We are very proud to announce yet another success in franchisee Rachel Farr’s career with No Letting Go. Rachel has been handpicked as a finalist for the Woman Franchisee 2017 EWIF Awards. Being shortlisted for this prestigious award comes only months after she won the NLG franchisee awards for Best Regional Office, Busiest Office, Customer Service and Franchisee of the Year. Here’s her story so far.
The Beginnings
Rachel initially purchased the Bath franchise in 2014. Originally attracted to the reporting technology, Rachel saw an NLG franchise as an opportunity to step into a management role and quickly grow her business.
By 2016 Rachel was running the top performing office for No Letting Go, delivering over 200 property reports every month. She quickly saw the growth she was craving as her team soon grew to five members. Rachel developed her own mentoring and quality checking programme on top of that already provided by Head Office. This reiterated the core values of No Letting Go, and delivered a service that’s consistent, reliable and accountable.
A Motivated Team
Rachel’s ongoing care and attention to the service her team provides has led to a consistent and motivated team. Something which isn’t easy for solo workers to achieve. Each individual working for Rachel knows exactly what’s expected from them and are confident in her ability to guide them through any issues they encounter.
Each of Rachel’s team is self-employed. This adds an additional responsibility to her position. She must ensure each member has a consistent workload to support themselves. Rachel understands these needs and as a result ensures everyone supplies the very best level of customer service.
Business Development
Rachel takes an impressive approach to business development. In 2016, she completed a database of every letting agent within a 50 mile radius. She also maintains regular contact with all members of this database. This not only boosts NLG brand awareness massively but has led to an impressive reputation in the area. Being widely acknowledged for her reliability and quality, Rachel’s business development actions have led to a 39% increase in active clients in a year. The majority of which came from letting agent recommendations.
No Letting Go Development
Rachel’s key approach to business development doesn’t only stop with her personal ventures. She has also been a key player in regional improvements. She works closely with her three neighbouring franchises to support each other, share ideas and attend regional conferences. She has also worked with NLG Head Office to aid in the ongoing development of our technology. Rachel not only invests her time to understand her customers but does the same with her team and business too.
Family Life
All this is made even more impressive when hearing that Rachel welcomed her second baby into the world last year. Working through her pregnancy, Rachel continued to strive for building her business, reputation and team. Moreover, four members of her team also have to juggle their work with young families making their achievements even more remarkable.
The EWIF Awards
The EWIF Award ceremony will be held on Tuesday 16th May 2017. We will be sure to notify you if Rachel wins the Woman Franchisee Award. Everyone at No Letting Go wishes her the very best of luck.
If you’re interested in mirroring Rachel’s success and getting involved in a No Letting Go franchise, we want to hear from you. You can find out more about becoming a franchisee here.
The Franchise Show
No Letting Go is pleased to announce that we’ll be exhibiting at The Franchise Show on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th February. The event takes place at the Excel in London, and it’s one of the biggest shows of its kind in the UK. You can come and see us between 10am-5pm, where we’ll be talking about the lucrative opportunities that await in property inventory. The Franchise Show is completely free to attend and there are lots of useful seminars, workshops and even an advice zone for those who are considering buying a franchise.
This is the largest Franchise Show in the UK, and visitors will find plenty of useful information, no matter what stage of franchising they’re currently at. Come and say hello to the No Letting Go team to find out about the growth of the inventory market and whether this is the right industry for you. We’re always looking for the right people who we can work with who will be successful. Becoming a franchisee with No Letting Go could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for!
If you’re interested then make sure you read up on our information about building a business in property services, and make sure you come and say hello during The Franchise Show 2017.
It has been reported today that Countrywide Group estate agency is to close around 60 of its UK offices in the coming weeks.
In a comment to Estate Agent Today, Countrywide said: “Following consultation with colleagues, we have made the decision to close 59 branches within the retail arm of our business. This is part of our ongoing ‘Building our Future’ strategy.”
