Pet Franchise

3 Ways to Set Goals with Employees

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Get Ahead in the Pet Franchise

A great teacher–Mike Schmoker author and former school administrator–said that, “Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other’s fund of collective intelligence.”

Taking this expression from the realm of teaching and using it for business is applicable. It takes teamwork, the fund of collective intelligence to make success. Especially in the pet franchise industry where employee synergy is essential.

Franchisees and managers strategy for setting goals plays a vital role in this collective fund– the instrument of financial success. No entrepreneur stumbles upon profit. Watching your business grow is not a passive act. It takes an immense amount of work. The starting point of that work is to set goals, not only for yourself, but for your employees too.

The Dominican University of California Study surveyed 149 participants in networking from a variety of industrialized countries like the U.S., Japan, Belgium, and India. Participants were surveyed on their success and means of goal setting. 70 percent of participants who sent weekly updates to friends reported successful goal achievement. The other side of that number reported differently. Those who kept goals to themselves or did not write them down surveyed less achievement.

Goal setting takes a tactical approach. This includes identifying common goals of the company on a holistic level. Then an action plan must be formulated. Once these steps are taken all levels of the company begin to start making objectives.  

Use the SMART Method

A  well respected and useful method of achieving financial success, both company wide, and personally is SMART. The acronym stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. This formula helps make the process of goal setting less abstract.

Specificity–the first tactic–acts like a map. Goals with specific intention helps make realizing goals less vague and more practical. A goal moves from, ‘I want to make six figures this year.’  Then becomes ‘I want to boost sales by merchandising my store in my pet franchise.’ The difference is specificity, and the means of actually making the goal happen.

Setting specific goals help entrepreneurs see the path they are on.

Practical goal setting is also measurable. Without tangible results, one cannot see whether their efforts are working, or tactics need to be changed. Measurability also helps employees from becoming overwhelmed or taking on frustrating workloads. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  

Goals that can be measured, can be achieved. In the pet franchise, achievement might be motivating your groomers to find the threshold of dogs that can be groomed within a business day.

Give your employees deadlines and concrete numbers to work with. This provides a sense of urgency. When your staff knows what they can achieve within a time frame, what the expectations are, productivity naturally increases. Incentivization as a process can only happen when results are as tangible as the means and rewards.

Following these steps helps companies and small businesses accomplish things on time.

Write Goals Down

Ambition has a habit of waning when goals are not written down. When you write a goal down it becomes more concrete. There is no room for interpretation. The goal becomes a solidified destination point within a person’s mind.  

This process is called “self-authoring” and was coined by Jordan Peterson professor at the University of Toronto. A study performed by Prof. Peterson showed that students that took the time to write down goals saw significant academic improvement in performance. Students were able to visualize any potential obstacles when writing goals down. They could view the tactics to overcome them.

This again, translates into the business realm.

Using goal setting practices allows for a growth mindset. Employees can see their strengths and abilities improve with time and effort. In the pet franchise, writing down an overarching goal could be, ‘I want to adopt a more streamlined POS system.’ The sub-goals to actualize this goal would be ‘Research various POS systems that will help my business, or find a pet franchise that will assist.’

Sub-goals are important because they help outline your day-to-day operations and tasks. A goal for employees might be ‘turn off the phone at work, use meditation practices, or set reminders for deadlines.

When writing goals down, try to avoid negativity and use active voice over passive voice. An employee example is this, ‘I don’t want to be unproductive at work today.’ Versus, ‘Today I will be productive by focusing and meeting my deadline.’

Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

Visualize Goal Attainment

When an Olympic athlete trains, they visualize the finish line. An athlete won’t visualize themselves falling over a hurdle, or coming across last. The mental image resonating in their mind is one of them winning. Athletes don’t waste time focusing on negative outcomes.

Positivism trumps obstacles that challenge entrepreneurs.

A common meditation technique employers use is conjuring a successful image that relies on the five senses. This can be done alone, or in a group setting.

Close your eyes. Imagine a goal.

Maybe it’s a sales figure.  Maybe it’s a positive interaction your employees are having with customers. Employees will be immersed in the sensations of this mental experience. The mental image stimulates employees five senses to make them feel as if it’s actually happening. Staff become mental agents of their moment–their goal being achieved. Visually imagining this makes goals seem less far away, and makes the reward of success richer in our minds.

This needs to be more than just wishful thinking for companies to expand. Employees in the pet franchise need to execute the steps of goal setting. Staff need to follow through daily to tactfully outline goals by writing them down,  then visualizing them.

The next steps is bringing them to fruition.

Follow Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique:

Is it Time to Expand Your Franchise Shop?

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Deciding to Rise to the Occasion of Owning Multiple Units

Asking yourself the question of whether you want to expand, and open more units, goes back to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. The best franchise owners need to ask themselves these questions.

Why did you want to own your business?

