Exclusive Interview


Mark: We’ve learned so much from franchisees and they have from us, too. A relationship that started out as a trial has really blossomed because we’ve shared best practice all along. Vodafone, globally, is already franchised, just not in the UK – now we have, we’ve seen the benefits.


Lee: Ultimately, the best benefit is that these really good store managers grow their career in a way they wouldn’t otherwise have expected. The performance in every store has improved – it’s their life, they really put themselves into it. What we learned most from the partners is that they invest more in people, and that gives better service, which gives better sales. They paid higher bonuses to their staff, so the first thing we did was replicate that! Because we’ve seen the benefits of what franchisees have done.


What are the benefits of running a Vodafone franchise? Jon: That we can still be local and be a global brand. The franchisees are better at articulating to us what they need locally to appeal to our customers. And no matter how big you are as a business, it does come down to: are you doing the right things for your customers in every town, in every postcode? A lot of big brands can be very London- and city-centric and if we’re looking out for our customers in, for example, Scotland, the South West and Wales properly, will we hear about it? Maybe not. But with franchisees we definitely do, which is fantastic.


Mark: Franchising is now integral to Vodafone. We have the opportunity to open in locations we’ve not been before, to partner with somebody who can absolutely grow our market share. The fact that Vodafone is supporting individuals as businesspeople and helping them become franchisees is incredibly inspiring – it’s the faith you’re showing in people.


In what way does Vodafone differentiate itself in the franchise market? Jon: The one thing we’ve tried to be is a support for people without allowing it


30 | The Franchise Magazine 2020


to get too big. We’re teaching them to nurture and love the brand. We’ve also said: “Look, we don’t mind if you use this as a stepping stone to other interests in your areas, that’s brilliant. Use us as that stable base in which you can experiment with other things as well.” That’s been really popular with people.


Mark: For us, I can’t stress the word ‘partnership’ enough. The partner takes on lots of responsibility and not so much of the risk, although they are putting their money where their mouth is. But I don’t recognise any difference between core [company-owned] stores and partner agent stores, they have the same purpose – to deliver value back into the business and equally to make themselves


successful and give themselves career options. So it is very much a true partnership, and throughout the company – whether core store or franchise partner agent – it’s very much a ‘one-team’ ethos.


With no franchise fee upfront, what do you ask of a potential owner? Jon: We use the slogan: “We give you the keys for free”, but clearly they need to cover the costs of their operational expenses for the first few months while they wait for their payments to roll in. We didn’t want to prevent people we


knew would be brilliant local ambassadors for us from getting on board because they didn’t have a lot of capital to support them. Luckily, we’ve also had some brilliant partnerships with Hitachi Capital


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