How Franchisees Can Grow Their Sales
Most new franchisees return from their initial franchise training program confident and ready to launch their new franchise business. Whether it’s the thrill of their grand opening or the rush of their initial marketing campaign, franchisees are excited and motivated, eager to drive customers through the door and start making sales.
However, once the ribbons come down and time passes, franchisees begin to recognize the challenge ahead and that, in many ways, they're on their own: regardless of the amount of support their franchisor provides, the franchisee is ultimately responsible for generating sales for his or her new business.
Since a franchisee must cultivate their territory for sales, it’s important to use every resource and strategy available. Whether you’re a start-up or an existing franchisee, these tips should help you grow your revenue.
Tips to grow sales for franchisees:
- Know your competition and their strengths and weaknesses. It’s very important to know what you're up against in your local market.
- Write a marketing plan, implement the marketing plan, and measure the results. The plan should include a list of specific objectives you want to accomplish. You don’t need a sophisticated document: an outline with clear action items, associated costs, and a realistic timeline will work fine.
- Get the franchise started as quickly as possible. Lay the groundwork for the franchise so that you get off to a quick launch. Pre-sell and distribute business cards and marketing literature before opening for business.
- Join local trade groups and business associations in your area. This is a way to publicize your business and find business owners you can network with. Volunteer to serve on a committee in one of these groups.
- Donate services or products to a local charity. Offer reduced or special pricing to charities or groups. Since a number of school systems are having problems funding programs, offer to provide something to them. If your donation is interesting or particularly helpful, you can often contact local media (whether traditional news outlets or bloggers) about covering the relationship.
- Get to know the media representatives in your area. Try to get an interview on local radio or in the newspaper. Use press announcements in your local newspapers. Most local newspapers are hungry for notable news items.
- If not already offered by your franchisor, try to develop a special rewards program or incentive for your existing customers to generate repeat business and bring in new customers. This may not work for every franchise, but if there is a way to use a program like this give it a try.
- Network with fellow franchisees in order to exchange ideas. Other franchisees in your system have probably experienced the same challenges and problems you have. Speak with them and establish a relationship. Some franchisees even schedule regular conference calls or breakfast meetings among themselves in order to exchange ideas.
- Utilize special promotions or pricing to attract customers. As a franchisee you have the ability to set your own prices, unless there are certain restrictions in your franchise agreement (which you should have investigated in detail as you went through the process of finding a franchise). Assuming you have the flexibility to do so, consider offering reduced pricing on certain items to attract more business.
- Utilize social media marketing and mobile websites to generate more customers. If you’re able to use Facebook and Twitter to promote your franchise, those are some great platforms from which to gain more customers.
When investing in a franchise opportunity, you effectively sign on to become a salesperson. By implementing these tips, you'll give yourself -- and your business -- a leg up in overcoming the challenge of generating sales.
Considerations for Developing a Franchise System
This article briefly outlines some of the key factors -- brand identity, policies & procedures, expansion targets, and management systems -- that businesses need take into consideration when evaluating whether their concept is ripe for franchising.
Why Do Companies Franchise?
The most successful entrepreneurs, however, eventually come to recognize that achieving long-term success requires that they step back and put in place the right systems, processes, and people to expand their company beyond what any one individual -- no matter how motivated and sleep deprived -- could possibly manage on his or her own. Once a business owner sees what's possible when employees take on operational responsibilities that free management to actually manage instead of act like their own employee, he or she quickly understands the enormous power that scalability means for a business.
How Franchisors Are Innovating To Serve Their Communities
It’s been quite some time since we’ve started to fight this war against an invisible enemy. Just as the news reports - individuals and businesses have been heavily impacted by the virus and we’ve had to adapt to the situation in ways we’ve never expected or experienced before. And more importantly than ever, the community's ability to come together and rally support for one another is one of the key factors to us riding out this pandemic.