A: Congratulations, you set up a new franchise location! That means you made it through the application and selection process, through training, through the launch, and you’ve started getting your first customers. This is where the ‘fun’ challenge starts: how to grow the business and start making money.
Growing profit, not just revenue
In order to attract new leads and customers, you’ll need to invest in marketing. There are a number of different marketing strategies you can employ, from billboards to TikTok videos, each with their own merits and drawbacks. However, one key determining factor of success for a new franchisee is the importance of spending as little of your precious cash as possible. Remember: the less it costs to win new customers, the higher your profit margin and the more cash you keep from every sale.
Here’s a top tip for early, profitable growth: leverage the great experiences of your early customers to generate referrals and reviews. This is known as Customer-Driven Growth.
Customer-Driven Growth
Customer-Driven Growth is a powerful technique, underpinned by the idea that every customer should bring you (at least) one more. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Deliver amazing customer experiences
For any business to thrive, it needs to deliver an amazing customer experience. In the early days, it’s extra important to focus on delivering knockout service, as it’s a way to separate your emerging business from established local operators. Think about how you and your team can go the extra mile, exceed expectations, and delight your customers.
Step 2: Capture the voice of your customer
To create Customer-Driven Growth, you need to capture your customers’ thoughts of their experience with your business. I’m talking about reviews! It’s vital to develop a consistent system for sourcing reviews from customers; ideally a method that’s automated, that makes it effortless for customers to leave them, and that follows up when they forget. If that sounds like a lot, there is software that can help manage your franchise’s digital reputation.
Step 3: Use those awesome reviews to create more opportunities
In today’s world of information overload, 90 per cent of customers start out by searching on Google. Reviews play a massive role in helping you show up in those search results, and ensuring that you get chosen versus your competition. But there is more that you can do to go the extra mile:
- Include reviews on your website. Reviews, used properly on a website, can have an immediate impact on your conversion rate (how many website visitors become new leads). This is because they add social proof: potential customers checking out your business can know that real people experienced great service. It’s even more powerful if you can show that those reviews are recent!
- Amplify reviews on your social media. It can be daunting thinking you have to post on socials every day. Review content is perfect for this: it’s free, customer-generated, and really resonates with your audience. A few likes or shares mean those reviews reach a much larger audience than if they just sit on your Google Business Profile.
- Ask those happy customers for referrals. Another great thing about reviews is that they identify those vocal fans of your business that would be most likely to spread the word and refer their friends. Make sure you follow up good reviews with a referral request, as these are often the best leads you can find.
Step 4: Every customer brings you (at least) one more
By acting on the first three steps, you can turn your customers into a powerful growth engine for your emerging franchise location. Furthermore, by building a great reputation, you will also be building a strong and enduring competitive advantage that will ensure further growth for years to come.
High growth, low cost
The beauty of this Customer-Driven Growth approach is that it is both highly effective and very low cost. As long as you’re investing in delivering an incredible service, reviews should pour in, whilst the costs associated with obtaining those reviews should be minimal. This means more profit and a stronger business.
If you’re looking for a proven growth strategy that can help your new business quickly stand out, attract more customers, and grow profits as well as revenues, you should include a Customer-Driven Growth approach as part of your plan. To make it even easier, you can explore software options that automate the whole process.
Oscar Wimshurst
Senior Manager, Partnerships
NiceJob