I often  get contacted by people who want to buy a franchise or business to be their own boss, take control of their destiny and live the American dream! Well, that's all well and good. But I'd like to take a moment and add a small bit of wisdom from one who has been there and has interacted with lots of people who who have also been there. 

It's a mystery! As a business owner, you just can't figure it out. You have a great location in a high traffic area, and you have a great store with a product or service that you KNOW the people of your community need or would love. However, you just aren't getting people to come through your door. What do you do?

I was thinking about this the other night when I was out with my family. We have an extremely busy intersection near our home, along with a nice shopping area where hundreds (if not thousands) of potential customers drive by every day. As we were looking for a little time to kill, we decided spur-of-the-moment to visit one of the stores that we had passed by every day for over a year, but had never visited before. After we had spent a little time there, we were all impressed with what the store had to offer - and wondered why we had never been enticed into shopping there before. After my spouse and I talked about it for a while (as we always find marketing and why people do the things they do to be of interest), I came up with the following...

1. We didn't recognize the brand: Even though the store was one we passed by every day, we didn't recognize the sign of the store and unfortunately had nothing to pull us into the store. Take for instance "Hobby Lobby" or "Michaels". The logo is instantly recognizable, and when you see the sign - you more than likely know what's inside. True, these are national brands that have a huge amount of marketing dollars behind them in order to build brand recognition But smaller brands who may not have those expansive resources can still work on getting the brand out to the immediate community through flyers, advertising in local papers, advertising at local sporting events, parades, guerrilla marketing  efforts, etc.

2. The exterior of the store was bland: Don't get me wrong, the exterior of this particular store is very nice. But there was nothing to actually communicate to us what was inside the store. No posters or window displays to attract our attention and help us understand what was actually waiting inside. Some local stores that we didn't know anything about prior to visiting, actually were able to get us to walk through the door through a cool window display, a banner on the outside advertising what's inside, or some kind of poster in the window showing more about what to expect inside the store.

3. Awareness of Service or Product Costs: Sometimes as a customer, we've decided not to visit a store because we don't really know how much the services or products may cost. It isn't until we look up a menu (for a restaurant) or find a sale advertisement in a local newspaper that we decide to pay the store a visit. For example, I love coffee shops. However, it wasn't until my local "Dunkin Donuts" sent me a flyer in the mail advertising their drinks that I was suddenly made aware that they were even in the community. And seeing that their drinks were comparable to what I was already spending, I was enticed to give them a try. After their effective marketing and great service, I now go there frequently.

Do you have a store that needs more customers?  Take a look at the exterior from a different viewpoint - use some of the tips above to communicate!  

Shear Madness Franchising franchises Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids salons. We have worked with franchise stores in providing franchisee support (in order to encourage continual growth and business success), and have sometimes seen the unexpected happen! We provide poster designs (to help communicate who we are), do photo shoots so our franchisees always have content to communicate with their potential customers!  We know that most franchise owners may not have opened a business before, having someone who can advise them is a significant advantage of franchise ownership!

Are you interested in learning how YOU can join the Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids family and run your own successful small business? We are one of the fastest growing kids hair salons in the industry today! If you would like to learn more about this franchise opportunity or small business marketing, great marketing strategies, resources for small businesses, franchise success, how to grow your small business or how to become a successful owner of your own kids hair salon franchise business, please click below or call 1-888-98 GONE MAD