Networking is where you will be spending a large amount of your time, as a high percentage of referrals come from networking. It is about you becoming part of the community, raising awareness of your business, and learning about local care issues. This will help in building relationships with a diverse range of contacts to mitigate risk and maximise penetration into the community. Full training and support are given to help you succeed in networking in your territory.
Many of your enquiries will come from robust PR (public relations) programmes. We recognise the value of PR to franchise owners and offers support and advice to help your public relations plan. Home Instead will employ a PR company to work with you, paid for from your service charge. Developing ongoing relationships with the relevant media contacts for your territory is essential in getting your franchise known, which may lead to national coverage depending on the story you are providing.
Most of our leads come through the web, so a strong digital marketing presence is essential for a franchise. Each franchise can edit their own website pages, and having these ‘local’ websites for each office helps to drive search engine optimisation, helping your online rankings on Google and other search engines. In the UK Digital marketing is supported by the marketing team, a strong team of nine staff, with US support to drive activities. We aim to maintain a large social media presence both nationally and locally to increase leads from the web, and marketing create local campaigns regularly to support brand awareness and generate media coverage and visibility.
Home Instead provides local PR support through public education campaigns. These allow us to build on our position as thought leaders on topics that affect the elderly and are also a great chance to do some networking. Programmes often revolve around a particular issue, such as Alzheimer’s Care, Be a Santa to a Senior, or Senior Fraud Protection and provides an opportunity for regional or national stories as more franchises participate. Each programme has relevant material and supporting web content to support you in carrying them out in your territory.
Getting involved in charities is a fantastic way to not only give back to the elderly but also from a PR perspective an opportunity to build the brand in a community. Home Instead Charities aim to bring the fun back into ageing and increase social interaction, helping change perceptions of what its like to age. They can be used as a soft networking tool to gain contacts who may refer clients to you and a soft Care Professional recruitment tool for people who may want to help care for the elderly.
When you require support from us, you can be sure that you are well cared for. Home Instead has been 1st on Elite Franchises top 100 for two years running, coming up from 2nd place in 2020. We have received multiple gold awards for UK franchisor of the year, along with customer service awards from BFA and 5-star satisfaction from WorkBuzz for 4 consecutive years.
Across our 240 offices we have 80 full time employees, a 3:1 ratio which is unique in the franchise industry.
Most of our Executive Leadership team have personally experienced the social care system and are well equipped to direct and motivate franchisees with their combined experience across different sectors.
The Franchise Exchange Council is an advisory group comprised of elected franchisees who are voted onto the FEC, with up to 10 members plus the Executive Leadership Team. FEC members meet regularly throughout the year, with Martin Jones chairing the meetings and key members of the national office team attending. Prior to these meetings FEC members will engage with franchise owners to hear about any challenges or opportunities that can be brought up and discussed. This helps promote a co-operative approach to any opportunities or challenges franchise owners face.
With so many franchises in the UK, there are plenty of other franchise owners who can provide support, and there are plenty of opportunities to meet up and network with your peers, from regional meetings to the annual conferences. The Franchise forum is a particularly good place to find advice from peers, with such a large network, franchise owners have often been in similar situations and can offer their advice and experience. Using the franchise directory, you can also identify offices of a similar age very easily, allowing you to find the peers who are starting their franchise journey at the same time.