Royal Bank of Scotland, and I wanted to set up my own training business with a well-known brand, so I went along to the show,' says Kevin, 41, from Middlesbrough.

Once there, he started looking at other opportunities, too. 'I was soon swamped with information and leaflets,' he says.

His son, Adam, 11, thrust a Pitman franchise information pack into his hand just before they left. A week later, he contacted the company — and set up Pitman Training Middlesbrough in June that year.

He has advice on how to get the best out of franchise exhibitions.

'Work out which stands you want to spend time with,' he says. 'And consider taking your family. I was investing all my £36,000 redundancy money, so it was essential they supported the move,' says Kevin, who took along wife Jillian and son Adam.

Now his franchise has been growing, supplying training in office skills for companies and, recently, for local colleges and JobCentre Plus. Pitman franchises cost from £22,500.

Remember franchisors will be assessing you, too. 'You must sell yourself to the franchisor as a potential business partner,' says Pitman Training's franchise development director David Shimwell.

'Never sign up to a franchise at a show — go home and think about it,' he adds.

CASH Generator 01204 574 444, Fastsigns 01246 456512, Blazes 01282 831 176, Pitman Training 01937 548 562.