Franchise Focus Business News…

Franchisors are becoming more flexible with the opportunities they are offering in the face of an economy struggling with large unemployment and reduced lending facilities.

As well as their ‘Original’ franchise opportunites, many franchisors are offering small and medium sized packages to cater for everyone.

It’s never been such a good time to start a franchise business with franchisors offering great value opportunities.

At the Salon Internacional Franquicia (International Franchise Exhibition) in Valencia, Spain last week Franchise Direct’s Belen talked to a wide range of both small and large franchisors including Tailor &Co, Gelatiamo, Orocash, Piel de Toro.

“With unemployment in Spain at nearly 20%, starting a franchise is a real solution to getting people back into the work force. Franchising can be part of the solution to help people who have lost their jobs get their lives back on track, and become a business success” said Belen.

With the banks providing less funding for start-ups, franchisors are also considering wider markets, which is showing in the success of Franchise Direct’s Mexican website which has just launched.

Franchisors realise the site, which features a wide range of Spanish, Mexican and International franchise opportunities will be an invaluable tool to those seeking to be financially independent and successful in business.

The exhibition, which featured nearly 200 franchisors, consultants and industry experts, was busy, despite difficult economic times. The Spanish government has also increased the funding and support programmes available to those who want to be their own boss, in reaction to the reduced finance available through the banks.

With less funding available to start-ups, potential franchisees are spending more time carefully researching which franchise opportunity is most suitable to their own needs and desires.

Visiting an exhibition often makes people more interested in starting their own franchise units, and Franchise Direct provides comprehensive details for franchises available throughout Spanish speaking countries, North America and Europe, with nine international websites.

Other franchisors who shared their views at the exhibition included:

• Administración de Fincas LDC
• Almeida Viajes
• Orocash
• Marco Aldany
• Vellatelia
• Piel de Toro
• Bioenergy
• Publipan
• Mundoguía
• Gelatiamo
• SinTabac
• Tailor & Co
• Men Ceremonia y Moda Hombre

Ah the memories, we had so much fun at the Franchise Expo in London’s ExCel last February and now, the “makers” of Franchise Expo are bringing a new show to the same venue; the 25th Business Start Up show runs from the 19th through to the 20th of May and will host over 200 companies offering a variety of services to new entrepreneurs.

The organisers of the show contacted us, and are offering visitors free tickets to attend the show.

It’s going to be their biggest and best show yet - with a host of new workshops and show features, together with a speaker line-up that is extremely impressive.

There are over 200 companies all offering their services to anyone who is starting or growing a business, together with a staggering 150 free seminars, 5 business training workshops, 15 One-to-One meeting areas, Speed Networking Zone, Midas Touch and a couple of surprises thrown in for extra measure!

If you order your tickets before the show you will be also posted the free glossy pre-show guide, which is 124 pages detailing every aspect of the event – so that you can plan your visit in advance.

As always the organisers are doing all of this for free, thanks to the support of their exhibitors and sponsors. So register now at: http://www.bstartup.com - or you can also call them free on 08000 68 69 70.

If you’re going to the show, be sure and let us know how you got on either here or on our brand new Facebook Page, you can “like” us (even though we know you really and truly love us) here: Franchise Direct UK’s Facebook Page.

We blogged last week about our upcoming trip to London and now that we’re all back in Dublin and truly rested up after a busy few days we’d like to say how much fun we had and also, how great it was to meet so many of the franchisors who use our site as well as so many visitors to the show who use our site on a day to day basis.

Attending a franchise exhibition such as The Franchise Show is so important in the process of starting your own business through a franchise opportunity, and it was heartening to see so many people who had carried out a lot of research on each franchise before coming to the event. It can a wasted opportunity to attend an event without knowing what the franchises are about first and on the flip side, franchisors are rarely interested in taking on franchisees who are going into something blind-eyed – they want a franchisee who knows what they’re getting into and will be ready to work hard to achieve great results. Franchisors that we spoke to at the event were genuinely impressed with some of the enquiries they received and we were delighted to hear that a lot of attendees at the show has used Franchise Direct as a resource tool before travelling to the show.

A very valuable attraction at the show was the schedule of seminars which were taking place during the show. Varying from six different tracks each aimed at a different attendee – the seminars covered the topics of “buying a franchise”, “developing your existing business”, “international franchising”, “franchising your business”, “encouraging women into franchising” and “franchising after redundancy”. I would strongly encourage attendees at any similar show to attend these seminars as the speakers have a wealth of information to share with those looking to enter the franchise industry – they’re free too!

