One year on...
A year of (ex)change
One year on from opening his CeX franchise in Bletchley, Ali Reyahi refl ects on an eventful 12 months
What did you do before buying your franchise?
I was an engineering quality inspector and director of an international inspection company.
How have you found the past year? The past year has certainly been an interesting one. CeX sent me on a three- day ‘store experience’ so I could see what it was actually like being in a store. What was important to me was to fi nd something that I would truly enjoy on a day-to-day basis. After speaking to a staff member and a customer on the fi rst day, I realised that this would be the case, although I have found it diffi cult to pull myself away from the daily running of the business. The most memorable moment, though, has to be when we were the victim of an attempted ram-raid. People from every level made the eff ort to get us back open as quickly as possible and support from the corporate side has been outstanding.
“I genuinely enjoy the technology that I come across on a daily basis and it helps because I don’t notice how much time I’m putting in”
What are the benefi ts of running a CeX franchise? There is a transparency to the company, both internal and external. CeX is one of the few companies that I know of that displays its buy price and sale price publicly for every item it deals with. This translates to an honesty and openness within the company that I have not seen elsewhere.
When discussing best practice, I have had other franchisees open their books to me without a second thought, as our fi gures are all disclosed internally. The support system from the franchisor is also
great. Their goal is not merely to get you to sign on the dotted line and get your doors open; they truly put in the eff ort to help you succeed once you are open.
I genuinely enjoy the technology that I come across on a daily basis and it helps because I don’t notice how much time I’m putting in.
What are your plans for next year? My plans mainly centre on expansion, opening a new store and planning for the next one after that. I also want to be confi dent that the teams I have in-store are strong enough to be self-suffi cient so that I can concentrate more on the expansion of the business. To that end, I am focused on hiring and training the right people. With the exponential increase in CeX franchises opening, I will need to look for suitable locations that are less obvious in order to take advantage of untapped markets. I also want to get more involved with having a say in the future of the company. CeX is receptive to hearing from franchisees about goals moving forward; there is a franchise council who meet monthly to discuss with representatives
corporate issues that franchisees have brought to them. I feel, with greater involvement, I can help address the needs of franchisees and help the company grow in a direction benefi cial to both the franchisor and franchisees.
What would you have done diff erently? I regret not having met up with established franchisees during training. Their experience off ers a wealth of information that only comes from having been there themselves. Also, I opened with all-new staff , with the hope of promoting within the ranks so that I would have management staff . Unfortunately, this did not work out for longer than anticipated, meaning I was having to work seven days a week until I had adequately trained management-level staff . If I had to do it again, I would have taken on and trained at least one other person prior to opening the store, with the intention of them being an assistant manager.
www.webuy.com/franchising Ali Reyahi
October 2016 |
BusinessFranchise.com | 201
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