Agency Express shares a day-in-the-life

Agency Express outlined the benefits of its unique opportunity and offered a look into its franchisees’ typical day.

Van-based franchise Agency Express is exploring a new way of getting its franchise out there by releasing informative content on YouTube. Its second video covered the benefits of a van-based franchise opportunity, like the one it offers, and what a typical day-in-the-life might look like for its franchisees.

Ben Brookes, Director of Franchising, explained that there are plenty of benefits to operating a van-based franchise, including lower costs, scalability and being able to work from home in between being on the road.

“With van-based franchising, the only cost really is the vehicle that you’re running on a day-to-day basis. That van, that item that you’ve spent money on, becomes a moving billboard for your business circulating in your area. When you work in a van-based business, you [can go] from one van to two vans [and] the cost of expanding your business from one van to two vans is considerably smaller than moving your business from one fixed premises to two.”

Brookes continued:

“For a lot of people the flexibility of working from home, working within that busy work/life schedule that we all have now, is so beneficial. So working from home, having the time to drop the kids off at school or squeeze in an extra hour of golf, is often one of the main reasons why people join us.”

Brookes covered the financial benefits, which include “keeping your overheads low”, due to lower costs. He revealed that the average franchisee achieves 55-60% profit, an average he claims is higher when compared to other ‘service-based’ franchises, alongside the flexibility of the van-based model.

He also outlined how, while franchisees will have to be contactable during traditional working hours, there’s no requirement for them to be stuck in an office to take calls from.

“While we expect our franchisees to be available between 8:30 and 5, they might be answering the phone on the school run. As long as we can reach them and as long as the work is completed within the given timeframe then everyone’s happy. That flexibility is so important in maintaining that mental wellbeing.”

Brookes also outlined what a typical day as an Agency Express franchisee might look like.

“A day in the life of an Agency Express franchisee can be really quite varied. Our guys work from home, so the first thing they do is put the kettle on [before] hopping straight on to the computer. They’re going to access Signmaster – our online business management system, which enables franchisees to manage their daily workloads from home.”

He explained how this innovative system makes it easy for each franchisee to see the day’s jobs, and that it can plan the day’s route for them to save time, effort and fuel. This route, alongside an inventory plan, can then be downloaded onto Agency Express’ mobile app so it can be accessed on the go. Inventory in hand, franchisees will then head off to the storage facility to stock up and head out on their jobs.

Finally, they’ll carry out the job (an average of 15-16 per day) and upload a picture, so the client has proof that the job has been done in real time. Brookes also explained how the app makes accounting easy, as it will automatically raise the day’s charges for you once you’ve finished.