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Franchisees Kicking Ass: The Franchisee is King

The Great Franchisee: Michelle Davison, 360° Painting, Texas

The 23-year American Red Cross worker served during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Now, she’s launching a new career with the fast-growing painting franchise.

Michelle Davison has witnessed tragedy at an unimaginable scale as a first responder for the American Red Cross. In that career, she responded to two of the worst hurricanes in American history: Katrina and Rita. Now, Davison is starting a new career as a business owner, launching a 360° Painting* franchise in Tyler, Texas. Davison says she intends to bring a fresh perspective and quality paint jobs to families and businesses citywide.

What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?

DAVISON: Do your research and get all your ducks in a row before you make the move, but do take the leap! Then, if you’ve done the footwork, and you’ve vetted the organization and you know what you're getting into, believe in yourself that you can do it. Realize that you’re not going to start making money right off the bat. You have to be able to withstand the startup costs and they can be costly.

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Yo, Broker Sell My Franchise

The Decor Group Celebrates Year of Record Sales, Eyes 35 New Franchisees For 2022

The festive franchise composed of four brands — Christmas Decor* Inc., NiteTime Decor, Barcana, and PermaLites365 — closed 14 franchise deals this year and is looking to more than double that in 2022.

The Decor Group, the international leader in holiday decorating and landscape lighting, hit record sales in 2021 and is planning for 35 new units in 2022. With locations in more than 300 communities, the brand is seeing strong, year-round growth from those in search of cheer, festivity and beautiful spaces all year long.

Brandon Stephens, president of The Decor Group, explained that there has been a “big shift in the green industry,” such as landscaping, irrigation, tree care and pest control, in which people are now seeking to not only create festive times at Christmas, but also memorable, comfortable and beautiful experiences even during the off-season.

With this near-constant demand, franchisees of Christmas Decor no longer have to wait until the holiday season to see a steady stream of income. Franchisees may find opportunities in their communities to diversify the revenue stream year-round through NiteTime Decor (the world’s leading provider of low-voltage landscape lighting products), PermaLites and DecorSmart. In fact, Franchisees who offer NiteTime Decor’s services see, on average, a 25%–30% increase to their seasonal sales.

"We offer a year-round specialty revenue option,” said Decor Group President Brandon Stephens. “We can keep 3 people busy year round with our landscape lighting and holiday-decor services."

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The Bottom Thoughts

Being a franchise supplier can be amazing and extremely rewarding – once you gain momentum. Thus, many try desperately to break in, have impact and spark growth – leveraging proof of concept for one franchisor to add others.

Yet, many fail.

Why?

Franchise suppliers can also be the new shiny object for franchisors.

SupplierX states anything impactful on lead generation and every franchisor jumps on the opportunity to try the new shiny tactic, yes, quiet too often, that shiny new supplier fizzles out, unable to sustain the fancy magic they sell.

So, how do you win as a franchise supplier?

1. Be sustainable.
2. Be truthful with expectations.
3. Leverage your franchise success stories – and let them sing your praises.
4. Don’t waste money on booths – invest money in networking and dinners.
5. Make sure you have a clear why you/why now in your positioning (web and marketing).

Sounds easy, right? Yet, few thrive.

Yes, there are politics of the industry, and yes, the industry is small, but neither politics nor size of industry prevents you from executing on those five points.

The secret to being a successful supplier can be found in this week’s video.