June 2018 Operations Manual Release: New “Creating a Marketing Plan” Microsystem & Resources, Staples Business Advantage Program Now Live, and the Upcoming Job Board Feature Release in Radius

We are pleased to release the updated Operations Manual for June 2018!

This release focuses on introducing a brand-new marketing system designed to help franchisees develop marketing budgets. It also introduces STAPLES as a preferred print and office supply vendor. There are also revisions to the “Advertise Job Posting” microsystem outlining best practices on how to recruit in-person and online. Lastly, this announcement serves as an introduction to a new feature, the Job Board, that will be released in Radius next week.

New “Create a Marketing Plan” Microsystem and Resources

Under the “Lead Generation” success factor, this new microsystem discusses the benefits of creating an annual marketing plan. You will find recommendations regarding how to evaluate which tactics are working best for your center in order to continuously refine your plan and maximize enrollments.

If you are new to creating an annual budget, the three annual budget templates referenced in this microsystem are a useful starting point.

The microsystem includes the following new resources:

• Startup Marketing Budget:This has been presented in the last few initial training sessions and is a starting point for centers to determine tactics and budget allocation in their first year of being open.
• Growth Mode Marketing Budget:For centers that have been open for over a year but with enrollments still below center capacity, this budget template is similar to the “Startup Marketing Budget” in terms of a focus on acquisition marketing tactics but adjusts for seasonality and eliminates some one-time first year costs.
• Established Mode Marketing Budget:This is a budget template for centers who are nearing capacity and includes an increase in retention-related marketing and decrease in acquisition-focused tactics. Likely, centers at this stage will already have a good idea of what works in their area; however, this budget can be a useful reference for centers that are still growing, as it provides an example of changes that centers may make as they near capacity.
• CPL Allowable Template:Use this to calculate the maximum Cost-Per-Lead you should be willing to spend per channel based on your conversion rates in order to evaluate whether trackable tactics were successful or not.

For more information, please visit the “Create a Marketing Plan” Microsystem in the Operations Manual ^[1]. As you prepare for the Back-to-School season, this is a great time to review this new microsystem, start developing an annual budget (if you don’t already have one), and schedule time to go over your upcoming marketing plans with your FBC.

The content included in this microsystem will also provide a basis for a Breakout Session at our Annual Convention next month.

Staples Business Advantage Print and Office Supply Program is Now Live!

We are excited to announce our partnership with Staples Business Advantage as our new preferred vendor for print items and office supplies!

As recently mentioned on Mathnasium Matters ^[2], we have been running a pilot test program over the last six months with Staples and a select group of franchisees to ensure that this program was thoroughly vetted before making it available to everyone.

Key Benefits of partnering with Staples include:

• Competitive pricing on all products. Print materials are up to 20% lower on average and office supplies are up to 10-15% lower on average versus other suppliers.
• User-friendly website and ordering process. Your Staples Advantage portal contains Mathnasium-preferred shopping lists that contain recommended and most commonly ordered items to make it easier to find what you need.
• Free shipping with fast and consistent nationwide delivery of all products.
• Same-day in-store pick up available for certain print and office supply items.
• Proactive customer support. Franchisees will have dedicated account managers for both print and office supplies. See contact information below:
  • Nicole Fawcett is your dedicated Account Manager and can help with any overall account or supply-related questions: Nicole.fawcett@staples.com ^[3].
  • Karina Silva is your contact for all print-related questions: Karina.silva@staples.com ^[4].
  • Staples Customer Service can help with any order inquiries, returns, delivery & billing issues: Phone: (877) 826-7755 / Email: support@staplesadvantage.com ^[5].

What to expect:

The first thing you will want to do is go to StaplesAdvantage.com ^[6]. If you are an existing franchisee, you will receive a welcome email from Staples Advantage within the next 24 hours, which will contain all of your account login information (including your account number, user ID, and a one-time use password). The first time you log in, it will ask you to create your own password. In case you forget your password, you can always use the “Forgot Password” feature.

For brand-new or soon-to-be open franchisees (or if you do not receive a welcome email), please contact Nicole Fawcett to get set up with your Staples login.

Once you log in, your default location will be preset, with your profile (including your Ship To address). Multi-Center Owners will be able to select the specific location they would like to place an order for. Multi-Center Owners who would like any modification to their account, should please reach out to Nicole Fawcett at Staples.

For franchisees who were part of the pilot or who have a Staples Advantage account setup already, Staples will merge your existing account to a new one, and you will receive a welcome email from Staples as well. Please disregard your previous accounts. Data from previous purchases has been archived by the Staples team, should you ever need it.

For a short tutorial on navigating through the Staples Business Advantage website and placing your first order, click here to view this tutorial video ^[7].

Update about Printing For Less (PFL) and Bulk Office Supply:

Printing For Less (PFL) will continue to have a number of printed items available during this transition process. You will be able to continue ordering from PFL while supplies last. Once their inventory is depleted, printed items will be removed from PFL; however, they will continue to be a preferred vendor for apparel and promotional items.

Bulk Office Supply will continue as an additional vendor resource for office supply items. You can also reference the “Provide Tools and Supplies” microsystem in the Operations Manual ^[1] for further details.

Mathnasium Home Office will work with the Staples team to expand the resources and items available to you as we continue to grow our partnership opportunities with them.

Updated “Advertise Job Posting” Microsystem

Under the “Exceptional People” success factor, this revised microsystem offers comprehensive guidance on how to advertise job posts online and in-person. It also provides direction on how to utilize the soon-to-be released Job Board in Radius. Based on franchisees’ feedback from the Recruiting Survey sent out earlier in the year, this microsystem additionally presents recommendations on how to optimize and refine recruiting efforts across the online platforms, including Indeed, LinkedIn, Glass Door, Job Aggregators, and more.

Upcoming Feature Release in Radius – The Job Board

Mathnasium’s collective team continues to grow and offers even greater opportunities for those seeking to help students learn math, serve their communities, and grow their professional abilities and educational skills. However, many employees are not aware of the many available center leadership opportunities across our global network. We want to build awareness of the career path opportunities that exist across our learning centers. As part of the expansion in recruiting and staffing resources, we have created a job board as one way to better connect employees to advancement opportunities.

Talented Mathnasium employees leave us when they move to new locations or seek out jobs outside the organization because of the lack of career mobility. This job board provides current Mathnasium employees the opportunity to become aware of available opportunities and stay with Mathnasium longer. Encouraging current Mathnasium employees to see Mathnasium as a place to build their career will allow all employees to grow professionally.

The job board is a directory of available Center Director and Assistant Center Director positions that will be accessible from Mathnasium University. Franchisees will be able to post open center positions by logging into Radius and accessing the Job Board Manager. Instructor and Lead Instructor positions will not be posted on this internal forum. Employees will be able to search the job board and reach out to the hiring manager for position details. Job posts will not be customizable.

As with all shared forums, please demonstrate professional courtesy where employees seek out leadership opportunities at other centers. Working together as a franchise community that is focused on developing employees promotes our organization’s rich career growth opportunities. As a result, we hope to elevate the talent level of all team members. Please stay tuned for future updates on Mathnasium Matters about information regarding this soon-to-be released tool.

For any questions regarding the various microsystems that have been released and updated along with our new Staples partnership, please contact Mathnasium Support at support@mathnasium.com ^[8]. Please reference the Operations Manual ^[9] for further details.

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