Sergey Sidorenko is one of the first partners of the Altairika franchise. Sergey started his work in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia and eventually expanded his network: last week he bought the territory of the city of Vladimir. Sergey is an example for other partners: for several months in a row he was the leader in terms of the number of spectators. He told us how he and his team cope with the objections of clients and organize shows in schools and beyond.
How did you come to business in the field of additional education? What have interested you?
— It's no secret that I have worked with mobile planetariums before, and I knew what it was like to work with children, what the results were. When I saw this new idea, I immediately appreciated it, realized that it would be in demand, and immediately decided to work with the new technology of virtual reality.
How are schools making contact? Were there any objections from them?
— Undoubtedly, there are always some objections, but we have already learned to overcome them successfully. If it is impossible to hold paid events in the school, we find a library nearby and invite children there. To the questions about the price, we answer that our services are cheaper and better than those offered in shopping centers.
How did you decide to buy additional territories? What did it give you?
— I think this is a logical step for the company, that is, it needs to develop, a company that is not developing, will be lagging behind. It is always necessary to go forward, to look at new perspectives. At the moment, I have decided that there are two ways to develop. We are still working not so much in the region, because we are getting good numbers working in the city. Therefore, I decided that we need to buy the neighboring city and at the same time we will develop in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Now we are engaged in the purchase of equipment to cover our needs in the new territories.
Where did you hold the sessions in the summer?
— In July we worked more often with school camps, and in June and August in children's health camps. We managed to work a little with kindergartens, where we introduced our product to very young kids.
What does your session organization process look like today? From making contact to gathering feedback
— At first, of course, it is a call to the school to set up a meeting with the headmaster. If the call was successful, we come to the school and make a presentation for the headteacher or headmaster. After that, we set a date for the event and a week before the event, we carry out so-called student agitation. Next, we hold the event itself and leave our business cards with the contacts that the children pass on to their parents. With the help of this business card children can get a small gift on the Internet. Thus, parents go to the site, register and receive the coloring via email. After all this we contact the headmaster again and ask if kids liked everything and we try to set an approximate date for the next session. At the same time, the head teacher retains all of our materials and catalogues.
What was your impression of the last partner meeting?
— The meeting was amazing. In my opinion, it was useful for everyone. Although I have been doing this for a long time, it would seem that I know everything, but at every meeting I learn something new. New people come to the company and bring new ideas and solutions. For example, Maxim from Miass told me that he sells our events in packages, i.e. 6 sessions at once, and he does not consider another format. And we, on the contrary, did not imagine that it is possible to organize sessions with such packages. We have adopted it, we are developing a scheme of package sales. At the meeting we are inspired by the results of our colleagues: someone tells us that they have arranged so many sessions on their relatively small territory, and I understand that I have arranged less sessions in my big city. So we are not working hard enough. So you rethink some things. Of course, I think I also helped someone by sharing my experience.
How does the franchise development department support you?
— Undoubtedly, it is very good that the employees of this department promptly help us. Sometimes it happens that the information we are interested in is already available somewhere, on disk or cloud, but some people do not hesitate to ask Ekaterina directly (head of the franchise development department - Altairika). Answers are always accurate and fast, problems have always been solved quickly.
Who should do this business, what person should it be? Do you hire employees? What are their responsibilities?
— Of course, a person should have an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to do it. Still, he should be drawn to it: business is business. We need to be ready for many processes with our state and tax authorities. I believe that business should not be self-employment. Some of our partners work like this: they are the manager and the operator all by themselves. I think it's wrong, you can't earn much doing like that. A man has taken the territory, but he is not developing it. We need to hire workers, create jobs and develop our territory. For example, I already have 3 managers and 1 operator.
Based on your experience, what would you advise those who are just planning to start this business?
— In general, there is no reason to be afraid. Our company is a big family, everybody helps and advises each other, you can contact anyone and get help. We are not competitors to each other, it is very good. But you have to be ready for the difficulties: franchise is not a business where you have paid the money and are waiting for the profit to come. You'll still have to work, make an effort, recruit a team and manage it.
Based on your experience, what would you advise those who are just planning to start this business?
— In general, there is no reason to be afraid. Our company is a big family, everybody helps and advises each other, you can contact anyone and get help. We are not competitors to each other, it is very good. But you have to be ready for the difficulties: franchise is not a business where you have paid the money and are waiting for the profit to come. You'll still have to work, make an effort, recruit a team and manage it.