Helping Heroes: from Land’s End to Twickenham

Completing the challenge: arriving at Twickenham

Congratulations to our Auditel colleague, Laurence Fitch, who has completed this year’s Great British Bike Ride from Land’s End to Twickenham. Most of the 200 riders who started in Cornwall completed the gruelling 335-mile, 27-hour journey and crossed the finish line in front of 70,000 cheering rugby fans, friends and family, in the process raising over £90,000 for Help for Heroes, The Rugby Players Association Benevolent Fund and the RFU Injured Players.

As Laurence says, “It was a lot harder than I expected especially coming through Devon & Cornwall but it was all worth it when we cycled into Twickenham to complete the route – 70,000 rugby fans standing to clap us around the pitch at Twickenham was something that I will never forget. One very special moment was cycling the last ½ mile to the ground being led by a soldier who had lost both legs in Afghanistan on a specially adapted bike…made you really realise what it had all been about.”

If you want to support the riders who’ve completed this year’s challenge, you can still make a donation, or if you’ve been inspired to get on your bike for charity registration for next year’s event is already open.

Celebrating the best in the business: Auditel sponsor the IoD Director of the Year Awards

Auditel are delighted to be sponsoring the Institute of Director”s 2010 Director of the Year (large company) award. This award is open to all directors of UK companies with more than 250 employees and nominees in the running are:

• Stephen Martin – Clugston Group Limited
• Craig Errington C Dir FIoD – Wesleyan Assurance Society
• Ciaran Sheehan – Care Circle Group
• Erhard Paulat – GMAC UK PLC
• Helen Bunbury – Ogier
• Mark Crowther – Liberation

The IoD runs the Director of the Year Awards across all regions of the UK to reward excellence and leadership in UK business. Other awards being presented at the ceremony, hosted by Michael Portillo at the Lancaster Hotel on 1st October, include ‘Director of the Year (Small/Medium Company)’, ‘Young Director of the Year’, ‘Global Director of the Year’, ‘Family Business Director of the Year’, ‘Environmental Leader of the Year’ and the inaugural ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. This new award is being voted for by readers of Director Magazine and a specially selected panel of leading business thinkers, and will recognise a senior figure in business who has done something truly worthy of special recognition and who merits admittance into the Director Business Hall of Fame.

Members of the Auditel team will be at the ceremony and are really looking forward to lending their support to all the winners and nominees. More information about the awards and judging criteria and a booking form for tickets (members only) are available on the IoD website.

Date for your diary: the Surrey M25 Franchise Show

Next stop on the Franchise Show roadshow is Sandown Park Racecourse on Saturday 4th September. Open between 10.00am and 4.00pm, the exhibition will showcase over 35 proven franchised business formulas – including Auditel – in a one-stop-franchise-shop aimed at anybody who is looking to start a franchised business in the South of England.  Entry is free – as is the parking! – and there’s no need to register in advance. And once there, you can browse all the businesses on offer and take in “drop-in” workshops advising on finance and start up enterprise.

The Auditel team will be on Stand 16 and look forward to seeing you there.

In their own words: why Auditel consultants are in it for the long term

Auditel have been franchising our unique cost and purchase management consultancy business system since 1997 and many of the people who joined us in that first year are still with us today, forming the backbone of an experienced and talented network of professional consultants. This means, of course, that they have chosen to renew their 5-year evergreen agreement with us several times, demonstrating their confidence in the Auditel business system and it’s ability to provide them with  a profitable and secure long-term business opportunity. Indeed, it is becoming more and more common for our franchisees to renew their agreements on a 10-year, rather than 5-year basis, which is good for them and for the Network as a whole, ensuring a continuity of experience and expertise that benefits both colleagues and clients alike. This is what just a few of our consultants, who have renewed in the last few months, have said about their decision: Read more…

Get to know some Auditel Franchisees

One of our 2010 intake of consultants, Lee Freeman, who trained in March, has given an interview to the Total Franchise website. As you’ll see from his interview, Lee trained as an accountant but held senior FD posts in the UK and Europe before deciding to start his own business. Like most of our consultants, he carefully weighed up the pros of cons of starting somthing on his own from scratch or buying an existing stand-alone business before deciding that franchising gave him the right balance of support and freedom to build a successful long-term business for himself and his family.

