Asking a franchisor the right questions is key to securing a partnership that suits both parties. Our new series, Franchisor Q&A, offers a platform for doing just that. Below, CEO Andrew Wright from SmartPA tells us how they are one step ahead of other franchise businesses and what values they connect most with.
How are SmartPA different to other administrative businesses in the UK?
At SmartPA, we believe in lifelong business support and invest in our partners' businesses accordingly.
As part of our commitment to our community, we invest heavily in developing strategic partnerships and business relationships, from which our partners directly benefit.
Most recently, we have secured exceedingly beneficial relationships with the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) and the IOD (Institute of Directors). These targeted investments provide invaluable opportunities for growth and additional revenue for our partners.
You offer a wide range of training for franchisees. How is it set up and what can prospective franchisees expect to learn?
Our comprehensive accreditation programme contains 21 modules, covering all of the elements needed to operate and manage a successful SmartPA business; our foolproof blueprint.
We take a very flexible approach to our programme, with our focus entirely on supporting our partners to effectively build their training around existing personal and professional commitments. Our partners currently take an average of 5-9 weeks to complete the SmartPA accreditation programme, with regular video and or phone sessions with their dedicated training manager throughout the programme to support and assess performance, making sure everything runs smoothly.
This approach ensures that our partners can be confident not just in their own ability, but the ability of the wider network supporting them to grow their businesses.
The support doesn’t stop there, we know that in today’s business world it is important to make sure that our partners have the most up to date skills, keeping us ahead of the curve at all times. As such, we provide a vast array of ongoing and life-long training and support opportunities as part of our business-in-a-box.
Can you describe an average day for the SmartPA franchisee?
A typical day as a SmartPA business owner will vary depending on what type of business model you are running. Our business-in-a-box proposition means that our partners can support businesses of all sizes including sole traders, SMEs and corporates. Our unrivalled training programme provides our partners with the skillset to deliver world-class business support services such as email management, procurement, bookkeeping, GDPR consultancy and social media management just to name a few.
Our partners have contact with the community and support functions on a daily basis. In addition to our head office support teams, our partners each have access to a regional ambassador and their own business mentor, who they can speak to anytime. Our mentoring programmes take a holistic approach, exploring emotional well-being and the psychology behind individual success, running in perfect balance with our comprehensive business development sessions.
How are SmartPA shaping the market?
Outsourcing is a tried, tested and proven solution for businesses of all sizes to address issues such as under-staffing, high staff turnover and periods of flux.
SmartPA are leaders in the outsourced administrative market and have been so for many years. The reason for this is simple; we have the highest quality of PAs with the widest skill-set, and we are breaking the boundaries of what it means to be a PA.
We were recently included in The Times' ‘The Future of Outsourcing’ special report for our authority in this space, which was really exciting. It’s great visibility for our partners about the work that they do.
Is it true that you guarantee income for your partners?
Yes, since SmartPA’s inception our vision has been to empower individuals to achieve their ideal image of success, whatever that might be.
As part of our commitment to our partners' success, we guarantee a 'bonus client' that we have closed at head office and who have signed all the terms of business; all that our partners need to do is raise the invoice.
Bonus clients typically spend up to £1,250 per month which is billed directly from the client to the partner, with head office taking no cut. This provides a great head-start to our partners in terms of cash-flow, but also as a confidence boost in the early stages of being a business owner.
Find out more about a SmartPA franchise partnership here.