You were keen to be a franchisee, and you have done everything needed to achieve that goal. You did the necessary research about the franchisor and franchise business, obtained the financing, and completed the paperwork. Finally, you are a proud business owner now.
But that is just the start of a long and arduous journey. You have to work hard to turn it into a successful venture. There are various stages of growth, full of challenges that test your capacity to run a business. However, when you succeed, all the hard work becomes worth the trouble and you have the satisfaction of building a venture from scratch.
Aspects To Keep In View
As a small business owner, your real struggle is to create growth strategies. It becomes easier if you follow some basic rules. These are some aspects that will help you grow your franchising business:
Focus on your Customers – Being customer-centric helps a great deal. It means understanding customer requirements and aspirations and offering products and services that add to customer satisfaction. That is the way to create loyal customers and a large customer base. Be a detached observer of your business, and new paths will open to help you engage with your customers.
Have Excellent Staff – Your staff is your strength. A hard-working, dedicated team willing to give their best to ensure customer satisfaction and business growth is of vital importance. You will need to hire employees that provide results rather than those who shirk responsibility. Do not succumb to the urge of giving jobs to family members that do not contribute to your business growth.
Make Sure You Are In-Sync With Market Demands – Your ability to be in sync with market trends determines the growth of your business. These trends center on what the customer wants and the businesses that fulfill those wants. Sometimes, an innovative business leader creates wants, but that is possible only when you know your customers well; the rest falls in place.
Prioritise Expanding Your Home Base – Every franchisee dreams of spreading their wings. However, you first need to create a strong base in your area by bagging as large a market share as possible before considering expansion.
Be Available And Accessible – Keep in mind that your customer comes first. You exist for your customers, so be accessible to them. Take the time to understand their problems, and provide solutions by working with them. Rest assured that they will never leave you.
Have Your Marketing Strategy In Place – As a franchisee you benefit from your franchise network’s standing in the market. They would also have some specific marketing strategies you need to follow. But as you grow, create a complementing marketing strategy of your own, based on your vision of the business you run.
A marketing strategy needs a plan and a budget to put it in practice. Today few businesses will find it easy to succeed without social media marketing. You will need to publicise your brand on social media. You may need to hire an expert and pay them for that. In a nutshell, you need a budget and the resources to do it.
Focus On Retaining Customers – Long term business growth depends on widening and strengthening your customer base. Replacing customers lost to competitors is costly. So, business retention is an essential aspect of business growth. You need a customer-oriented strategy and management plan to expand your customer base.
If you want to know more, feel free to get in touch with us at The Franchise Institute. You can call us on 1300 855 435 or fill in this contact us form, and we’ll reply as soon as we can.
Thanks for reading, The Franchise Institute Team 1300 855 435
