What Are The Advantages Of A Franchisor Being A British Franchise Association Member?

Louise Harris writes:

There’s huge value in getting behind the association, whose role in my working life is to inform best practice in our industry.

As a quirky, niche businesses, we value credibility and the bfa ‘kitemark’ delivers hands down. Our franchisees all identified this was a key factor in their decision to buy a franchise with us.

We chose a bfa affiliate consultant to franchise our business. Along with our franchise lawyer - also a bfa affiliate - their work formed the foundation of our business and gave us a significant head start.

A majority of our suppliers are bfa affiliates and around 25 per cent of referred traffic on our franchise website comes from the bfa site.

Studying for the Qualified Franchise Professional qualification helped me to understand some of the critical success factors for our business through examining and implementing best practice. The quarterly forums are an opportunity to get under the skin of your industry - I want to be involved with the ‘go to’ association for franchising.

I have a voice to help shape the association to support my needs as a franchisor. I have attended the best practice seminars, AGM, annual conference and specialist round table discussions. All provide an informative view of different aspects of franchising.

Louise Harris is franchise director of Wilkins Chimney Sweep. She sits on the British Franchise Association board and chairs the membership committee.