Following our last article introducing this series we are continuing to look at business types that commonly franchise and how modernisation of processes and accounting can make the competitive difference.
The new processes revolving around ‘cloud’ technology allow for mobility and less overheads in the back office as well as excellent benchmarking across the franchise which in turn helps each franchise to prosper. Gen Y adapt to this quickly and easily and wouldn’t dream of having admin staff in an office costing them profits. So many franchises fold due to bad cash management and lack of financial planning which is inexcusable with up to the minute current reporting and accounting processes available today.
In this example let’s look at property management. Most Real Estate Agents or Property Management businesses start as a family business. These days the business is rarely a start up from scratch but usually bought as part of a franchise with listings available and a rent roll. It is rumoured that the value of any good real estate is in its rent roll and, of course, in property management this is where the income will generate.
As the business grows the multi-tasking becomes disorganized and efficiencies are compromised. Property Management is multi-faceted requiring expertise and time spent in many different areas. Traditional basics include skills in marketing, sales, property management linked with reliable and quality tradies and excellent customer relations plus a good accounting system to back it all up and manage the income and outgoings, marketing returns, trusts and more. In 2016 there are still businesses struggling to manage the entire portfolio effectively.
The requirements haven’t changed but the methods of smoothly running the business have. Today’s modern techniques leave owners enough time to do the important customer relations, networking and sales. The traditional businesses now must embrace modern techniques or they may have to stand aside for the new generations moving into the same space. A Gen Y team will set up such a business with cloud accounting linking to cloud based property management and sales tools, as well as marketing tools, video and social media, sometimes without an office all run from the road. Quick, efficient and extremely effective. If a shop front is required to boost the marketing, then desk space is minimal with shared workstations where the sales/management staff can pop in and plug in any device from i-pads to laptops.
The true value of working smarter, not harder is now essential. The fast growth of ad ons to cloud accounting packages is proving that these organisational and management structured systems are affordable for the smallest of offices and being adopted by start ups and family businesses as well as the larger more established groups.
Of course, marketing plays a huge role in the success of property management and a small thumbnail in the local paper advertising a property is no longer the go. As Dave Skow from successful, Wagga Property Management states “what a waste of money and effort? With every man and his dog now owning a smartphone and being able to access the internet 24/7, no prospective tenants are rushing out of bed to buy the Saturday paper to find their new rental property.” Wagga Property Management is a success story. One of the rare property management businesses that started with 0 clients and built the business to a rent roll of 400 properties in its first 2 years. Dave’s success is not only attributed to his networking and management expertise but also to the early adoption of cloud based systems and modern marketing techniques using video and Facebook to market his client’s properties. “I am able to spend time focusing on providing exemplary services to our clients and not shying away from asking for their referrals. We have opened the door to warm leads flooding in and can cope with this as our processes are all in place and running smoothly,” comments Dave.
The real estate franchises success is unbelievably mixed. Consistency is rare. As with the trades it is important that franchisors bring some kind of business continuity into the management mix. There are still companies using card index systems to track potential sales and tenants and stressed mums and dads trying to be experts in each facet required to be successful in the business. Technology and outsourcing can take away the pain and those franchisors that are focusing on business training, software and modernising the franchisee will be those that win this race.
In our next chapter of this series we will look into the hospitality industry, coffee shops and restaurants.