Was it to escape the corporate headache? Maybe you wanted a job you controlled and were paid well. This more than fine, it’s great. Business consultants tend to advise that when franchisees are only interested in one shop location they just want a job. The shop pays the bills. Franchisees get their income and they are happy. People can retire proud that they have a shop with their name on it.

The enterprise building franchisee has a different mentality. This type of business owner wants to take the successes they’ve implemented in their shop and spread to other profitable areas. The adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is remarkably true and pertains to expanding.

Yet the technologically converging world has it’s way of breaking things. Ten years ago small business owners were still sending out armies of salesman to go door-to-door. Today things are done differently. Expanding under the right circumstances can protect businesses. Owning multi units can keep a business updated on marketing trends, innovations in products, and of course boost sales.

Expansion is not a staple of the best franchise unit, but it does offer some interesting advantages.

Open More Units When it Suits Your Business

Identifying your vision is key. Why are you considering opening more units? Is there transparency for your drive to amplify your business?

Franchisees open multi units for various reasons. The main one is undoubtedly to make more money. Before opening another shop is it clear that you cannot simply double the volume of your current unit? This would be pure profit. A shop’s selling cap is a hard thing to quantify. If you’ve been in business for years, and have seen your sales plateau successfully, this may be a sign it is time to open more shops.

The best franchise models will aim for success in every shop unit. It is wiser to have one lucrative shop, than two shops where only one is making money.

You’re Personally Ready

Part of the entrepreneurial spirit is growing yourself with your company. This is part of your vision as a shop owner. When you come to a place in business where you are spiriting over the challenges, then you may be ready for a new pursuit.

Are your business and leadership skills honed?

Running the show of a single unit is challenging enough. It takes an immense amount of hard work and tenacity. The challenges tend to magnify the higher up you grow in the franchise.

Handling a more itinerant workload and coaching your employees toward the transition is the first step. Can you delegate properly and train a managerial infrastructure to handle things? Learning to trust others to do a job you were once doing is hard thing to do, but is essential for a multi unit owner. Your shop needs to be a well oiled machine before you start building new machines.

Can you oversee more employees, and gear yourself toward a regional owner mentality? The entrepreneurial motto, “work on the company not in it” takes it most truest form at this level. Your new role as multi unit owner is a more dynamic job. You will see greater rewards in return for more complex work.

Calculate the Right Timing

Now your vision is clear and you have goals set. The next step is arranging the logistics for application–set the groundwork. But timing is everything and the way to determine this is to review the back office your current shop.

Has your shop reached it’s full potential? Sales need to reach critical mass before proceeding. Many times franchisees have the urge to open a new shop unit without first evaluating room for expansion in their current unit. The best franchise has maximized its full potential in terms of service, sales, and merchandising.

If there are times when you need to cut payroll by sending employees home, you need to work these kinks out before opening more shops. Generally, a sign the business is ready, is when you can allot for employees hitting overtime because it is worth it to bring in the revenue.

Are your employees ready? Is your manager in a position where they’re ready to make the transition?

Your manager will be filling roles that you once held as you both rise in the franchise hierarchy. They should be ready to adopt the responsibility of solely and self-sufficiently running the shop. The shop objective is to have management teams that can fill operations day-to-day and also account for emergencies. The days of you filling in behind the counter when employees don’t show up will be over.

When you and your staff are poised for another unit it is time to start solidifying plans. When all these things are in motion, your team is ready for the move into position as the best franchise.

Control the Stability of Your Future

How will you overcome new and bigger challenges to protect your multi unit investments? How will you diversify?

Owning multiple shops has its advantages in helping to prepare for an unsteady future. For example, the county may start doing construction on the plaza your strongest shop is leased in. For six months, all traffic is going to be re-directed away from your shop. This is when owning another shop within driving distance can supplement your loss of sales.

Owning multi units can also help you cope for unpredictability with experiments in retail. If corporate announces a new line of products, you can test these products in the shelves at your strongest store first, then interpret your sales index to see which products in the line sold the strongest, and where to merchandise these products in your other stores. This creates a model for the best franchise.

When making the jump from single shop, to multi shop, you’re inevitably going to have to make that familiar decision. Where to start construction for new locations?

Never settle for subpar conditions, or a insecure lease agreement. This will diminish the confidence and strength of your new shop. As you research the idea of expanding, pay attention to real estate trends. Research demographics within the area you’re thinking about opening in. Also keep in mind that until the shop is self-sufficient, you’re going to have to be on-site, so pick a place that’s easily accessible. Even for big box franchises, store owners usually try to open shops no more than an hour plane ride away.

Speak with corporate about the idea. Attend multi unit franchising conferences. Spend time networking with other franchise owners. Develop mentors in the multi unit realm that have already gone through the decision. There are many variables to consider when making the decision striving toward the best franchise.

Do it for the right decisions, in the right way.