SMALL ENOUGH
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TO CARE offered his first
franchise area. he had been • Ibrahim Jaeban is certainly a happy franchisee. In just four years he has opened two franchise outlets and is now on the brink of his third.
Although he runs his business under the Budget Rent A Car banner, his West Bromwich site differs from all other branches. His is the only Budget franchise office which rents commercial vehicles — from small vans to 38 tonne artics.
The site has been open for just four months. But it has proved so popular with the local transport industry that Jaeban says his new Telford branch, which opens later this year, will also put an emphasis on renting HGVs.
Jaeban believes much of his success is due to having "a good, solid franchise firm" behind him, which provides him with support 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Like most franchise schemes, Jaeban paid Budget a fee after "But in my mind, they spent all this money providing me with signs, stationery for the first 12 months and office equipment such as desks. They also organised the phone lines, a Yellow Pages listing and local advertising," says Jaeban.
This help is given to all new Budget franchisees. And Budget's marketing manager comes and talks to the franchisee before any site is opened, says Jaeban. Budget also employs media agencies to look at the new franchise's marketing and advertising strategy and it has its own department specialising in branch openings. This Budget back-up continues after the franchise is up and running — and most of it is free. In return, Jaeban now pays the firm 10% of his revenue.
Other services offered to Jaeban include discounts on fleet purchases, celebrities such as Olympic swimmers to open branches, and back-up from a national sales team.
The aim of the national sales staff is to find new business for Budget franchisees. Around 10 salesmen travel the country approaching new firms and acting on suggestions from area offices.
And if a franchisee wishes to take out more advertising after the opening of his site, Budget contributes 50% to costs.
The rental giant also supplies free train
ing to its franchise owners and their staff. When Jaeban first joined the Budget empire he was taken on for a week's training course. This has been followed up with other educational courses on supervising, how to select staff "and I suppose how to make money," says Jaeban. As well as management training, Budget also offers courses for franchisee's staff. When anyone first joins the company they are sent on initial training courses — every two days for the first five weeks.
And if a franchise owner cannot get someone to cover for his new member of staff or an emergency occurs, Budget will even do on-site training.
The rental firm has a central reservations department which takes calls from around the world and books up vehicles for its franchises. And area managers regularly visit franchise sites and are on-call 24hours a day. One of Budget's strongest points, says Jaeban, is its ability to give advice and to act quickly. He says: "If there is something 1 don't like, I shout at Budget. And then they actually do something. A lot of firms wouldn't."
Jaeban now has a fleet of more than 220 ' vehicles which include 85 commercial vehicles above 7.5 tonnes. He says it is his arnbition to have more than 500 vehicles once the new Telford site opens.
His fleet is mixed and all rental vehicles come covered with a 24-hour breakdown service. "There is also the Budget national support. If anything goes wrong there is always a Budget nearby that can help," says Jaeban.
He admits business was slow at first for the West Bromwich office. Not only did Jaeban have to contend with the problems of being a new set-up he was also entering the vehicle rental market at a time when HGV rentals had fallen sharply.
However, business is now booming, despite the slump. "This is because we try to accommodate all our customers and we provide a quality service," claims Jaeban.
And his success has prompted Budget to push itself more in commercial vehicle rental. Over the past two years the firm's revenue from van and truck rental has been boosted by 25% and its total UK fleet has grown to more than 2,000.
The company says it intends to be the market leader in fight van rental by 1995.
Jaeban will be part of Budget's expansion in truck rental.
He says: "Being with Budget means we are big enough to cope — but still small enough to care".
E by Tanya Cordrey