| Waterless Detailers - Franchise - FAQ |
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| Franchise Questions and Answers |
| How is the territories divided? |
The territories are divided up by you giving us your required postcode area and by using the national census (demographics) we will give you an area of approximately 180K residential cars. Vehicle travelling into the area are a bonus.
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| Will I have to share my territory with anyone else? |
In some franchises they divide the areas between trade and retail. We believe this to be unfair and once a territory has been sold to an individual, no one else is allowed to work in that area what so ever.
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| My parents live in another franchisees area, can I clean their cars? |
This is down to the discretion of the franchisee in that area, if they allow this to be done, then a form must be completed by both parties concerned and head office will counter sign it as well. It is important to remember that this only allows you to clean the specified person's car, if the neighbour asks to have their car valeted, then this lead MUST be passed to the area franchisee.
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| How much business is available in one post coded area? |
We give you a post coded area, with approximately 180K cars in it, if you can gain just 5% of this market place, there will be sufficient business to run 6 to 8 vans each turning over 50K plus per annum.
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| Can I buy more than one franchise area? |
Yes the ability to purchase more than one area is available subject to qualification and availability.
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| Can a franchise be sold or transferred? |
Yes, a franchise can be sold if the franchisee is in good standing in accordance with the franchise agreement. The Waterless Detailers does reserve the right of first refusal and must consent to the transfer of any franchise.
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| How long does the franchise term last? |
The initial franchise term is for 5 (five) years. You may renew for an unlimited number of additional 5 year periods at the then-current franchise terms. There will be an additional fee of £2000 per renewal, this is to cover legal costs as well as advertising the fact. You must be in good standing with us and have complied with all the terms of the franchise agreement.
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| Advertising, what will this cost me? |
In the first year the advertising will be covered to the amount of £1000 from the franchise fee. In the second year 4% of gross sales must be shown to have been spent on rejuvenation of advertising, as your business expands this will lower to 2%.
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| Do I have any say in how my advertising budget is spent? |
You have full control of your advertising budget, you can decide to spend in locally, or several franchisees can club together and do some regional advertising, or alternatively the franchise as a whole can work together and advertise nationally. The decision is yours!
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| Must I buy Equipment and supplies from Waterless head office? |
Yes, we obviously need to keep as much money within the franchise as possible, the more the franchisees spend with us at head office the more buying power we will receive and in the long term the cheaper you will be able to purchase your required articles.
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| How do you make your money? |
We make a mark-up on the products at about 25%. The main income stream comes from a £200 + Vat Management fee paid to us on a monthly basis. This ongoing income allows us to advertise the franchise and also allows us to have a support structure in place for your benefit.
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| How can I be sure that you will do what you promise? |
We have a franchise agreement that has been passed by all our existing franchisees as well as the British Franchise Association accreditation process. The agreement has in place several clauses which cover this subject. If we do not comply with our promises to you, you have the ability to take us to task over it. When it comes to us not fulfilling our promises to such a degree that it seriously effects your business, you have the ability to terminate.
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| Where do I do my training? |
If you are based in the United Kingdom, you will be required to come to our head office and training centre at Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Located 48 miles north of London. You will be required to attend a national conference annually which will be held at a location to be decided at the time of going to press. Additional trainings at the franchisee's location are available.
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| When will I need to take on staff and where will I find these specialist valeters and are they readily available? |
As a owner operator, you will be capable of cleaning two cars per day without any trouble, once you start looking at three cars per day, you need to start looking for a member of staff. Part of the support structure in place at The Waterless Detailers is the ability to help you with this issue. We presently have several good sources when it comes to employing and training staff. At Waterless we train all members of staff to the highest standards of vehicle preparation.
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| Will I receive help after starting my business? |
Yes, Advise and assistance is available for the life of the franchise. In addition you will receive the confidential Waterless Operations manual, The Waterless Marketing dept will constantly be on call for any ideas and issues that you come across and approximately eight weeks after you start trading, we will visit you in your area to look at how you have conducted your business and we will advise you of any improvements that may make your business run more smoothly. Within the first year there is also a further 3 half day audits where we look at different aspects of your business, again to make sure you are running at 100%.
