How Big Blue Swim School Supports Its Franchise Partners

Since 2009, when five-time national champion swimmer Chris DeJong founded Big Blue Swim School, the fast-growing learn-to-swim brand has made a name for itself in the franchise world by offering unparalleled support for its franchise partners.

Starting before franchise partners even sign with the brand and continuing throughout their careers with Big Blue, the franchise’s corporate team works closely with its owners to make sure each of them is fully equipped to thrive.

The franchisor offers unparalleled support before franchise agreements are even signed.

The Big Blue team hosts at least seven meetings with every owner candidate before the brands’ discovery day, known as Dive-in Day, to discuss everything from the costs of marketing in their area, to expectations for construction, to franchise agreement pricing, to available discounts for multi-unit deals or veterans, and more.

According to Dennis Campbell, Big Blue’s vice president of franchise development, before signing on the dotted line, prospects need to make sure they know the initial investment costs and assumed ramp-up time to break even. Franchise candidates need to know what the internal rate of return (IRR) is on their money and when to expect a payback.

“We walk each prospective franchise partner through the components of the economic model and dig deep into the numbers for Big Blue and compare them to the universe of alternatives,” Campbell said. “Prospects should be focusing on economic stability, looking at our Item 19, and doing their due diligence to evaluate whether the concept is needed in their particular market.”

For Big Blue’s franchise candidates, Dive-in Day represents one of the final steps toward ownership. Candidates have the opportunity to meet the leadership team, ask questions, and envision themselves in the role before signing.

Big Blue’s detailed planning ensures members ahead of a new pool’s opening.

Once a franchise partner signs on with Big Blue, the corporate team works to ensure a successful opening through weekly calls and a customized opening strategy that maps out all necessary action items, from pre-launch to launch and beyond.

“We provide a playbook and all owners have to do is follow it,” said CEO Scott Sanders. “Once franchise owners have their teams hired at the management level, the general manager is able to hire out the team of swim instructors. The playbook also includes channels for hiring, information about compensation wages, specific market competition, and more.”

Big Blue offers an extensive training process, which typically begins six weeks before a new pool opening. The corporate team walks new owners through a comprehensive training process on the brand’s curriculum and methods.

After the core staff is in place, in the weeks leading up to a pool’s opening, Big Blue sends out a master trainer to run free practice lessons with kids in the community, test swim associates, and ensure the pool is ready to accommodate a full roster of students.

Throughout the onboarding process, Big Blue also teaches candidates how to build upon an already complete business plan and in-market development strategy. Big Blue offers an in-depth pre-opening marketing strategy to generate brand buzz and contribute to a healthy number of memberships sold before opening.

The franchisor handles all online and local lead generation for the new pool using the brand’s proprietary New Pool Opening (NPO) system from four months prior to the grand opening through the initial four months of operation, providing limited-time offers to eligible leads to develop the customer pipeline.

“It is essential to have an analytically inclined marketing team that can manage search optimization, social media, organic lead generation, and the internal validation journey,” DeJong said. “Successful marketing should reach customers before they are a customer, with the right message at the right time, and they should know how to turn active customers into promoters of the brand.”

In 2020, Big Blue opened a new store in Johns Creek, Georgia, which exceeded its post-COVID goal of customers and opened at over 125% of its pre-opening enrollment goal in addition to a pool in Centennial, Colorado, that opened in 2021, and which also saw ‘astounding’ pre-sale numbers that far exceeded the original goal. These strong openings are thanks in large part to Big Blue’s pre-opening marketing plan.

The brand provides continued support post-opening that makes a difference.

Big Blue’s support doesn’t stop once the pool opens. A corporate launch team supports franchise partners for their first 12 months of business, and a field support specialist visits quarterly with a strategic marketing plan and to chart metrics.

For ongoing operational support, Big Blue has a designated franchise support team that offers monthly support calls to track business progress, on-site training, and continuing education for licensing compliance, IT support and training, technology development support, and more.

When it comes to servicing families, Big Blue owners also have access to the brand’s member services team, which takes care of all inbound and outbound calls.

“Franchise owners are absolutely trained on the best practices when it comes to consumer services, if they choose to be involved day-to-day,” Sanders said. “We can get them in the water and show them how our swim associates teach lessons and how to make the customer experience as enjoyable as possible. Plus, if customer satisfaction is suffering at a particular store, we can come in to retrain.”

For ongoing marketing, Big Blue encourages owners to take advantage of a fully integrated, 360-degree local marketing playbook. Franchise partners also have access to in-store marketing creative materials including wall murals, progress ribbons and stickers, promotional flyers, and more.

At any point in their tenure with the brand, if a Big Blue franchise owner ever feels uncertain about training or any aspect of business ownership, Sanders says they will have someone on the other side of the phone who will get them back on track and make them feel confident.

“The Big Blue leadership team has an open door policy in general,” Sanders said. “We have a town hall every month with every franchise partner in our system where we discuss new store openings, updates on established stores and more. Franchise owners can also ask questions and reach out afterwards to get more information.”

All of this means franchisees receive consistent support from a corporate team steeped in industry and operational acumen, positioning them for optimum performance in their markets. With expert brand leadership and an exceptional ongoing support infrastructure, Big Blue franchise partners have the chance to join a fast-growing brand on the cusp of becoming the swim school industry’s most promising player.

Multi-unit franchise opportunities are available for qualified candidates looking for their next big opportunity, and veterans can receive a 10 percent discount on the $80,000 franchise fee. The total investment necessary to begin operation of a new Big Blue Swim School is $2,334,223 to $3,641,998 (refer to item 7 in FDD) To learn more or inquire about Big Blue Swim School, visit https://www.bigblueswimschool.com/franchising/.