As I was enjoying my Iced Café Americano at a well-known coffee chain one afternoon with my best buddies, one of them said, “You know, I’ve been thinking of easy ways to invest my money and I’m pretty sure franchising this coffee shop is a sure success.”
In which he further added, “I mean, I’ve always wanted to start a business but don’t want to invest a lot of effort in it. This chain is obviously present wherever I go. So, it’s got to be an easier option than doing my own startup business, right?”
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
While it’s true that franchising can give a better safety net when it comes to risks vs doing your own startup business, it does not necessarily make your franchise business a guaranteed success. After all, making a business (be it franchise or startup) reach its full potential requires the right mix of skills and hard work.
Being highly strategic and making wise decisions every step of the way can make a big difference to your franchise’s viability. Are you ready to grow your franchise business? Here are proven ways to help you succeed in this business endeavor.
1. SHARPEN YOUR PEOPLE SKILLS
Believe it or not, franchising is not for everyone. It takes a lot of interpersonal skills and intense work ethic to thrive in this field of business. If you think you are lacking these skills, here are some tips that you can work on to improve yourself:
- Walk the talk. Don’t just command your employees on the things that they have to do. Always lead by example with an enthusiastic attitude and your people will follow you.
- Prioritize your people. Your employees and customers are your greatest asset. It is very important to create a working environment built on loyalty, value, and trust.
- Seek out and follow advice. Benchmark proven best practices developed by other people and apply it to your business rather than creating your own approach all the time.
2. FIND THE RIGHT FRANCHISE
Franchising is still a very broad business venture. To know the best type of franchise that you can have, take note of the following steps.
- Know yourself, including your strengths and weaknesses. Also, take some time to compute the amount of financial resources you currently have to start a business.
- Carefully review all disclosure documents. This is a very important assignment that you need to do before investing your money on a franchise business. Take note of their financial statements, with consideration on any litigation or bankruptcy information in the document. You don’t want to waste your money to an unencumbered franchise, do you?
- Gather information from current franchisees. Look for a proven track record of excellence from franchisees that have gone before you. Ask current franchisees if their current earnings are similar to what the company is claiming. Most importantly, ask them if they are satisfied with their franchise.
- Align company values and culture with your own. Verify this by spending time talking to the employees and officers of the franchise company and make sure that they have the same values and principles as you do.
- Take calculated risks. Leverage on the idea that a franchise has a well-established system and process incorporated with it. Although any business has a certain amount of risk associated in it, make sure that your chosen franchise’s risk is as small and carefully controlled as possible.
3. ALWAYS STICK TO THE RULES.
You choose to franchise because it has an established and proven system of operations that they have used ever since the business started. To make the most out of it (and maximize success), make sure you do the following:
- Seize every training opportunity. Invest time in learning the franchise system to know the company’s best practices and apply it to your franchise business. The learning you have acquired will eventually pay huge dividends in the form of happy customers.
- After learning these best practices, make sure to quickly execute it in your business. Learning how to do it is one thing, but taking all the necessary actions to execute the work is another. Remember that time is very crucial in running a business. After execution, make sure to conduct regular performance evaluation to see if those practices are improving your business operations.
- Don’t innovate too much. By franchising, you have given up your freedom to creatively innovate your business. As tempting as it may be, changing too much in your franchise business significantly reduces its chance of becoming successful.
- Lend a helping hand. After you have successfully established your franchise business, it’s time to share your knowledge and expertise to other franchisees. This is a win-win situation for the both of you, since they get help from you and at the same time you can also learn new tools and strategies from them that you can implement in your own business.
Succeeding in a franchise business requires a hands-on leader who takes pleasure working with a certain set of rules. It is a big responsibility and requires a lot of grit for the part of the franchisee, but it can also be very rewarding if you just know how to navigate your way to success.