A Team of Three Franchisees Tell Us About Great American Deals
Special offers flood e-mail inboxes daily but they don’t always apply to the consumer. In fact, after getting excited about the offer a subject line is promoting, we come to realize the coupon does not apply to our area.
Who wants a discount for something so far away from home? Plus the coupons are always for big box stores and name brand products.
That is where Great American Deals’ differ from the regular e-mail promotion. The company works within the community and creates deals with small businesses to help the consumer give back locally. This approach helps the customer discover gems within their own town while also supporting local businesses.
These highly localized deals not only help businesses acquire new customers but they also create retention and lifelong business relationships. Franchisees are familiar with the best local businesses and are passionate about the growth and prosperity of their community.
A team of three stay-at-home moms saw Great American Deals as a franchising opportunity that allowed them to give back locally, while also remaining involved parents.
Owners of North County Deals, Jianna King, her sister Jaysie McLinn and partner, Jodi Gallen loved the idea of helping schools and small businesses within their community.
“My dad comes from the franchising world and he and his business partner had been hearing about Great American Deals and approached my sister and I about the opportunity,” explained Jianna.
“We milled around the idea for a while and researched it for a few months trying to think about our community and how it would help small businesses. We thought it would be a good fit for us.”
Located in Northern San Diego, the franchise was purchased in March of this year, with training completed in April. Jianna sees the area as the perfect location for a Great American Deals franchise because it supports local companies by helping strengthen their reputation within a tightknit family-oriented community.
“We live by the coast so we are about ten to fifteen minutes from the ocean. It is very suburban, with lots of families, schools and lots of beach town communities,” explained Jianna.
Jianna graduated from San Diego State University in 2005 and has worked in sales and office management before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She is the mother of two young boys and enjoys volunteering at local schools. This franchise has allowed her to continue volunteering, while also directly contributing to the community.
In fact, North County Deals will donate one dollar for every deal purchased to a local school, organization or charity of the consumer’s choice.
Jaysie graduated from California State University San Marcos and worked in the online operations department for Google Inc. She currently resides in North San Diego County and sees her business as a means to give back locally, while also contributing directly to her own daughter’s school.
Jodi has a background in marketing and has been involved in her children’s school. Being a mother of three, she enjoys using her experience to continue to support schools and small businesses.
After becoming business owners, the three women are currently working on creating a work-life balance.
“To be honest, the business kind of fell into our laps, we all have young children and we weren’t totally ready but when this came across us we couldn’t pass it up and we thought it was perfect,” said Jianna. “We can still pick our kids up from school, be with them and volunteer in the classroom while raising money for those schools and helping small businesses in the area. Like every new business, it takes a lot more than you would ever have initially anticipated. Of course, it is hard to balance any new job while being a mom because that is a full time job in itself.”
After signing the contract with Great American Deals, Jianna, Jaysie and Jodi went to the Beverly Hills office for three days of training.
“It was nine hour days at corporate headquarters and we were exposed to tons of information. We had some people help us with social media, sales and how to approach schools for campaigns and it was really in depth,” recalled Jianna. “Real life experience has taught us more since then.”
There is continuous technical support too which really helps to make things run smoothly.
“We have lots of help with our marketing which is great because we are the face of the brand in our area. We spend lots of time being visible and active at community events which ultimately contributes to our success…” said Jianna.
“It’s also very important to be involved with the school system since they help spread the word about our great hyper local approach to the daily deal industry and, in turn, we offer them the easiest year-round fundraiser ever!”
For those considering a franchise opportunity with Great American Deals, Jianna suggests they be involved within their community and concerned for it’s development.
“Someone needs to be well connected in the community and really passionate. This isn’t a get rich quick kind of business; you really have to have your heart in it,” said Jianna. “It doesn’t come quickly; it happens one e-mail at a time. It’s not something you can expect to happen over night.”
All three women are committed to their community in North San Diego and excited about remaining active mothers within their children’s lives. They also enjoy the gratification of knowing that their efforts are supporting small locally owned businesses along with the school system and that they are delivering great discounts from the best nearby businesses to their neighbors.
“This franchise is not just geared towards moms but people who are passionate about seeing their community grow and really seeing the small businesses around them prosper. It’s about filling in the gap for small businesses. We truly care about the companies we work with and want to see them develop. I think that is the basis of the company,” said Jianna.
“The three of us are having a lot of fun doing this, we found this friendship and business partnership that we really are enjoying and we hope that we can make it successful.”
For more information visit: http://franchising.greatamericandeals.com