Emerging Franchisors to Watch: Best in Class Education Center

Founded in 1995 by Hao and Lisa Lam with the belief that education is a gift of a lifetime, Best in Class Education Center continuously grows and is topping off one of their best years to date. In quarter one alone, Best in Class has seven grand openings scheduled, three more are coming in the next month. Part of this rapid growth is thanks to the diligent recruiting, training and continuous support from the franchisor.

“When I joined this incredible team about four years ago, I could immediately tell the passion everyone had for education,” stated Sharon Peterson, VP of Franchise Recruitment & Development for Best in Class Education Center. “While they had a great start with almost 20 locations, there was a lot of infrastructure needed to help create a robust franchise system, which Hao and the rest of the team fully supported.”

Peterson brought many years of franchise sales and operations with her when she joined the team. Previously, she worked for a company who just started franchising and helped grow the business from 30 locations to almost 300 in just two years. While successful there, she, like many other Best in Class employees, always had a passion for education and wanted to incorporate that into her life.

“We knew we wanted to grow but in the right way, to ensure successful longevity,” mentioned Peterson. “Understanding where the educational business was headed was also key to our success. We needed to educate our potential, and current, franchisees about our proprietary software and innovative curriculum that makes our business stand out from competitors.”

To achieve this goal, Best in Class incorporated discovery days into its research process for potential franchisees, along with building more marketing initiatives and tapping into organic leads. By creating these initiatives over the past four years, the sales of Best in Class have significantly increased. However, as Peterson stated initially, it was important to grow in the right way.

“One thing we learned over the years was to be selective when bringing in franchisees,” notes Peterson. “And as equally as important, to make sure we have a strong corporate team to assist all the new franchisees.”

When interviewing potential franchisees, Peterson notes that the first question she always asks is why a candidate is considering the education industry. Having that passion to help others is what makes the difference between a good franchisee and a great franchisee. Best in Class franchisees aren’t what the industry would claim to be ‘passive owners’; the franchisees are working in the center every day. Whether that be helping out teaching or making sure Best in Class provides great service in their community. While many franchisees do have a passion for education, Peterson notes that many come from a corporate business background.

“In addition to their drive to help their community, almost all of our franchisees also want to be successful business owners,” said Peterson. “60 percent of our franchisees are multi-unit franchisees, which is something our competing brands don’t allow.”

As Best in Class Education Center realized their growth potential both with new franchisees and with multi-unit owners, growing internally to support these franchisees was necessary.

“In January of 2018, we opened six new locations, which meant we needed enough support internally to ensure that the grand openings went smooth and initially opening support is continuously available,” mentioned Peterson. “Luckily we added an experienced VP of Strategic Development and two amazing people to our franchise support team. These additions help ensure consistency throughout our system and assistance with any issues. We always tell our franchisees that no matter what might happen to you, someone at our corporate office has dealt with it before and can help.”  

Having a robust franchise development and support team, Best in Class Education Center is excited for the growth 2018 will bring. They recently signed their first franchisees in the state of North Carolina and are highly anticipating growth throughout Texas, California, New York, New Jersey and Georgia.