“I filled out the survey and they were great questions,” said Greg Nathan of the Franchise Relationships Institute, but on reflection I’m not so sure. Did ‘a better year’ mean a better year for you personally or for your business? I was angling for the latter and most of the respondents would have been business people or professionals. Anyway, while there was some optimism for 2024, half the respondents believe it’s going to be worse or much the same as 2023.
Blog Layout
The results are in: What’s in store for ’24
Wouldn’t our lives be different if we could predict the future? Think of the massive implications that would have on our businesses. So what’s the best way to predict the future? Studies show that economists, scientists, psychics and other ‘futurologists’ aren't actually very good at it. But one deceptively simple idea posits the question: Are the many smarter than the few?
I decided to test this theory with What’s in Store for ’24, a readers’ poll to find out what you think and measure the collective predictions in a completely unbiased and anonymous way. I got a surprising 512 responses from people all over the world. And here (ta-daa) are the results:
Are you expecting 2024 to be a better year, worse year or much the same as 2023?
What is your greatest hope for 2024?
Not surprisingly after a turbulent 2023, the economy and government rated highest as your hopes for this year. Thankfully, inflation has already begun to stabilise in most of the western world and some brave banks and lending institutions have started to reduce their interest rates. I’m assuming that many of the votes for better government came from New Zealanders after last year’s election, and the more altruistic of us wished for world peace.
What is your greatest concern in 2024?
The economy ranked a little lower among respondents’ concerns, perhaps indicating a degree of confidence given that around half of you ranked an improving economic and business situation as your greatest hopes (see previous pie graph). Crimes such as shoplifting and ramraids have been a growing concern in the retail trade, and climate change has forced many business people to rethink the sustainability of their business practices.
Do you go to work or work from home, or both?
The nature of work — and business ownership — has been changing over time as more and more of us have been choosing to work from home, either all or part of the time. Part of the time, or hybrid, work topped our poll, but the question here was what type of work do you do, not what type you would prefer.
What are your preferences in regard to hybrid work, no matter what your current situation?
People’s preferences have swung back and forth since the pandemic. When you had to work from home during lockdowns, you missed the comraderie of your team mates, but when you had to go back to work at the office, you missed the independence and convenience of working from home. Hence the current popularity of hybrid work.
Have you prepared or do you intend to prepare a business plan or personal plan for 2024?
It was heartening, and a bit surprising, to find how many of you had done or are intending to do some planning for the year. It’s one thing to make New Year’s resolutions, but studies show that developing a concrete plan around those resolutions can make them ten times more likely to be achieved.
Do you see AI as more of a positive or negative thing for humanity?
Whether we realise it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of our lives. It’s everywhere — on our phones, in our software, in many of the electronic products we buy. My son told me yesterday that his university assignments are assessed by AI. But while AI has brought numerous benefits to our lives, our survey shows there is still some mistrust and concern about its negative impacts, such as job displacement and bias in decision-making algorithms.
How do you feel about sustainability and eco-friendliness?
In a survey conducted by the UN, said to be the largest public opinion survey on climate change ever conducted, nearly two-thirds (64%) of the 1.2 million respondents in 50 countries felt that ‘climate change is a global emergency’. The question is: What can we do about it? Three-quarters of the respondents in our poll supported sustainability and eco-friendliness and four out of 10 of the respondents were doing something about it on a business and personal level.
What goals do you or your employer have for the business in 2024?
A bit of a mixed bag of responses here but the focus was firmly on growth rather tightening belts.
What media does your business or your employer mainly use for marketing?
Not surprisingly, digital media dominated but there is clearly still a place for non-digital. The question was ‘What media do you mainly use?’ so this may have skewed the responses away from non-digital media. Certainly the clients I work with in marketing prefer digital marketing because it enables them to reach a targeted audience and track their results. But my professional advice is never to rely on just one medium and always to remember that frequency is as important as reach.
Happy New Year! One of the highlights of 2023 for me was being invited as a guest of honour to the 40th Anniversary dinner of one of my former clients, Signature Homes. That’s me on the right with my wife Margaret and Brad Hay of Signature Homes.
This year, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to do even more of what I love — helping businesses and franchises like Signature to grow and prosper. I work with businesses of all sizes and offer a free initial consultation, so contact me now to make this your best year ever!
Share on your Page:
Follow us:
A billionaire says that business success can only be achieved through having low expectations and experiencing pain and suffering. Do you agree with him?
How is your business adapting to the changing business environment brought about by artificial intelligence (AI)?
One of the advantages of franchising is that it enables businesses to scale quickly.
Despite warnings about its risks, artificial intelligence has already become the Next Big Thing. Whether we realise it or not, we’re already exposed to it in our daily lives. And there’s a pretty good chance that if you’re not already using it in your business, your competitors are.
Winning business awards is about so much more than recognition and reputation. It’s about the journey of business improvement, excellence and growth—not only for your business, but for you and your team.
If you don’t think your business needs any form of improvement, you may as well shut it down right now.
Part 2 in our series on Franchisee Selection: Why It Is the Most Important Decision Franchisors Make It doesn’t matter how good your systems, training and support are—if you don’t select the ‘right’ franchisees in the first place, none of it is going to produce a high performing franchise. Yet as a franchise consultant, I can't believe how many franchisors rely on gut feeling or, worse still, chance in the way they select franchisees. But what do the 'right' franchisees look like? As I mentioned in the first article in this series, that depends on the franchise business, according to Christiane Gaul of the University of Applied Sciences in Kufstein, Austria, in her study Partner Selection Process in Franchising . Of course, the kind of candidates a franchisor looks for will be different for a lawn-mowing franchise than a professional services franchise. Let's look at who the 'right' people are for some well-established franchises...
“And the Supreme Franchise of the Year Award goes to…” I dare not breathe. Why is there always that interminable pause before the winner’s name is announced? My client has already won all three awards that I entered them for – Field Manager of the Year, Franchisee of the Year and Franchise of the Year in their industry category. But will they walk out with the biggie…? “Signature Homes!” I can’t begin to describe the elation I feel every time I help a client to win a franchise or business award. It’s as exciting for me as it is for the client. Businesses enter awards competitions for different reasons – recognition, credibility, ego, media exposure – but to me the most important reasons are the ability to benchmark yourself against the best and use what you learn to continuously improve your business. I take my hat off to those who keep entering awards despite failing to win but keep getting better every year until hopefully… finally… One of the keys to writing better awards entries, I’ve found, is to understand the criteria for the awards and what the judges are looking for. Of course, the criteria depend on what the award is for – leadership, customer service delivery, marketing, innovation, the list goes on. But I have found that the most common awards frameworks or models in the general business excellence category are the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model and the Baldrige Excellence Framework.
We all know that success in franchising is largely about selecting the ‘right’ franchisees. Arguably, franchisee selection is the most important decision a franchisor can make. So how do franchisors go about the selection process and what selection tools are on offer? Inadequate franchisee selection procedures are the biggest single cause of franchisee failure, according to a study by Professor Lorelle Frazer from Griffith University.
We’ve all been led to believe that a solid business plan, complete with a genuine vision and values, is the secret sauce you need for business success. How wrong we were. OK, if that’s not the secret sauce, how about points of difference? Wasn’t it Phillip Kotler or some other Marketing 101 guru who said that’s all you need for successful marketing? Wrong again.