The Framemakers

CASE ASSIGNMENT #2: THE FRAMEMAKERS

Benjamin LeBlanc

BA 4107 Small Business Management

Daniel Doiron

23 October 2017

        Robert and Teresa Norman are looking to emerge into the self-framing market by opening their own shop in their hometown of Brandon, Manitoba. Along with Robert’s father, they currently operate a family painting business. With a lack of interest and challenge, they decide it is time to move on and start a new adventure. With each an education and background in the business and design industry, they feel they are well equipped to be successful.

        Growing up, Robert worked part-time as a painter with his father in a small hometown. After graduating high school, he continued his education in the US where he took a two-year course in business administration in interior design. Following his graduation from college, Robert wanted to gain experience and therefore took a job with a Zellers store in Winnipeg. Although he enjoyed the customer service atmosphere, he one day wanted to run his own business and wanted to break free from a larger company. Like Robert, Teresa grew up in a small hometown and worked for her parents part-time. They were farmers and from a young age Teresa became very independent and took on roles such as bookkeeping and other administrative tasks. Teresa had also studied in the US, attending college for interior design. After college, she advanced her photography skills and was very successful making catalogues for other companies. After some thought, they decided to return to run the family painting shop as Robert’s father was closing in on retirement.

        With the Norman’s background, they have many key points that will help in their success. Both with a degree in interior design, they should know the market for home decoration and will know what is quality product and what is not. Growing up they both had families who ran their own business and would have seen the aspects that made them successful and also things that might not have worked. Robert’s course focused on business administration, which gives him an insight into what basic things need to be in place to run a business. He has worked at Zellers and the family paint shop, in customer service environments, which will evidently help in his future business. Teresa has advertising experience in her previous employment and also photography skills that can be used in the business. She also deep book keeping for her parents which will help with the accounting aspect. Having run the paint shop for some time, they both would have experience dealing with suppliers, customers, and general competition.

        From his education, Robert learned that in depth investigation before committing to a business is ideal. He contacted the Professional Picture Framers Association and learned that on average people spend around $32 dollars per visit at a frame making store. He confirmed this with a franchise frame making store in Winnipeg, U-Frame-It, who were looking to open a franchise in Brandon. With another frame store already in Brandon, Robert used Winnipeg as comparison and figured a frame store could operate with an acceptable profit for a population of 25,000 people. Brandon has a population of 35,000. Teresa visited the picture-framing store and observed daily operations. She concluded that the store was busiest between 11am and 3pm and that many customers were waiting long periods of time to use workstations and for glue to dry, this is when most of the store browsing took place. Robert attended an industry supplier seminar in Minneapolis, where he made supplier and dealer contacts, as well as learning that do-it-yourself framing was growing rapidly throughout North America.

        The information they received was pretty thorough and gave them an excellent point of view on the market. However, had they done some research on surveys and questionnaires done by Statistics Canada, they could receive information on household spending, renovation spending, and survey of businesses in the similar field. Also, more observations could have been made at the other framing store in Brandon. Being more precise, you could collect which types of products generally do better than others and which products not so well. Also, knowing if people tend to be one time or repeat customers could help how their business will operate. Although Robert made contacts with suppliers, there is no information to assume he did any pricing with them. Knowing this could help him distinguish which suppliers to use and to see quality of products.

        Again, Robert learned the importance of a proper business plan outline. Their business plan was divided into 6 categories: target market, financial, personnel, regulations, layout, and location. Based on research done at the other framing store in Brandon, they realized that they could over services to price-conscious people who wanted to save money on framing. With a target market age between 35 and 60, they observed they would spend generally an hour per visit in the store. Financial aspects were realized and they estimated start-up costs to be around $100,000. With $25,000 in equity, they expected to be able to receive a loan from a local bank for $75,000 with no issue. For personnel, Robert and Teresa would hold off on the hiring of employees at the beginning, to better learn the business, and to ensure it would be successful. Both would work full-time. Regulations would need to be met and they would need a business license from city hall. The initial business would be a proprietorship, until the need to incorporate if it arose. After looking around at the U-Frame-It shop in Winnipeg, the layout of their business was done up by Robert, which he believed would offer efficiency and convenience for the store. Although locations were scarce in Brandon, the Norman’s know they will need a location with a high volume of people passing, that would be convenient for regular customers, and attract walk-ins.

        The business plan prepared for The Frameworkers is overall well done and well researched and contemplated. Although, they are missing some key aspects. First of all, product, there is no product description or even what makes their product unique. They are also missing marketing and advertising. Yes, they offered a target market, but there is no mention of how they will fare in the market compared to others, as well as how they will attract customers and distinguish themselves from others. The financial section was also a bit vague. Broken down costs and areas of initial spending would be helpful in making clear where money is going.