If you want your franchise venture to be successful, you have to know how to run it effectively. Here we discuss some tips on how to run a franchise well.
In most ways, running a franchise is comparable to owning any business. The major departure from something you start yourself is you will start with a well-known or at least somewhat well-known brand and products. Because of this (hypothetically), you won’t need to manufacture brand identity or invent a product or service idea. You should also be furnished with manuals and process templates to kick you off.
However, you will still have to deal with day-to-day operations, such as hiring and managing employees, keeping track of finances, and marketing or utilizing established franchise marketing wisely to attract customers.
Recruit great staff
Key in any business and no different here is to find a good staff. Carefully design pre-hire testing and review processes to reach this goal. Your franchise should offer tools to assist in this function. Even if they do, you may want to involve a third party staff consultant to make good hires for your key positions in particular.
Should you possess minimal hiring experience, you may want to have an outside consultant or agency help you with hiring staff. Their experience could save you from headaches later. It is so key to your business success that you select the right people to fill your positions, especially supervisory positions, that you should really focus on getting it right the first time.
And teach them to perform well
Developing your team is equally important. While most franchises include training manuals and such, it is up to you to employ your people management skills to get the most out of your staff. Work to boost employee morale and motivation and it will pay off with better customer/client service and gain you new business.
It can also help to have an orderly system in place and perhaps incentives, such as bonuses and awards, to inspire employees to perform their jobs better.
Financial management
Just as in any business, an important element of managing a franchise is keeping a close eye on profit/loss and keeping track of finances. Most often your franchise should have significant software, systems and guidance available to you in the accounting and finance area. In fact, it is wise to ensure that significant resources exist in this important area prior to deciding which franchise opportunity to choose.
You should also, however, make sure you engage a professional financial adviser to assist with any aspects that specific to the jurisdiction where you operate. You will also need that support as relates to monitoring the financial health of your operation and to deal with tax issues which are also different depending on your locale of operations.
Getting the word out
Clearly, another integral part of your work will be to bring in business. Of course, you hope that the brand recognition and good product/service offerings of your franchise will help do that for you.
Whichever challenge you face, just go back to the basics involved in any business to find a solution. Analyze your market, consider your competition, and develop a marketing and advertising plan based on that intelligence. There is a good likelihood that the marketing template provided by your franchisor is not exactly one size fits all. You will need to tailor it to your specific market area. When you execute your plan, carefully monitor your results by using methods to track your results. Then, assess what is working and what is not and make adjustments.
Tweaking your plan to customize for your area’s demographics is standard. In addition to this, you will want to keep an eye on what your competition is doing and respond with a different, or possibly the same, approach. Make yourself aware of client/customer preferences and adjust accordingly. Change up your marketing if you current plan is not working, or not working as well as it once did. Experiment with ways to promote your business via new marketing technologies and trends. Include social media in your marketing and generally stay on top of how your marketing plan is producing. Again, your franchise should be offering you fresh creative (advertising material) and support on a consistent basis.
One word: Quality
The product and service quality you offer to your customer will end up making the difference. Focus on this critical piece and you will be successful. Deal with customers professionally. Deliver on your service promises. Correct product/service problems immediately. Take care of your staff and make sure they believe in and perform their jobs with your quality ethic in mind too. Do these things and, just as in any business, you can be successful in running a franchise.
J. Duncan is Chief Editor at openthebusiness.com. See more of his articles and learn more about how to run a franchise along with other new business topics and answers to questions like How do I open a business? at the website. See articles, tips and get free e-reports to get your business going and growing.
How To Run A Franchise For New Franchise Owners is a post from: Start Franchise Help
