Robert Sage - Bristol

The management of change has been a regular part of Robert Sage's business career ever since he became Prestige Nursing's first franchisee back in 1997. He tried many different careers before investing in the franchise opportunity, having originally started in Civil Engineering and Railway design which he quickly found was not challenging enough. As he had always wanted to work for himself he then tried his hand at importing wine, beer, spirits and tobacco from other European countries, selling dietary products and even property renovation, which met with varying degrees of success.

Robert takes up the story. "I quickly realised that, whilst I loved working for myself, I needed the help and advice of an organisation with the experience and successful track record that would allow me to put my energies to more effective use. Investing in a franchise was therefore an ideal solution, particularly in the fast growing healthcare sector." Originally founded in 1945, Prestige Nursing certainly had the experience Robert was looking for and with the launch of their new franchise package, he found the perfect partner to help him achieve his entrepreneurial ambitions.

Robert based his franchise in Bristol and after a slow but steady start, soon began to grow the business rapidly. "We continued to grow strongly from 2000 onwards, so much so that we became the largest nursing agency in Bristol. However during 2005/6, the NHS Hospitals in Bristol, who up until then had been some of our largest clients, reduced their spending on agency staff significantly meaning that we faced the loss of a major portion of our sales almost overnight."

Quick reactions and the ability to exploit the full range of services that Prestige Nursing offers allowed Robert to successfully offset this potential loss in new and even more lucrative areas. As he reflects "Compared to a few years ago we are actually turning over less hours per week, but we are now far more profitable and far less exposed to any one sector."

As the business went from strength to strength, Robert was forced to re-examine how he ran the business and to make changes for its long-term prosperity. "Like many owner-managers, I was too busy working in the business to work on it. As a result we sometimes lacked a clear strategic direction as I often became too engrossed in filling shifts for clients to actually sit back and consider the bigger picture." Working in partnership with Prestige, Robert set in place a clear succession programme by re-structuring the business so that he could take more time out to direct its future progress. This simple change has allowed Robert to accelerate his sales growth even more, and with turnover approaching £5M in 2008, the business is an undoubted success story.

2007 marked Robert's 10 year anniversary with Prestige Nursing and as Jonathan Bruce, Managing Director of the company explains, it was significant in more ways than one. "Robert represents all that is good about both franchising and the care business and we are proud to have him with us. When you consider how much he has achieved when he is still not even 36, then you appreciate why we were delighted to put him forward as a worthy Franchisee of the Year to the BFA recently."

Carol Stafford

Franchising - The Right Choice After Redundancy

One hopeful franchisee found little to choose between a number of care franchises until she found Prestige Nursing.

Following a highly successful career in medical device sales, both in the UK and previously in her native South Africa, Carol Stafford was looking to change direction after being made redundant in 2008. Carol decided she wanted a to take on a new challenge and has always been attracted to the idea of franchising. Carol takes up the story 'I have a lot of experience in sales and was looking to move into an industry that allowed me to exploit these talents whilst offering the potential for significant earnings.' Having already decided that franchising was a perfect way of helping her realise these ambitions, she was taken aback by the number of opportunities on offer. 'I was looking for a management franchise, and eventually settled on the care sector as it offered excellent long term prospects given the UK's demographic profile and the growing need for care at home. I hadn't realised though quite how many companies offered franchises in the domiciliary and healthcare sectors and the choice was quite bewildering.'

Carol came very close to signing up with a domiciliary care franchise, but just before she did she heard about Prestige Nursing and decided to see what they could offer. "Their honesty, drive and professionalism made a real impact on me, as did their experience of running both company-owned and franchised branches."After the initial meeting with the franchise team at Prestige, Carol met and talked with many of the existing franchisees. 'Their feedback on the support I would receive was overwhelmingly positive as was their experience of the Prestige business model'

Unlike many domiciliary care franchises, Prestige Nursing offers the complimentary area of healthcare recruitment as an additional income stream for all franchisees. Jonathan Bruce, Managing Director, explains why this is so important "Domiciliary care is undoubtedly an area that offers significant opportunities and with our experience in this area we feel very confident that we can offer franchisees a full range of distinctive services to take advantage of them. However, it does take time to develop this type of business which is why offering healthcare recruitment can not only allow franchisees to generate income more quickly, but also gives them an even wider range of services to offer their clients and spreads the risk accordingly."

