“Our franchise partners must have a keen interest in business and people and a passion for wanting to develop themselves and others,” says UK Managing Director, Julie Wagstaff.
“We tend to attract two different types of people. The majority of the people that we recruit join us because they want to be a coach themselves. They want to be the ones out on the frontline delivering the coaching and then, once they’ve built up a good level of income, they grow their team and profits by adding further coaches.
“On the flip side, we also now attract the investor mentality, individuals who want to invest and build a serious business. They don’t necessarily want to be involved in the day-to-day of the business but instead recruit the right people to go out and deliver the service whilst they take a passive role in overseeing their investment.”
Wagstaff is unabashed at expressing her enthusiasm for the number three ranked Elite Franchise business, having joined first as a coach and then through her success, transitioning into the role of UK Managing Director.
“ActionCOACH appealed to me because we help people to change their lives and get more time with their family or do the things they choose to do. I love learning and I love seeing people develop and grow, and the ActionCOACH franchise was the perfect vehicle for me to do exactly that!”
Proof of the pudding… She can cite lots of examples of where the ActionCOACH model has worked for individual franchise partners.
“We’ve got a number of coaches who have been with us quite a few years now who have upgraded to the territory model, accelerating the growth of their business and helping them to leverage through their team so they can help lots more business owners.
“Kevin Riley in particular stands out. He was recognised by the BFA and HSBC as the winner of the UK’s Community Hero Award for the difference he made in Warwick and Coventry through COVID, and also won the Great British Franchisee Award in July this year. Many loved the results they achieved so much they signed up to be long term clients and he currently holds the record for getting to £83,000 per month of income in two years of launching his franchise.
“Marc Eccles was initially a client of ActionCOACH, but found that he loved the coaching role so much, he decided to invest in the business himself. He now owns three territories and has five coaches working for him.”
The work
Of course, there are successful formulas but no magic wand in franchising. Success has to include a sizeable dollop of hard work to reap the potential rewards. Making potential franchisees aware of this upfront is vital.
“People think it’s like painting by numbers and that there is not much of a challenge to it. When people think of franchising, they probably think of something like McDonald’s which is a great brand where everything is super consistent, but it still requires a lot of hard work to create a successful business.
“With our franchise, whilst we offer a great deal of support, success is very much down to the individual. We don’t just recruit anybody to join our franchise, it is all about what the individual can bring to the table in addition to working within our world class system. With franchising, you’re guaranteed success, but only if you follow the proven methods. The success rate of a franchise compared to non-franchising models is huge.”
In continuing to build its brand, ActionCOACH has just partnered with Vodafone and Santander, while additional resources continue to support franchise partners, to grow their own business as well as growing businesses across the UK.
Continued inclusion in the Elite Franchise top 10 also adds to its credibility. “Well, the name is in the title of the business, it is the elite, it’s recognising the best of the best!
“Being ranked in the UK’s top ten franchises since the accolade began has been enormous for us, it’s great recognition for what we do and how we do it and that builds further credibility and trust in the marketplace.”