In this Q&A, Chris Black, Managing Director of NIC Local, reflects on the biggest priorities set at the end of 2024 and how the business worked to deliver them throughout 2025.

Chris also shares why NIC Local’s Top 25 ranking as the highest new entry in the HSBC Elite Franchise Top 100 for 2026 is such an important milestone, and what the network’s focus will be for 2026.

Hi, Chris. If you think back to the end of 2024, what were your hopes and plans for 2025 with NIC Local?

Going into the year, I’d say we had three main goals:

1. Make sure our NIC Local team feels empowered to do their job to the best of their abilities and has the confidence to do it well.

2. Continue supporting our network in growing their revenue.

3. Ensuring we have a good pipeline of incoming franchisees throughout the year and beyond.

How do you feel the business performed in 2025 with those goals in mind?

The team has performed remarkably well.

We’ve worked hard to improve skill sets, and we are a much tighter unit as a result. We spend a lot of time supporting each other on challenges and opportunities, and that the team now, are equally as comfortable with learning from mistakes as they are celebrating success.

We’re being much more focused with the sectors, and we know we are very good at. And we’ve really empowered our BDMs to further support the network and help franchisees win a lot of new business.

The results speak for themselves: we’ve enjoyed double digit growth in franchise sales across the network year-on-year, with some franchisees even doubling their revenue.

How has franchise recruitment gone over the past 12 months?

Recruitment has been a challenge given the current economic climate, but we have seen new franchisees join us. I’m confident we’re in a much better place in terms of franchisee pipeline than we’ve ever been before.

Overall, the review of 2025 is that we’ve probably had the best year ever, with a great team in place. We are really looking forward to continuing that hard work now in 2026.

Are there any key highlights that you are particularly proud of?

If I look across the network, both established and new, we’ve seen significant progress with franchisees continuing their growth journey.

We’ve really focused on our quality tenders, in the knowledge franchisees can deliver great results in sectors they are good at. Franchisees are now winning tenders that they probably wouldn’t have been too comfortable completing 18 months ago.

So, seeing new franchisees’ businesses take off while more established ones achieve solid growth is a real point of pride.

What was your reaction to NIC Local ranking in the top 25 of the HSBC Elite Franchise TOP 100 for 2026?

We entered with the aim of just getting ranked, so getting into the top 25 as the highest new entry is a fantastic achievement. It’s testament to how our team has progressed this year.

It’s also great recognition for NIC Local, both for our network that works extremely hard and, importantly for me, our franchise support team.

It’s a fantastic building block for us and gives us confidence to be a bit braver about being recognised in the franchise industry right now.

During 2025, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced across the network and how did you tackle those?

As mentioned, recruitment has been a significant challenge, in terms of the number of people wanting to commit. But I think what we’ve demonstrated well is our continued ability to try less traditional media streams to support our lead generation.

Our Head of Franchise Recruitment, Phil Harrison, has done a great job. He’s very personable and really supports prospective franchisees through the process. We’ve spent a lot of time keeping prospects who don’t feel they’re quite ready to join right now fully up to date with what we are doing. So, I am confident that our pipeline is robust, going into the new year

In terms of sales and revenue, some of our key challenges have been around costs – where the market is hugely price sensitive. But we have been very good in that while we always keep an eye on costs, it’s not been our driving factor.

We believe in the ethos that people buy from people, so we have spent more time on the road seeing new and existing customers, explaining cost changes and talking about new innovations, to really highlight the value NIC Local offers.

What are NIC Local’s focus areas and aspirations in 2026?

Number one is recruitment: we are very hopeful about new franchisees coming in. The challenge will always be getting quality Franchisees, and that it’s never about quantity, . We need to ensure franchisees joining us are a right fit for the business, that we are the right fit for them.

Number two: maintain our BDMs’ and Franchisees momentum and focus with the successes they have enjoyed this year, and to ensure they carry on the great work . There is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to continue with our double-digit growth.

Finally, to keep investing in our people, marketing campaigns, and exciting new ways of getting the NIC Local franchise opportunity out there.

Ultimately, we want to keep supporting our franchisees and getting the best value for them as they continue to scale their businesses.

We are very excited about what we can achieve together in 2026.

Ready to explore the NIC Local opportunity?

If you’d like to explore what it’s like to build a scalable management franchise with hands-on support behind you, we’d love to speak with you.