GB Pictures - a non profit company, dedicated to empowering greater involvement in collecting and enjoying art

                                                0845 094 2487 (local rate)

GB Pictures – Regional Franchise

Introduction

A regional franchise has two roles that of recruiting franchisees for the 3 types of area franchises, and acting in the role of brand coordinator, who supports the area franchises across their region. in relation to one of the GB Pictures brands.

This has the advantage that to start with they can use all their efforts to build the franchise network in their region and then as this starts to tale shape to start to switch to a supporting role so that over time the amount of time put into franchise recruitment is reduced as the region has more active area franchises. having two incomes one from recruiting franchises and one from the sales resulting in the region also works well with this philosophy.

The team explained.

The Team structure is made up of two parts the regional franchises and the local area franchises, these have different roles. The local area franchises are available in three sizes or styles that work closely together.

The local area team comprises franchises that act as consultants selling fine art editions and other works of art, to individuals, businesses and the trade by a variety of methods, including in some cases putting on exhibitions.

The regional franchises are involved in providing encouragement, motivation and information to the local franchise as well as other more general brand support. They are also involved in the recruitment of the local franchises, which they may do themselves or working with one of the partner companies running the overall project, or project coordinators. There is a regional franchise for each Brand.

There are a number of other ways that area franchises are to be recruited, so the growth of the areas within the region can be speeded up.

Regions and area

England is split into 11 regions, Wales and Scotland each into 3 and Northern Ireland 1.  So most are between 4 and 7 counties in size.

An area is about the size of a medium sized town so a county might typically have the potential for about 10 areas.

So a region might be thought of as about the size of 40-70 local areas, but it is unlikely that all areas would have been taken up by franchises. There are likely to be between 4 and 10 local franchises in a local team.

Brands

Initially there are 2 brands but eventually at least 8 are planned. Local franchises market all the brands, while regional franchises each support and advise on one brand.

Coping with numbers

From this you can see with the network fully developed there is the opportunity to involve up to a 100 local franchisees for every regional one. This is possible as franchises will join over time so demands will be met in stages and the team approach provides a level of local support and motivation, reduces stock holding and allows local team members to put on joint events.

Rewarding the team

The local franchises purchase art editions with a discount off trade price, and sell them at whatever rate they feel is appropriate. A calculator provides a variety of suggested prices. Their own personal effort is directly rewarded, and a sudden spurt of activity, such as putting on one or more exhibitions brings fast and large rewards.

The regional franchise is rewarded by an override on the sales of all editions of the brand they are coordinating, across their region. Their reward is tied to the overall performance of the brand within their region, and they can effect this a lot, however the number of individual franchises involved will have an averaging effect, so there is likely to be less variation from one month to another. Their on target earnings are likely to be in the range £70,000 to £150,000, there are no top limits. On top of this they receive commissions on most of the area franchises that they sign up.

One exercise, excluding the revenue fro recruiting franchisees,  showed a fully developed region with 7 counties, 10 teams in each, each with 10 members, and each local team, and each franchisee selling a range of 28 editions per month on average,  would produce the Regional franchisee of the Camera Images Brand with an annual income of over £2.6m, but of course this is not likely to be achieved. Achieving just 6% of this potential would produce over 157,000 a year. Targets are set and agreed with each individual in line with the minimum that we both feel is realistic.

Perhaps the same person in employment might be earning now £20,000-£60,000. A motivated self employed person should be able to earn three times what they could as an employee, partly through the lower need for supervision and partly by eliminating the need to support non performers, dead wood or time wasters. A Franchise offers a convenient route to maximise income potential, a large amount is already set up and the persons able to fit into a team structure, with a lower capital investment, where starting from scratch on their own would be difficult and have a long lead time and frequently involve a lot of additional costs. A franchise should have a far lower risk than other forms of employment.

It should not be overlooked that Regional franchises also have the potential to create a good additional income by signing up new franchises.  This is a useful bonus in the development stages while the number of franchises is growing.

The role of the regional franchise

Basically the regional franchise has three roles, one involving the recruitment of local franchisees, the second the motivation and support of these and the third of transferring knowledge and skills through the team. In a non franchise business model you might look at this as similar to the role of the regional management.

Recruitment of franchises. A regional franchise can do this themselves or work with a lead partner who puts on a local presentation. They can of course also encourage existing franchisees to introduce others. All the local franchises are extremely attractive, and none have any initial franchise fees and all the potential to produce a very good return. We will also have a small number of recruitment coordinators who will put on recruitment events across the country, often in areas which are not yet active, so as to quickly build the number of franchises in a region.

Motivation and support. They provide the encouragement and motivation to the local teams, suggesting ways they could improve sales or promotions and exhibitions they might put on. They show them new brand lines and encourage the uptake of these and the general promotion of the brand. They may become involved in local public relations activity, may assist franchisees to put on exhibitions and show franchisees how to maximise their return.

Transferring knowledge.  They will be shown skills by lead members and will then share these skills with franchises in their region, in addition they will share information with other regional franchises and by this means be able to suggest routes that have proved profitable or other ways to increase sales. They also feed back information and reactions to new lines to the brand, allowing further development to be guided.

Practical application

Initially each month each regional franchisee will attend two meetings at Cheltenham Gloucestershire, initially this will be at the training centre of Camera Images. One of these meetings will be for the regional franchisees that are supporting a particular brand and the second a meeting of regional franchises that are across brands but in a single region. Later the regional meetings may be able to be held in the regions concerned. Regions that are furthest from Cheltenham will have the regional meetings arranged on the days either side of the brand based meetings.

While there are a small number of brands, the brand meetings will take place on the same day, allowing franchisees to share travelling where they wish. As we will also often have skills training arranged for the same days, while one is attending the set meeting the others will be acquiring new skills.

Who is the regional franchise ideally for

The ideal regional franchisee will be a person who gets on well with others, enjoys sharing information and passing on skills they have been shown. Someone who can be diplomatic and supportive, able to motivate others to take actions.  They must be a self starter, someone who can run a diary, able to find their way around their region, and to Cheltenham. We have no set formal qualifications or previous experience, and will provide the skills training they will need.

It is essential that you can communicate in English, and are able to travel throughout the franchise region.

Franchise costs.

This franchise has a franchise fee of £3,800, , with an option to pay 2,000 up front and 1,800 by forward dated cheque set 4 months from sighing. There is no stock holding requirement with this franchise.

Area franchises (3 types) have no franchise fee but do have a minimum stock holding.

Training and other items

Training is provided within the above, as is the loan of a portfolio and some other items.

Other requirements

You do not require an office or other building as you can work from home, but you do need to be able to travel within the region, so in most cases this will mean you will require a car and licence or another person who has them to transport you.

Selection

As there are a lot of costs involved in training and providing loan equipment and having a non functioning person in this role would be letting down other team members, you will appreciate that we have to have confidence that you would succeed to allow you to take this on.

For these franchises we have a selection procedure that involves an interview.  At this interview we are looking to see that you can communicate in English, and that you have the commitment to succeed.

Next - how to apply

GB Pictures is a non profit company, a company limited by guarantee with no shareholders.

Registered in England Wales No: 05291147

Registered Office: Condale House, Eldon Road, Cheltenham GL52 6TU (Callers by appointment only)

Images on this website are from one of our brands - Camera-Images.