Sit Still Kids co-founder Amy Leclerc shares strategies for recruiting top talent, growing organically and building a thriving brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- When you’re growing a new franchise system, it’s critical to have the right people, systems and processes in place before scaling.
- For new and emerging franchisors, organic growth can offer benefits like sustainable expansion, franchisee validation and brand loyalty.
- By defining your purpose, managing expectations with franchisees and offering a strong value proposition, you can map a path to profitability as a franchisor.
As a franchisor, the success of your brand starts and ends with your business model – especially its ability to scale.
So when Amy Leclerc met her future business partner, Nhu Vo, the original founder of Sit Still Kids, in 2017, she knew the brand was ripe for growth. The buzzy independent salon in Portland, Oregon, where both of Leclerc’s children regularly received haircuts, had catered to the city’s youth for over a decade, offering stylish solutions for families in need of kid’s haircare – and attracting the attention of franchise developers with its uniquely scalable business model.
“(Vo) had heard over the years from brokers, from people who wanted to invest in her concept, from people telling her, you should license this, you should franchise it, all the things. (Vo) knew that she was onto something and just needed to surround herself with people who had the wherewithal to take her vision and brand and grow it. And so, it really was just opportunity that brought us together,” Leclerc recalls.
Drawing on her background as the former business development director and vice president of sales and marketing at barre3, a boutique fitness brand, where she also co-owned a workout studio in New York City’s West Village, Leclerc partnered with Vo and two other women to franchise Sit Still Kids in 2020 – launching the kid-centric brand just before the pandemic and scaling it to 28 locations over the next five years, with 45 more territories now in development nationwide.
The Fundamental Elements of a Successful Brand
Despite its importance, having a great business model and offering in-demand services is only the first step for building a successful franchise system.
To make sure a brand thrives, new and emerging franchisors also need to lay a strong foundation for their business early on – a concept Leclerc was deeply familiar with from her previous roles in franchise development.
“I had the fortune of having a background in franchising and sort of learning the ins and outs of franchising on somebody else's watch, which was nice. It kind of gave me the training wheels,” Leclerc says.
For new and emerging franchisors, the following steps can help lay the groundwork for a successful and competitive brand:
- Recruit top talent. In a specialized retail environment like a salon, hiring top-tier service providers can differentiate your brand from competitors.
- Communicate effectively. To ensure consistency across locations, keep your operations manual up-to-date and clearly communicate all systems, standards and processes to franchisees and employees.
- Build customer loyalty. Encourage franchisees to develop relationships with customers and to create repeat customers.
- Promote accountability. As a franchisor, it’s important to hold franchisees accountable to their obligations under their franchise agreement.
By establishing clear systems and standards while building a healthy internal culture based on accountability and communication, new and emerging franchisors can position their brand for future growth while establishing trust and validation with franchisees.
Steps for Organic Franchise Growth
For new and emerging franchisors, adopting the right growth mindset is also critical for scaling a franchise system. As a self-professed “contrarian,” Leclerc says she prefers organic growth to strategies that outsource expansion and water down fees while making up the difference in volume.
“I just won't ever be associated with brands that see that as the path to profitability for them. I believe there are other ways. I would rather my concepts market themselves and take a more organic approach to growth,” Leclerc says.
Pointing to advantages like building franchisee validation and allowing franchisors to address pain points in their business more efficiently, Leclerc says organic growth also gives franchisors the time they need to season, scale and grow their businesses – even under challenging circumstances.
For new and emerging franchisors looking to grow their brands organically, the following steps can be helpful for starting out on the right path.
1. Define your mission and purpose
As a new franchisor, defining your mission, vision and values is critical for making sure your brand is heading the right direction – and that it will stay on course as it matures.
When defining your mission and vision as a franchisor, consider the following:
- Mission and purpose. Why did you start your business? What needs are you filling in the world through your products and services?
- Vision and values. What are your brand’s core values? Where do you want to see your business in one, three or five years?
- Website and brand story. Once your mission and values are clear, build a compelling franchise brand story and sales website to attract good-fit franchisee candidates.
By defining your brand’s mission and purpose, you can attract prospective franchise buyers whose values and goals align with yours. You can also keep your brand on the path to success without losing sight of why you started.
2. Map a clear path to profitability
Although it’s important for new franchisors to take care of the basic steps for franchising a business, it’s also critical to make sure your brand has a clear path to profitability once it’s properly franchised.
To keep your business on the right track, consider the following questions as you scale your brand:
- Can your business model scale?
- Does your franchise operations manual communicate clear systems and processes?
- Do you have a five-year success plan to continue growing as market conditions change?
If the answer is no, take time to develop those elements of your business. By identifying a path to profitability, you can ensure that your brand stays on course even if the market shifts or unanticipated challenges arise in the future.
3. Build trust with transparency
As an emerging franchisor, it’s important to develop positive relationships with franchisees as your brand grows. To build trust and validation, transparency and open communication are key.
When interacting with franchisees and franchisee candidates, consider the following:
- Opportunity profile. Be honest about your franchise offering’s opportunity profile and the benefits your brand offers to franchisees.
- Franchising documents. Make sure your systems, standards and numbers are transparent and accurate in your franchise documents, including your Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and Item 19 financial performance representations.
- Flexibility. Have conversations with franchisees about lessons learned, and be willing to update your systems and processes as pain points are identified.
By staying open, flexible and transparent as a franchisor, you can establish trust with franchisees and gain their validation while your brand scales.
4. Offer a strong value proposition
By offering life-changing opportunities and over-supporting your first several franchisees in their success as business owners, you can build franchisee validation while ensuring excellent customer service – a move that could enable franchisees to scale into new territories in the future as their businesses grow and thrive.
Looking Ahead
As a new or emerging franchisor, focusing on organic growth during your first few years in business can have important advantages and prevent serious missteps that can lead to missed opportunities in the future.
By taking time to build franchisee validation and work through pain points before scaling more rapidly, you can lay a strong foundation for your franchise system while promoting brand loyalty – the benefits of which Leclerc has seen firsthand at Sit Still Kids.
“When I look at the 28 doors open and what we have coming down the pike, quite honestly, this is just the beginning for Sit Still,” Leclerc says.
Frequently Asked Questions About Organic Growth
Strategic organic growth can offer new and emerging franchisors more time to season their brand, perfect their business model, build franchisee validation and work through pain points before scaling more rapidly.
To identify a clear path to profitability, franchisors should create a five-year success plan and ensure their business model is scalable. Developing a franchise operations manual can also help establish systems and processes for continued growth when the market shifts.
Hiring top talent can ensure that a franchise brand’s corporate team, franchisees and employees have the right level of skills and experience. In specialized retail settings, like salons, top talent can also build customer loyalty and differentiate the brand from competitors.
About Sit Still Kids
Sit Still Kids is a kid-focused salon concept that’s revolutionizing the children’s haircare space. Learn more about their franchising opportunities at https://sitstillkids.com/franchise.
