Last month I wrote of my delight about being able to go to the Belvoir Conference and Annual Awards in person instead of attending a virtual event. I’m pleased to report that it was very successful. Seeing so many of our franchisees and team members, as well as suppliers and inspirational speakers added to what felt like palpable optimism for the future.
A total of 31 awards were presented, but the finale of the evening is always the presentation of Belvoir’s most coveted award – Belvoir Franchise of the Year. This year the top title went to husband-and-wife team Ben and Daisy Davies, who started their Belvoir Swansea office as a cold start 12 years ago and have since acquired two more territories in Mumbles and Sketty. Ben and Daisy had a fantastic year in 2021, even completing on three office moves, and are very much on target to achieve their goal of £1m turnover this year. I was interested in finding out what had most attributed to their success and thought I would share Ben’s story with you.
In typical Ben and Daisy fashion, Ben began by thanking his team. “We have a team of about 20 people, and this award belongs to them as much as to us,” said Ben. “Everyone shares the same values and deserves recognition. We will use this win as much as possible in our marketing to help continue building brand recognition in our area, and to let everyone know that they are dealing with the best Belvoir office in the entire network!”
It wasn’t just teamwork that helped Ben and Daisy achieve such amazing success. Like many of Belvoir’s franchisees, they used the lockdowns as an opportunity to take stock and reflect on how they could achieve even greater success.
“The most important thing was investing in a business coach,” says Ben. “When the pandemic hit, I realised I’d reached the limitations of my knowledge over the past decade, and I needed to invest in myself. I made the mental switch to run the business rather than work in it, and a friend advised me about a business coach he was using. Since then, I’ve been having bi-weekly coaching via Zoom and he has totally transformed my approach.
“I think when you are running a business you are not always accountable to anyone, and I wanted to help myself become more accountable.
My business coach provides this accountability, and his help and advice has helped in all areas of the business. With my coach’s help we have completely overhauled the culture of the business and subsequently have grown internally and externally. I pass on everything I’m learning to the Management Team, who in turn are coaching and improving their teams on a day-to-day basis. The major benefit of this type of coaching and growth mindset is that the team feel empowered and happy, and this shines through to the level of service we can offer our clients.
“I’ve also achieved a better work/life balance. I now work in the office for two and a half days a week, and the rest of the time I work from home. Daisy and I realised that we couldn’t do everything we’d previously done. We had two young children and I wanted to be there for them more and take them to school sometimes and pick them up again. Pre-pandemic I was always in the office and tied to diary appointments. There comes a point when you realise that what got you ‘here’, will not get you ‘there.’ We wanted to grow the business, but we also wanted a good work/life balance and avoid suffering from burnout. Having the business coach has helped us achieve this.
“When Daisy and I started with Belvoir we were only 26 and 29 years old and were pretty green in terms of running a business. Being part of Belvoir’s national franchise network and having access to BDMs and experts like Dorian Gonsalves was incredibly instrumental in helping us achieve success. Now we’ve won Gold, we’ll definitely be striving to win it again next year!”