The company go on to cite that this is a strategic decision to ensure the right people are in the right places to meet customer needs. Countrywide have clearly stated they want to avoid redundancies wherever possible though it can be deduced that there’ll be a loss of staff following such a drastic change to the business.
These closures are the crescendo to what has been a year of speculation and concern surrounding the future of some brands and offices. Chief Executive of Countrywide Group, Alison Platt, brought speculation to the forefront of workers’ minds in October 2015 when she succinctly told investors the company was moving in the direction of “fewer, stronger brands”.
The leaked list of closures sees a dramatic loss of offices across England, Scotland and Wales with the most damage being seen across the Midlands and Southern England. Below you can find a list of offices reported to be closing:
South Coast:
Palmer Snell in Lyme Regis.
Yorkshire:
Bridgfords in Bingley, and Ripon.
Manchester and Lancashire:
Bridgfords in Hale, and Bramhall.
South Central:
Mann in Bitterne, Cosham, Godalming, Haslemere and Hythe,
Gascoigne-Pees in Grayshott,
Watson Bull & Porter in Shanklin.
South East:
Geering & Collyer in Canterbury and Folkestone,
King & Chasemore in Eastbourne, Lancing and Littlehampton,
Freeman Forman in Mayfield.
Midlands North:
Ian Peat in Bingham,
Bairstow Eves in Derby,
R A Bennett in Solihull,
Dixons in Tamworth.
South West:
Stratton Creber in Mawnan Smith,
Fulfords in Shaldon, Topsham and Torquay.
Wales and West:
Entwistle Green in Crewe, Frodsham and Prenton,
Beresford Adams in Denbigh and Flint.
Midlands East:
Abbotts in Billericay, Clacton, Dedham, Felixstowe, Haverhill, Leigh-on-Sea, Sudbury, Wickford and Witham,
Bairstow Eves in Halstead, Ipswich, Leigh-On-Sea and Tiptree.
Midlands Central:
Taylors in Kettering and Olney,
Wilson peacock in Newport Pagnell.
Scotland and NE:
Countrywide in Ayr.
Midlands West:
R A Bennett in Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Campden, Cirencester, Stow-On-The-Wold, Thornbury, Wootton-Under-Edge and Yate,
Taylors in Churchdown, Evesham, Portishead, Shirehampton, Swindon West and Warndon.
Are you reading this, concerned about your future within the Countrywide Group? Is your office set to close down? A No Letting Go franchise is a lucrative business opportunity whoever you are and whatever background you come from. The inventory market is exciting and it’s growing! Getting involved in this market is not only fun but rewarding too. We’re looking for people who strive for success to join our established, market leading inventory services. Find out more about our franchise opportunities here.
David Pulford is one of our newest franchisees. Having spent some time with Tony Mundella and going out on a few jobs with Phil Harris in the Black Country, David took the plunge and joined No Letting Go.
A highly self motivated and resourceful individual, David has past experience of running his own business. He has been self employed since 1992 and in that time has owned his own restaurant as well as white goods company with three shops. In addition to this, David has rented out the apartments on his shops as well as a HMO house which provides a relevant background for his next adventure with No Letting Go.
David has said that he learnt as much from his failures as his successes with regard to previous businesses and it excited to put these lessons to use with his latest venture. The last 18 months have been geared towards finding a viable franchise that could become a real success in the coming years and much deliberation led David to us. With changes to pension regulations, the property market is set to go from strength to strength in the coming years which was one of the factors that swung David’s decision to kick start his own No Letting Go business.
We’re delighted to welcome Garry Lockwood to the No Letting Go family as our newest franchisee who will be developing his business across Sutton and Merton. He first came across NLG having bought and renovated some rental properties in Kent. He used No Letting Go in Gillingham to inventory those properties and was so impressed with the service he decided to investigate taking out a franchise for himself.
Garry said,”I was looking for a fresh challenge and having taken the step into property, the inventory business interested me and was a natural extension of that.” Garry originally had a career in the field of PR having worked within some of the largest London agencies. He set up his own company a few years ago supporting European tech companies before getting into rental property.
