May 2013
| Business World Magazine | 49
the support, the coaching, the technology,
the national banding and the PR and the
advertising and lead generation programs –
those things are all bundled together in that
franchise offering,” Grandpre says. “That’s
part of what the franchisees get for licensing
the brand the business model.”
LEGS OF GROWTH
As far as the future is concerned, Outdoor
Living brands recently set a series of strate-
gic goals for their organization over the next
five to seven years. “There are a couple of legs
of the growth stool for our organization,”
Grandpre explains. “First and foremost, it
starts with helping all of our existing franchi-
sees who are trying to grow their businesses.
As a franchisor, when they grow, we grow.”
The second priority is finding talented
new franchisees to join their brands. In terms
of unit growth, Grandpre says they have spe-
cific metrics and milestones they are working
hard to achieve.
“The third leg of the stool deals with the
number of franchise brands in our family,” he
adds. By the beginning of the fourth quarter
of this year, he fully expects to close on the
acquisition of a fourth brand. Over the next
five to seven years, he says they are looking to
add a fifth as well, whether that means an ac-
quisition or starting a new brand themselves.
The final leg of the stool is vertical di-
versification in businesses where it makes
sense. The goal is to get into the distribution
channel of the products they use to deliver
services to their clients. That will help drive
costs of goods down for franchisees, ensure
consistency of service across the country,
and help support the ongoing growth of the
overall enterprise.
