Why it works

There are two elements to this page:

1. Why thebestof works for you as a franchisee.
   
   
2. Why thebestof works for businesses and local people;
   
   

Let’s look at them separately.

1.  Why the business works for you as a franchisee.

There’s lots of evidence to support our belief that thebestof is, quite simply, the best business opportunity available in the UK today – providing, of course, that you’re the right sort of person! Our track record – with franchisees and businesses AND local people, the Awards that we’ve won, the brand that we are building, the size of the market opportunity that is available here, not to mention the pace of growth.

However, we have a list of what we call our ‘Ideal Business Ingredients’. We think this list is an invaluable check-list to anyone thinking of starting any business:

Ideal Business Ingredient 1: HUGE DEMAND
For any business to be successful, it must have a product that someone wants and needs. With internet usage increasing so rapidly you can see why this opportunity is so unique and so valuable that virtually every business in your area will want to be included. It’s so much more than a website…

Ideal Business Ingredient 2: LOW MAINTENANCE
Who needs to spend all day on the phone servicing some product? (None of that here!)

Ideal Business Ingredient 3: NO STOCK
Did you really want to fill up your garage, or half your bedroom with a bunch of products that no one will buy? No way. Providing thebestof to your customers is very low cost and hassle free.

Ideal Business Ingredient 4: NO EMPLOYEES
Avoid the cost, the hiring headaches, the training…enough said.

Ideal Business Ingredient 5: RESIDUAL INCOME
You do the work once and get paid over and over again. Your customers will remain with you month after month. The results they get from thebestof will ensure that, for the vast majority, once they start, they won’t want to stop – and they’ll pay you each month, usually by Direct Debit or Standing Order.

Ideal Business Ingredient 6: RESPECTABILITY
This is a ‘win-win’ business that you can be proud of. Your customers make more money. You win with a profitable business AND prestige and respect within your community.

Ideal Business Ingredient 7: LOW-COST
Your monthly overheads are tiny. I’ve looked hard and I don’t think there’s a bone fide business out there with a lower cost base. Plus the initial investment is a fraction of what many, frankly much less attractive, franchises cost.

Ideal Business Ingredient 8: Little or NO FINANCIAL RISK involved
It’s already been tested and proven by more than 350 franchisees…many of whom have achieved stunning results.

Ideal Business Ingredient 9: RAPID PAYBACK
Many franchisees have recouped their initial investment in a matter of months…

Now, the truth is, in many businesses it’s hard to find a single one of these "Must Have Ingredients" - if you’re lucky you might get a handful of them. But thebestof not only provides ALL NINE of them but, in addition, it offers the biggest single opportunity for market growth of any industry anywhere in the UK right now.

If you’re thinking seriously about taking any kind of Online Franchise then you can download our FREE Report - A Guide to Buying an Online Franchise: 12 questions you should ask the Franchisor here.

Also, make sure you read the Franchisee Stories – as they will give you a good picture of what life is like in this business.

2. Why thebestof works for businesses and local people.

Lets get right back to basics on this one:

In the UK people overwhelmingly prefer ‘local’ providers of goods and services.

Given a choice, most people will always choose a local business – especially a recommended local business.

In the past we were all heavily dependent on Yellow Pages – but then along came the internet. thebestof was one of the first online directories and our success spawned a lot of copycat sites.  People are using the internet more and more – it’s now an integral part of our everyday lives and in 2007 more than 40% of internet searches in the UK were for local products or services. That’s a lot of searches.

Now thebestof gets a lot of the traffic from these searches. We are well represented on all the major search engines and we get over 1.3 million ‘unique visitors’ each month – and growing! (That’s well over 60 million ‘hits’ each month and over 3.5 million page views.)

And because we provide so much more than just a ‘listing’ (which is what most sites offer) visitors find us more relevant and useful than other sites and so use us more often. The in depth profile of each featured business, the clear description of ‘why they’re the best’ and, of course, the independent comments from local people who have already used each business means that thebestof becomes a trusted source of local information.

But it doesn’t stop there. thebestof is NOT one dimensional – infact in many of our most successful franchise areas the business that is generated via the website – whilst significant – is quite tiny compared to what the franchisees are able generate in other ways.

As you’ve read on what’s thebestof page there are lots of ‘offline’ elements to what we do – and these help the best businesses in your area to grow even further. It’s a powerful marketing mix that is unmatched in the market-place. You’ll get a better sense of what this means in practice by reading some of our Franchisee Stories and also what businesses (i.e. customers of thebestof) say about the results and service that they receive.