Franchise Information

How Was Your First Fiscal Quarter of 2016?

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The First Quarter is Closed: Now is the Time for Reflection to See How Business is Going and to Set New Goals and Plan Successful Results

At the time of writing, the first quarter of the fiscal year is closing on December 31st—right on time for New Year’s resolutions. In the pet franchise, business moves fast and as a shop owner, it is always important to take a step back, reflect, and make improvements.

 

You will need to figure out how your business plan is coming along, what goals came to fruition, and if any alterations need to be made.

 

The criteria to make these inspections boils down to improvements and goal-setting in marketing, finances, and technology. See where your holes are, then strategize filling these holes in the latter two-quarters.

 

This pet franchise article acts as a guideline to help new shop owners and veteran shop owners alike make reflective decisions to continue the pathway of a strong pet franchise unit.

Marketing Goals

 

Ask yourself, what goals did I set for my shop, and did these goals get accomplished? Goals are circumstantial and contingent on a shop’s territory, local demographic, and strategy, but are the important part in identifying your shop’s strengths and weaknesses.  

 

Did your community outreach yield the results you wanted for back-to-school, holiday seasons, and if so, how will you continue these effective strategies into the slow retail season?

 

Since Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique is retail and service based, recurring revenue streams will bolster the slow retail season. If a shop did strong marketing during the holidays the slow inevitable retail season will not be an issue.

 

If you did observe problems in your marketing or did not quite reach the goals you set for your shop, what changes can you make?

 

Is more research in customer appeal needed in your area? Do you need to tweak numbers to make promotions more enticing? What reasons would prospective customers have for patronizing a competitor over your shop? How can you calibrate for a consumer’s reasons and counteract this reasoning to attract more patronage?

 

Even when Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique are breaking records in sales, there is always room to improve.

 

Technology

 

Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique is fortunate enough to have state of the art terminal software which allows shop owners and managers to track point of sales and employee goals easily.

 

Take at a look at your numbers in the terminal system. Are you seeing the results you want?

 

For example, a shop owner might want to improve in shampoo ad-ons like the Pinkberry and Blueberry facials. If you see that these ad-ons are not happening in sales, what can you do to change this?

 

Another way to use the terminal software to make business decisions is to analyze the Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Work with your staff to make improvements that are quantifiable. When employees can see the numbers in front of them they are more able to make improvements to boost their KPI. This can help incentivize employees which leads mutually beneficial expansion.

 

The terminal software technology allows each unit in pet franchise to make personal goals, and see goals reached in real time.

 

If improvements need to be made, shop owners can see the numbers needed to make comprehensive changes for staff that are less abstract and more helpful than general suggestions.

 

Financial

 

One of the most active places to make pragmatic change is  in your back-office financial division. This is where the first assessments on profitability take place in a pet franchise. Calculating your initial net profit, overhead, and inventory costs will help shop owners move forward, keener to what works and what doesn’t.

 

Observing this before the books close may help you to avoid a potential surplus in inventory, make adjustments in training, or up the ante in your local marketing.

 

Close your books in a timely manner to help forecast the last two-quarters of the fiscal year. Even before the books are closed shop owners can review the reports in the terminal software to closely monitor how their shop is doing.

 

As part of the Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique pet franchise, this is all at a shop owner’s disposal is part of the many tools provided for financial success.

 

Goals; Moving Forward

Whether you are a seasoned veteran of the Splash and Dash family or just opened your doors, it is important to be proactive on all fronts of your shop’s business.

 

Understandably, being a small business owner is a balance between daily, monthly, and annual tasks. A good way to achieve this balance between big picture tasks and daily tasks is to set goals.

 

Goals help define problems and arrange solutions both in short and long-term ways and are imperative for the success of any pet franchise.

 

Happy New years!

Franchise Opportunities; Six Ways to Handle Change in the Workplace

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Why Innovation is Important within Pet Franchise Opportunities 

A big change is taking advantage of franchise opportunities. Leaving the boundaries of the corporate world can be a stressful transition. The advantages of making the change are numerous. Franchise owners can create their own schedule, balance work and life, grow professionally, control who their colleagues are, and have the ability to work in an industry they’re passionate about. These are just a few reasons to explore franchise opportunities.

What is less known are the challenges–workplace changes.

