Becoming The UK’s Best Franchise

It’s all about supporting franchise owners and their clients to success

Last year ended with a wave of awards for the highly successful ActionCOACH franchise and its UK franchise owners.

Shweta Jhajharia won Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Coach of the Year at The Stevie Awards, the world’s premier business awards.

Created in 2002 to honour the achievements and positive contributions of organisations and working professionals worldwide, The Stevies have become the Oscars of the business world. ActionCOACH has twice won The Stevie for Best Overall Company in the Business Services category, but this is the first time a franchise owner has been recognised at the annual awards ceremony held in New York City.

Shweta became one of the first franchise owners to bank a million pounds in a calendar year in 2016. Unsurprisingly, she has won many awards because of the growth of her business, but she continues to credit her success to her clients.

Shweta says: “It’s proof of all the hard work clients are putting in to make an impact on their own businesses and the work we are doing together. It means the world to all of us to win. They are a global benchmark of success and to win not just one but two Stevies shows we are playing a word class game and making a difference out there.”

Former RAF Chief Technician, Graham Orange, owned an ActionCOACH franchise for less than two years when he scooped the Nationwide Resettlement Award for Service Leaver Franchisee of the Year.

Now supporting businesses in South Wales, Graham was recognised for his successful transition from the services to Civvy Street.

He says: “I felt honoured to be nominated as a finalist in the Service Leaver Franchisee of the Year award and felt very excited about attending the dinner to celebrate the winners’ accomplishments.

“Little did I know that I would be walking away with the trophy and the biggest smile ever!”

And it wasn’t just ActionCOACH’s franchise owners in the limelight.

Ian Christelow, co-founder and Managing Director of ActionCOACH UK, won European CEO Magazine’s Business Coaching ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2016’ for Western Europe.

The magazine explains: “These awards recognise those special traits which make successful entrepreneurs so inspiring. Ian Christelow’s true entrepreneurial spirit made a compelling case for winning this award.

“He had the vision to invest in ActionCOACH, consolidating the team across the UK. He is seen as a leader and authority in his field and is the driving force behind ActionCOACH’s development.”

Unprecedented third successive best franchise title

In November, ActionCOACH was awarded Best Mid-Priced Franchise (£25-£99k investment) at the RBS Best Franchise Awards 2016. This isn’t the first time the company has won this award - it’s the third win in three consecutive years.

Steven Frost, CEO of Smith & Henderson, the award organisers, said: “We would like to congratulate ActionCOACH on being recognised as the UK’s Best Franchise in the £25k-£99k investment level.

“This was an extremely competitive category and what makes this award even more special is it is based on feedback from ActionCOACH franchise owners, who provided outstanding feedback about the support from ActionCOACH, its leadership and products and services.

“In 2016, for the third successive year, ActionCOACH has been recognised as one of the very best franchise opportunities in the UK.”

Smith & Henderson’s Franchise Satisfaction Survey has been adopted by over 100 franchisors since it started in 2011 and ActionCOACH franchise owners were invited to rate their franchisor, its products and services and its infrastructure.

The results of this survey produce a benchmark of satisfaction scores and high scoring franchises are invited to present to a panel of judges for the RBS Best Franchise Awards.

ActionCOACH beat finalists EweMove and TaxAssist to the top spot for Best Mid-Priced Franchise.

5-star franchisee satisfaction status for the 4th time

In 2013, ActionCOACH became the first recipient of Smith & Henderson’s coveted 5-Star Franchisee Satisfaction Award, with record breaking satisfaction scores. In 2016, ActionCOACH became one of only five franchises to achieve 5-Star Franchisee Satisfaction Status four times!

ActionCOACH UK Co-founder Ian Christelow had the honour of being presented with the trophy by Steven Frost for an unprecedented third time.

Ian says: “We’re elated to win a hat-trick of Best Franchise Awards. This year the mid-priced category increased to £99k, meaning we were up against the likes of last year’s Best Large Franchise winner, Tax Assist, and to finish top again is testimony to the tireless efforts of our UK Support Team.

“I have to mention Julie Wagstaff, our Recruitment Director, who makes events like our Business Excellence Forum better year after year; James Vincent, Director of Coaching, and his world class team of master coaches; and John Asquith, our sales guru, and his dedicated lead and client generation team.

“Most of all, I have to thank our fantastic network of over 150 franchise owners. The calibre of individuals in our network is second to none and our culture of teamwork and abundance means support is readily available at the end of the phone.

“On top of that, our franchise owners volunteer to run webinars and training days for free to share best practice and successful innovation, which means we can put on a franchise industry ground-breaking 70 days a year of support in the UK.

“We’ll all celebrate this award as a team, but now the challenge begins to make our franchise deliver even more rewards, personal growth and fulfillment for everyone who invests in an ActionCOACH franchise.”