…BEING PART OF A FRANCHISE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

There is no escaping the fact that the last couple of months have been tumultuous. If you’ve been thinking about setting up your own business, you’ve probably either had to put your plans on hold, or you may have wondered whether running your own business is a good idea at all.

How businesses operate has changed at an incredible rate and they have had to adapt and innovate fast to survive, regardless of how small they are or how limited their resources.

However, if the last few months have taught us anything, it is that at times like these, being part of a family run franchise and support network can make all the difference to both survival and in turn, the growth that follows. Read on to find out how MagiKats has helped its franchise network in five specific ways:

THE ABILITY TO ADAPT FAST

As the lockdown took hold, businesses had to find new ways of delivering their services “virtually”. It’s no secret that for small businesses this was daunting, complex and potentially an expensive challenge. Ideas were needed fast and then materials and equipment needed to be adapted within days, all at a time when income was low if not non-existent and the future was uncertain.

Although we’re an international franchise, we’re also a small, family run business. There is no complex corporate hierarchy at MagiKats. That means we have all the benefits of an experienced team to brainstorm ideas but none of the delay caused by having to get overall approval higher up the corporate chain.

The result of this was that we were able to assess the situation as it unfolded, work out and agree what work needed to be done and implement that work quickly. One member of our team also runs one of our franchises, so we could quickly understand what was needed “on the ground” and what would work.

We also launched a new, online management system last year, which enabled us to physically adapt our tuition materials to a new way of working almost instantly. With some intensive work at MagiKats HQ, we transformed how our franchisees could deliver their services within days, so that they could continue to operate.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER “OPTIONS”

The first change we made was to create materials that would work in a Zoom style workshop setting, whilst still protecting the integrity of those materials (after all, our franchisees don’t want to find our materials all over the internet and accessible for free).

The second change was to adapt our management system to allow parents to log in themselves and print out work for their kids to complete at home – a completely new way of delivering our services!

Being able to give options to parents is important. It means that, in a time when incomes are uncertain, and whole families may be trying to work off one PC, we can offer greater flexibility in how MagiKats works for each family.

ZOOM – IT’S A BIT LIKE MARMITE!

A few months ago, a large percentage of the population had never heard of Zoom. Now, it will forever be an entrenched part of our vocabulary. However, for professional users, most will now know that Zoom is not necessarily as straightforward to use as it first appears. There are potential security and GDPR implications and all sorts of technical features that need to be mastered. There’s also how you deliver something via Zoom: you need to think about lighting, eye contact, backgrounds, management of the participants, etc.

When done well, a Zoom meeting looks seamless, slick and professional, and everyone can hear properly and is engaged. But this does take training and practice and not everyone in business is a techno wizard. Which is where having a team that supports you once again pays dividends: MagiKats were able to provide advice, support and training both on a group basis and individually, to ensure our franchisees were able to access and operate Zoom professionally, as quickly as possible.

COMMUNICATION

When things are changing rapidly, it’s important that everyone is “in the loop”, from the staff at MagiKats HQ, to the franchisees, their staff and, of course, the customers. We use a platform called Workplace which has proved invaluable. It enables us to communicate with our franchisees instantly, notifying them of anything urgent that they need to know. We can also store documents and templates on Workplace, which means our franchisees can download what they need knowing it meets all legal requirements. In addition, we have used Workplace to provide a whole host of additional resources, such as training, materials and support.

This level of support has undoubtedly saved our franchisees hours of work, a significant amount of money as well as providing much needed peace of mind. Add to this the fact that Workplace is a private platform where franchises can openly discuss any issues with others in a similar situation, and you have all the benefits of a supportive community of like-minded people.

AND WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED

We’re not saying that the current situation has been easy. But having a back-up team who have a wealth of resources and experience is proving invaluable to our franchisees. And we won’t rest on our laurels. We know that our franchisees are going to need a high level of support for some time to come, and we’re already working on ways to help our franchisees not just survive but grow as we move on into the next phase of the “new normal”.

COVID-19 has forced us all to take a long hard look at our operations and practices, and it’s our belief that with our support and as a result of the work we’re doing now, our franchisees will come out of 2020, stronger and better than ever before.

If you’d like to know more about our franchise opportunities and the many ways in which we assist and support our franchisees, please get in touch.