Successful Franchise - advice to make your franchise successful
I hear it every day from clients, associates and peers...
How Can I Get to Where
I Want to Be Faster? So I thought that as we were nearing the second quarter of
the financial year it would be a good idea to reflect on some of the key areas
of business that if you focus more of your time and energy towards you will
start to realise the potential in your business faster and the results you are
looking for, a lot sooner than you thought was possible.
I think I have said it before but this is an important point to note. If you
focus and commit to improving each area of your franchise opportunity, mobile
franchise or automotive franchise just 1% every day then you will have an
astounding improvement of 365% over the course of the year. Too many of us
expect change to happen overnight. Well there's no quick fix in my mind. A
successful franchise
takes continuous and consistent improvement to create higher levels of success.
Vision, Focus, Action
I am sure you if you haven't been to Universal Studios in America you can still
imagine the famous cry that's heard just before shooting a scene in a movie.
"Lights, Camera, Action!" The lights come first to make sure the scene is set
and all is right. This preparation process can be a time consuming element
before the movie has even begun, not to mention is usually one of the most
expensive aspects in preparing the movie set.
Business opportunities works the same way. We refer to this preparation stage as
the planning stage. Setting the vision, setting a clear direction to where we
want to go. Developing a clear vision- the direction and purpose for your
franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or automotive franchise. If you haven't
got a clear vision, if you are unclear of the direction you are taking your
business, or if have never sat down and taken the time to create a clear vision
for your business and your life, then may I encourage you to take some time to
create a clear direction for where you want to go over the next 12 months. This
is the first step in creating a solid foundation for your future success. It is
the core centre that provides the direction and purpose for the your business
opportunity.
"
A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just
drudgery.
A vision with a plan can change the world."
Next comes Focus. In business you will have a hundred of things going on at
once. It can be overwhelming at times, but if you know where to focus the
overwhelm can be easily reduced or even eliminated. Before any action is taken
it's important you know where to focus, or in the movies where to point the
lens. So if Vision means keeping the bigger picture in mind at all times, focus
is all about keeping an eye on the big picture and seeing which actions need to
be taken which are critical to your success.
Action is all about knowing what steps need to be taken to get closer to your
Vision. What steps do you need to take to get you closer to where you want to
be? That is, where do you want to take this franchise opportunity, mobile
franchise or automotive franchise?
To help keep the bigger picture always in mind I recommend you keep your focus
on a few areas of your business.
The Gap Analysis - if you don't know where you are, how are you ever going to
know what actions need to be taken in order to get to where you want to be? In
short, a gap analysis simply charts where you are today in your business
opportunity compared to where you want to be in the future. This can be
documented in many ways. The most important point to make is just get started.
Identify where you are today, and where you want to be and establish what the
actual gap it is.
A gap analysis need not just be about money, but it's usually where most people
start and that's ok. Try to consider other areas though; for example: number of
team members; product or service offering in the marketplace, and number of
satisfied customers. Other areas could be on a personal level including the
number of hours you work, the number of recreation days you take and so on.
To create your own gap analysis simply choose numbers that represent the goals
that are most important to you and your franchise opportunity, mobile franchise
or automotive franchise. List where you are with each of those measurables
today, and write down a number for each category that represents where you want
to be let's say in one year's time. The distance between those two sets of
number is your gap. Now you can start working on closing the gap for your
business opportunity.
If your numbers are more important right now and you know that if you close the
gap with the numbers you will close the gap with many other areas in your
business opportunity or your franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or
automotive franchise , then may I suggest that you develop a revenue plan.
Your Revenue Plan
Without going into too much detail, your revenue plan is an outline of the
formula that will help you close the gap between where you are and where you
want to be. Grab a piece of paper and list all the products and services your
business opportunity provides, then multiply each by the prices you charge, then
multiply that by how many units you expect to sell for the specific period,
(quarter, six month or one year period). If the results do not match the
objectives on your gap analysis then simply make adjustments until they do. This
may mean increasing your prices, increasing the number of times a customer buys
from you, or it may mean increasing the average amount a customer spends with
you at any one time. It's a simple road map for reaching your targets, so if you
haven't yet got even just an outline of a revenue plan, get started today and
see the difference it makes in such a short period of time.
When working with franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or automotive
franchise, it amazes me how many do not follow an actual sales process in order
to make things happen. Your sales process includes choosing the most appropriate
channels for getting your message directly to your ideal customers, choosing the
right marketing strategies and so on. I see this especially in retail, when
usually the business owner relies on the most obvious channel, foot traffic.
They hope for the best that the customer chooses them today. It's like playing a
game of chance. You have an equal chance that you won't win, in this case an
equal chance of not wining the customer. This is quite a detailed area to focus
on, so for the purpose of this article, start to think of all the appropriate
channels for getting your message out there and driving more customers to your
place of business.
Make change to create the business opportunity you want...
We work with business owners in all industries helping them organise their
franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or automotive franchise. So many are
just focused on driving sales, that they fall down on the other areas. If you
can start focusing on all core areas you will be amazed at the results you bring
into your business opportunity or franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or
automotive franchise.
We take business owners through 4 key areas when making change and closing the
gap to where they want to be. As much as each key are is broken down into lots
of categories there are 4 key areas that if you master each one you are well on
your way to closing the gap from where you are to where you want to be.
Take some time to look at your business opportunity and determine the gaps in
each core area. Once you know where you are it's alot easier to put a plan of
action together to help you get to where you want to be.
To give you some insight into each core area I have given you some brief bullet
points for each core area, so to give you a bit of a helping hand in making
change today and producing the results you want tomorrow.
Leadership drives every aspect of our vision wheel/ business model. Every movie
needs a proactive director, leading the way, and the same goes for each business
opportunity. Without a leader to maintain vision and focus, there will be no
deliberate action taken by the company, the team or the individual. Think about
your leadership qualities and make change if necessary to drive your ship to
where you want it to go.
Vision - again this is the core centre that provides the direction and purpose
for the franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or automotive franchise. Without
you simply won't achieve even close to the success you believe you can have or
want.
Marketing - without it you won't have a business opportunity, yet so many
business owners don't like to spend alot of time in this area. Marketing does
not mean advertising. It encompasses many areas of the client acquisition and
client fulfillment process. From identifying your ideal customer, understanding
your best customers, to creating a systematic approach to generating leads,
converting those leads and delivering on the promises you made to those
customers in the process. What areas could be improved today to make a positive
impact in your franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or automotive franchise?
Money - I am a big believer that if you can establish, track and maintain
predictable cashflow you are well on your way to building a successful business.
This key area focuses on the financial side of your business. Controlling the
movement of money within the business opportunity and it's financial value.
Management - this is a very important key area of business that so many business
owners want to manage but are not sure how or just haven't set aside enough time
to focus on. This area enables you to focus on the way in which you manage your
systems, processes and people. This core area is vital to building long term
success for all. Take some time to think about how well you are managing your
people, processes and systems, and make change today if you need to.
The key to success in your franchise opportunity, mobile franchise or automotive
franchise is first knowing where you are and where want to be. Over the next
week or so take at least an hour or two thinking about these core areas and ways
in which you can improve your current situation. You will be surprised at the
results.
Written by Tania Allen - ©2006-2010 Tania Allen
Tania Allen is the
Franchisee Recruitment Manager at The Wheel Man.
Feel free to contact Tania on
1300 933 299 or
tania@thewheelman.com.au