Agile Planning: The Ultimate Crisis-Proofing Strategy

Agile business planning could be the key to helping your franchise succeed no matter what. But what does creating a flexible business plan look like in practice? Countrywide Signs’ Justin Pearce QFP explained how it has helped the franchise get through the pandemic completely unscathed.

Even the most careful plans can be sideswiped by unexpected obstacles. But agile business planning allows you to adapt to even the most uncertain circumstances, rather than send you back to the drawing board in a panic. We sat down with Justin Pearce QFP, Director at Countrywide Signs to find out more about how the franchise has embraced this approach. 

Adapting at a speedy pace

At the beginning of 2020, Countrywide Signs launched its cleverly named ‘2020 Vision’ development plan. The strategy set out the next five years for the brand. 

“It was a mixture of development, integrity, and KPIs, so we could encourage our network to think about where they’d like to be in five years,” explained Justin.

Countrywide Signs was just three months into the rollout of 2020 Vision when disaster struck. However, Justin said that—thanks to a number of speedy adaptations by the team—everyone was able to continue virtually as normal. 

“It was business as usual from day one, and we worked through the whole process of supporting franchisees while ensuring everyone’s safety. There was also a lot of ambiguity about what we could and couldn’t do at the start, so we supported our network by offering our educated interpretation of government guidance.”

Countrywide Signs proved there was no hurdle it couldn’t clear. Over the course of the various lockdowns, the franchise recruited five franchisees and rolled out a programme of e-learning and virtual training to help them learn the ropes. As a crucial part of the role is getting out and meeting the public, Justin explained that even the physical part of training was adapted, with franchisees and the team taking a small convoy of vans instead of sharing vehicles. 

Taking a conservative approach to planning

While all of us hoped, and many believed, that the initial pandemic-related disruption would pass in a matter of weeks, Countrywide Signs decided to plan for the long term. Eighteen months later, it’s clear the franchise’s cautious approach was the smart thing to do. 

The franchise brand’s strategy paid off: It’s proud to report that it hasn’t lost a single franchisee over the course of the pandemic. In addition to its thoughtful adaptations, its careful franchise partner selection process is likely to have made all the difference. 

“We look for people who are enthusiastic and genuinely want to be part of a successful network. We’ve also found that resilience is key, as we’ve had business owners who have been hit with two, three, four obstacles and still been able to push forward.” 

Justin also explained that the brand understands its market position and looks for franchisees who can do the same. 

“Commercial awareness is also important. We’re keen to advocate quality and service over price and speed. Our key priority is strong profit potential over high-volume work, so we’re never going to be the cheapest. Instead, we compete on quality and service and still manage to maintain KPI standards and a very healthy pipeline of clients.”

Using downtime to take stock

Like many other companies, the forced downtime of the Covid-19 pandemic was largely positive for the franchise. Justin joked that it was a time for franchisees to reluctantly get stuck into tasks they’d been avoiding, like paperwork and non-essentials that had been taking a back seat in their busy lives. 

“Our franchisees don’t often get the chance to look at their businesses from a bird’s eye view and to address internal things that could make them even better.” 

Rather than waiting around for more favourable conditions to return, Countrywide Signs has spent the last two years making its business better than ever. 

“We set new KPIs and focused on achieving 100% brand integrity and cohesion within the next two years, which we’re pretty close to doing. We focused on the fundamentals: keeping our pipelines filling up, enhancing our support structure by introducing a new marketing manager and expanding the accounts department. Now, we’re hoping to increase our number of franchisees to 66, operating in 100 territories, by 2025, and continue welcoming new faces through franchise resales.” 

Why a flexible plan is essential

While Justin and the team know that flexibility is still a crucial factor for thriving post-pandemic, they’ve got big goals to meet over the next few years. 

“We’ve learnt to be fluid. It was a quick transition for the business, and it could’ve ended very differently if we’d gotten it wrong, but we’re pleased to say our network weathered the storm. We’re still involved in our long-term recovery strategy, which is set to carry on for another two to three years. For us, though, it’s a moveable feast; we’ve got the strong foundations to build upon and we can adapt everything else around them. ”

Even though they were implemented unexpectedly, Countrywide Signs has discovered new ways of working that are here to stay.

“We quickly adapted our recruitment process and had a very positive response to virtual discovery sessions, so we split our normal discovery days into three sessions over Zoom. It gave our prospects a lot of time to think and properly analyse the financials before taking the challenge on.”

Justin continued:

“We also want to keep e-learning, as it’s incredibly valuable. It takes the pressure off condensed training and allows our franchisees to properly take stock of what they’ve learnt so far. We’ve learnt loads by default, but it’s been incredibly eye-opening.”

Achieve franchising success with Countrywide Signs

While we’ve all got our fingers crossed that something as disruptive and worrying as a pandemic never comes our way again, it’s certainly taught us all a few lessons. Countrywide Signs’ proactive and future-focused approach has made sure that this franchise family has remained intact. And as it emerges from an incredibly challenging period, it’s clear the only way is up for the network. 

If you’re looking for the ideal franchise opportunity and believe Countrywide Signs could be the right fit for you, you can find out more information about this franchise on its profile page.