How to Scale Your Service Franchise Business

Starting a service franchise can be an exciting venture, but passionate and ambitious entrepreneurs always seem to want more. As driven franchisees, the logical next step may be to seek out ways to bring their business to new heights. But how exactly do you go about scaling your service franchise?  

While there are a number of ways you can potentially scale your franchise, we first recommend drafting up a detailed roadmap for growth. This roadmap should outline the steps you intend to take to expand while keeping you on track to ensure you’re hitting your growth goals and milestones.  

Master the Business Model

The first step you should take in the path to scale your franchise is to master the business model. You need to have a complete understanding of everything involved with the business, from the day-to-day operations to management to the finances. By mastering the model, you will be more likely to find new ways to optimize your operations to become more efficient and potentially allow you to earn more revenue and help accelerate your growth.

Don Yurick is the owner of a Hammer and Nails Grooming for Guys franchise in Westport, Connecticut. Yurick previously worked in the tech industry and had zero franchising experience before he became a franchisee. Despite being brand new to the industry, he has already learned that if entrepreneurs want to be able to grow their businesses, then their success is also defined by the quality of the franchisor’s model.

“I believe the quality of the franchisor’s model, the experience of the corporate team and the support they provide make all of the difference in the world,” said Yurick.

Standardize Procedures

When it comes to scaling a business, it’s also important to document and standardize all of your operational processes. This will foster consistency throughout employee onboarding, training and scheduling, and ensure a uniform company culture and high-quality service. This efficiency not only enhances customer loyalty but also streamlines the replication of processes and ultimately will facilitate scalability.

Although Yurick is adhering to his franchisor’s procedures and processes, he approached scaling his business by using the same principles used in Silicon Valley.

“I’ve applied proven digital world frameworks, thinking and core values to first establish our foundation, and then rapidly scale memberships and revenue,” he said.

As a result, Yurick’s location has maintained more than 90% month-over-month retention and satisfaction, as well as outstanding customer experience, with more than 300 five-star Google reviews in his first nine months of operation.

“It’s a rewarding and humbling experience at the same time,” said Yurick.

Expand Marketing Efforts

Expanding your local marketing efforts is another crucial component of scaling a franchise. By establishing a robust local presence, through collaborations, sponsorships, social media and local search engine optimization, franchisees can increase their brand visibility and customer loyalty.

Marketing is vital to the success of a franchise and can also lead a brand to reach an entirely new audience that it may have not considered before. As such, the utilization of digital marketing and localized marketing efforts should never be overlooked when scaling a franchise. Placing a heavy emphasis on improving your marketing tactics can help your current location thrive while also providing a solid platform to potentially add new franchise units later down the line.

Add More Locations

Although it may mean more work and stress, adding additional locations can be another way to help scale your franchise. However, this decision should not be taken lightly. While adding new locations could introduce your business to new audiences and help you earn more, therefore helping your franchise expand, it requires meticulous planning. This decision would require you to conduct thorough market research, financial planning and location-specific marketing — all of which is no small investment.

On the other hand, if you do decide to pursue this path as a means to scale your franchise, it can be quite lucrative and provide you with the potential for increased revenue and brand recognition.  

Have a Strategic Plan

As mentioned at the start of this article, having a well-defined strategic plan is the linchpin of franchise scaling. It’s the roadmap that guides every aspect of expansion and growth, from adding new locations to leveraging technology and marketing efforts. By breaking down long-term goals into manageable milestones and continuously evaluating progress, franchisees can be well on their way to ensuring that their growth efforts remain focused and ultimately successful.