How Jeff Glattly Worked With His Wild Birds Unlimited Business Coach Allison Fraser to Create Success Throughout 2020

While the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for businesses across every industry, Wild Birds Unlimited franchisee Jeff Glattly has been able to keep his sales growing thanks to his hard work and the robust support infrastructure of the franchisor. A large part of that support comes from his business coach, Allison Fraser, who has worked closely with Glattly throughout the pandemic.

“I was in the oil and gas energy industry prior to franchising with Wild Birds Unlimited, traveling all over the world as a director of sales and marketing,” said Glattly. “About a decade ago, it started to become clear that the industry was facing a downturn, and I knew I may be in for a transition. One day, I was sitting on a flight from Florida and started talking to a couple who were coming back from a Wild Birds Unlimited sales training program. I didn’t know anything about the franchise, but we started talking about the brand and how great of an opportunity it offered. Sure enough, when I eventually got laid off, I recalled that conversation and started doing my due diligence. After meeting the team and discussing the opportunity more, I officially joined the brand in 2017.”

During the first year of ownership, Glattly notes that he faced many challenges in his market of Pearland, Texas, including Hurricane Harvey. Still, he was able to build a loyal customer base and create brand recognition in the area. Over the first year of ownership, he notes that the Wild Birds Unlimited team was extremely supportive, and he worked with a new owner coach before transitioning to working with Fraser in April of 2018.

“From the very beginning, Jeff had established himself as an expert in the community and was super active in educating customers, creating bird habitats, promoting the store on social media and more,” Fraser said. “He was also an early adopter of e-commerce sales and has been very consistent in marketing. When COVID-19 hit earlier this year, Jeff had the infrastructure and business acumen to stay successful.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Glattly has made sure to create an environment in which customers feel safe. “When the Houston area started to shut down, we were fortunate in that we were deemed an essential business and were able to stay open,” he said. “More importantly, we had established a very strong e-commerce presence through MyWBU and were able to emphasize that revenue stream through aggressive marketing in the area. Those sky-rocketing e-commerce sales are a testament to the fact that many businesses had employees work from home, which meant people were sitting at their desk and doing more online shopping while looking at the birds in the trees in their backyard.”

Glattly’s business is up at least 40% year-to-date, and he notes that he would not have been able to achieve that success without the support of Fraser and the Wild Birds Unlimited team. “Brick and mortar is already a challenging uphill battle, and it is so important to understand the retail model and merchandise mix of a store,” said Glattly. “That is where Allison comes in — she has a vast amount of retail experience and can provide that expertise to store owners so they can focus on what works and what is important. Having a coach and looking at that business model is super helpful and lets you maximize your sales effort going forward. We are very fortunate as store owners to have these kinds of business coaches.”

Fraser explains that she oversees coaching for all seven stores in the Houston market and sends out monthly sales reports so owners can gauge how they are doing and plan accordingly. In addition, franchise owners are encouraged to call with any questions that come up.

Looking ahead, Glattly has no plans to slow down. In fact he recently signed a new franchise agreement to expand into the nearby market of Clear Lake. “My original intent when joining this franchise was always to open multiple stores,” he said. “Having this new store in Clear Lake will enable me to capture additional customers and create a collaborating marketing strategy that benefits both stores.”

Overall, Glattly says that he feels honored and blessed to be able to provide some joy and happiness for families and individuals during this time. “We are not designed to be quarantined like this — people need that social interaction, and giving individuals the opportunity to look out the window and see beautiful birds is a rare and valuable chance to spread joy during this challenging time,” he said. “There have been so many customers who have come in and thanked me for providing this service and helping them cope with that solitude, uncertainty and isolation. It has been such a great opportunity, and I am excited to continue growing with the brand.”

Wild Birds Unlimited is the original and largest franchise system of backyard bird feeding and nature specialty stores with more than 300 locations throughout the United States and Canada. The investment level to open a Wild Birds Unlimited location is $170,382 to $281,606. To learn about franchising opportunities with Wild Birds Unlimited, please visit https://franchise.wbu.com.