X-Press Legal Services

FEMALES MAKE FIRST CLASS FRANCHISEES

Says Lynne Lister, managing director, X-Press Legal Services Ltd

X-Press Legal Services, the specialist property search franchise, has proved to a magnet for lady franchisees, even though it is a unisex business that welcomes enquiries equally from women and men. More than half the 43-strong UK network are females.

“Prospective women franchisees and wives in husband and wife franchises have told me that they felt confident about X-Press because it has a woman md,” Lynne Lister commented. “I’ve worked full time and looked after my family, so I understand about juggling time to fit everything in. But, being busy and achieving success is very stimulating and all our lady franchisees are dynamic and very determined to succeed,” Lynne continued.

One of the first franchisees and last year’s “franchisee of the year” is Penny Brierley, from Gloucestershire, a former ophthalmic optician who certainly has an eye for business. Her meteoric rise from small home office to serviced suite and seven employees has involved husband Graham, who gave up his job, also in the optical industry, to join Penny.

Employing staff enables Penny and Graham to concentrate on marketing their service. They are extremely successful in gaining new business. “It’s great fun,” says Penny. “We don’t find any difficulty at all – we won’t take no for an answer and just keep going back until they give us a trial. In nearly all cases, once they’ve tried us, they keep us,” she added.

“We are very excited to have made such a flying start. We are delighted with the number of clients we have and how quickly word is spreading about our service. There is no way we would have grown this fast if we had tried to start this ourselves and I am convinced it would have taken years to get to this point,” Penny went on.

Franchising is a lower risk way of running your own show and has the advantage of training and support from experienced business professionals. The X-Press franchise can be run from home, at least initially, which keeps overheads low in the early days.

“This gives people optimum flexibility to manage their time, which is especially important to women who want to work for themselves yet still meet family and domestic commitments,” Lynne explained.

X-Press franchisees come from all walks of life and are a diverse group of highly qualified and very experienced people from many different disciplines. Almost without exception, the lady franchisees wanted to be their own boss but were nervous about setting up something entirely on their own.

To date lady franchisees include a former solicitor, business professionals from banking, IT and management, a prison education service teacher, a professional dancer who became an undertaker, hotelier, drugs intelligence officer, international sales manager and a nurse.

Karen Underwood was a professional dancer before joining the family’s funeral business, becoming the first lady funeral director in her area but the business was sold later. She became interested in X-Press when she read about Penny Brierley in a newspaper. Karen said: “It inspired me and I liked the importance X-Press puts on high standards. Having worked in a family firm, I felt that franchising – at its best - is similar. You can have your own business but with back-up.”

The youngest X-Press franchisee is Cheryl Simons, aged 27. She understands the need for meticulous attention to detail required in property search, having learned this discipline through her study of criminology and subsequent job in the drugs intelligence service. Cheryl comments: “The beauty of this franchise is that you can work from home so you can be flexible, working around the needs of the new family and manage time efficiently.”

Former student support services manager for a local authority, Julie Maddison was looking for a change when she discovered X-Press and was able to realise her ambition for a successful business providing top quality services and customer care – but with minimal bureaucracy.

Working in a bank many years earlier had given Linda Mannion an insight into business and especially the franchising concept. She worked as a prison education manager when the service was reorganised and she had to consider her future. “I was delighted to find a new and challenging opportunity with the prospect of good rewards,” Linda said.

After a career in corporate law Sally Neiger was pleased to find a franchise in the legal sector when she felt the time had come to change her working life. Sally said: “The idea of having my own business and being my own boss was attractive but I didn’t have the confidence to do it alone. Franchising seemed to offer many benefits such as independence and autonomy but with the support of the franchisor and its established systems.”

Prospective franchisees are always advised to spend as much time as possible researching the concept and conducting detailed investigation into their short-list of companies to approach. However, Jackie Cryer decided almost instantaneously that was wanted to join X-Press, without knowing much at all. “It really appealed so I didn’t even look at another franchise,” she said. “I just followed a gut feeling that this was what I wanted to do.”

X-Press is one of the fastest expanding franchises in the UK. The service they offer is a vital component of the property buying process, as they provide all types of searches and reports to solicitors, professional conveyancers and dedicated HIP pack providers.

Research through local authority records’ offices determines key issues affecting property purchase, such as rights of way, land charges, planning applications, urban renewal schemes, road-building programmes and so on.

The business was set up in 2000 by Christian Lister and grew rapidly. Soon, other members of the family became involved, including Christian’s mum, Lynne Lister, former managing editor of Business Franchise Magazine for 10 years.

X-Press continued to grow and the Lister family recognised its huge potential, so early in 2005, the X-Press Board took a decision to grow the business as a franchise.

Lynne’s experience of franchising has been invaluable in many areas, particularly training and support for franchisees. She comments: “We offer a very comprehensive training and support programme, including our own bespoke software system and a custom-built PC. We also give an exceptional warranty, which makes provision for a replacement within hours if there is a serious fault.”

The network has grown very quickly. Lynne Lister said: “The franchise has grown faster than we expected. People are attracted to us because they understand we provide an essential service, for which there will always be a demand, even more so with the introduction of Home Information Packs.

“We made the decision not to become a HIP provider but to concentrate on what we’re good at, which is providing searches, a small but essential component of a Home Information Pack.”

The staged introduction of HIPs has created a wealth of new opportunities for the company and for franchisees throughout the network, who all benefit from this additional income stream.

X-Press has opportunities across the UK and is looking for dynamic new franchisees to join the network. No previous experience of the property or legal sectors is required, since the thorough training provided covers all aspects of the business and equips franchisees to run their own small businesses.

You can find out more by clicking the 'Request Information' button below