Franchise Focus A web of success
Stephen Hall, ComputerXplorers Birmingham East franchisee, talks about the rapid growth of his business
INVESTMENT LEVEL: £29,500
of our after-school clubs are booked on a six-week basis and we need to have a year’s worth of software planned to ensure we have enough variety of content to keep moving forward.
“E
nthusiasm and fear in almost equal measures has been the driving force for us at ComputerXplorers
Birmingham East. By the end of the first year, we were surprised to discover that we had become the top-performing UK franchise in the network, a position we have maintained ever since because our business delivers the highest quality of service to customers and is well organised.
In our first year we turned over £73,000 rising to £83,000 in 2012 and we are on track this year to hit £110,000. We currently run 36 after-school clubs working with up to 50 schools and have delivered a number of workshops in the local community.
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After we bought the franchise in January 2011, I was absolutely terrified! All of our savings had been ploughed into the investment, we moved into rented property to be near to our territory. Our whole financial future rested on making the business a success – failure wasn’t an option.
The division of roles fell into place naturally. I look after sales and customer services, and my wife Fiona manages content, designs the courses and now writes curriculum for ComputerXplorers on a consultancy basis.
The franchise model works so well because it is built on following a proven system – procedures devised to keep the sales pipeline flowing and nurture customer relationships. Working to this routine is one of the keys to our success. The majority
Developing curriculum, designing courses and bringing in the work is where our strengths lie. From the beginning we realised that the only way to grow the business was to train up others to teach the classes, leaving us free to sign up more schools. We only employ teachers ‘as and when’, but make sure they spend time shadowing established ComputerXplorers teachers to guarantee quality and consistency. After-school clubs currently make up the majority of our work. These clubs are paid for by the parents and the children choose which club they want to do. School assemblies are the way we ‘sell’ the classes to the children. Our relationship with the children begins in those assemblies and as a result classes are nearly always over subscribed. We charge a premium price and customers are happy to pay because they see the value. Everything is underpinned by a focus on quality both in terms of the curriculum we deliver and the service we give to schools, teachers, children and parents. We are continually measuring and monitoring our performance and business. For example, I developed an automated system to email out parent updates after every session and now 65 per cent are opened and read. I’m particularly proud of the role we played recently to secure Microsoft Partners in Learning status for ComputerXplorers – I was brought into the negotiating team because of my technical knowledge and enthusiasm for IT. Fiona’s IT background enables us to integrate our ComputerXplorers software with other programmes and curriculum, so the next phase of our business growth revolves around getting contracts with schools to deliver full day workshops and PPA (planning preparation and assessment time) cover in addition to clubs. Instead of having to run frequent assemblies to get work we can gain year-long commitments. Sometimes things just click – and that’s the way it is for us and ComputerXplorers. We love the brand, love computers and continue to get a huge buzz out of seeing how much the children enjoy the clubs as we drive our business forward.” n
COMPUTERXPLORERS
WEBSITE:
www.computerxplorers.co.uk EMAIL:
jmatthews@computerxplorers.co.uk PHONE: 01530 513 308 CLASSIFICATION: Children’s computer tuition
Investment: £20k-£50k
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