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| What systems do you have in place for the franchisee's to keep in touch with each other as well as with you at head office? |
Communication is paramount within the Waterless Detailers franchise. We currently have a conversation several times per day with all franchisees, whenever there is a customer enquiry or a booking that has come in via the dedicated booking line, we call the franchisee concerned and update our diary's. Another method of communication is a quarterly newsletter, with news and articles from the franchisees themselves. The web site also has a password protected area, which contains a Waterless Forum controlled by one of our franchisees. This forum allows the franchisees the ability to go online and speak to one another on such subjects as advertising, valeting issues as well as producing flyers or promotional items.
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| Can I visit a franchise area to watch the operation before I sign? |
No. With this franchise using a very bespoke product range, we need to keep our secrets close to our chest. We have nothing to hide, on the contrary we ask you to contact any or all of our franchisees and ask any questions you may have. In the past several interested parties have had meetings with our franchisees and all their questions have been answered.
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| Are you members of The British Franchise Association? |
We have just received our accreditation to the BFA. We applied for membership at Provisional level, but once they looked at our business they gave us membership at the higher level of Associate. The Accreditation process took approximately six weeks and consisted of the association looking into our finances, our business backgrounds, how ethical our franchise is run etc. They spoke to our on-going franchisees as well as having their solicitors look at our franchise agreement. Of the 700 franchises in the UK only 270 have passed their strict accreditation process.
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| Do you offer a finance program? |
Financial assistance is available to qualified applicants from several high street banks, who have looked at our franchise opportunity. We also have details on hand for several other sources of finance where no security is required. Van leasing programs are also available through preferred suppliers.
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What working capital do I need?
We advise that the first three months are your learning months and therefore while your customer base is starting to grow that you may require some financial input. The amount is dependent on your financial circumstances at that time.
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| I am interested. How do I get more information? |
Contact head office and ask to speak to Steve or Dave. We will send you out a full franchise prospectus package. This will contain a application form, fill in the form and return it to us at 93 Alston Drive, Bradwell Abbey, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK13 9HF. The information you submit is held in strict confidence and does not obligate either party. Following receipt of your registration, you will be furnished with any additional information to assist in the evaluation of your opportunity with The Waterless Detailers franchise.
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| I like what I see, what happens next? |
You contact head office on 01908 312532 and book an appointment for a three hour presentation in Milton Keynes. During this presentation you will find out about all the aspects of this business, including Marketing, Training and you will also have the chance of using the products on a dirty vehicle.
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| Can I see financial such as profit and loss forecasts? |
Yes, Once a confidentially agreement has been signed, completed and returned, we will send out a full profit and loss package, based on 1, 2 and 3 vehicles per day. This will give you a full understanding of what this business will cost per annum.
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| Are there several different levels of entry into the business? |
Yes, There are three levels of entry.
The first is at Owner / Operator level, this is where you work the business hands on.
Secondly there is the investor level where you may invest into the business and get members of staff to run the day to day operational business for you. Lastly there is the Master / Regional level, this is where you are granted a licence in a targeted territory, granting you the rights for the whole of that territory. We would require that persons know-how and the rights to make use of the package from us the Franchisor. You would either operate your own company under licence or would exploit the territory by means of the franchise system, and by granting sub-franchises within the territory to the operational franchisees.
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| I want to go ahead, tell me about the deposit? |
The deposit is for £3K + VAT and is non-refundable. This will hold your territory for a period of three (3) months. Once the deposit has been received we will start activating the solicitors on your behalf and start advising our corporate clients of your possible start date.
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| How long does it take from the time of payment of the deposit to the start of training? |
Once the deposit has become cleared funds, the time taken is approximately six (6) weeks, this is dependent on the time taken by the solicitors and companies house.
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| What is involved in the training? |
The training is for 3 persons for seven days in at our training centre in Milton Keynes. The first three days are spent learning about the business side of our business, this will include Marketing, Policies and Procedures, Health and Safety and Book keeping. The remainder of the time is spent learning the methods of valeting cars, motorcycles and such like, using the Waterless products and methodology.
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| Who pays for the training expenses? |
The training expenses are included in the franchise package. The only expenditure NOT included is the accommodation, evening meals and travelling expenses. We currently have a list of good hotels and B&B's in the area, this will be sent once the training date has been agreed.
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