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The Business Recovery Partnership.
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Most people who offer business advice, even if they are very good, struggle to find a unique identity or a distinctive proposition that marks them out as being different from the rest.
Many do not have a clearly defined ‘product’ and those that do frequently fail to communicate it in a succinct and memorable way - they are as unidentifiable as brown cows in a field of similarly brown cows!
The Hard Hat brand is deliberately designed to stand out and be ‘sticky’. People remember it whenever they see it.
Our yellow hard hat signifies our ‘real-world’ approach to solving business problems, which is deliberately direct and assertive. If the business we are helping is between a rock and a hard place then a Hard Hat can be very useful.
For you, as a Hard Hat Business Recovery Partner, the Hard Hat makes you instantly identifiable and memorable and marks out the Hard Hat proposition as being uniquely different. Which it is!
Our yellow Hard Hat sells... and we wear it with pride.
‘Kerb-side’ supports means that for as long as you want it, we will come with you to sales appointments and support you in whatever way you want - from participating in the meeting and helping you to close, to sitting in the meeting with you while you run it, right through to sitting outside in the car while you get on with the meeting yourself - just for moral support. We’ll also support you in difficult meetings with clients, where a big gun might be useful for you.
We tell our clients that they should have at least 6 to 8 routes to market and work them all regularly. We also tell our clients to start with low-hanging fruit.
Hard Hat is no different. As part of your Partnership package you will be given full training in 6 to 8 routes to market that are proven to work, including networking, running workshops, email marketing and affiliate schemes, together with the supporting materials you need to make them work effectively and tips for identifying the easiest places to start.
Before you open for business as a Hard Hatter you will know how to work every one of these routes to deliver customers for yourself and for your clients.
What’s more, you get the support of your whole Hard Hat Collegiate team and the business founder behind you.
Two Hard Hat Business Recovery Partners in adjacent areas decide they would like to collaborate to get business.
They meet every week to brainstorm ideas they can both use in their areas and ideas for how they can work together to reduce marketing costs.
They decide to exhibit at a couple of business shows that are reasonably local to both of them. One is a business to business exhibition, the other is a the local county show. The Business Recovery Partners shared the cost of exhibiting and agreed to attend together.
Hard Hat lent them the exhibition stand materials.
At the exhibition they offered local workshops, based on a workshop already successfully delivered elsewhere in the country. These workshops were also promoted online, through their individual LinkedIn profiles, and through the Hard Hat web site. This generated enough paying customers for a dedicated workshop, which in itself will probably result in further opportunities.
As a result of their appearance at these shows, they generated an opportunity resulting in an appointment with a client, at which Hard Hat will provide ‘kerbside’ support in the person of Bob Gorton, the business founder.
The local Business Link had already been approached several times in the past by Hard Hat, offering another workshop, already delivered to a Business Link elsewhere. As a result of actually meeting our two Business Recovery Partners at these shows, a senior executive from Business Link will be attending their workshop to consider rolling it out as part of the Business Link offer.
Bob Gorton will also attend the workshop to provide additional support on the day and to support the sale to Business Link.
Q: Can I see Hard Hat in action?
Yes. Come to one of our free workshops.
Q: I am an experienced business person and I think I can diagnose and solve business problems already. So why should I invest money in a license that will probably tell me things I already know?
Yes. Come to one of our free workshops.
Q: I am an experienced business person and I think I can diagnose and solve business problems already. So why should I invest money in a license that will probably tell me things I already know?
Of course you are an experienced business problem solver, which is one of the reasons Hard Hat might be right for you. Most people recover their initial investment very quickly because a Hard Hat Business Recovery Partnership will:
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Save you the time it is going to take to develop your own proposition
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Minimise the risks involved in finding out what works (and what doesn't)
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Add value to your expertise with techniques that are proven to work fast
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Support you in all the ways it takes to make money in the field.
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By the time you have completed your Hard Hat training you will feel, if not comfortable, at least competent to network successfully for business. You will have practised doing it enough times to know what to say and how to behave at networking meetings, whether they are informal chamber or IOD events or full-blown business networking events such as BNI.
Comfort - perhaps even enjoyment - will come with practise and with success.
Because businesses that need your help need to know where to find you, and networking is one of the best ways of enabling them to do that.
As a Hard Hatter you will often be dealing with business owners who are going through difficult times. This can be an intense experience for both you and your client. It rarely leads to repeat business as such, but it sometimes results in greater involvement with the client company once the initial assignment is completed, and frequently in referrals to new business.
With over 4.5 million small businesses in the UK, and 500 thousand starting up each year, there is constant demand for practical business help that actually works, and most business owners agree that hardly anyone can deliver it. Hard Hat can, and has the visibility to attract enquiries from people that need it.
