Caremark, a leading provider of UK home care, has just secured its position as a finalist for two separate awards at the 35th annual BFA HSBC UK British Franchise Association Awards. On 15th July, the BFA announced that Caremark is up against only four other companies for the Business Transformation award, and that Graham Precious, Managing Director of Caremark Hull & East Riding, is one of six individuals to go head-to-head for the title of Franchisee Trailblazer.
Widely recognised as the UK’s self-regulatory body for franchising, the BFA launched a new Business Transformation category award for 2024, which considers innovative approaches and effective strategies that have led to significant advancements and long-term success.
Driven by its commitment to improving lives each year, Caremark has implemented enterprising changes over the last couple of years, which have earned the franchise its position as a finalist and subsequently resulted in an increase of 26.1% in network turnover (YTD April 2024). Caremark’s notable accomplishments include a strong focus on ethics and its ESG policy; new in-depth training programmes, mentoring and enhanced central support; a new CRM to streamline communications; a focus on positive workplace culture; and a new service that empowers earning potential in the early days of business.
Nominated for the BFA’s Franchisee Trailblazer award, Managing Director of Caremark Hull & East Riding, Graham Precious, has made it to the final six with his outstanding leadership and an innovative approach. Under his guidance, the business has achieved a rolling 12-month turnover of £8.4M with a gross profit of 32% for the financial year ending in March 2024. Other reasons for reaching the final include embracing forward-thinking initiatives such as an in-house bid-writing team, introducing an e-bike scheme for staff, investing in new technology, excellent internal quality audit scores, and winning the Hull People in Business Award for First Class Service across Hull and East Riding in 2023.
Graham Precious - Managing Director of Caremark Hull and East Riding
Joint CEO of Caremark, David Glover, expressed his delight at making the finals:
“Being named a finalist by the BFA recognises our dedication to improving the business as a whole. Caremark has been a sleeping giant that’s been brought into the 21st century, but these changes haven’t just happened overnight. We have an incredibly talented team at the Franchise Support Centre, and this accolade is down to their consistent hard work and our committed franchises, which have fully embraced improvements.
“It’s extremely satisfying to see all our efforts making a difference – it’s been evident with stronger levels of engagement with our franchise owners and record attendance at our latest annual conference. These closer working relationships have resulted in customer numbers increasing by 12%, staff numbers rising by 23%, and our turnover rocketing.”
Continuing, David commented on Graham Precious’s nomination for the Franchisee Trailblazer Award:
“It’s the icing on the cake that Caremark Hull & East Riding is also a finalist - but not a surprise! Graham has dedicated himself to nurturing a positive workplace culture centred around personal growth, which is undoubtedly why his staff retention rate is 42% above the network average. His commitment to developing the wider network shines through with his dedicated mentorship, idea generation and contribution and openness to embrace new initiatives. It’s a perfect franchisor/franchisee relationship.”
Winners will be announced at a black-tie dinner and awards ceremony held in Telford on Thursday 7th November 2024.