W300 – Period
Questions asked to the business owners
- Where do you see your business in the next one year?
- Where do you see your business in the next five years?
- Do you run the business solely?
- Do you trust the people you delegate duties to?
- What was the legal procedure required to start this business?
- How many hours per week do you spend with your family away from work?
- Do you make enough to cover all the expenses and have enough profit?
- How often do you conduct reviews of our income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statements, budget and other key financial indicators?
- Do you have experts who check your accounts?
- Who are your customers?
- Are your customers pleased with what you offer?
- Do they find your customer service welcoming?
- Do you have regular customers?
- In what ways have you advertised your business?
- Have you adopted internet as a means of advertising?
- Would you like to expand your customer base?
- How do you ensure to maintain quality service?
- Would you like to launch some new products in your already existing business?
- Who inspires you in managing your business excellently?
- Do you have any other leaders who help you in managing your business?
- How many employees do you have?
- Did you have a business plan before starting the business?
- Have you ever revised the business plan?
- Is that number enough or do you need more?
- How do you hire your employees?
- Have you kept any documents on the organization of your business?
- In case you are not there, do you think your business would still run successfully?
- How do your family members participate in your business?
- Are you aware of your competitors and the strategies they employ?
- What strategies do you employ to fight off competition?
- How did you find the location?
- How did you come up with the business name?
- Can you remember the other names you ruled out?
- How secure is your business location?
- Is your business strategically positioned?
- Do you have any other business similar to this one in another location?
- How much was your starting capital for starting the business?
- What inspired you to start this business?
- How did you get the startup capital?
- After how long did your business peak?
- Have you cleared all the loans, if any, that you acquired to start the business?
- How long has it been since the inception of the business?
- How does the government support your business?
- If you had unlimited capital would you do anything different about your business
Three suggestions for business improvements
Pizza Hut
The franchisee should get to know the customers and get them to share their views about the business. With increasing competition, the pizza hut is slowly losing its customer base. This is mostly because of shift in tastes and preferences and availability of better organic pizzas in the market. Pizza hut should get the customers talking and sharing views about the pizzas sold and services given. Since customers are the employers of the entrepreneur, pizza hut should pay special attention to the customers ever evolving need and preferences. To know what the customers want, the business can carry out surveys and get in touch with how they feel about the services and the quality of the product on offer. Although successful, they should be vigorous in surveys and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Pizza hut should help the customers spend their money in their store. Due to the popularity of pizza hut pizzas, they are guaranteed to serve large numbers of people daily. In cases where there are a large number of customers queuing, they should get more cashiers or delegate the job to other people. This move will ensure that the impatient ones do not go to other stores for the same product. This is a sure way of ensuring you maintain and increase the business sales in the long run. Always recommend what pizza the customer should take and ensure it is not a nightmare in choosing the best one. In addition, they should not restrict the methods of payment the customers use. It is important to add other methods of payment depending on the demographics of the customers. For instance, one can add the MasterCard as a mode of payment in order to accommodate more clients. This way the franchise encourages the customers to spend.
The great success pizza hut has had was based on customer satisfaction by ensuring they always get what they want. Always target to solve the problems with ideas that increase your sales while retaining and expanding your customer base. Many complaints have surfaced that pizza hut quality is deteriorating and they should try to improve and offer the customers better pizzas and service. Do not at any cost lose your client. Do not sell stale pizzas to client.
Big Gay Ice Cream
With the high numbers of ice cream businesses, it is important for Big Gay ice cream to ensure uniqueness in the delivery of services. They should ensure that they do not offer what the competitor is offering. Ensure that the product is better than what the competitor is offering. Always give a variety for the customers to choose. Uniqueness will always attract more customers than you can imagine. Bryan and Quint should always aim to bring revolution the business with change. People always want change, and they will embrace whatever is different.
Embrace the customers and give them an experience they will want daily. When a customer is well served he/she feels respected and will always want to come back and get the same service. Customers go an extra mile to bring a friend or a colleague. This will definitely increase the Big Gay ice cream customer base. Some businesses get overwhelmed when they get many customers and they fall to complacency and offer services that are not up to standards. They also spoil the quality of the product they are offering. This can result in the business downfall. Cultivate a culture that will always attract more customers into the business. Just like what pizza hut did, they should not fall victim of offering lower quality ice cream and services just because they got many customers.
With increase in interest in the big gay ice cream, expand the market and reach more customers. People love the ice creams Big Gay offers, and some want them near them. The business should ensure that it reaches as many as it can. Increasing the sales would also lead to increased profits for Big Gay Ice Cream annually. People will always pay for something good regardless of the prices.
Pizza Hut v/s Big Gay Ice Cream
Pizza hut like any other Franchise businesses is run through rules and strict guidelines. For this reason, there are numerous rules that must be adhered to set by the company. On the other hand, Big Gay Ice cream also has rules but the owners Douglas and Bryan are the rule makers. They have to set the rules that will help you run and manage your business. On matters regarding advertising, the Pizza Hut business uses the set methods of advertising and marketing as per the father company. The franchisee does not have any say on the most appropriate method for their individual franchise. However, the non-franchise investor is an adventurer. Douglas and Bryan used social media (twitter and Facebook) to market their business back in 2009. They acquired a huge following due to the flare they employed while marketing their ice cream. They advertise and still advertise their ice cream using a certain flair that makes the customers fall in love with their product. On top of this, with a changing economy they can also change the method if it proves ineffective in the future.
On matters concerning decision making, Big Gay Ice Cream owners make the decisions on where to move to, how much to plough back as profits and what brand and flavor they should give their customers. Except for certain professionals and close family friends they rarely consult on what to do next. Close family friends are the only people who may be assisting but not professionally. For Pizza Hut, decisions are made far up and the franchisee has to follow them. In case of a major challenge, the Pizza Hut owner can get advice and opinions from other owners of the same business who have been in the businesses for long.
References
Abrams, R. M. (2003). The successful business plan: Secrets & strategies. Palo Alto, Calif: The Planning Shop.
Barkoff, R. M., Selden, A. C., & American Bar Association. (2008). Fundamentals of franchising. Chicago: American Bar Association, Forum on Franchising.
Mendelsohn, M. (2004). The guide to franchising. London: Thomson
Miletsky, M., & Callander, J. A. (2009). Perspectives on increasing sales. Boston, Mass: Course Technology.
