The decision to increase business operations is exciting and often a natural stepping stone for small business owners looking to expand. You spent lots of time working hard to get new clients & increase your revenue and now you can finally open a new location! But running a multi-location business doesn't come without its challenges. While you can expand into new communities and untapped markets, you still have a lot of work to do to set yourself up for success.
Running a multi-location business goes beyond having two places to see clients. There are many aspects to consider, like figuring out how you’ll stay organized and keep staff members engaged. There are six common problems small business owners encounter when expanding their business. Don’t worry—we’ve provided solutions so you can tackle any challenges before they arise and make your dream of owning multiple locations a reality.
1. Lack of communication
A lack of proactive, consistent communication can lead to the downfall of any business. When you’re a multi-location business owner, you cannot afford to be an ineffective communicator. More than likely, after expanding, you’ll have more employees to manage. You’ll need to stay on top of going between different locations to make sure things are running smoothly. But if you don’t communicate what needs to happen, then there will be disorganization and distress for everyone involved.
To avoid miscommunication, be sure to send out important messages as they come up. Have an email thread to send important messages to staff members. You may also consider setting up an internal chat for your business so team members can communicate with you, and one another, effectively & quickly. One thing often lost when a business expands is impromptu conversations that can result in pivoting. If these pivots arise, don’t wait until the monthly conference call to announce any changes. Use your communication channels and schedule meetings ahead of time to give employees ample notice.
If you’re concerned about becoming overwhelmed with too many messages from employees, consider hiring assistant managers for your locations. This way employees can direct their questions to their respective assistant managers, who can handle this at the ground level.
Another great way to ensure employees and service providers are always aware of any changes made to their schedule is by using a communal calendar, like the one from Vagaro, where any changes made to appointments will update the respective employee right away.
2. Disconnected employees
When hiring new employees, many companies talk about the caliber of their company culture. With a single business location, it’s easier to foster a positive work environment, set standards & make sure team-building exercises bring employees closer together. Sometimes when businesses expand, they lose a positive company culture for one of two reasons. A feeling of competition can arise between employees at both locations, especially if one has a better work environment or management is laxer with policies. Or once the second location opens, the owner focuses too much on the new establishment and the other struggles.
If employees feel disconnected or in competition, small business owners can expect higher turnover & dissatisfaction rates. Team members who work at both of your locations may feel the difference in culture, which can be off-putting. To ensure that all employees work in a positive environment and have cordial working relationships with one another, set expectations and standards from the start and make sure they’re implemented at all your locations equally.
Instead of waiting until problems arise to address them, be proactive. Create an employee handbook that outlines how employees should conduct themselves and interact with customers & one another. Keep training and systems consistent across locations and establish a chain of command. Try to have quarterly face-to-face meetings with your entire team to promote cohesiveness and consistently use communication tools to inform team members of changes or opportunities for team building.
3. Lack of alignment
Being on the same page is essential for a business to run smoothly. If you run more than one location, business goals must be aligned. Successful management means establishing a standard operating procedure that is consistent across locations. Consider this: If an employee needs to cover a shift at another location, without a standard operating procedure, it may be difficult for this employee to seamlessly pick up that shift. To be sure all employees are aligned, hold training sessions and be clear about your expectations from the beginning.
This also means locations should have consistent branding. If your locations’ marketing materials are totally different, how will clients understand they’re all the same business? You can standardize your branding and use the effective marketing tools from Vagaro to quickly send automated emails & texts to clients across locations, keeping your branding consistent and eliminating the hassle of sending separate marketing materials.
4. No task delegation
As the operator of multiple business locations, you may feel like you need to take on everything. Resist this temptation as it will only create stress and inevitably lead to disorganization or conflicting priorities. To have effective location management, delegate tasks. Once you’ve trained your team members, use project management tools to stay organized or create a standardized workflow. For example, if you own multiple hair salons and employees can be double-booked, create a system for this. Vagaro’s Calendar has double-booking features, automated notifications, and can be customized to fit the needs of your business, making your everyday operations that much more streamlined, especially across multiple locations.
Standardize the check-in procedure, the length of time for the consultation, who will wash the client’s hair & how employees can collaborate to make sure each client gets personalized attention. To expedite check-in processes, consider using a tool like Vagaro’s Forms to get client information before they walk through your doors. That way, you can hit the ground running come appointment time and improve business efficiency overall. You can also delegate tasks, like running reports, updating inventory or running payroll. In Vagaro’s management system, you can choose access levels for employees so only those who need access to certain information have it.
5. Mismanaged supervision
Oftentimes when a small business owner decides to open a new storefront, they adopt the out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality. While this way of compartmentalizing can be useful in times of high stress, it can harm the health of your multi-location business as a whole. This problem tends to arise close to the opening of a new location when owners are excited about getting that business up and running. But if you don’t consider what’s happening at the other store, you may neglect it for a while, which can create a myriad of issues. But spreading yourself too thin can be detrimental to your mental health. Why not make supervising employees easy, even from a distance?
With tools like Vagaro’s Calendar, you can see your employees’ schedules in real time. You can keep tabs on their client retention rates & sales through advanced Reporting. And don’t worry about chasing down employees for rent checks—Vagaro has a Rent & Fees feature that deducts rent from employees’ accounts. You can also have the system apply any commission to an employee’s rent automatically!
Even when you’re setting up at a new location, stay in contact with your employees. Plan group check-in calls and try to set aside some time to be available to discuss any issues that may arise as the business transitions from one to multiple locations. When employees know you’re still there for them, even from a distance, you’ll be able to maintain that strong company culture you’ve built and foster an environment of respect.
6. Ineffective technology
Opening a new location for your business is a laudable achievement. But without the right tools to run your multi-location business, you’ll find yourself stressed and perhaps reconsidering whether you made the right decision. Take the guesswork out of business expansion with Vagaro. Not only does Vagaro offer a Multi-Location feature that allows you to share info like clients, forms, memberships, packages & gift certificates between locations, but we also offer an all-in-one management software solution to help run your business, no matter the size. Plus, we have a point-of-sale (POS) system and offer credit card processing at competitive rates. You’ll also receive a contactless credit card reader, FREE, when you sign up with Vagaro! With one-on-one training sessions and weekly webinars, you'll quickly become acclimated to the software and unlock everything it can do for your business. Make expansion easy when you streamline systems & integrate technology to make your life easier. Sign up for a 30-day free trial today!
