- Start Up Cost:
- Franchise Type:
- Sector Type:
- Investment Type:
- Market:
- £17,950
- Home Based
- Property Management
- Resale
- B2B
No Letting Go provides specialist inventory management services and property condition reports to the residential property rental market.
The business was established in 2006 by the owners and has grown to over £1 million network turnover. We provide a range of property reporting services, such as check-in, inventory, mid term inspection, legionella and other related services that allow franchisees to enhance their earning power.
All of our property reporting is conducted on our own property software, Kaptur Inventory Pro. The software has been designed to enable the user to produce quick and concise reports in an easy to use format that is simple to follow.
Office numbers have increased to over 60across the UK providing good coverage across the country, scope remains for at least a further 70.
The short-term aims are to increase the volume of national account business through franchisor activity, coupled with increasing local franchisees’ sales through proactive support and continued training; medium-term, to increase the scope of services offered to enhance franchisees’ returns; and longer term, the business is being prepared for international expansion.
Initial training, one month: Three days induction covering the basics, time spent working with you in your area on tasks assigned by us and marketing yourself locally, a further three days at head office culminating in a personal business development strategy for the next 6 months. Plus a full day on the software use and a day with an external sales trainer. Finally, in-house training leading to a professional qualification.
The franchisee is responsible for marketing to and building relationships with clients in their area; these include letting agents, property management providers, landlords and property professionals. They will also be required to service the national contracts won by the franchisor. Initially most franchisees produce the reports themselves and quickly grow the business to a level which requires the recruitment and management of clerks to fulfil the day-to-day requirements.
As a successful regional administrator for an estate agency franchise, Ann Ennis already had a good grasp of the workings of both the property and franchise industries prior to joining the No Letting Go network. Her previous employment had brought her into direct contact with Nick Lyons, managing director of No Letting Go and she had been secretly tracking the success of Nick's new venture whilst working as an administrator.
When rumours of a potential redundancy first surfaced, Ann made up her mind that she wanted to run her own business rather than seek out alternative employment. Ann was no stranger to 'being her own boss' having previously run her own property management business undertaking a wide range of assignments for the London Borough of Hackney.
Synchronicity is a word that springs to mind for the events that followed confirmation of Ann's redundancy. The No Letting Go franchise was going from strength to strength, Ann's prior business dealings with Nick and his operations director Adrian meant that she already felt comfortable working with them both and had total faith in their ability to maintain the growth and success of No Letting Go. And Ann wanted to start her own business in North London which had been identified as a potential new territory for No Letting Go. Here was a golden opportunity that was too good to pass up and it took literally one month between Ann expressing an interest in the franchise and signing the paperwork before she was the proud owner of No Letting Go Walthamstow.
In just three months Ann has developed a thriving business "I've no regrets whatsoever and of course I am very relieved that things have turned out even better than I thought they would" comments Ann, "the advice and support from head office has been brilliant, I know there is always someone at the end of the phone who can help me with difficult business decisions, and far from feeling 'big brother' is watching over me waiting to pull me up on a mistake, I know the team is willing me to succeed and are with me every step of the way – yet I never feel like an employee and this is still very much my own business" continues Ann.
With such an established background in the property sector there were no surprises for Ann in terms of the day to day running of the company, but even Ann was staggered to find out during her extensive training, that there was so much detail entailed in creating the exemplary standard of inventory pioneered by No Letting Go. Armed with her new found knowledge of the inventory sector, Ann found the best way to develop new business was cold calling backed up by one to one visits. "Although I was fortunate to secure a sizeable chunk of work through the preferred supplier deals set up by head office, I am conscious of the need not to 'place all my eggs in one basket'" says Ann. "I've found literally walking around my territory and visiting all the agents in the area to gauge their reaction to the No Letting Go offering – whilst assessing the competition at the same time - has proved to be a valuable investment of time and energy" adds Ann.
Having made such an early success of the business, the future certainly looks bright for this determined franchisee and in time Ann already has her sights set on extending the territory and bringing in additional inventory clerk support. Watch this space!
Making that final decision to go it alone and start your own business is right up there with a handful of life changing experiences, but for some, that defining moment and personal call to action, simply represents a natural path to follow. Such was the case with Chris Holmes, who has just joined the growing network of No Letting Go inventory management businesses, trading in the Medway area.
For Chris, the enormity of that traditional "leap of faith" was very much reduced as a result of his previous experience of launching a child day care business which he had grown and developed over a period of four years. Having already effectively steered one company to success, the opportunity to face a fresh challenge in a totally disparate market, was far from daunting, and rather, provided Chris with the renewed impetus to expand his repertoire of business management skills.
Chris' first career was in the mobile telecommunications network, where he had held a series of high profile Quality Assurance type roles. His remit had required him to work overseas for a period of time and it was during one of these postings that he decided it was time to change the work / life balance. With two young children, and a wife that worked full-time it was inevitable that the couple would have to rely heavily on the resources of a local nursery to accommodate their demanding work schedules. However, Chris realised there was another solution to their dilemma. By establishing his own business in the child care sector, not only would he resume control of his working life and be in a position to adapt his hours of work to fit around his family commitments, so too would he be able offer his children a new standard of high quality child care which he felt was currently lacking in the immediate locality.
Once the nursery was an established business – and as the children began to head towards school age, Chris began to feel the need to not just flex his business muscles in a new sector, he also wanted to craft another enterprise which would enable him to combine the responsibilities of after school child care with running a profitable company.
The franchise route appealed to Chris although at this stage, he was unclear what type of franchise he was looking for and in what market sector. An advertisement for the Kent Franchise Show in the Kent Messenger newspaper caught his eye and having been drawn into the article, he then spotted an advertisement specifically promoting the newly launched No Letting Go franchise opportunity.
