{"id":9397,"date":"2021-05-17T13:20:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T12:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=9397"},"modified":"2022-02-09T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T15:46:24","slug":"the-road-to-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/the-road-to-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

In May 2020, AA president Edmund King told the BBC that, based on the analysis of official figures and his organisation\u2019s own monitoring, traffic volumes in Britain were \u201cakin to those in the early 1970s.\u201d Cabinet Office data from March earlier in the same year also showed that motor traffic had dropped by 73% compared with pre-pandemic outbreak levels.<\/p>\n

So, how have franchises that rely on people getting out and about in their cars, such as windscreen and repair brands, faired during the pandemic? David Overton, Managing Director of windscreen repair franchise Optic-Kleer gives the lowdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our windscreen repair professionals, the usual base of operations includes retail parks which had significantly less footfall than normal,\u201d said David. \u201cDespite not being able to operate from some of our supermarket and retail park locations throughout lockdowns, our franchisees were instead able to pivot and operate for longer periods from their DIY store locations \u2013 which throughout the pandemic had a larger customer base. It\u2019s been important for us as franchisors to give guidance on how our franchisees could pivot their approach to daily operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those essential workers still out and about on the roads, our service was also essential. There are two types of purchase \u2013 an emotional purchase, such as buying a new watch, and a stress purchase. Even for those not needing to be out in their cars often, car maintenance is needed for the weekly shop or just to ensure it is road worthy for emergencies \u2013 fixing your windscreen is a stress purchase. So, despite there being less cars on the road, people found time to complete those stress purchases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Documenting and advising on safe working practices for franchisees during the pandemic restrictions was obviously a priority for many franchisors since early 2020, but David believes it would have been a mistake to only concentrate on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst we have secured national contracts for our franchisees some time ago, it\u2019s important for a franchisor to look ahead and innovate so the network can emerge stronger from any economic downturns. Negotiations with large retailers are extremely important for our franchisees,\u201d explained David.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it\u2019s all down to communication. As the economy opens back up, a brand\u2019s online presence, from review sites to their own websites, is more important than ever before. Giving customers the confidence to re-engage is vital. Customers will subconsciously notice your environment, if it\u2019s clean, if you have hand sanitising stations available and, in what we\u2019re all calling the \u2018new-normal\u2019, you\u2019ll have to be prepared for questions. Keeping your website up to date, so customers know what they\u2019re coming back to and if you have any new customer policies in place, is essential too.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery business is a cog in a bigger wheel. People rely on us to get them back on the road \u2013 whether you have a van delivery to pubs or parents driving the kids to school. Communicating our COVID-safe operations clearly online will give customers the confidence to return. Everyone has their role to play as we set out on the road to recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In May 2020, AA president Edmund King told the BBC that, based on the analysis of official figures and his organisation\u2019s own monitoring, traffic volumes in Britain were \u201cakin to those in the early 1970s.\u201d Cabinet Office data from March earlier in the same year also showed that motor traffic had dropped by 73% compared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1316,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-optic-kleer","category-automotive-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-road-to-recovery.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}