Whether you are a current franchisee, future franchisee, or just trying to gain new information, understanding changes in the workplace, change is important. Changes in the workplace happen with new software, scheduling, and adaptation of marketing trends. Change is useful to stay competitive and increase productivity. But it also can be problematic when small businesses have a hard time adapting.

Innovation is a staple of business growth. Without making changes to business plans, a company or franchise location can become obsolete. A study done by the Center for Creative Leadership stated that the number one issue facing leadership today is “dealing with complex challenges.” Furthermore the study went on to say that the number one biggest challenge is “competency in dealing with change.”

As an shop owner who has invested in franchise opportunities, it is crucial to tackle challenges head on. Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique has a motto that states, “work on the company, not in it.”

This schematic allows the company to embrace change. Not just adapt, but innovate. This uniqueness is what has led the company to find success.  

Clearly Define Solutions

A common challenge for those invested in franchise opportunities is getting customer to see the value in products or services. Why would a customer want to utilize my store’s service, when big box companies can provide the same service?

The problem is clearly defined. I need customers to see the value of the service.

The solution is clearly defined. Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique is the only franchise opportunity offering monthly memberships with a package service that offers recurring revenue. To use a common expression, customers get more bang for their buck.

Service is unique and superior.

Be Adaptable and Trusting

Be wary of franchise opportunities that are not willing to assist you with inevitable challenges that small business owners face. A good franchisor should have an open door. There should be a built in system that helps shop owners innovate. Corporate offices should encourage and assist investors through the whole process of opening.

Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique not only provides a built in method of innovation, but works tirelessly to ensure that all locations are successful. When challenges arise the company works for ways to capitalize off the challenges, not just work around them.

Use Disparity to Your Advantage

A good product or service is not only functional, convenient, and affordable–it fills a market gap. Franchise opportunities that do not have significant strategic, cultural, environmental, or marketplace impact have a tendency to fail.

An example outside of the pet franchise is the possibility of self-driving cars. One day we might live in a world where we can fall asleep in our car in Miami, and wake up in New York City. Transformative entrepreneurs like Elon Musk invest billions into capitalizing on the disparity between manually driven cars and the future of automation. This product does not exist yet, and that is what makes it valuable.

The founder of Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique–Dan J. Barton–is applying the same entrepreneurial logic to the pet industry. Taking business models that have worked in other industries and applying them to the pet franchise is the formula that makes this company successful.

Franchise opportunities should  not only have a unique competitive edge, but aim to change the industry as a whole.

The same can be applied to your small business when facing change. Don’t wait for other minds to find market gaps.

Find them yourself.

Solutions Do not Happen Overnight. Be Patient.

Many entrepreneurs become anxiety ridden because the results of their hard work aren’t happening instantaneously. Even with modernization in full effect, solutions to fiscal problems will take some time.

A pet franchise opportunities problem could be, you began using a corporate promotional strategy that allots for a sale that tentatively places prices extremely low. Understanding that this is a method to draw customers into the business to explore the advantages of your store. Once they see the value, and a credibility of your products and service is created, then you can gain repeat visits. It takes an initial price gouging to make this process happen.

Successful business venturists have no illusions about taking on entrepreneurial projects. 1 in 10 small businesses fail. Failing to act and failing to change are the usual suspects of why these businesses fail. But even more so, failing to use patience to let calculated risks fall into place can also be hindering for business success.

Delegating Responsibility with Pet Franchise Opportunities

An important part of business is understanding what you’re good at, and what you’re not. Some entrepreneurs are great with back office numbers, and don’t necessarily need to outsource, or hire an accountant. Some are good at management and have natural leadership ability. Others have a propensity for public relations and marketing and can easily promote their business.

All of these are examples of aspects of owning your own small business or exploring franchise opportunities. Realizing you can’t do the job it will take a whole team to do is important. When business expands or develops new systems you will have to innovate with the change.

Small business owners need to learn to delegate.

Developing a team of individuals you can trust is essential to handling change. The infrastructure of your business may be based on a strong management team who can take care of operations when you are not on-site. Your participation is crucial to this development.

The goal of investing in franchise opportunities or opening a small business is to develop your investment until it is self-operating. Your team of staff should be relatively self-sufficient. Once this happens you can begin expanding, but delegation is key to adapting.

Embrace change.

The best companies are the ones driving this change–the ones forcing others to innovate. By following these steps in your business model you can stake a few steps above the game.

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