Having grown up in Hull and attending University in Wales, Garry has gradually migrated south. Father to a son aged 14, he lives in Sutton with his partner. His guilty pleasure is diving including cave diving; he’s not long returned from a three week trip to Mexico indulging this passion.
On joining NLG Garry said, “I have been very impressed with the training I have received and before that, when I met Tony and spoke with other franchisees, I got an extremely positive overall impression of the company. I’m very pleased with the level of support, everyone seems very helpful. Sutton particularly has a lot of flats and rental property so I’m hoping I’m going to be kept busy.
How did you first hear about NLG? What was it that appealed to you about them?
The NLG franchise was on a business website called Daltons which I came by in late December 2014. Initially it was the name that appealed to me as it’s a double negative which is usually a marketing faux pas. I liked the fact that it was counter intuitive so thought the company would be original and open to input from a range of different people and ideas. I’ve also done property development on a small scale since 2002, so have experience and knowledge of how the sector works.
Have you owned your own business before?
Yes. I’ve had a bakery and two retail shops in the early 90s. More recently, over the last 15 years, I’ve worked as a self employed business consultant and project manager. I’ve been involved in a range of things from sourcing products for TV shopping channels to helping to set up a local branch of Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food. In the last four years I’ve worked on the launch and promotion of luxury Alpaca and Mohair coats and jackets from Steiff Schulte in Germany, under the Teddy Bear Coats brand.
Obviously taking the plunge into self employment is a big risk, what made you do it?
This actually didn’t pose a huge risk for me, having been self employed for a long time and working from my own office at home since 1999. Most of my work has been customer facing and service orientated so I have a wide ranging skill set which is transferable across different industries. You need to be self motivated and self reliant with an attention to detail. It’s not just being able to do the job; you need to be able to talk to people when you’re out selling yourself and your business. Then there’s the back office function, carrying out administrative duties and accounts. I guess you could say I’m a Jill of all trades!
What have been the biggest lifestyle changes you have noticed since becoming a franchisee?
Having been self employed for such a long time, the changes to my lifestyle haven’t been wholesale. My working week has changed as I will be working at weekends but it is important to be flexible when you work for yourself, especially in the initial stages. I intend to develop the business to the point where I can employ people to work for me so that I can concentrate on expanding my operation. I prefer to be an entrepreneur rather than simply ‘self employed’. There are no plans though to take over the world (yet!), the Yorkshire region is plenty to keep me busy for now!
Is there any particular way you are going about things or is it just a case of hard work and perseverance?
It’s a mix of both really. The key thing is local marketing; it’s all about networking and this can turn on the smallest thing. A phone call, chance meeting, someone leaving and moving to a new company can all generate a lead with the power to transform your business. Businesses like to deal with local suppliers who they feel know their area so this should always be considered a USP of ours. It’s a relationship building exercise and that’s where the perseverance comes in. It is important to not take a knock back as a rejection as you never know where work will come from again in the future. In my own experience, work can come from the most unlikely source. You never know the person’s situation that you are talking to; while you may think they don’t want to know about you, they may just be having a bad day. I don’t take it personally, it’s business not a popularity contest after all!
We’re pleased to announce that we have signed up three new regional franchisees in the Manchester area. Dominic Baines and Dominic Ogbologu have established franchises in South and North Manchester, and Dave Keogh has taken on the franchise for Stockport and Tameside having run a successful publishing business in the property sector based in the States. Encouraged to return to the UK by his three daughters, who all live in Manchester, Dave said, “I see huge potential for NLG’s services in the Stockport area. Being back amongst my daughters and the prospect of building this business, I couldn’t be more excited about life right now.”
Dominic Baines who has taken on the franchise for Manchester South worked in banking then following a redundancy he secured a job within Manchester University’s Accommodation team and started to explore franchising. His work experience whetted his appetite for a business in the property sector giving him an understanding solving problems from both a tenant and landlord’s perspectives.
