<span style="font-size: 25px;">🕒</span> Estimated reading time: 3 min.
eDivert offers a unique franchise opportunity, which can be started from your home office. The eDivert franchise is a unique business opportunity with low overheads and high profit margins.
eDivertand its franchise network deliver high quality business support services to companies in every sector. Services include: marketing services, customer service solutions, and administrative services. Unlike a traditional franchise, you don’t buy a geographical area. This means that if you move to a different area in the UK or even abroad, your business will not be affected. It also means that you can take on customers from anywhere in the UK.
Learn more about the eDivert franchise opportunity here>>>>
In this week's Franchisor Q&A interview series, we look at why eDivert is a flexible franchise offering with an adaptable business model that would suit any budding entrepreneur.
Q1. What makes your franchise standout?
eDivert stands out, because it is one of the few franchises available that was already completely set up from a home office, with all systems being cloud-based. At the same time our industry was only mildly affected by the initial lockdown and has been back to normal trading levels since June 2020.
Q2. Why is it worth investing in your brand?
Because of the unique set-up we have at eDivert, that we work individually, but also as a team, we are always looking for a variety of franchisees. Some of our franchisees run their businesses full-time and have the ambition to grow their business to a level where they hire staff and move into official office space. Others like to work from home with a remote team and some prefer to keep their business smaller and serve their customers directly without building a team. For each of these three franchisee types, we have a package that fits.
Essential Package: this package gives you all the essentials, including a set of marketing materials, access to our eDivert Franchise network and our eDivert Training Program - this includes online training completed at your own pace, as well as interactive webinar sessions. Plus you will receive ongoing support from head office, access to work available within the network and access to our weekly team meeting.
Accelerator Package: this package is ideal if you would like help from head office with your marketing and sales process in the first 12 months of setting up your business. Gaining new customers is usually one of the biggest worries that franchisees have. With our Accelerator Package, you will receive everything from the Essential Package, but also a Press-and-Go Email Marketing Campaign that will be sent out to 1000 businesses in your local area throughout the first 12 months to make sure your new business receives the exposure it deserves. It’s a tried and tested system that head office will build for you and tailor to your business. We will train you up on this system, so you can keep it running in the future. In addition, you will be provided with a Business Networking membership, another important marketing tool that will boost the growth of your eDivert business.
Elite Package: the Elite Package is our premium franchise package that gives you maximum support in the first 12 months of running your business in terms of marketing and sales, as well as for everything else that you need to make your business successful. The Elite Package includes everything from the Accelerator Package, including our unique Press and Go Email Marketing System, which gets sent out to 2000 business contacts. You will get your own eDivert website and two hours of 1-to-1 mentoring a month to help you through the initial stages of getting your business up and running. This makes sure that certain processes are set up to run automatically and ensures your business is running as smoothly and as cost-effectively as can be, achieving your monthly targets.
Q3. How is your franchise adapting to the current COVID-19 crisis?
The eDivert model was ahead of its time when the pandemic hit back in March 2020. We were already all working from home and all our systems were set up in the cloud. Even our telephone answering and live chat team were already set-up to work remotely. So there were very few changes we had to make as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
The only adjustment that we did make is how we network with other businesses and build relationships to grow our business. Although we use a range of marketing tools and some are via email and phone, part of our marketing strategy usually includes attending business networking meetings and meeting up in person with potential customers.
As businesses and business networking groups had to change the way they work, we have evolved with them. We still attend the same type of meetings, but they now seem to happen via webinar most of the time. Most of us in the network hope to start meeting up with contacts in person again, as soon as this is practical.
As an industry we have been very lucky. Like nearly every other business in the UK, our customers, and therefore our businesses, were hit by the lockdown in April and May, but in May most of our customers had found ways to continue to trade and by June we were lucky enough to be more or less back to our usual selves.
Q4. What extra support and assistance are you offering your franchisees during this time?
At eDivert HQ we understood from the moment the first lockdown happened that each franchisee would be affected in their own personal way and that different franchisees would need different levels of assistance. Some of the way in which we have helped our franchisees:
- Kept the network up-to-date with any news about financial support available by the government to those who were affected financially.
- Assisted with applications for financial support.
- A payment holiday of the Monthly Management Fee was offered in some instances.
- We were already offering a weekly team meeting, so this has been helpful for franchisees to express concerns and exchange new ideas.
- In our franchise network, we were already working as a team in some areas. But during the pandemic the franchisees themselves have really come together as a team. This was a big advantage for those with young children at home during the various lockdowns. It allowed for others to fill in, when those with children weren’t available.
Q5. What plans do you have for the franchise over the next few years?
As we have been franchising since 2016 and have 9 franchisees currently, we are in the middle of a growth spurt as a business and there are lots of developments planned for the next 12 to 24 months. These include upgrading certain systems and processes in our business model, as well as further developing our training program.
As the number of franchisees grows, we are also looking to put more support in place for franchisees to ensure each and everyone will continue to feel part of the network and feels supported. This will include things like a franchisee council and an annual conference or get-together.
Another aspect of the business that we want to expand on within this time frame is further developing our marketing strategy for the services that eDivert offers. We already provide new franchisees with leads and work opportunities in their first year of joining, but this is an area that we would like to develop further.
As our network grows in the UK, we are also looking to expand the eDivert franchise into other countries in the next few years.
Q6. What skills are important for your franchisees to have?
We welcome franchisees from a variety of professional and educational backgrounds, ensuring that eDivert has the widest skill set on offer to business communities around the UK.
Previous administrative, customer service, sales or marketing experience is helpful, but most importantly, you will need a can-do attitude. We are looking for individuals with drive, dedication, passion and an eagerness to learn.
Our franchise opportunity is ideal for anyone who would like to start a business from their desk at home; a flexible work solution to fit around their family or hobbies.
You must be highly organised, efficient and professional with a sense of urgency and tenacity.
Don’t worry if you have not had previous experience in the services that the eDivert business model offers; full training and ongoing support is provided.
Our franchisees are all self-motivated and resourceful, approachable and natural networkers.