The world of franchising is constantly evolving and changing every day, therefore, as a business coach, I play a pivotal role in guiding my clients toward thriving amidst all these changes. Navigating through these changes reminds me of what leading entrepreneur and author Tony Robbins said, “Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react positively to change, and navigate through the complexities of evolving business trends.”
Below are 6 key strategies from my coaching playbook, to not only help you deal with change, but ensure your business thrives in today’s market.
Proactive Mindset
Your cornerstone for success is having a proactive mindset. I constantly help my clients build a proactive mindset that ensures they anticipate shifts and challenges, actively seek information, stay updated on industry developments, and inspire them to think of change as an opportunity.
Having a proactive mindset entails a forward-thinking approach for your franchise that makes you ready to pivot when necessary. It often involves analysing the business landscape for what is to come and strategising how you can navigate and adapt to the changes. Being proactive also means that you are consistently seeking to improve and evolve.
Continuous Learning and Skills Development
Much like being proactive, another key element that I tell clients is to continuously seek to learn and improve themselves. With technological advancements transforming the franchise landscape and affecting consumer behaviours and the economy, it’s no longer enough to simply survive. I encourage all franchise business leaders to not only transform themselves, but to create an environment where their teams prioritise upskilling and learning new things.
Highly skilled and trained staff should be the main objective for a franchise, because it’s your staff who are in constant contact with customers, delivering the standards you have set.
Maximise Technology
From streamlining operations to marketing, incorporating technology into your franchise is a necessity. I regularly advise my clients to evaluate activities, which then leads to decisions around elimination, delegation, or automation. These three actions increase productivity and are commonly done much more efficiently through the help of technology and tools.
Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) has become the go-to assistant for franchise businesses and their teams, because of its quick and easy data-driven decision-making feature that makes it a strategic asset to thrive in today’s market.
Naturally, there’ll be those reading this article reluctant to embrace technology, and wishing that things went back to the way they were. The fact is, embracing technological advancement guides and allows you to streamline operations, enhance business productivity, and get ahead of your competition.
Strategic Partnerships and Connections
Have you heard the saying, “Your network is your net worth?” This saying definitely applies to the world of franchising. The power of partnerships and collaborations is an essential element of running a successful franchise business. Whether it be with the franchisor, other franchisees, suppliers, consultants, and customers, I encourage my clients to build strategic partnerships and maintain a strong network.
Your network has the potential to make or break your business. The connections and alliances you make with complementary businesses could provide access to new markets, prospective customers, and resources, in addition to fostering a collaborative community that can navigate through today’s challenges by leveraging each other’s strengths.
Customer-Centricity
The preference of your customers shapes the market trends, therefore the customer must be central to the decisions within your franchise. Connecting to your customers and providing customer service is one thing, but I work with my clients to focus on ‘delighting the customer’. Delighting a customer is about going above and beyond customer satisfaction, considering all elements of the interaction, implementing at an extremely high level, and, ultimately, creating memorable moments. Don’t just provide customer service, as every business does that. Instead, be the franchise that will be remembered for the way you make your customers feel.
To improve the connection with your customers, implement a customer-centric approach where you’re constantly touching base with your customers. This may involve regular feedback requests, leveraging your CRM to communicate, or doing market research. It is all about making sure you are delivering outstanding value, as this builds trust, and trust leads to gaining customer loyalty. When you align your strategies to the changing demands and expectations of customers, your franchise will always thrive, no matter the time.
Risk Management and Contingency Planning
Lastly, being over prepared will always be efficient. It’s advantageous to prepare the best you can for the constant shift in today’s market, as being proactive to risk management and contingency planning will never go out of trend. Sadly, I’ve seen the negative consequences of being complacent in business, therefore I work with my clients to recognise, investigate, strategise and monitor:
- Recognise potential challenges and threats.
- Investigate is your key to knowing why you have the problem, what is the solution and how you can work through it.
- Strategise on how you’ll address and manage risks.
- Monitor and assess emerging risks and adapt the relevant strategies.
In summary, none of us have a crystal ball that can tell the future, hence we can never accurately predict what the market will do. Trends are forever changing, technology is constantly evolving, and the economy can make sudden shifts. In this article I have shared 6 key strategies that every franchise owner can implement immediately and start to wrestle back control amongst the changes. These strategies work for any industry, and, when implemented effectively, will guarantee the future success of your franchise.
Tony Meredith Coaching focuses on helping business owners Grow Sales, Increase Profits, and Regain Time. Tony Meredith Coaching started in 2018 and works with hundreds of small-medium businesses across Australia, in the areas of Franchising, Retail, Services, Manufacturing, and Trades. Tony has over 25 years’ experience working for some of the world’s largest corporations in a variety of senior sales and leadership roles. Contact Tony and his team if you want to grow an outstanding franchise business.
Email info@tonymeredithcoaching.com.au | Website | https://tonymeredithcoaching.com.au/