Franchising is something that I definitely have on my radar in the future. Not something that I will invest time in right now – but I am intrigued by it. For now, my focus will be on building branches in the different provinces, but there is an allure to getting the processes, procedures and systems in place to have franchising opportunities in place for people who want to invest in the brand, and implement a communication and reputation management system that works.
I am seeing more and more opportunities for communication management and reputation consulting so am keen to help people that want to do their own thing with the support of a trusted brand; opposed to having to start the business from scratch. I am quite aware that there are many pitfalls and franchising has its own set of challenges, but it will all happen at the right time. I have mentioned before that I really enjoy Brad Sugars’ Instant Series books – they are easy reads, and there are always great ideas, which are really quite easy to implement and refine for one’s own business scenario.
One of the things that he focuses on in this book is defining the culture of an organisation. This is an exercise I am quite keen to pen down with the team. I am also re-inspired to update and document all the current systems – we have an incredible step-by-step folder, I am very impressed by the team’s contributions and commitment to keeping the SOPs (standard operating procedures) updated. Working in different locations across the country makes it so much easier to give a consistent service when there are clear processes in place. It’s important to me that it does not matter whether it is me or the newest person that has just joined the team that is in front of the client, we all need to walk and talk the same language.
We have been doing some work with Mustadafin Foundation in Cape Town, and it was so heart-warming to receive the following from their Communication Manager the other day:
“Mustadafin Foundation has worked with Reputations Matters for just over a year now. In that time we have found their service to be impeccable, their support unwavering and their standard excellent...“Of particular importance, is that as the Reputation Matters team has grown, there has been no change in the personalised handling of our account, nor any variance in the standard of service delivered. The warmth and friendly support they are known for is present in every meeting, information event and all the follow up interactions. We will definitely continue our relationship with them as the guardians of our organisation's reputation.“ Hani du Toit, Projects & Communications Manager – Mustadafin
Book recommendation: 8/10
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