We had lots of fun at the show, in fact we even treated ourselves to fish manicures and laser treatments! Dr. SpaFish, one of the most colourful franchises at the show, allowed us to dip our hands into tanks full of tiny little fish who love to nibble on the dead skin cells on your hands. This was lots of fun and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who would like super soft hands afterwards! Also, a franchise which has featured on our site for quite a while, Laser IT Technologies treated both myself and Lillie, our accounts manager to a laser face lift and a medilipo treatment respectively. After Zita from Laser It kindly carried out a free treatment on my face, I could see stress lines that were on my forehead had reduced after and felt fantastic, in particular because I got to lie down for an hour having spent lots of time on my feet in the convention hall.

We ran a giveaway amongst the franchises exhibiting at the event to win a profile on our site, and we’re delighted to say that Cash and Cheque Express are the winners after Toni from Arc Media drew the winning business card. I was especially delighted because they had given us a free bag of sweets the day before from a mountain of them which they were giving out to attendees, but that’s not the reason they won…I swear!

All in all, the biggest benefit for us attending the show is that we actually got to talk to some people who are on our site on a regular basis either as those who are looking to invest in a franchise, those who are looking to franchise their business and so are using our site as a research tool and also the franchises who feature on our site. Because we’ve been in the franchise industry for over 10 years now, and we are one of the leading franchise portals not just in the UK, but also in the US and the European market, we understand that we have to listen to both our clients and the users on our site in order to keep at the top.  We’ve set up a survey for users to our site to give feedback on our site, and we really appreciate those who take the time to take the survey, we appreciate them so much that we have 3 Philips MP3 Players up for grabs for those who take the survey. To take the survey, simply click on the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HowDoYouLikeFranchiseDirect

Also, if you’re disappointed that you missed last week’s show, then never fear because there is a franchise show in London again next month in the Olympia, to find out more details and to register for free entry, simply visit this page: http://www.franchisedirect.co.uk/franchiseseminars/the-franchise-exhibitions-07837/

Below are some pics from the show.

Lillie, our lovely Accounts Manager

Lillie and I with the Dr SpaFish mascot

Me having lots of fun splashing my hands around

Lots of little fish having a good nibble on my hands

I was having a great time! I got my stress lines lasered by the very fabulous Zita

Toni from Arc Media, Franchise Direct's Brian Rogan and Cash and Cheque Express' David Wheeler

Ashley Dyer from Morgan Blake Consultants, Lillie and Arc Media's Sam

Franchise Direct’s UK team will be attending this week’s Franchise Show at ExCel in London (Friday 18th and Saturday 19th). We will be at Stand 112 for anyone who would like to come along and find out more about Franchise Direct and what we can offer our users as well as existing and potential clients.

With over 100 franchise brands including over 20 US brands, and 65 speakers at the event, The Franchise Show is an important date in the franchising calendar.

We have always considered meeting with a franchisor face to face to be one of the best opportunities to explore a franchise opportunity further. Our discovery day calendar details lots of upcoming discovery days organised by different franchises across the UK.

If you are attending, be sure to explore The Franchise Show’s website, read up on some of the franchises which you are interested in, taking note of their stand, write down some questions you would like to ask and most of all enjoy your time at the show.

You can order free tickets to the event on the show’s website: http://www.thefranchiseshow.co.uk/

Can’t make it this week? Explore our franchise expo calendar for details of upcoming franchise events in your area.

Our German Site Representative, Patrick Marschner recently attended a franchise fair in Germany – “START-MESSE”. First set up in 1998, the show has become one of the biggest franchise shows in Germany and this year featured 160 exhibitors.

The show also featured a number of discussions amongst industry professionals on topics addressing the franchise industry in Germany including  “Innovative business-set-ups”, “How to finance a new company”, “company succession”, “Senior Coaching” and “From unemployment to your own business”.

The shows organisers estimate that roughly 4500 visitors attended the show this year and found that beauty, fitness and health concepts were very popular along with the usual favourite - food franchises. Visitors were delighted to taste a small range of the franchisors’ products directly at their stands and judge the quality of their food themselves including coffee and different cakes at the BackWerk-Stand and ice-cream at the Langnese Happy Station.

Even though there were fewer visitors than expected at this year’s show, the outlook for franchising in Germany is still positive and Patrick got positive feedback from his clients.

Click here for more information on franchising in Germany, please note this site is in German. However, click the following link if you would like information on UK franchises available in German (information in English). Here’s some pics Patrick took during his visit:

Frau Dannenberg

Frau Hoyer and Herr Gellrich

Herr Roßleben and Herr Matthes