"To be honest this was one of the main reasons why I chose Prestige' states Carol "along with the fact that they offer a comprehensive back office support function as part of the ongoing management fee. This will save me an immense amount of time and allow me the freedom to grow my business quickly and effectively. I'll be joining an established network of company-owned and franchised branches across the UK which has a real reputation for excellence, and this fills me confidence as well"

With her new business about to launch, how does she feel about the opportunity now? "Well I've just finished training and I can't wait to get started" says Carol "Prestige has been with me every step of the way so far and I've already had enquiries coming in to the business and we haven't even launched yet! The research we conducted prior to setting up has allowed us to target our efforts to where we know they'll have most effect."

As Carol discovered you do not need previous experience of the healthcare industry to make a successful franchise business with Prestige Nursing. Pam Feltham, Franchise Manager at Prestige explains, 'Our leading franchised branch is owned by someone who originally trained to be a railway designer. Like many of our new franchisees he realised that a franchise with Prestige Nursing was an excellent investment vehicle and one that would allow him to blend his own flair for business with the experience, support and systems of a seasoned franchisor."

So will the Prestige Nursing franchise be for everyone? Pam thinks not, "In terms of the initial investment of £30,000 and the working capital requirement of up to £45,000 we sit towards the top end of current healthcare franchises. However, you get what you pay for and we push our franchisees hard to ensure they are every bit as successful as they have told us they want to be."

Croash Robinson - Northampton

Back in 1997 former Naval Stores Accountant Croash Robinson made a life-changing decision. ' After I left the Navy I trained as a nurse, and although I enjoyed many aspects of that career, I realised pretty quickly that what I really wanted to do was to run my own business, preferably with the help and support of an experienced company'. So began Croash's interest in franchising, and those companies working in the care and nursing field in particular.

Although the market for care services is very large and is growing quickly due to demographic changes, the problem for Croash was identifying a company that could help him take advantage of this market effectively. 'I was attracted to Prestige Nursing chiefly because of their very honest and open style', explains Croash. 'They already had a well established company-owned branch network, and really took their time in making sure that I was right for them, and that my new franchise in Northampton would take off. Their range of services also appealed to me – as a franchisee I was able to work in both healthcare recruitment and homecare services, meaning less risk and more return.'

Croash has run a franchise with Prestige for nearly 10 years and is acutely aware of how the market has changed during that time. 'When I first started the majority of my business was in healthcare recruitment, which involved the supply of staff to the NHS and local care homes. Over the years I have been able to work with Prestige to adapt quickly to local market conditions, so much so that most of my work is now in homecare services, whilst most of my original competitors have left the market'

So what distinguishes a good franchise system from a truly great one? 'Systems and Support' suggests Croash. In common with all new franchises, Prestige managed the payroll and invoicing functions for the branch, leaving Croash more time to work with the franchise support teams to build his business. 'I've never underestimated the impact that had on my business. Right from the word go the Prestige system allowed me the time to grow my business quickly and effectively, without becoming tied down in the paperwork that inevitably accompanies a new business in the care sector.'

Croash was equally impressed with the support he received during the early years of the franchise and which he continues to receive now, 10 years later. 'During the early years of the franchise I simply had to pick up the phone to get a question answered or a problem solved. After 10 years I now have a lot of my own suggestions but Prestige will always try and build these and other ideas into any new services they launch. It is this desire for continuous improvement that has really impressed me, and even now they're still pushing me to grow my business.

So after 10 years with Prestige is Croash thinking of selling the franchise and moving on to pastures new? 'Not a bit of it. I've just taken on a second territory and am really looking forward to developing that with the help of the franchise support team. My original franchise in Northampton has never been busier, so who knows, I could be here for another 10 years!

On all member companies you can gain information about the business easily and quickly by using the Information Request button on the listing.

Prestige Nursing Limited - Associate Member Prestige Nursing was originally founded in 1945 and specialises in the supply of temporary nursing and care staff to a wide variety of organisations, companies and individuals, in the related fields of healthcare staffing and homecare services. Sector: Recruitment Agencies Prestige Nursing Limited Information Request 381 Prestige Nursing Limited Greenview House, 5 Manor Road, Wallington, Surrey, SM6 0BW Tel: 02082547500 www.prestige-franchise.co.uk Ms Pam Feltham Tel: 0208 254 7533 franchise@prestige-nursing.co.uk