The Alternative Board

Established Member

– Joined 2010

The Alternative Board (TAB) is a peer-to-peer support and business coaching franchise. We have over 30 years’ experience in the SME sector and our worldwide network of over 300 franchisees is supported by a team of experts in all essential business disciplines.

TAB helps forward-thinking SME business owners grow their businesses, increase profitability and improve their lives by leveraging local business advisory boards, private business coaching and using proprietary strategic processes.

TAB franchisees lead these monthly business advisory boards and provide the coaching and consulting to the business owners (our ‘members’). TAB board meetings and coaching can be delivered in-person and virtually.

Our franchisees nurture the growth of local businesses and deliver real-world advice that provides a results-driven advantage to help business owners stay focused on what matters most.

In addition to facilitating TAB Board meetings, franchisees provide individual coaching sessions using TAB’s proprietary tools and processes. Working one-to-one with TAB members, they analyse their business and help them create a customised strategic plan that will allow them to reach their business objectives and personal vision.

TAB started life in the US in 1990 by founder Allan Fishman. In 2009 TAB UK was launched. Ed Reid (TAB’s third UK franchisee) and business partner, Mags Fuller now run the UK business of 38 TAB facilitators from the new head offices in Leeds.

In the next 5 years we intend to double the size of our business, or more precisely, double the number of clients (“members”) we work with around the UK. Currently we work with circa 500, and we want that to be 1000 by 2027. We expect the average revenue that our franchisees will derive from our members to continue to increase, based on more confident pricing for our services, as well as adding the occasional new service, but only if it genuinely enhances the experience for the client, and only if we believe we can deliver it to the very highest standards in the market place; we will never deliver a service unless it can be 10 out of 10, every time.

Our belief is that our members (all of whom are SME owners) run better businesses as a result of being part of a TAB board. As a result, their employees should have happier, more secure employment, and their family members in turn have happier lives as well. On average, our members employ around 25 people. On average, each employee may be in a family unit of 4 people. So we currently believe we’re improving the lives of 50,000 individuals (500 x 25 x 4). We want that number to be 100,000.

Training

Our initial training package consists of:

3 days of webinars at which we set foundations for what we deliver for our clients. We ensure the trainees have a clear understanding of the TAB offering and the value their clients receive, preparing for training and launch. We also help new franchisees, most of whom are new to franchising, understand the challenges and benefits of a franchise system
5 days of face-to-face training at our Leeds head office when we identify a franchisee’s acquisition plan – who will they target, how they get in front of their prospects (marketing and lead generation), and how and what will they say when they’re face to face with a prospect.
3 further days looking at delivering the TAB service to their new clients to ensure they’re providing best value from day one. We have a robust on-boarding process for clients as we want them to have a great experience straight away from their TAB membership
Internationally, we have been working with Andy Bounds, an award-winning sales and communication expert. Our collaboration has been about building on our existing great processes but making changes to use the best sales practices to win more sales and quicker! We are in the launch stage of this work with Andy, and it’s being received positively by franchisees. Whilst the project is an international one, the lead with Andy has been TAB UK’s training and development manager who has done an incredible job of turning ideas into reality.

What will I do as a Franchisee

Our franchisees have a passion to help others succeed, whilst building great businesses themselves. What they do on a daily basis varies slightly depending where they are in their TAB journey.

A new franchisee will be spending time meeting lots of SME business owners and choosing who is likely to be a good member for their TAB Boards. Using our proven lead generation and sales processes they know what to say, who would make an ideal member and the best way to get them on board. Franchisees use a range of activities as part of their lead generation, including referrals, telemarketing, networking and LinkedIn.

The really exciting part comes when franchisees sign their members and they start to help them with their challenges and opportunities.

Each month a franchisee will run their 4 hour board meetings and hold a one-to-one business coaching session with each of their members. This coaching session helps keep the members accountable which is key to them achieving their identified goals and personal aspirations.

Key Information

Start-Up Cost:

£40,000

Franchise Type:

Home based

Sector Type:

Business Services & Support

Investment Type:

Investment Franchise

Market:

B2B