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membership opportunity for franchisees. Our first step – and a major part of the association’s activity throughout last year – has been the construction of a continuously updated register of UK franchisees in bfa-member networks. The next step, and the greatest challenge we face in 2012, is to develop a membership offer for those franchisees. No one has to join and it won’t be free, but


the community of franchisees that do join will have the benefit of bfa endorsement for their business plus the ability to elect representatives


in which we police those standards, and how we promote those businesses that meet them. The key to development is the core business


of recruiting franchisors to recognise that bfa standards of good practice are also standards of good business which it is commercially worthwhile to meet. If we get that right then we have a starting point for doing the same job with professional advisors and franchisees. As a rough measure, one third of bfa resources


goes on accreditation work, ie maintaining the standards; one third is directed towards franchise promotion; and the rest on delivering direct member services. Franchisee membership must represent added value to those who join, but it must also bring value to the bfa’s resources and


“ Brian Smart


to the bfa board who will contribute to association policies on standards, disciplinary procedures and so on. Subscribers to bfa- franchisee membership will also have access to: a small-business information service, online training systems, discounted products and services, and to the Local Franchise Networks (LFN) being piloted in Peterborough and Bristol. Getting this offer online and the sales system working and delivering it to bfa- franchisee members will be the bfa’s biggest challenge for many years.


Caring for the Core Business The bfa has already shown its commitment to franchisee membership by appointing three franchisees – in advance of any franchisee election system – to the board of directors and three more to supporting committees. We all know that this determination to make franchisee membership succeed must not jeopardise our core business of attracting ethical franchised businesses into bfa franchisor membership. Nor must it detract from the bfa’s main objective: keeping the professional franchise community onside with the standards we represent, the way


is required to maintain the standards and consequent reputation of the rest as a whole. One of the reasons why the bfa is several steps


ahead of its European colleagues is that it has a serious hold on the standards that apply to the principal franchisee recruitment routes. The bfa’s own website www.thebfa.org,


and our affiliate site www.whichfranchise.com, require franchisors to meet bfa standards in order to have access to the principal web recruitment sources. Our agreement with the event organisers Venture Marketing Group puts bfa membership standards at the heart of the main exhibition recruitment opportunities. Our agreements with the Daily Express newspaper, and with Franchisor News and Business Franchise magazines, also add support to the franchise community’s commitment to a single standard for self-regulation.


the bfa has a


serious hold on the standards that apply to the principal franchisee recruitment routes


must support the distribution of that resource among our core activities. Good franchising is good for everyone in franchising, and the cost of maintaining top-quality, ethical franchising, to a high standard, should be met by all those who benefit.


”


Guardianship of the Standards The bfa’s role as guardian of the standards that good franchising must meet began in 1977. We’ve come a long way since then, not least our collective expertise at evaluating franchises by increasingly sophisticated standards. This year, we’ll be publishing the first compendium of the rules and regulations that apply to our members. But knowing the rules is not the same thing as having trusted procedures for their application, run by independent staff without compromise or external influence. The elected members of the franchise


community are collectively the masters of the bfa, its staff, and the standards they perform to. We operate a pretty sophisticated system of governance and consultation to ensure that the franchise community does stay in charge, but in charge collectively – not individually. Franchisors license the bfa’s staff to intervene


in the activities of individual members, whomsoever they may be, when such action


The Prize of Self-Regulation There are few, if any, examples of successful self-regulation in any other commercial sector. The franchise community should remain highly aware that ours is a precious triumph that the association holds and guards. One voice, one set of standards, and one trusted industry body that applies those standards with rigour and with independence. That is a great achievement and one that could be jeopardised all too easily. What government will listen to an industry that cannot speak with one voice? What accreditation could prospective franchisees trust if they were faced with a collection of different kite-marks, all standing for different things and all fronting who knows what vested interests? The benefits of one representative voice


and one reliable standard are undeniable. That voice and that standard must be the industry’s standard, administered by the industry for the industry. It must also be done with the informed support of all; franchisors, franchisees and the professional community of bankers, lawyers, consultants and others involved in the support of ethical franchising. Surprisingly, that’s what the industry has achieved. It’s my job to keep it that way. n


aUTHOR’S NOTE


Brian Smart, director general of the British Franchise Association since 1989, is a board member of the European Franchise Federation and the British delegate to the World Franchise Council. To find out more about bfa membership tel: 01235 820 470 or visit: www.thebfa.org


Franchisor News | 09


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