TOP 5 FRANCHISE CONFERENCE TAKEAWAYS IN 2022
Conference season is winding down as we begin to enter the holiday season. This has been a huge comeback year in franchising. The Transitiv team found a reinvigorating energy surrounding the return of full-fledged conferences, with the welcome sights of new faces, companies, and ideas. There were many different conferences covering a variety of topics, but five key learnings came up consistently. In this blog post, we will discuss these five franchising trends in 2022 and what you need to do to put them to practice!
1. Simply Having Data Isn't Enough
Data has probably been the most talked about subject, in general, this year. Franchisors are realizing more and more how important data is, and it’s something that they need to be paying attention to. However, simply having data is not enough – you also need to be able to understand it. This was a point that was emphasized by several speakers at IFA & FLDC. As franchises gather more and more data, it becomes increasingly important to have the ability to make use of it and understand what it is telling you. This will help you make better decisions about your business and how to drive success. Transitiv is working to tackle this exact problem, with their FIT™ product, which helps franchises make sense of their data, and how well they are tracking towards major KPIs.
2. Customer Experience is Still King
One of the key themes that came up throughout IFA was the importance of customer experience. This has been a longstanding trend in franchising, and it doesn’t look like it will be changing anytime soon. Franchises that focus on delivering an excellent customer experience will continue to be successful, while those that don’t will start to fall behind. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group, “a 5 percent increase in customer retention can lead to an increase in profits of up to 95 percent.” This means that it is more important than ever to focus on delivering a great customer experience. This includes everything from the initial point of contact to the post-purchase experience. Franchisors must ensure that they are providing a consistent experience across all their locations and franchisees
3. Learn to Evaluate Success & Establish Goals
Before moving on to the next year, it's important to take a step back to analyze your franchise performance from the previous year in a meaningful way. It's important to define relevant KPIs, understand how to organize and track your data, and ultimately measure your success against those KPIs. This is key to understanding what is working and what isn’t, and making necessary adjustments for the future.
Every franchisor should have a clear plan for the future of their franchise, including short-term (one year), medium-term (three years), and long-term (five years) goals. This is important not only to develop a vision that dictates your overarching business strategy, but also allows you to define your ideal future franchisee based on the future of your brand, and thus plan franchise development according to that vision. This will allow you to quickly vet candidates that are good fits for your brand now and in the future. See more on creating clear business goals.
4. Your Story is Your Most Critical Weapon
As a franchisor, your story is heavily influential in attracting franchisee candidates, as well as customers. Compelling stories are so powerful, they can activate neural networks in our brains that promote memory, and release oxytocin, which promotes trust and bonding. According to Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University, the amount of oxytocin released by the brain can even predict whether people will be willing to donate money to a cause associated with a story. The franchisor’s story should be the foundation of all its marketing and recruitment efforts – it is what will make you stand out from the competition and attract high-quality franchisees. To craft a powerful story, your franchise should use messaging that is:
I. Compelling
II. Relatable
II. Outcome-Focused
This means the story should be compelling by capturing attention through conflict or tension, be relatable, and provide an outcome, solution, or answer for the audience in a novel way. Consider some examples of great business storytelling.
Via Tide.co - different topics to begin brainstorming business story elements
5. Develop & Maintain Customer Feedback Loops
It's crucial to define ideal customers and franchisees to provide constructive product/service feedback for your franchise. It's extremely important to distinguish between customer & franchisee feedback, as they serve different end goals. This is a mistake many franchises make, and particular care should be taken here. Use feedback to iterate upon products & services continually, in a "loop", to answer questions such as:
What should you offer?
How should you price?
What is most valuable to the end customers you’re selling to?
source: hubspot.com
There were so many different topics discussed this year, it was difficult to narrow our list to just 5 key trends. Did we miss some big ones that you felt were consistent? Please let us know in the comments!
