Bill Hendrie

Bill’s career started back in Glasgow when the petrol tank on my 1967 Mini sprung a leak and he thought “I must get a job that gives you a company car”. As a sales representative for Weetabix, Bill became the proud custodian of an (Orange) Hillman Hunter and never looked back (mainly because the mirrors kept falling off). He loved the job……but couldn’t stomach the product! Though he did learn a valuable lesson, clients want good service and honesty. If you say you can do it then do it and if you can’t do it then admit it and find an alternative solution. From breakfast cereals to the world of publishing was Bill’s career path (yes no obvious link) where he was sales manager for a book and record club working for a large German publishing house. Redundancy, when the company pulled out of the UK resulted in entering the recruitment industry where he worked first, for a large national agency and then for an independently owned recruitment business that had a franchise division. This was Bill’s first experience of franchising (a word that he’d heard off but hadn’t a clue what it meant!). Bill progressed from providing field support to Training Manager and eventually Franchise Director. It was in this role that he became active within the British Franchise Association (bfa) serving as a Regional Chair, a Board Member and The Chairman of the Franchise Group for Scotland. Bill has also achieved QFP (Qualified Franchise Professional) status via the British Franchise Association which attests to his knowledge and experience. Having arrived at his current role within The Franchising Centre, Bill feels that he has come ‘home’. His aim is to help his clients achieve their goals by being honest with them and delivering a good service (just like all those years ago at Weetabix). Bill does not profess to know as much about their businesses as they do, that is not his role. He will however firstly tell them whether he believes that their business is capable of developing a franchise offer and if so, will make sure that they give ourselves the best chance of attracting franchisees. Bill’s 20 plus years in franchising has helped him gain the knowledge to guide clients through what can be a daunting task. Outside of work, Bill lives in Gloucestershire with his wife Lesley who is a School Head and together they have two (supposedly) non dependent sons. His outside interests include the theatre and musicals. Truth is he enjoys what he does and gains pleasure from seeing his clients succeed; hobbies can wait!