In all the hustle and bustle that was Christmas, it is easy to just exist in January when you are a franchisee. You have come off the busiest time of year, your bank account is full, you finally get some time off to relax and if you are lucky there is a beach and cocktails involved.
Enjoy the moment you deserve it, but do you find yourself becoming energised as you sit on the beach? When you have caught up on sleep and the latest bestseller isn’t it amazing how your mind always drifts back to work. Well mine does anyway. Don’t miss an opportunity…. take this newly energised brain of yours and jot down a few goals that you want to achieve in 2015. Go and buy yourself a brand new notebook from the closest newsagent to start your year off fresh. There is nothing like looking at the first page of an empty notebook that will get your creative juices flowing. Perhaps take the “Champagne approach” pop the cork set out a platter of cheese and biscuits and away you go….
You – the person– What is it you want for 2015? Do you want to play a weekly golf game? Do you want to learn to paint? Do you want to have a regular weekly coffee date with your Mum, your Dad your friend? No wait, that would be wine with your best friend! Go on state the goal. Write it down. What day suits you both?
You – the Franchisee – there are really two factors here. Your team and your business.
Let’s look at your team first. What was it that really got under your skin last year? What pushed you to those moments where you really wanted to scream? Write them down. One on each line on the left hand side of the page. Now beside it on the right hand side write down what could have avoided this happening. Do you need a store manager or a leadership team? Do you need a regular weekly meeting with your store manager? Do you have a leadership team that can take some of the weight of your shoulders? Are there any tasks you can delegate to your team? Write them down.
Now let’s look at your business. What areas can you improve? There are three I can think of straight away.
- Increase your average transaction value which will increase your turnover immediately.
- Better stock management that will reduce your Cost of Goods.
- Better monitoring of your roster that will increase your productivity and lower of your labour cost.
Just a 1% increase in turnover with a 1 % decrease in both labour and COGS will see your bottom line lift by more than 20%. Now there is a goal to aspire to!
Now that you have dot points of goals to achieve in 2015 get back to your holiday. You have named your goals no need to do anymore work on them just now. That’s what getting back to work is all about when your holiday is finished. Enjoy the break you are having. Happy New Year!
Elizabeth Gillam founder and CEO of Franchisee Success creates High Performance Franchisees. Having owned and operated three franchised food businesses; Boost, Healthy Habits and Bucking Bull; she knows what it takes to operate a profitable food franchise. In her recent book, Upsize your PROFIT – 6 steps to running a profitable food franchise she outlines how franchisees can ACE their franchised business unit.