Below Lee’s intereview are also links to a series of other interviews with Auditel consultants, both new and old-timers (sorry William!), from a wide range of professional backgrounds.

Powerful new Client Management System launched

Last week saw our Commercial Director, Derek Chisnall, and our Business Systems Manager, Antony May, touring the country for our summer round of Regional Meetings. These are held four times a year in four different locations – Manchester, Coventry, Watford and Winchester – each time. As well as providing opportunities for Auditel consultants to hear from suppliers and update their knowledge of developments across our areas of expertise, these meetings also provide a platform for sharing best practice across the Auditel Network and for launching new tools and products.

The latest launch is a powerful new online Client Management System Read more…

Auditel are proud to support England's elite athletes

We’re delighted to announce that Auditel has become an ‘Official Friend‘ of the England Commonwealth Games Team, ‘We are England‘. Hundreds of athletes from 17 sports disciplines will be heading to Delhi for the Games, which run 3rd – 14th October this year, and for all of them this will be the culmination of thousands of hours of practice, commitment and dedication. We wish every single one of them the very best of luck and look forward to celebrating and sharing their triumphs in October.

If you’d like to know more about how the team’s preparations are coming along, and to get regular updates in the lead up to the Games, send an email to newsletter@auditel.co.uk quoting the reference ‘Commonwealth Games’.

A marathon effort to raise funds for BLESMA

Journeys end: James (left) and Thane (right) complete their epic challenge

You may remember that a few weeks ago I posted a blog about James Bury’s plan to walk and run the equivalent of four marathons to raise money for his client, BLESMA (British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association). Well, I’m glad to report that despite choosing one of the hottest weekend’s of the year James and his friend, Thane Hall, successfully completed this gruelling challenge well within the 48-hour time they’d set themselves, completing the 102.5-mile, Southdowns Way between Winchester and Eastbourne in just 39 hours.

James says, “ Apart from some wear and tear, I feel great, despite having to stand on the train back to Winchester! A big thank you to everyone who’s supported us and BLESMA – that support made all the difference when it looked like it might be difficult to finish. Also a very special thanks to Thane for coming up with the idea, and for proving to be a faultless navigator even at night after 70 miles non-stop! BLESMA is an amazing charity that supports those who have suffered serious injury serving their country. For every death reported in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are probably two or three very seriously wounded, who are almost always young people with their whole lives ahead of them. While they can provide plenty of courage and determination they do need specialist help, encouragement and opportunities to rebuild their lives. We’ve raised £2,000 in sponsorship so far, which I’m really thrilled about as every donation to BLESMA, however modest, is going to a very deserving cause.”

SWATuk and Auditel join forces

We’re pleased to announce that Auditel has established a formal strategic partnership with accountancy training and compliance providers, SWAT UK. The aim of the partnership is to enable SWAT members to add Auditel’s cost and purchase management consultancy services to their portfolio of accountancy services. Denis Brennan, who has been responsible for putting the partnership together from the Auditel side, is enthusiastic about the opportunities this presents for all concerned.  “We both anticipate enormous synergy from this relationship. SWATUK has a client base of 4,000 firms who use them for training courses, consultancy, manuals and other technical support. They can now add the valuable Auditel free business cost healthcheck to their portfolio of services, thus creating a new income stream.”

New consultants join the Auditel Network

Left to right: Ian Jackman and Mark Lear

Welcome to our two newest recruits to the Auditel Network of cost and purchase management consultants: Mark Lear and Ian Jackman. Mark has a background in IT, while Ian is an expert in merchant card technology and payments and it’s great to know that their expertise is now available to Auditel clients and consultants.

We’ve had a really nice time getting to know them over the past week and we look forward to working with them over the coming years.