SA Franchise Brands welcomes Bernard Schoeman, Franchisor of The Tax Shop.

What has been paramount to The Tax Shop’s success?

Various factors have been the cause for our success.  Here are a few which come to mind:

• The strength of staff involved with the franchisor.  Everyone is highly qualified in finance (e.g. chartered accountants, MBA graduates, etc.).
• The integrity of the franchisor.  We have always made it our internal policy to remain 100% honest and open when dealing with the general public and our franchisees.
• The quality of franchisees.  Strong qualifications amongst franchisees have enabled us to offer excellent service to the general public.
• World class systems – we have insisted on this from the foundation stage of the franchise – and we are seeing the reward today.  We believe that we offer cloud solutions in systems and software which are the best in the country.
• Integrated services – all our services (accounting, payroll, tax, bee) overlap in some way and clients have seen the benefit of obtaining support for all of these under one roof (as opposed to support from separate suppliers).
  

What challenges do you face at present?

Our biggest challenge remains marketing.  Technically, our franchise is very strong.  We also do pride ourselves in excellent service delivery.  We do believe, however, that there are huge untapped markets in South Africa and we need to be creative in our strategies in order to reach them.

With a network of franchises nationwide, how has your franchise model worked in favour of the group?

Our business is technical by nature.  All the services we offer are specialist fields and we have seen the benefits of pooling skills, knowledge and experience in offering the most professional services.  Some areas are very technically advanced, but, within our franchise group, we are able to draw upon the input of our franchisees in dealing with difficult matters.

What are some of the attributes required from franchisees?

A Tax Shop franchisee should be a highly motivated, dynamic and dedicated entrepreneur with an excellent standard for professionalism.

How would you describe the overall relationship between the group and its franchisees?

Excellent.  We have an open channel for franchisees to raise queries, complaints, suggestions and recommendations to the franchisor.  In the coming year we plan to establish regional councils to foster our relationship even further.

What kind of training and support can franchisees expect?

Our support is offered on an ongoing daily basis and franchisees can raise queries by telephone or email (preferred).  We also offer personalised tuition and mentoring to individual franchisees that require support in this way. Training is arranged at various intervals during the year to ensure that franchisees remain up to date in all fields of service.  We also issue notices regularly informing franchisees of relevant and important news in our industry.

Which factors are paramount for sustained future growth within the group with specific reference to its present and future franchisees?

The need to remain technically at the forefront is vital and requires ongoing input from the franchisor.  The marketing of our brand and our services is equally important in establishing awareness in the market place of The Tax Shop. 

Where to from here and into the future?

We look forward to the development of The Tax Shop brand in a big way over the next two years.  While our franchise has grown phenomenally over the past seven years, we anticipate the establishment of The Tax Shop brand as a household name in South Africa.  Further afield, we have received numerous enquiries and proposals from numerous individuals and organisations interested in working with us in launching The Tax Shop outside of the borders of South Africa.