Young Franchisees to Know: Molly Martin

You often don’t see younger generations getting into the franchise game at such an early age. But Wireless Zone franchisee Molly Martin has decided to go against the grain. Martin has been with the Wireless Zone, a premium cellphone retailer exclusively offering Verizon Wireless products and services, for a number of years. Her journey started when she was an intern at 15, answering phones and doing a litany of tasks that were asked of here. At age 20 she was promoted to a sales person and by 22 she became a division manager.

Martin, who is now in her mid-twenties, has become the ideal success story for any young entrepreneur. Her second store just celebrated its two year anniversary and she has no signs of slowing down. Martin sat down with us to discuss why she got into the world of franchising and some obstacles young franchisees may face.

Molly Martin: I chose to take this opportunity with Wireless Zone and become a franchisee because I love this industry and I love the support that Wireless Zone gives me. They have a great team to make sure that we are taken care along the way.

MM: The thing that I love about being a franchisee with Wireless Zone is having a great support system to back me up and help me along the way. Even with Wireless Zone being the first franchise I've been involved in, I have had the constant support from every aspect of this business. Whether it is legal advice to training, Wireless Zone offers it all.

MM: The cost of devices has definitely gone up making it a bit harder to sell customers on them, but with our new "device payment" option available it has made it more affordable for our customers. Verizon has stepped it up as far as promotions go for new lines of service and the device payment option being available makes a huge difference. All of our platforms for operation are going mobile.

When we are activating a device for a customer or looking up their account we have the iPad available where we can perform all the actions making it a great opportunity to bring up a tablet in the sales process. We are able to adapt with our customers as we continue to be at the forefront of the industry. We are becoming the leaders in technology.

As far as the tech world goes we are streamlined making it easier to keep up with our customers’ needs and project what they will be needing and wanting in the future.

MM: The industry is changing daily. I feel that the millennials are able to adapt quicker with the change and stay on top of the latest and up in coming opportunities we have to offer. Training and learning is key and being able to know exactly what a customer is striving for or needing is a huge advantage.

MM: At this time I do not have any plans of expansion. We just celebrated our 2 year anniversary of our second location opening, so I am just planning on spending as much time as I can building my veteran locations up. I have been on a fast roller-coaster since getting into the franchise industry and I am finally able to take a year off of the hiatus and enjoy being an owner.

My plans and goals for my stores are to make them as profitable as possible with having the best trained reps, high class sales floor and just an overall amazing experience for our customer base. We plan to build our customer base up and make sure everyone has a "10" score experience for our overall Net Promoter Score.

MM: Being a young entrepreneur can be very hard at times and even time consuming but if you have the right people and structure in place it is very enjoyable. Make sure that you have your ducks in a row and don't let the industry get the best of you. Like I said before, everything is constantly changing and it’s a lot of learning and training but once you have the right flow than it comes very easy. Take time for yourself and enjoy the business. This is the best industry to be in and with all of our advances; nothing is ever the same day to day.