Buying a coaching franchise is one of the bigger decisions of your working life, and you should put the same questions to every brand you look at. These are the ones we think matter most. Here is how Focal Point answers them.
Is the monthly fee fixed, or a share of what I earn? Is there a marketing levy on top?
Fixed. £1,500 a month plus VAT, whether you bill £10,000 or £100,000, and whether you coach alone or run a team. No percentage and no marketing levy.
Can I work with any business in the country, or only inside a boundary?
Any business, anywhere in the UK, at any size. There is no territory, and nobody will tell you territories are running out.
Can I only work with businesses in my sector?
No. Your sector is where your rights are and where most of your clients will come from, but the method works in every industry, and you can take on clients outside your sector where you have found the relationship yourself.
Who works out where my advantage lies?
We do, with you. Your career and professional network are reviewed and your sector agreed before you sign, so you are not guessing.
Where do my first clients come from?
The business development system finds the right businesses in your sector, opens the conversation and gets the appointments in your diary. You start with a website in your name and a monthly piece for your prospects, both written for you, so you are visible from the first week. Before you commit, we tell you the rate of conversations you can expect.
Is there an income guarantee, and what would I have to do to qualify for it?
We do not offer one. Read the small print on any guarantee and you will usually find it depends on you finding a set number of prospects a month yourself. We would rather find the prospects, and tell you before you commit what rate of conversations you can expect in your own sector.
How big is Focal Point?
Focal Point is the largest business coaching network in the US, with more than 250 coaches worldwide. The UK network is being built now, and Sector Principal rights are still available in most sectors.
What do I actually get?
More than 200 coaching modules, each one tailored to the client in front of you. The tools and AI behind them, which prepare you for a session and help with the work it calls for. The business development system, built and working before you start, with a website in your name and a monthly piece for your prospects written for you. Certification, most of it live, inside fifteen months of development in an international cohort, and a practice mentor of your own once you are certified. Your sector’s Mastermind Group. The network’s calls and two international conferences a year. And James, a phone call away.
Is the coaching material generic, or does it fit my clients?
It fits them. Before a session, the module you are about to run is tailored to the business you are about to see, in their language and with their world’s examples, so an owner recognises their own business in it from the first page.
What about AI? Will it make business coaching redundant?
We think it makes a good coach more valuable, and we have built it in rather than waited for it. Focal Point’s own AI tailors the material, prepares you for a session and helps with the work afterwards, under your direction. A business owner still wants a person they trust in the room. With Focal Point, that person arrives better prepared than any coach working alone could be.
Who will I meet before I sign?
First Julie and Martin at Familia Franchise Consultants, who manage our recruitment and can answer questions about franchising itself. Then Dr James Onslow, who runs Focal Point in the UK, makes the decision with you and is a phone call away afterwards.
Will I speak to coaches already doing this?
Yes. A conversation with working coaches is a required step before anybody signs, not an optional one.
Do I need coaching experience?
No, and most of our coaches did not have any. You need experience of running something, credibility with business owners, and the willingness to follow a method. The fifteen-month programme does the rest.
What does the training involve?
Certification is a serious programme, most of it live, in an international cohort, and it includes rehearsing the client conversations with a facilitator before you have them for real. Once you are certified you have a practice mentor, one to one, a programme for your first weeks to get the first clients in, the network’s calls, and a second certification in executive coaching when you want it. Intakes run ten times a year.
Can I grow beyond myself?
If you want to. A Sector Principal can bring other coaches into their sector and earn from their work. A Coach runs a practice of their own.
How long is the agreement?
Five years, renewable for a further five.
What happens if I want to leave?
[The agreement’s terms on resale and exit, in plain words, once James has confirmed them. The answer should say whether a coach can sell the practice, what notice applies, and what happens to clients.]
What happens to my sector rights if I don’t meet the agreed measures?
[The annual review in plain words: what is measured, what happens if a measure is missed, and whether the rights revert to Coach or are reviewed again. Once James has confirmed the terms.]
What does it cost, and will you tell me now?
£30,000 plus VAT for a Coach, £60,000 plus VAT for a Sector Principal, and £1,500 a month. It is all on the Investment page.
How do people fund it?
Savings, often from a settlement or a sale. Where borrowing makes sense, Focal Point has funding relationships with HSBC, NatWest and the British Business Bank.
What happens after I request the prospectus?
We email it over and get in touch the same day to see whether you would like a short call. There is no obligation at any point.