Doron Straus | Corporate Trainer – Business Alliance, Inc.
As a trainer, I always stress the importance of staying informed and continually learning about our industry. By continually learning about the franchise world that we work in, all of us will become more effective as brokers. This knowledge will also come in handy when we speak to our candidates.
I want to present a synopsis of this month’s edition of Franchise Times Magazine. FT magazine is one of my “go-to” reads. FT is one of the many free resources that I review monthly to learn more about our brands and our industry. I always recommend at least one hour a week to review published resources that are available to learn more about our business and the industry that we work in.
This month’s Franchise Times is entitled, “The Top 400 Issue.” When I look at FT Magazine and other published resources, I do so, not only for my professional educational benefit, but also to look for articles that I can send to my dead leads, or “harvest” to send out in the future. Maybe there is an article that speaks well of a brand that a broker is currently working on with a candidate and it may be good to send that article to that candidate as a reinforcement of the process. When I send emails out to current candidates or dead leads, I always do so by adding value to that email communication. This added value is usually in the form of a website that I embed in the email or relevant article that I attach that may hold interest to the recipient of the email. People will open emails if they find value in them and will ignore those that do not offer value. This month’s FT had a lot of interesting information that I thought I would summarize for you.
Here is a synopsis:
- In “FT Undercover,” Ziggi’s Coffee was profiled and had a helpful review concerning customer service and variety of product offerings.
- Chem-Dry illustrated their “Quick-start” program.
- Soccer Stars profiled a pro soccer player who is now the Program Director in NY and Miami.
- Real Estate brand sales decreased due to increases in mortgage rates, however, home-improvement services had a solid 2022 with a 10% increase over the previous year.
- There was an increase in sales of Property Management, Lawn Care and Tree Services brands.
- Superior Fence and Rail was singled out as having the highest growth in the segment in 2022 with a 61% sales increase.
- Cleaning Brands, both B2B and B2C, had a healthy growth in 2022, with City
Wide topping the list.
- Staffing, Security, and IT saw significant sales growth as well, with a call–out to NEXTAFF with a 29% growth. AtWORK, CMIT and TeamLogic IT were also mentioned for their growth in 2022. Express Employment topped the list in Business Services, with PRIDESTAFF showing steady growth.
- Fitness, Hair Care, Education and Wellness all had major gains in 2022, with a shout-out to Hand and Stone Massage, as well as The Lash Lounge.
- Pet care also had significant gains during and after the pandemic as spending on pets continues to increase. Dogtopia and Aussie Pet Mobile received honorable mentions. Aussie Pet Mobile got a new president in 2023 and it is posturing for extensive growth due to the creation of additional corporate positions that will aid in this growth.
- In the Fitness space, StretchLab doubled its sales and its unit count in 2022.
- In the Children’s space, Lightbridge Academy showed a 45% increase in sales coming out of the pandemic.
- Other notables for increases in sales growth include Club Pilates, Precision Door Services, The Lash Lounge and QC Kinetics.
- Other notables in unit growth include City Wide, Club Pilates, PuroClean and QC Kinetics.
- Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids made the list of Top 500 brands this year.
- The Health and Medical categories have seen a dip this past year, although FirstLight Home Care and Senior Helpers were notable for their growth.
I hope that you find this helpful. Remember to review Franchise Times, IFA SmartBrief and the other free resources that are available to you, for your own education and as an added value to your email communications.
