Before becoming chief executive officer of Men in Kilts, Tressa Wood was vice-president of operations at 1-800-Got-Junk. The businesses are similar – both are service companies with fun, irreverent brands that are growing by franchising throughout North America.
Wood had ambitious plans to grow Men in Kilts quickly, hoping to repeat the meteoric increases she saw during her time at 1-800-Got-Junk.
But while growth has happened, it hasn't been at the rate she saw at her previous company. And Wood says she's learned to be okay with that.
“We now have 10 locations, and we'll do close to $7 million system-wide this year, which is great,” Wood said. “But the growth in adding franchises hasn't come as quickly as I thought it would.”
Wood realized that she was unfairly comparing Men in Kilts to 1-800-Got-Junk, and that there were ways to measure success other than tallying the number of new franchises.
“I was at 1-800-Got-Junk in their hyper-growth phase. … I was using that experience as a gauge for what I thought would happen with this brand as well,” Wood said. “What I was missing in that experience was that early stage, which is what we just went through, the original franchising of the concept.”
Some of those other measures include tracking gains made in building the business' infrastructure, Wood said.
“Are you improving your reporting system, your information systems? Are we improving our closing rates, increasing our average sale?
“There are all these different areas where [you can determine whether] you're improving and growing and getting better and your franchises are getting more profitable and your staff are performing better.”
