“It was an honour to be nominated as a finalist,” says Matt. “To receive this third party endorsement of our support programmes from respected peers in the franchising world means a great deal and confirms the ERA model really works.”
This year’s bfa Franchisor of the Year Awards took place in Oxfordshire at Heythrop Park on the 26th June. The annual event forms part of a two-day conference, bringing franchisors and bfa members together to celebrate the top-performing franchise businesses across the UK.
The awards panel consider a host of contributing factors as they pick their finalists, including sales records, franchise standards, recruitment processes and outstanding ethics, innovation and investment in its franchisees' success. And ERA was proud to be included in the final line up.
Able to demonstrate that a franchising business can grow in a recession with the right model and support from a committed franchisor, ERA put in a strong entry for this year’s award. Underpinning the entire application were the dedicated support programmes developed by ERA to help network partners build and grow a profitable business.
These on-going systems include the ERA Academy, where franchisees enter are provided with a dedicated Academy Manager who spends his time on the road with new franchisees, and open surgeries that provide free access to support personnel and experts to discuss any business challenges.
On top of this, every ERA franchisee receives sales support from a specialist third party to ensure professional development, and a fully integrated, state-of-the-art, custom-built CRM system to help manage and run their business. In fact, ERA has invested £300k in the CRM system in the last 18 months.
The bfa ceremony was attended by ERA’s senior team: Chris Aston, Matt O’Neil and Paul Lewis along with Dave Chapman and Dominic Williamson.