This varies locally. You may find a couple of representatives of national networks operating in your area, and their presence helps Hard Hat Business Recovery Partners to get business. You may also encounter several ‘one-man-band’ business helpers. The Hard Hat brand sets our Business Recovery Partners apart. We have found very high recognition and recall of our Hard Hat brand even after less than 12 months operating in a competitive area.
Competition stimulates overall demand and keeps us “on our toes”. Hard Hat welcomes competition and is actively seeking Business Recovery Partners in areas where competitors are well-established.
Full training will be provided in the Hard Hat tools and techniques. You’ll also get ongoing email, telephone and ‘kerb-side’ support. You’ll join your local Hard Hat Collegiate Group, which will be the forum for your continuing professional development and support.
The Hard Hat Business Recovery Partnership operates as a license. As a Hard Hat Business Recovery Partner you operate under a clear, commercial contract which spells out the obligations and responsibilities of both parties. You will know exactly where you stand. You may be surprised at how extensive licensing is in the UK, but one reason it is so popular is that it can be a real win-win arrangement for both licensee and licensor. Buying a Hard Hat licence is a much less risky way of starting a business than starting from scratch because the way it works is already proven and packaged up ready for you to run.
Yes. You need the credibility and confidence of first-hand experience to be able to deliver the practical help that’s needed, so all Hard Hatters have run their own business before - whether as an owner manager, as a chief executive, or a head of a business unit within a larger corporate. But you won’t have to rely on your experience alone. You’ll also get the tried and tested tools for building profitability that Hard Hat has developed over several years together with full training in how to apply them. The combination of your experience and Hard Hat tools makes for a truly powerful means of offering help to business owners, that ensures you earn premium rates for what you do.
You know that any business investment carries risk, but statistics show that if you invest in a license you are less likely to lose out than investors in other forms of private business. By investing in a Hard Hat license you are also investing in yourself, keeping your experience fresh and up to date, and your management thinking current.
Ultimately growth is determined by your personal ambition and ability. You can run your Hard Hat business part-time with a handful of clients at any one time, or you can run full-time with several customers. The choice is yours.
You have 100% marketing exclusivity in your territory. Only you will be able to market Hard Hat in your area. However, Hard Hat recognises the reality of business networking, so referrals may take place across license boundaries.
You can see the areas we have available here.
Q: What are the limits to the development of a license?
You set the limits. Our experience is that some Business Recovery Partners prefer to run a home-based family business while others take a more ‘corporate’ approach and work to grow their business much further. We encourage you to scale your business development to match your goals and management capabilities.
Yes - by your license agreement. We aim to create such a positive and profitable partnership with our licensees that neither party ever feels the need to look at this again.
Yes. Most of the high-street banks have a license department and are very supportive of franchising. Hard Hat can also arrange access to alternative finance.
Nothing. Our priority is to ensure that all our Business Recovery Partners are continually refreshing and enhancing their expertise. That’s why we have put in place the Hard Hat Collegiate Groups, as the best way to achieve this.
Yes. Hard Hat will work with their Business Recovery Partners to get the best price for their business should they choose to leave the network – whatever the reason.
No, projected earnings are for illustration purposes only. Hard Hat will work with you to develop your own business plan and budget for your potential territory. Then we’ll allocate you an experienced Hard Hatter to mentor you so that you have the best possible chance of meeting your goals.
No, but you should have a car that is consistent in brand and condition with the Hard Hat brand.
Q: I already have a business, but want to boost my profits with Hard Hat – do I still need to pay a license fee and royalties?
We can understand that people with established businesses don’t like license fees but what we are selling is our very substantial “goodwill” on a basis that is mutually agreed. Everyone pays management fees once a proper cash flow has been established.
Yes, for anyone that will deliver the Hard Hat service.
Yes. You’ll get an initial pack of marketing stationery (business cards, letterhead, flyers etc.) as well as materials to support the 6 to 8 routes to market you’ll be working to attract business.
Yes. We research your area and will help you create the advert templates and promotional materials that work for you in your area. You will create a full marketing plan for your territory as part of your training. You will rapidly find out whether these costs are justified by results.
No, we are open with you. You want the best possible business opportunity and we are looking for the right people. If our partnership is to work well then high levels of mutual trust and respect are essential from the outset.
Yes - we will provide you with their phone number and arrange a meeting. All we ask is that you first sign our simple confidentiality agreement.
Here are some of the most common questions asked about Hard Hat.
If you can’t find an answer to your question here call Bob Gorton on 01474 872152 or contact us by email.
OTE £60,000 in your first year, £120,000 by the end of your second.
A modest investment of just £4,995 plus VAT. No management fee to pay for 3 months.