DRIVER HIRE NAMED UK’S TOP FRANCHISOR!

Driver Hire has been crowned the UK’s No.1 franchisor by The British Franchise Association in its annual ‘Franchisor of the Year’ Awards.

Beating off stiff competition, Chief Executive of Driver Hire, Chris Chidley, was presented with the winner’s trophy by BFA Chairman Sir Bernard Ingham at London’s famous Savoy Hotel.

This year’s theme for the top title - bfa Franchisor of the Year - is “Planning for Success” - with franchisors having to demonstrate to the judging panel how they are advising, developing and monitoring the role of business planning within their franchise network.

While business planning has always been at the top of the agenda for Driver Hire, it has never been more important than over the past year.  Anticipating a change in market demand and new legislation on drivers’ hours, Driver Hire were able to prepare their franchisees for changes that would impact on every aspect of their business.

In fact, they turned a potential problem into a new opportunity – not only demonstrating compliance with the new laws but also repositioning the franchise as an industry leader. Central to the company’s on going planning agenda is the Driver Hire Business Plan Template, a comprehensive working document that helps franchisees clarify goals and measure progress. This is reviewed and up-dated regularly to accommodate business and market changes, such as the new legislation.

Driver Hire has also invested in a web-based Business Intelligence System, which gathers sales data from all franchisees and turns it into relevant, actionable information to share across the network. In addition to this, every franchisee receives further support from a designated Business Development Manager, plus additional input in areas such as telemarketing and training. Director General of the bfa, Brian Smart, said "This year’s competition was extremely difficult to judge with high quality contributions from many of the entrants. Driver Hire stood out amongst the shortlisted companies due to the significant contribution that business planning has made to their franchisees and the network as a whole".

"Market and legislative changes can dramatically impact on any business and Driver Hire illustrated one of the fundamental benefits of franchising to the franchisee. By planning for future developments their network has benefited in a way that a non-franchised operator would have found difficult".

“The bfa Franchisor of the Year Awards recognise and promote outstanding professionalism within this increasingly important market sector and we are delighted to have this opportunity to reward those who are consistently striving for excellence, both for themselves and for the success of their networks.”

HSBC’s Head of Franchising, Cathryn Hayes, said “Driver Hire is a prime example of how enterprise is at the heart of every successful business.  As a long established successful franchise, they could have rested on their laurels but instead have continued to innovate and excel in their market place.  HSBC is committed to supporting entrepreneurship and has been supporting the franchise industry for over 20 years - we are delighted to honour the innovators who lead and inspire within their chosen market place.”

Express Newspapers’ Business Advertising Manager Yvette Taylor added “Driver Hire has established and developed a great brand and everyone should be justly proud - we look forward to sharing their success story with our readers".