After Your Franchise Opens
You’ve done it! Spent countless hours researching the best franchise, invested your hard-earned money and did all the legwork to make sure your new business is up and running…now what? Building a franchise isn’t just a set and forget process once you make it past the grand opening. Here are some of the most important things to do after your franchise opens to make your new business successful.
Network, Network, Network
While it might be tempting to stay at your franchise location during all hours after it opens, the real work happens outside the doors of your business. Networking is one of the most important things you can do to help your business grow and the best time to start is now. You should capitalize on the buzz and energy that a new business brings to the area.
Go introduce yourself to the other businesses around your location. Don’t just leave your business card, actually go in and physically shake the hands of the owners and talk to them about who you are and the franchise that you just opened. Join local networking and small business groups. Small business owners love to support each other, and you can make some really meaningful and quality connections by just extending yourself.
Create A Great Culture
Your employees are the backbone of your business; their attitude will determine whether your customers have a positive or negative experience. After your franchise opens, keep the momentum going by making sure your employees feel appreciated and know how impactful their efforts were to your franchise’s early success.
Host contests to reward employees for things like providing above and beyond customer service, coming up with a unique marketing idea or just being the most positive person in the office. Small rewards such as a gift card or lunch can go far in recognizing employees for their accomplishments and keeping your whole team feeling motivated and appreciated.
Lean on Your Fellow Franchisees
When you were researching the best franchise systems to become a part of, you likely contacted current franchisees to get a feel for their experience with that business. Reach out to those in the franchise system you are now a part of! A big reason people choose to franchise a business instead of starting their own from scratch is because of the community aspect that comes with a franchise. When you become a franchisee for Bridge to Better Living, you gain access to a wealth of resources to help you succeed, along with a network of support within the Bridge to Better Living company. Use those to your advantage to share successes and struggles with your fellow franchisees and learn from each other.
Never Stop Learning
Again, your franchise isn’t just something you can start and leave to run on its own. Even if you’ve opened other franchises before, there is always more to learn. Training should be continuous for both you and your employees to ensure that your franchise is constantly improving to be best that it can be. Use all the resources provided to you from the franchisor and host regular trainings and refresher classes. Take advantage of any training opportunity you can find to continue to grow your franchise.
If you’re looking for a new franchise opportunity where you can impact the lives of others, consider Bridge to Better Living. With the population of those over the age of 65 projected to be 78 million by 2035, now is a better time than ever to build a business to help Seniors find the perfect home. If you believe you would embody our mission of Placement with Passion, reach out today.