How can area managers get to enjoy the festive mood and still be superstars in a support role so valuable to franchisees?
Alecia Elbelli, Victorian area manager for Bakers Delight, has some ideas…
Like many in the retail industry, at Bakers Delight, Christmas is one of our busiest times of the year and as many businesses are beginning to slow down in the lead up to Christmas, our bakeries and getting busier and busier.
This busy time of year presents an exciting opportunity for our bakeries to introduce new customers to our products and delightful service, so it’s important we take advantage of the Christmas season.
Of course, this means more time in bakeries supporting franchisees and travelling, but it is also important that you get to enjoy Christmas as well!
Below are some of my top tips to ensure you get the most out of this peak period for your franchisees, while still celebrating Christmas with your family and friends.
4 easy ways to enjoy the festive period
1. Have some fun with the support office
Christmas is the perfect time to show customers how to use our products for entertaining and the best way to do this is through active tastings.
Across most of my bakeries, we have run a series of tasting sessions, providing customers with easy entertaining solutions for the festive season using our delicious bread and Christmas products.
This year we took our tastings one-step further and got the support office team involved.
We created a challenge – staff were split into teams across participating bakeries, with the team recording the highest improvement in sales on a particular product versus last year declared the winner.
This was a great opportunity to have some fun working with the wider team, all while driving sales and profitability!
2. Give franchisees a hands-on support day
Peak periods such as Christmas can be stressful for some franchisees and as each franchisee has differing needs over this busy period, I offered a series of support days.
Franchisees could book in a day with me to work on whatever they needed – for example baking Christmas Cakes, activations, community tart drives or sales training sessions.
Christmas is the season of giving and there is nothing more enjoyable for an AM than giving our franchisees the tools to have a successful Christmas.
3. Where appropriate, get your family involved!
There are always charity events our bakeries are involved in leading into Christmas and rather than spending this time away from your family, get them to volunteer too. By doing so you can support your franchisees, help a great cause and spend valuable time with your loved ones.
4. Call for back-up
Perhaps most importantly, ask for help. As much as we wish we could, sometimes we have to admit we can’t do everything. Thankfully, I am part of an amazing team who are always willing to jump in and give a helping hand when needed.
Overall, it is important you have fun! If you are having fun your enthusiasm will rub off on your franchisees and loved ones.
