Every day, no matter the industry, businesses are looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge. And there is perhaps no industry where adopting, and adapting to the latest technology is as important as in franchising. The brands that invest in what matters: innovation, training, and people, are often the ones that grow. But significant growth requires vision, capital, talent and continuous risk taking.
While other franchising companies might choose to play it safe, Strategic Franchising Systems, Inc won’t. In the past 17 years, Strategic Franchising, fueled by brand developers Gary Green and Dan Murphy, has gone from a single brand with only a U.S. footprint to five separate, national brands with nearly 700 franchises spanning 16 countries. As their operations, support, and marketing personnel and efforts have expanded, so too has their need for a new headquarters.
In Spring of 2019, Strategic will be moving into a new, centralized office. This move consolidates their branding efforts while increasing franchisee support capabilities nationwide. Strategic Franchising President, Chris Seman, states, “Putting the power of all five companies under one roof for the first time, creativity, support synergies, and best practices sharing will drive success.”
With a focus on innovating and investing significant capital into franchisee training and support, odds favor that Strategic will continue to grow rapidly by focusing on what’s best for the success of their franchise partners.
Supporting Franchisee Success
Such significant brand growth over the years didn’t happen by accident or luck, but rather by design. For Strategic, their priority is supporting success. Their professionalized structure, bolstered by a world-class executive team, puts a sense of partnership at the forefront of every decision being made. Brand presidents and departmental leaders have innovative reward and equity programs tied to the success of franchise owners. Franchise owners also have an industry-unique incentive program tied to the growth of their businesses. Success is properly aligned on both sides.
Steve Kwon, Senior Vice President of Franchising, said, “Something we take great pride in is the sense of partnership we aim to provide to every franchisee we work with. For this reason, and to attract franchisees fully committed to growth, we implemented the Winner’s Circle program, where by meeting set revenue goals, our franchisees can earn back their entire franchise fee.”
“… We implemented the Winner’s Circle program, where by meeting set revenue goals, our franchisees can earn back their entire franchise fee.”
The ‘Strategic Start’ Means Hitting the Ground Running
In addition to the Winner’s Circle, Strategic offers their franchisees a dedicated business coach from their affiliated brand, The Growth Coach®. With the “Strategic Start” program, every new franchisee for all five brands out-of-the-gate gets a professional, certified coach to help them have greater success and personal balance. Franchisees also receive in-house, technical support from an Operations Coach to arm them with best-practices for everything from gaining customers, to hiring and managing employees, to scaling for growth.
On the importance of coaching and support, Chris Seman stated, “What caused Strategic Franchising to take off was the adoption of high-impact coaching, aligned incentive programs, and a relentless focus on the success and satisfaction of our franchise owners.”
However, Strategic doesn’t credit their success with support alone, it also comes down to attracting the best candidates possible. While many franchising firms might be willing to sell to anyone with liquid cash, Strategic takes pride in the seriousness with which they conduct their search for the ideal franchisee; which, at the end of the day, is someone simply and fully committed to business ownership and growth.
Quality Trumps Quantity
Steve Kwon has a simple goal: recruit the best franchisees possible. In an industry that often focuses on franchise quantity – not necessarily quality- to aim for the best takes time, technology, and guts. “We know that our success hinges on the success of our franchisees. For this reason, our philosophy since day one has been to find the best possible owners, tailor-fit the best brand to match their strengths and interests, then support them with everything we have.” said Kwon.
Supporting Success is an ideology that permeates every layer of the Strategic Franchising vision… so much so, that one might be misled in thinking that technology and innovation take a back seat when, in fact, they are vital drivers. By moving lead generation in-house, and leveraging capital to invest in tailored targeting, detailed data and analytics, franchise-management platforms, cutting-edge customer relationship services, and a swath of responsive sites, Strategic has made a bold move towards what they call “lead cultivation,” not just lead creation.
Moving forward, Strategic Franchising plans to capitalize on the strides they have already made; by continuing to offer the same world-class coaching, support, and technology that put them on the map, while harnessing the power of all 5 of their brands in a way they never have before.
To find out more, visit www.strategicfranchising.com, or call them directly at 513-605-4888.