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Window Treatment Franchises: Hot Trends and New Opportunities
Homeowners who want beauty in their surroundings are turning to window treatment franchises as names they can trust to design and implement the latest in home décor.
Most homeowners don't have a reality show knocking on their door to help them with decorating, and very few are comfortable doing it themselves. However, thanks to the latest trends in franchise window treatment business, franchisees have the know-how to rescue home owners from their window woes. Franchisors turn franchisees with an interest in decorating into specialists who can:
- collaborate more successfully with homeowners
- market more effectively
- deliver a higher level of service
Here's how three top window treatment franchises teach their franchisees how to work magic for their customers:
New Software Helps Overcome Visualization Challenges
Expressing and communicating artistic ideas can be a source of frustration for many consumers. Either they see the idea clearly in their head but can't express it adequately, or they want desperately to understand the artistic vision of a professional but simply can't see what's being described to them. This is a problem that has plagued artists, interior designers, graphic designers, and other professionals for years. One of the hottest trends in the window treatment business helps solve that problem.
V2K Windows entrepreneur Victor Yosha has revolutionized the window treatment business by creating a more efficient sales tool for the window treatment professional. Using Yosha's software, the window treatment specialist can upload a representation of the homeowner's living room and within minutes produce a duplicate of the consumer's window with the desired window treatment displayed on a computer screen. Clients can pick out the fabrics they want in the colors they love, choose between cascades or swags, and see what it will look like on their windows without having to wait--and know exactly what it will cost upfront.
Educating Franchisees Creates Marketing Machines
Exciting Windows! founder Steven Bursten, with 45+ years of experience in the window coverings business, has pinpointed what he believes is the question all franchisors inevitably stumble over: how do I effectively grow my business? His answer is to take all of his own years of experience, his trials and errors, and capture them into formal training programs. Window Covering University programs address everything from franchising, computers, marketing, and competition.
Says Bursten of his Exciting Windows! business, "Nobody knows how to advertise. Nobody knows how to market. We're going to bring those things to them." Bursten's success with Exciting Windows! revolves around his ability to duplicate his expertise and create a marketing machine. By providing customer demographic information and consumer profiles in combination with great products and peerless service standards, Exciting Windows! may have the winning answer for the window treatment business.
In a Glass by Themselves...
Décor & You provides artistic window treatments, but artistry is often just the beginning of franchise success. Window treatment demand is growing, so it's possible to acquire new clients if you know how to cater to their decorating needs. Homes have grown in size over the past several decades and the number of windows in American homes has grown, too. According to the American Institute of Architects, not only have homes expanded from an average 1,100 square feet to 2,150 of living space since the 1930's, the percentage of that living space taken by windows has increased dramatically. In the first half of the 20th century homes were about 7% glass and today that number has grown to 20% and is still increasing.
For homeowners who want more than just window treatments, Décor & You as devised a scalable system for helping clients customize their living space--from the addition of a few accent lighting pieces to the complete redecoration including carpeting, lighting and furnishings. Karen Powell, CEO and co-founder, says: "We've developed a decor system which is very client-driven." Powell and her partners have made their business successful by systemizing their interior decorating experience and spend as much as four months with clients through phone interviews, conference calls, and face-to-face meetings.
Window treatment services abound. However, franchisees who want to surge ahead of their competition would do well to take advantage of hot technology, stay abreast of the latest marketing techniques and tools, and develop systems to provide high levels of service even for smaller jobs.
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