16 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand
profile: NAtioNAl FrANchise iNsurANce BrokersWhy Centralising your
FranChise insuranCe
is a great idea
the driving factor behind
most decisions made bysuccessful franchisors is
centralisation.Brand uniformity, the streamlining of
business procedures and the constant
maintenance of company values form the
general ethos of the most decorated Australian
franchise groups. Ensuring that these factors
are kept the same across your franchisee
base amounts to a more close-knit group of
likeminded individuals working towards the
same goals – to boost your brand, and to
promote the continued success of individual
franchisees.
To create a franchising model that works for
both franchisor and franchisee alike, certain
elements must be integrated – partly for
monitoring purposes (giving the franchisor a
glimpse into the general dealings of individual
franchisees), and partly to make the system
more accessible and approachable for potential
and current franchisees. Standardisation of
everything from payroll activities to staff
training procedures creates a situation where,
as long as regulations and guidelines are
followed, your group can go from strength to
strength, and rarely move backwards.
One of the most important aspects for groups
to monitor is insurance – as any successfulfranchise group will tell you, it’s important
that all franchisees have a level of cover
that complies with their industry and their
franchisor. Insurance models that specialise in
group-standardised insurance packages allow
for franchisees to be safe in the knowledge
that they’re properly covered, and enable
franchisors to be confident that their brand
won’t be unavoidably affected by a negative
situation in the future.
Not only does this make life easier for the
franchisee – leaving more time for them to
run other aspects of their business - it also
allows the franchisor to achieve a certain
level of control over group insurance matters,
without seeming overbearing.
National Franchise Insurance Brokers
(NFIB) is a company that specialises in
insurance designed specifically for people
working in the Australian franchising sector.
Their basic premise is simple, to provide a
centralised space for franchisors to easily
monitor and regulate the insurance affairs of
their franchisees. Following on, a secondary
benefit comes to fruition – franchisees gain
access to pre-determined covers tailored
to their particular franchise group and
industry. Making the (often tedious) process
of purchasing insurance much simpler. The
group-pricing structure available to companies
such as NFIB (using ‘people-power’ to
negotiate a better overall premium) acts as
a major advantage – often providing clients
with premiums considerably lower than if
individuals were to insure elsewhere.
Just Cuts, The Cheesecake Shop, Car Care
and Hire a Hubby – some of Australia’s
most accomplished franchise groups – all
insure through NFIB, and use them to
standardise the cover of their franchisees.
As Franchisors, they can keep track of their
franchisees’ certificates of currency, insurance
renewal dates and levels of cover taken out.
This way, the franchise groups can ensure all
their franchisees are properly covered and
compliant with their insurance guidelines.Mike Stringer – Franchisor of Car Care, when
asked what the main benefits of NFIB’s system
are, said,“We switched to NFIB a couple of
years ago mainly for the 24/7 access to
documentation and the transparency
with the reporting of claims. From
our Franchisees’ perspective the
biggest benefit has been having a
single point of contact and the way the
claims are managed. This also helps
us stay at arm’s length from these
individual issues whilst maintaining
c o n t r o l .”NFIB’s program is the culmination of ideas
designed to make it easier for franchise groups
to optimise their insurance matters. The
National Training and Development Manager
at Hire a Hubby, John Harley, outlined the
benefits of his company’s association with
NFIB.“We see our relationship with NFIB
as a partnership. The benefit we
derive is one of single point of contact
for all the insurance needs of our
franchise network. Being a national
brand we need our insurance
coverage to reflect the local needs of
our franchisees. NFIB provide the
products, the advice, the access and
all the necessary communication
needed so we can concentrate on the
things we do best.”
NFIB offer the advantage of an easy to use
system and provide insurance packages
designed to support franchisors aiming to
further streamline their franchising model.To find out more contact National
Franchise Insurance Brokers on:
1800 776 747
[email protected].“National Franchise
insurance Brokers (NFiB) is
a company that specialises
in insurance designed
specifically for people
working in the Australian
franchising sector.”16 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand