With competition from other franchisers heating up, many owners are trying to find ways to make their franchise business stand out and win customers. This means they are willing to explore ideas that could help them create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that will allow them to compete against their more established brethren.
Some franchise owners are providing some valuable insights on how to go about this in the most efficient way.
Offer a Unique Concept
A product or service must possess a characteristic that will set it apart. For instance, Burger King was successful while so many others failed because they positioned themselves in a way in which McDonald's could not respond competitively.
Years later, Wendy's was also able to take a portion of the market with their slogan: "We Don't Cut Corners by Making Square Burgers." While McDonald's and Burger King were slugging it out, trying to capture the hearts and stomachs of the nation's children with Happy Meals and cartoon characters, Wendy's was hiring an octogenarian spokesperson and touting their freshly ground "old-fashioned hamburgers" and asking "Where's the beef?" — targeting a different customer from the Big Two.
Steak MD in the Philippines made a bold move by allowing customers to personally choose the flavors of their steak. Consumers can easily satisfy their cravings on whether they want hot and spicy, sweet or garlicky.
Finding a Small Pond
An eager-beaver business owner may attempt to analyze the thousands of franchisors in the marketplace. This is not advisable and practical since every buyer's universe is different. No franchise buyer should try to analyze the impossible.
Mark Siebert of Entrepreneurs.Com explained that some will start by choosing a specific industry segment in which they are interested. Perhaps they have always wanted to own a restaurant. Maybe they want to buy a franchise that capitalizes on their particular set of skills or experience. They may narrow the list based on how they examine the marketplace--whether through the use of brokers, trade shows or franchise directories. Or perhaps they'll use the more encompassing--and more readily searchable--internet to help them to narrow their search.
Some will be interested only in established franchisors, while others will be looking to get in on the "ground floor" of a franchise poised for explosive growth. Many will eliminate franchisors quickly based on size of investment and their available capital. In short, every buyer's process — and his or her franchise universe — will be both different and smaller than the universe of all available franchise concepts.
Also a part of this process can be intuitive — a chiropractic practice will certainly want to focus on chiropractors — but even that knowledge will not get to buyer motivation. More often, the only way to really obtain this understanding is research — talking to either your own franchisees or the franchisees of the closest competitors.
Best at Something
One of the characteristics that can set franchises apart from the rest is in the area of specialization. For those who were fortunate enough to be the first into a new industry or has established an industry niche, the most dominant position that they would tend to seek is that of market leader within that segment. To achieve that status, the business owner will try to grow their company rapidly enough to achieve brand recognition from consumers.
For those who are lagging behind in the field, they will have to slug it out and be recognized as best at something. To paraphrase from retail consulting firm McMillan|Doolittle's groundbreaking study on successful strategy, one must be the "best" at something — either the biggest (most assortment), cheapest, fastest, easiest (best service) or hottest (fashion). McMillan|Doolittle goes on to point out that a company can perhaps try to be two of these things at once, but companies that try to be "all things to all people" find quickly they will only succeed at being mediocre at everything — a guarantee of long-term failure.
However, it is not always the concept itself that one can excel although it is the best place to start. A business owner may also want to consider differentiating their products or services in terms of size of the initial investment, target market (either at the franchisee or consumer level), target geography, quality of services provided to franchisees and even franchise structure. Another cautionary note: For those with an undifferentiated concept, being the "cheapest" is often a road pitted with disaster. Those taking this route should focus on minimizing the franchisee's investment, and generally not on minimizing the royalty structure.
Regardless of where this differentiation occurs, Siebert suggests that it is imperative that the business or franchise owners should try to "stake out" the areas where they want to excel, develop a USP around those areas and acknowledge the areas in which they will allow their competitors to play unabated.
Some franchise owners are providing some valuable insights on how to go about this in the most efficient way.
Offer a Unique Concept
A product or service must possess a characteristic that will set it apart. For instance, Burger King was successful while so many others failed because they positioned themselves in a way in which McDonald's could not respond competitively.
Years later, Wendy's was also able to take a portion of the market with their slogan: "We Don't Cut Corners by Making Square Burgers." While McDonald's and Burger King were slugging it out, trying to capture the hearts and stomachs of the nation's children with Happy Meals and cartoon characters, Wendy's was hiring an octogenarian spokesperson and touting their freshly ground "old-fashioned hamburgers" and asking "Where's the beef?" — targeting a different customer from the Big Two.
Steak MD in the Philippines made a bold move by allowing customers to personally choose the flavors of their steak. Consumers can easily satisfy their cravings on whether they want hot and spicy, sweet or garlicky.
Finding a Small Pond
An eager-beaver business owner may attempt to analyze the thousands of franchisors in the marketplace. This is not advisable and practical since every buyer's universe is different. No franchise buyer should try to analyze the impossible.
Mark Siebert of Entrepreneurs.Com explained that some will start by choosing a specific industry segment in which they are interested. Perhaps they have always wanted to own a restaurant. Maybe they want to buy a franchise that capitalizes on their particular set of skills or experience. They may narrow the list based on how they examine the marketplace--whether through the use of brokers, trade shows or franchise directories. Or perhaps they'll use the more encompassing--and more readily searchable--internet to help them to narrow their search.
Some will be interested only in established franchisors, while others will be looking to get in on the "ground floor" of a franchise poised for explosive growth. Many will eliminate franchisors quickly based on size of investment and their available capital. In short, every buyer's process — and his or her franchise universe — will be both different and smaller than the universe of all available franchise concepts.
Also a part of this process can be intuitive — a chiropractic practice will certainly want to focus on chiropractors — but even that knowledge will not get to buyer motivation. More often, the only way to really obtain this understanding is research — talking to either your own franchisees or the franchisees of the closest competitors.
Best at Something
One of the characteristics that can set franchises apart from the rest is in the area of specialization. For those who were fortunate enough to be the first into a new industry or has established an industry niche, the most dominant position that they would tend to seek is that of market leader within that segment. To achieve that status, the business owner will try to grow their company rapidly enough to achieve brand recognition from consumers.
For those who are lagging behind in the field, they will have to slug it out and be recognized as best at something. To paraphrase from retail consulting firm McMillan|Doolittle's groundbreaking study on successful strategy, one must be the "best" at something — either the biggest (most assortment), cheapest, fastest, easiest (best service) or hottest (fashion). McMillan|Doolittle goes on to point out that a company can perhaps try to be two of these things at once, but companies that try to be "all things to all people" find quickly they will only succeed at being mediocre at everything — a guarantee of long-term failure.
However, it is not always the concept itself that one can excel although it is the best place to start. A business owner may also want to consider differentiating their products or services in terms of size of the initial investment, target market (either at the franchisee or consumer level), target geography, quality of services provided to franchisees and even franchise structure. Another cautionary note: For those with an undifferentiated concept, being the "cheapest" is often a road pitted with disaster. Those taking this route should focus on minimizing the franchisee's investment, and generally not on minimizing the royalty structure.
Regardless of where this differentiation occurs, Siebert suggests that it is imperative that the business or franchise owners should try to "stake out" the areas where they want to excel, develop a USP around those areas and acknowledge the areas in which they will allow their competitors to play unabated.
I believe network marketing falls within these guidelines as well. If one is going to brand himself/herself quickly, they have to have a unique approach. They have to be the first to come up with something catchy that will impel others to their site for a closer look. If you can't get them inside, whether store front or networking, you haven't accomplished your goal. Thanks for the post!
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Eddie Garcia