Chris visited the Kent Franchise Show with the specific aim of finding out more about No Letting Go. Since purchasing a second buy to rent property, Chris already fully appreciated the absolute necessity for a thorough, detailed and fair inventory report to protect his property investment and could identify strongly with the No Letting Go proposition. His background in quality management seemed a natural fit with the nature of the inventory management business and straight away Chris felt that this franchise opportunity would suit not only his skills and experience to date, but would also fit around his aspirations to grow a property portfolio and most important of all, could deliver the flexible working arrangements that were imperative to maintain his family commitments.
After the initial meeting with No Letting Go at the show, further discussions simply highlighted to Chris the synergy between this new franchise opportunity and his business / personal requirements and it took just a few weeks for him to make the decision to take on the Medway franchise. Part of the appeal of the No Letting Go business was the smooth and speedy transition from training to trading and having completed his initial desk training session with the company's training director, followed by practical in-the-field shadowing of an experienced inventory clerk, Chris was ready to launch his latest venture.
"I specifically chose the Medway territory as I feel it represents a genuine growth area, evidenced by the regeneration of the Chatham / Rochester / Strood docklands, the planned redevelopment of the Chatham shopping centre and the arrival of a new hotel to service the region. All these factors bode well for a company looking to provide an essential service to the residential lettings sector and I am confident that over the next five years, this area will have been transformed – providing significant commercial opportunities for a business such as No Letting Go" says Chris.
The new business kicked off in January 2008 and Chris is confident that once the company is up and running, he will be looking to recruit additional inventory management clerks to cope with the anticipated demand for the new generation of inventory management services exclusive to No Letting Go.
For Chris and his family, the future looks rosy – an exciting new business venture, on track to deliver a healthy return in year 1, the scope to grow a profitable company with minimal overheads – and that all essential flexibility to enable a truly independent lifestyle that enables commercial success – whilst still undertaking vital family responsibilities.
“I loved the fact that the No Letting Go Franchise was low cost, I could start without an office and not have the headache of managing staff straight away.”
Dominic Baines set up his franchise in November 2014. Following a long career in banking, Dominic decided try something different and worked for Manchester University in Student Accommodation. This provided a good insight into dealing with tenants, albeit students at this stage, and managing accommodation.
Dominic explored franchise options through a scheme called Franchising Works based in Manchester, an innovative social enterprise that assists to create new businesses and jobs through franchising. A business centred around the property market was of particular interest, and Dominic selected No Letting Go, based on the length of time in the industry, the comprehensive training and market leading technology.
Before Dominic took the leap into buying a franchise he spoke to a number of the existing No Letting Go franchisees. Dominic explains why this helped to make his mind up. “It was really useful talking to other franchisees to gain a good understanding of what their journey was like in setting up a new business, and what was involved in the day to day running of the business.” It was this insight that provided Dominic with the confidence that not only could he start a new business, he would relish the challenge and opportunity of working for himself.
Dominic has since completed further training courses, so he can broaden the range of services he can provide to letting agents. Dominic explains how once he had established himself in the area, how it was easy to grow his business. “Once I established myself with a few of agents in the area, and was able to deliver a reliable and accurate service, my business grew through recommendations and word of mouth.”
The next stage for Dominic in growing his business is to take on extra staff to help manage the growing amount of working coming in.
Dominic has become a frequent winner at the No Letting Go Franchisee Awards, winning the prized Customer Award, which is selected by No Letting Go national clients.
Garry Lockwood set up his franchise in 2015, and recently won the No Letting Go Newcomer of The Year Award. Following a long career in PR and then redundancy in his early 50’s, Garry wanted a change of lifestyle. Garry comments “Travelling abroad and spending a lot of time in hotels can sound glamourous, but it is also exhausting and I was ready for a change”.
As Garry was already a landlord, he had used No Letting Go for an inventory. He was so impressed with the service and level of detail he found within the report, he searched for more details on the company and realised it was a franchise operation. As part of his research into the company, he also looked at a number of competitors and spoke to letting agents. Garry explains “No Letting Go seemed the most national, joined up company with good technology. I could see how the lettings market was going, and bigger players were looking to buy the smaller independent agents, and that being part of a bigger organisation that could win contracts from national customers was the way forward”.
Once Garry felt he was delivering a consistent and reliable service to a number of local agents, he began looking at the next stage of growing the business. As his reputation started to establish in his local area, it was important that he did not turn work down, and so he set about recruiting 2 additional clerks. Taking on additional staff provided the additional capacity to take on more work, and Garry has now purchased an additional neighbouring area.
“I love being my own boss and with the additional backing and support of the No Letting Go team, I have the best of both worlds.”
Rachel originally ran her own inventory company in Bristol and came across No Letting Go whilst on a property inventory management training course. Here she explains why she decided to switch from working independently to being part of the No Letting Go franchise network: “In short it was No Letting Go’s systems that impressed me so much,” she recalls.
“Whilst I was still running my own business I started to do some work with No Letting Go as an affiliate working on some of the company’s national contracts in the Bristol area where I was based at the time. Letting agents want easy access to their inventories and online systems are the obvious solution. I was using a simple online inventory tool to generate inventory reports and log photography which worked okay but once I’d started to work with No Letting Go’s system I knew I had found a superior system; I found the software so user-friendly I knew it would make my life more manageable, that I would be able work more efficiently freeing up valuable time to grow my business. In the end, it was an easy decision really.”
Rachel and her family took the opportunity to relocate to Bath, “I enjoy the variety, every day is different and the freedom to manage my own time and the flexibility that I have as a result is wonderful.”
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