A franchise of global importance: being part of the world's largest search firm, MRI Worldwide, means that franchisees get much more than a glossy franchise manual and a business card.(MRI Worldwide)(Cover Story)

IT'S JUST GONE 0800 GMT, and in a videoconferencing suite in Windsor, the head of performance Instruction at MRI Worldwide is facilitating a morning sales meeting involving a dozen offices from around the UK. Owner managers and their search consultants are comparing notes about the challenges for tire day ahead, triumphs from the previous day, best practice and sales techniques. There's a buzz in the air: in half an hour the meeting will be over and the participants will be ready for another day in the search business.

Meanwhile, one of MRI Worldwide's business development consultants has just arrived at an office in the South East to spend a day with one of MRI's 100 plus UK owner managers and her team, During the course of the day, he'll sit in on meetings and calls, offer on-the-spot training and advice, assist a consultant to choose a deal with a client, and help the owner manager to make decisions which will see her business grow. In Macclesfield, another key member of the training team has just started a flail day training course in their northern training centre, where owners from that region are gathering to brush up their negotiation skills.

It's just another day in the life of the world's most successful search company--a business which has grown and prospered thanks to the drive and skill of over 1.100 franchisees worldwide. Each of these franchisees has undoubtedly benefited From MRI Worldwide's unrivalled programme of training, professional development and business support. The UK head office in Windsor boasts a buzzing IT department complete with a help desk, a finance department which provides advice and support to franchisees, a training hotline guaranteed to get a response in under 15 minutes, a dedicated administration and support team who work on anything from helping set up offices to managing conferences for franchisees, and a marketing and PR consultant. There is daily interaction with MRI's head office in the United States--a constant flow of information and resources aimed at helping each franchisee to be as profitable as possible.

Brett Cooper, franchise sales manager at MRI Worldwide, says that the level of support which the company provides has been one of the key elements which has excited new franchisees. 'Right from their first day in the business, we have a comprehensive programme of training and support in place to maximise their success. Our three week comprehensive induction course has new owners building their business from day three and ready to launch their business with close support and regular contact with their business development consultant by day 15.

'Franchisees also start out with an unrivalled suite of tools to set them in the right direction--including proprietary software, access to online research facilities and a videoconferencing ...