FAMILY ADDITION
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When Brewer & Turnbull recently announced that it was seeking franchisees, family firm Broughton Removals was quick to realise the benefits of being linked to a nationallyestablished company.
• Among the Broughton Removals vans at the company's base in Edinburgh's Leith Docks is an apparent interloper, but the van, in Brewer & Turnbull livery, is a Broughton van, but operated under B&T's franchising arrangement.
Broughton's owner, Sonny Munro, recently signed as a franchisee with the Preston-based firm, which means that he can develop his existing business under the Broughton name, and benefit from the national and international reputation of Brewer & Turnbull.
Munro signed up with B&T in October. "It's early days yet," he says, "but we are already taking about 10 B&T calls a week, and if the business develops in the way I believe it could, I could well be looking to have more than just the one van for B&T work"
CHANGE IN DIRECTION
Brewer & Turnbull used to operate a sizeable national removals business, but a change in ownership led to a reduction in the size of the company. A change in direction in 1984 introduced the concept of franchising, and with this experience B&T announced recently that it was looking for 14 new franchisees.
Commercial and franchise manager Pamela Flanagan says B&T has also recently recruited franchisees in Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Ashford, and she is on course to achieve her target of one a month. "We look for removal companies with at least three years' experience in the business, and at least three proper removal vans," she says. "We are not after one man and his Transit."
Why did Munro decide to buy into a franchise? "My son Simon saw an article in Commercial Motor earlier in the year, and suggested that we should look at this. We did, and were impressed with the Brewer & Turnbull set-up. They came to see us, and we were attracted to the idea. We met them shortly afterwards to tie up the deal."
Franchisees pay a once-only "enrolment" fee of £5,000 and then a royalty of 4% of revenue from B&T business. Munro at Broughton pays a minimum of P80 a month to B&T, but does not see this as a problem. "That suggests an income of £2,000 a month from B&T work. I would eventually be looking to earn that sort of money each week," he says. Broughton and B&T work sits happily side-by-side. There is the one B&T van, a secondhand Ford Cargo 1315, and a fleet of six Broughton vans. There are two phones, two entries in Yellow Pages, and two types of uniform for the drivers. "My office manager John Montgomery looks after the Broughton business, and my wife Joan is getting involved on the B&T side," explains Munro.
Broughton's advert in Yellow Pages proclaims that it is an "established family business", which Munro reckons is what attracts many of his local customers. "The B&T advert seems to attract longerdistance enquiries which we might not otherwise have got," he says.
Broughton is a real family firm, with Munro's sons Colin and Simon already in the business, while younger brother Kris, who is still at school, has ambitions to join them; daughter Joanne is not so sure.
Munro's father was in the secondhand furniture business, and Munro followed in his father's footsteps, advertising a small removals service to maximise the use of his van.
"It got to the stage that I was making more money from removals than from secondhand furniture," he recalls, "so I decided 16 years ago to specialise."
Much of Munro's time is now spent following up enquiries, which may have resulted from Broughton's careful directmail targeting of people selling houses in the Edinburgh area. With a high level of professional people, the house market in Edinburgh is never static, and with marketing material supplied by B&T, Munro will be mailing to the more expensive parts of the city, where moves are often long-distance, even overseas.
"There is also the possibility of backloads through the B&T system," says Munro. In the highly-competitive removal business, back-loads are rare, but he com pares B&T franchisees to a family, working together rather than against each other.
"We do not own any vehicles; we provide marketing, training and administrativ( back-up for firms like Broughton," explains Flanagan. "We have four regional representatives who meet with the franchisees and bring back their views to the Franchise Advisory Committee.
"Any major policy decisions affecting franchisees would not be taken without their involvement. The meetings they have with the regional representatives allow us to keep them informed, and give them a chance to discuss problems and put forward ideas. From the royalties paid by franchisees, I have a marketir4 fund, and the Franchise Advisory Committee polices the spending of this."
Working from Preston, Flanagan provides full marketing support and gives franchisees access to a number of specialist areas.
"We are on the CBI relocation listing, and we handle corporate relocation work for major companies. Corporate customers simply need to deal with one office, and this gives them access to the whole B&T network", she explains.
"We believe we can give good national coverage in the UK. Of the 64 Yellow Pages areas, we are in 29, and essentially we can handle work anywhere."
Looking to the future, Munro reckons he might have a fleet of eight vans — five in Broughton livery and three in B&T. "I believe I've done the right thing," he says. "I've done my sums, and recognise the value of the B&T name." C by Gavin Booth