Winter is over in many of the 26 states that Spring-Green Lawn Care does business in and it is hard to believe that I am looking at production reports (work being done) while gazing out the window at snow covered frozen turf here in Plainfield, Illinois. It has been eight years now and you think I would have adapted. Maybe we should just move our corporate offices south.
The Spring-Green support center is at its busiest fall through spring. This year, over 50% of our franchise system visited the support center for a day and a half of business and marketing planning. This level of activity in a few short months may seem unmanageable to most and at times does to us but I cannot emphasis the significance of the opportunity to have our strategic partners connect with our entire staff. It is impossible to replicate that level of communication in the field and much of our field work done by our business consultants in season has to do with more short term day to day issues. The day and a half at the support center is all about the future, setting a road map for this year and for the next three years. Here is typical agenda.
Business Planning Day 1
Team breakfast – with franchise owners
Marketing Discussion – A-Z Acquisition, Additional Services, marketing tool review, campaign setup, direct mail, call center review, renewals, web site review, web leads, SEO, PPC, Groupon, Living Social, home shows other non-traditional marketing, loyalty & retention, customer surveys, net promoter scores and database maintenance and integrity
One on One lunch - with executive team member
Business Planning- operations analysis, revenue, sales & cancels, expenses, materials and labor, production breakdown, weekly performance comparison, review marketing playbook, past years performance, price chart, competitive shopping, online learning center course completion
Dinner - with business consultant and other team members
Business Planning Day 2
Business Planning – 2012 business plan review, 3 year business plan review, executive business review, long term strategic planning, long term goal setting, exit planning, acquisition, resale discussions as appropriate, equipment review, shop discussions as appropriate
Lunch - Support Center Staff, Equipment
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