It’s been another busy month at Belvoir, with a whirlwind of PLC investor meetings coming to end as we reported our final results for 2021, and 25 years of unbroken profit growth. Last year was the busiest year ever for our sector in recent times, with residential property sales transactions at their highest level since 2007, which boosted both our growing estate agency and financial services businesses. Throughout this time, we worked closely with our property franchisees and financial services advisers to ensure that they were best placed to respond to the strong market conditions, and this drove significant organic growth of 25%. These were very busy times.
Sometimes, when a market is very busy, or even when a market is challenging, such as during the early days of lockdown when there was so much uncertainty, it can be easy for a business to overlook the importance and benefits of being part of the local community. Collectively, as a network, or individually as a franchise office, there is huge potential to make a real difference. For franchisees there are many ways to position your business as a valuable local resource, and perhaps one of the best ways is to get involved with supporting local or national charities or good causes that will benefit residents in your local area. I know many of Belvoir’s franchisees did just this during lockdown, going above and beyond to offer help and support to their clients to help make life easier, and those clients have remained loyal to businesses that helped them.
There is also much that can be done collectively, when the number of offices within a network can combine their efforts to become a force for good on a larger scale. This month Belvoir launched Route 166, which is a rather unique charity fundraiser, that will involve all offices across the network from John O’Groats to Lands’ End. Route 166 was the brainchild of our franchise director, Ian Maclean who, for some time had been looking for a way to celebrate his 60th birthday in a meaningful way this summer. Covid restrictions had scuppered some of Ian’s original plans, but undeterred he came up with the idea of riding with a colleague on customised electric motorbikes donated from Energica Motor Company and attempting to complete over 3600 miles in four weeks, visiting every Belvoir office along the way to raise funds for Crisis, and Just a Drop. I thought this sounded like a great idea, and after involving our marketing team to help with the planning, Route 166 was launched at the Belvoir conference, as this was an ideal opportunity to encourage all of Belvoir’s franchisees to consider getting involved. Franchisees and their teams will be able to cheer Ian on as he rides into town to visit their offices, and they can also involve their own clients and suppliers to donate either to the two main charities, or to smaller, local ones that will benefit their clients and simultaneously help to raise awareness of the brand. Like so many aspects of the franchise business model, a national charity initiative such as this can be a win-win situation for everyone concerned.
As a franchisor, Belvoir always welcomes new ideas from franchisees and team members. Ideas can not only be for charity events, but also for interesting initiatives or suppliers that they think could benefit the network. These shared ideas can then be discussed in our Research & Development Group meetings, trialled at selected offices, and if successful rolled out across the network. New ideas really are the lifeblood of any business, and as Belvoir has 170+ offices nationwide, there is a huge pool of people who can contribute in ways that will ultimately help to improve customer service and enhance the national brand.
I am also pleased to hear of plans that other brands within the Belvoir Group have for fundraising challenges this year. Community work and fundraising can help to improve the bond between team members, as well as making a much-needed difference on a local and national level. I am really looking forward to following Ian’s progress on Route 166 later this year!
