One of the advantages that current consultants have mentioned to me about being part of a franchise is that it gives them the opportunity to seem more established from the start.
As a group, we have been working with small businesses for 12 years now; our expertise in this area of HR is established, and the volume of articles on the website, solid group of consultants and many testimonials we collectively have all weigh into that.
When you’re starting out as an HR consultant on your own, it can be very apparent, and that can impact people’s confidence in you and also your own confidence. Often people take some time to clarify what they are all about, how they will work with clients, what their ethos and approach is to HR, and certainly a while to get testimonials.
Having a franchise behind you that you’ve identified as being a good ‘match’ for your own priorities and ethos can help you be confident in how you’re going to work and what you offer, and seem more established to potential clients and referrers.
It’s also about an ability to convey a confidence to a client that we as a group have handled the situation they are facing (which may seem unusual and traumatic to them) many times before and dealt with it successfully before, and really ‘get’ how they are feeling and what they are going through.
Some (although certainly not all) small business owners also find it reassuring that whilst they can and do build a relationship with one specific consultant in their area, or who has been recommended to them, there are several others who are there, and could (and do) cover in the event of holidays, or emergencies of any kind.
Some clients do feel uneasy about signing up to something that is purely based around one person, so a franchise can be really useful from that point of view.
If you want to discuss the opportunity of partnering with face2faceHR, do get in touch.