Perhaps one of the most common terms to be churned out as a result of the pandemic is “the new normal”. And whilst it might not be clear what that means exactly, it’s something a lot of businesses will have to consider carefully going forward. What it will highlight, however, is which brands can effectively adapt to support their franchise network in times of challenge.
It goes without saying that most franchisees invest in a franchise due to the level of support, guidance and reassurance they receive that allows their own businesses to thrive. When something happens to disrupt normality, attention quickly turns to the franchisor and how they are readying themselves to respond.
At Tutor Doctor, we saw an increase in demand of 120% for our online tutoring services within a week of the lockdown across all our international markets including the UK. Business strategies had to take a different direction, almost overnight, and it was this quick response from many franchise brands that allowed business for franchisees to continue in one form or another, wherever possible.
How Tutor Doctor reacted
Franchisees were actively supported to share the benefits of online tuition with customers. The majority of them appreciated that their children could still access support to maintain learning and keep them up to speed with their education. Tutor Doctor’s Home Office then turned their efforts to providing a range of resources, including:
- Educational material for customers: not just for those that continued with their child’s tuition, but for those that put services on hold
- Guidance on local marketing: with messages having to take a slightly different angle, franchisees were given approved documents for appropriate communication such as FAQs for both customers and tutors
- Virtual meetings: the global network, including support staff and franchisees, came together online to maintain relationships and offer an open forum to share solutions
- Ongoing social media content: centrally scheduled social media content for franchisees, allowing them to focus on delivering for their customers.
How franchisees can recover
and grow
As lockdown eases and the new normal way of life resumes, we’ll see a shift towards some people preferring to continue to operate in virtual environments. Many businesses will be affected by this shift, not least by having to adopt these new ways of working with their customers on a more permanent basis. Whilst at Tutor Doctor we still believe in the power of face-to-face interaction, our franchisees are given the freedom to work with their customers in a way they see as most beneficial. For other franchise brands, aspects of virtual delivery will differ slightly due to various nuances in their businesses, but many of the principles will remain the same. Franchisees should:
- Embrace the digital world: more and more people will have seen how accessible services can be, even at such a critical time, and will look at how to implement more contactless, virtual elements in their everyday lives
- Use the opportunity to attract more clients: as individuals are willing to take advantage of a digital environment, franchisees can use this to bolster their sales and marketing to really boost growth
- Continue to build relationships with loyal customers: these are the people who stuck with you through the lockdown – make sure you recognise and reward them
- Be supportive to those who took a step back: as lockdown eases, customers who had to cut expenses should be your first port of call – what can you offer to entice them back?
The future seems strange, and your vision might be a little blurry on how the next six months will pan out, but a franchisor’s leadership and ability to adapt will allow their franchise network to flourish for years to come. Until the “new normal” becomes just plain normal, it’s worth aligning yourself with people and brands who don’t just react to challenges but respond effectively.
This article comes courtesy of Tutor Doctor, the world’s fastest growing in-home tutoring franchise. Since launching in the UK in 2009, the brand has welcomed over 80 franchisees to its UK network
