Sara Wilson had a good article, “How are Franchisees Dealing?” in the January ’09 Entrepreneur Magazine that interviewed four different franchise business enterprise owners on how they were dealing with obstacles during this current economic slump. It provided some great insight into how businesses are dealing with the recession and whether a franchise has certain advantages over other types of companies. I include my two cents on their tactics to give you a well rounded analysis of their business strategies. Maybe you will find some that make sense for you.
I. Floyd’s 99 Barbershop: The franchisee, Jay Palmer, couldn’t find a loan for a new store. He tried using his home and his parent’s home as collateral and no luck with banks, including trying to obtain an SBA or Corporate loan.
– The Solution: Mr. Palmer found a personal investor (Angel Investor). The investor came into the shop for a shave and a haircut when Mr. Palmer wasn’t around so he could get a good feel for the business. He ended up investing $150,000 after seeing a steady stream of happy customers and happy, industrious employees. This was a great move on Mr. Palmer’s part, using a track record of success and clearly showing a precipitous investor the real deal behind the potential success of his future business opportunity: great service, great product, happy customers and content, energetic employees. In just one site visit and the positive experience with the business’ services, the investor was ready to supply the needed capital even after multiple bank turn-downs.
II. Kitchen Solvers: Franchisees, Carrie and John Borden Kircher, customer niche based changed. Their customer market became cost orientated, and the business offers premium kitchen and bath remodeling. Leads dropped 19% and gross sales are down 25% over the last two years.
– The Solution: Their solution is rebrand their vans, get new signs; increase letters to past customers; leave a gift with a customer after a job is complete; and working with their franchiser on the operational side of the business. Ok, as a Business Consultant I am going to give my two cents on the Borden Kircher’s proposed solutions:
III. The Melting Pot Restaurant: The challenge Franchisee Michael Frampton was facing during the Real Estate Crash in California was establishing the restaurant in a new shopping center when 10 other centers in the area were all opening at the same time. On top of this important challenge, property taxes went up from $500 a month to $2,500, which meant $2000 a month cost comes straight off the bottom-line, never being budgeted for.
– Solutions: Mr. Frampton shows why he is going to be a successful business owner. Clear steps and strategies to overcome the current situation:
- Loyalty Cards: This is a fantastic move. Appreciate your regular customers during the hard times, and they will keep your doors open.
- Mass Mailing: Targeted within a 10 mile radius as there are so many competing restaurants in the immediate area. Targeted mailing is measurable, which is key during tough times.
- Analyze where you are spending money and the areas which can be controlled and managed (not necessarily cut): Mr. Frampton actually saved $500 a month in focusing on linen costs for towels used to clean the restaurant. He also analyzed energy cost: when they turn on equipment and the length of time it’s used. A third major cost area for restaurants is staffing, which Frampton cost analyzed as well.
- New Business Opportunity: Mr, Frampton started opening for lunch on Sundays. Typically added operation hours can be a bad move in a recession. So what were his motives and reasons? I imagine he wanted to catch that late brunch / after church lunch crowd who are looking for an upscale meal as their main meal on Sunday. Perhaps since his target market was so close to the restaurant, he thought he could entice them easily for a late breakfast or lunch. A great approach would be to analyze customer traffic flow, alcohol sales, food sales and costs for every single day of the week. This analysis will promptly show trends on what days are the most profitable to be open, what hours and the reasons why. With this information in hand, the business owner can make the necessary adjustments to staff scheduling, food prep costs and open hours much more effectively and strategically. Mr. Frampton ostensibly believes that the added cost of being open on Sunday for lunch is worth it based upon the cost and traffic flow study he most probably performed.
IV. EmbroidMe: Wendy and Todd Diskin own a franchise that specializes in promotional solutions for businesses, which includes decorating apparel and screen printing. Their challenge has been rising costs from their suppliers. They have experienced a 5% increase in the Cost of Goods over the last year.
– Solutions
- Competitive Pricing verses Solution Based: The custom product industry is price competitive. With rising costs, the Diskin’s have provided a more solution based approach so the buying decision isn’t just made on the quote. For instance, if one of their customers is trying to increase readership, they figure out how EmbroidMe products or services can help the client achieve that goal and come up with a programme to do so. Then the decision becomes one of “risk and reward and ROI instead of price…” Selling solutions alongside your product and service offerings is a way you can separate your company from the competition and still retain premium pricing in a price based market.
- Continuous Marketing Software: This program sends letters and emails so the Diskin’s can “stay in front of their customers on a regular basis without a ton of effort….” This software program keeps the company intermeshed with customers, giving EmbroidMe first opportunity to make another value added sale or track how customer market trends may be changing.
- Good Vendor Relations: Leveraging a strong advantage franchises have, EmbroidMe Corporate negotiates the best pricing and strategic relationships with suppliers for their franchises. This is a huge advantage as it is a time consuming task and volume pricing from a Global Corporate level is much more advantageous than negotiating on your own as a single business unit. So it is apparent that although COGs has risen, EmbroidMe is still very competitive and successful, even in a recession.
My Concluding Advice
In this article I identified certain types of businesses which excel in an Economic Downturn and why they are successful. Here is some concluding advice for starting or operating a business during Recessionary times:
- This Recession will have an impact for at least the next 2-3 years. So keep that in mind when planning for your business.
- Track Record, Experience, Niche Market Identification and Cash Flow are keys in raising funds for your business.
- A solid Comprehensive Business Plan, along with realistic, accurate Market Planning and Financial Forecasts are very critical during challenging economic times. An effective Strategic Plan is integrally important in bridging the gap between a Marketing Strategy and Realistic Financial Forecasting.
- Out of the box idea: For Brick and Mortar Companies, key on strong local areas and or utilize the web to efficiently bring a product or service to the market.
- Price Competitiveness becomes less important if you sell value-added business solutions to your customers and have tight controls on costs.
About the Writer – Frank Goley of ABC Business Consulting
Frank Goley is a business consultant, business turnaround consultant and business plan consultant for ABC Business Consulting. He has been helping companies to succeed for many years. Frank wrote his first business plan over twenty years ago. He is an expert in developing business plans, marketing plans, funding plans, strategic plans, turnaround plans, web marketing strategies, and project specific business plans. Frank is also a business coach and a web development, web marketing and web seo consultant. Frank is the author of a business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 50 published articles and e-books on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies Blog.