Lloyds TSB has been named as the official sponsor of the 2012 Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark (FSB) programme and The Best Franchise Award.
Launched in June 2011, the FSB works by inviting existing franchise owners to review and provide anonymous feedback on their franchise experience. As consistent questions are asked the benchmark data is used to recognise the best franchise opportunities through The Best Franchise Awards. What makes these unique is they are based exclusively on franchise owner feedback.
Lloyds TSB has also committed to review and potentially offer preferential banking terms to franchisors that choose to share their FSB results with the bank because these can reduce its risk and demonstrate the franchise system’s long term viability.
Richard Holden, Lloyd’s TSB’s Head of Franchising, said: “We are proud to be the official sponsor of the 2012 Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark programme because it is driving up industry standards by improving transparency, helping ethical franchisors stand out from the crowd and also understand how their networks really feel so they can improve the quality of their support.”
Steven Frost, Partner at Smith & Henderson, added: “We’re delighted to have Lloyds TSB, with such a strong reputation for ethical franchising on board as a strategic partner. By using the independently verified franchise owner satisfaction results to review its lending terms, this is something genuinely unique in UK franchising and another benefit of participating.”
Smith & Henderson expects the programme to double in size in 2012. Frost said: “We had almost 40 franchisors participate in June to December 2011. In January we’ve seen a franchisor sign up every four days on average, with established brands recognising how the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark can help them align their business plans to what their franchise networks really need, differentiate their franchise from the competition and position their franchise as one of the best in the UK.”
Published: 5 March 2012
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