And last but not least, Dominic Ogbologu joins the No Letting Go network with a franchise in North Manchester. Dominic came to the UK almost 10 years ago with a background in surveying and architecture. Following further studies he worked in consultancy and property valuations. Dominic said, “I love the property sector and taking on my own business venture I feel that I am more able to drive my own future and fulfill my potential.”
We’re delighted to welcome Dave Keogh who joined No Letting Go in January; one of three new franchisees in the North-west in recent months. Dave returned to the UK two years ago having run a successful publishing business in the property sector based for 15 years in California and Florida for the last five. Encouraged to return by his three daughters, who all live in Manchester Dave was initially hoping to secure a business management role.
“I was applying for positions and it was while I was in the Job Centre that I came across a leaflet about Franchise Works, an organisation that helps people raise finance to start a franchise business. I went along to some of the seminars and looked at the kinds of opportunities that were available. No Letting Go was in my top three, given my connections and interest in property and once I learned more about the brand and saw the potential for business in the north-west it was a no-brainer. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m not afraid of business having come from a business background and I see huge potential for NLG’s services in the Stockport area. Being back amongst my daughters and the prospect of building this business – I couldn’t be more excited about life right now.”
We have had some time now to reflect on what was a spectacular day to be involved with; months of hard work and planning paid off with the delivery of our Millionaire Masterclass on 18th March.
Firstly, we must say thank you to the experts who gave us their time to present on Keys to Success, Business Planning & Strategy, Social Marketing & Outreach and fascinating human resource insights. The idea behind the day was to help boost our top franchisees and allow them to take their businesses to the next level, something we hope we have achieved.
The day was enjoyed in the beautiful grounds of Warren House and we were delighted with the amount of people who made the effort to come along. The opening key note not only outlined the four factors that will help you achieve success, but how those can be accessed. From tips on identifying the type of person you are communicating with and what they respond best to, to how to ensure you keep a positive mindset throughout, the opening speech could not have created a more motivational and inspirational setting for those who followed.
Hopefully our franchisees are all brimming with ideas on how to plan out the coming years of their business, how they will drive interest to their business and raise the brand profile as well as how best to sell once these leads come in.
We are incredibly excited to see the difference this will make to franchisees across the country and can’t wait to find out if they have kept their spot as one of our top franchisees for next year’s conference or, whether their invitation has been directed to another franchise who has chosen 2015 as the year to step up their game.
The sky really is the limit for any of our entrepreneurs with lofty ambitions, hopefully this will have helped them to realise their potential.
We’re working hard keep up with the demand for our services – says CEO Nick Lyons. With new franchisees in Bath, West London, Stockport, Manchester and Gloucestershire bringing the number to 43 offices, Nick says there has never been a better time to get into property services through a successful franchise network.
“Perhaps the saying ‘ an Englishman’s home is his castle’ no longer applies,” says Lyons. “The UK is fast becoming a nation of renters; research indicates that by 2021 renters will outnumber homeowners across the capital and this trend extends countrywide with projections that 39% of the UK’s population will be renting by then.”
The market is being further supported by an increase in applications for buy-to-let mortgages, rising a fifth since last year and 3% since June.
This continued growth has meant No Letting Go’s services are in great demand, which means potential franchisees have an opportunity to become part of this fast growing sector and capitalise on this trend with the market’s leading brand.
“Our tablet based reporting and online inventory management system allows already busy lettings agents and property managers to order and manage property reports online field in real-time whilst maximising profits for the franchisee. It’s become more important than ever to be able to deliver an efficient, reliable service combined with detailed and accurate reports. We believe that we are unrivalled in delivering this.” added Nick “For those who are keen to grow a successful business in the property sector the time has never been better to join the No Letting Go network. Exciting times are ahead.”
For more information on No Letting Go please contact Gary Claven on 07475 526111 or visit www.nolettinggo.co.uk