5 Simple Ways to Ensure That Your New Franchise Succeeds

 

Buying a franchise and starting off on your own can be a life-changing decision. For one, you will be committing a great deal of money, possibly a good portion of your savings. You would probably also borrow from a financial institution or a bank.

 

The pressure on you to make a success of your franchise would be great. Your ability to meet your repayment obligations to the lender would depend on how well your new venture does and the amount of cash that it generates. You would also have to commit your time and energy to the franchise. It is quite likely that you would have to work long hours, especially in the initial stages.

 

Most franchise owners are willing to do everything that is necessary to ensure that they get off to a good start and meet their business targets. But your success often depends on how carefully you have selected your new franchise and the manner in which you have conducted the due diligence exercise.

 

Here are some steps that you can take to shift the odds in your favor.

 

1.    Select the franchisor carefully

 

There are literally thousands of options that are available. How will you make a choice? Don’t make the mistake of using only financial considerations. Say, the budget that you have in mind is $100,000 (including the sum that you intend to borrow.) Your choice should not be limited to only those franchises that you can afford.

 

Instead, find a business that appeals to you. More importantly, you should have some skills or expertise that will give you an edge over the competition. This could even mean that you select a business that only requires half your budget.

 

Visit an existing franchise and see how the business operates. Can you imagine yourself running a similar enterprise? It is also a good idea to speak to several existing franchisees to gain an understanding of the issues that they face.

 

2. Select an appropriate location

 

If the franchise involves renting a physical retail location, your choice will play a large role in determining your business volumes. An outlet in a high-traffic area could cost more, but the greater sales could more than justify the expense.

 

Selecting a location should be a carefully considered process. If you happen to see a large number of people in the area that you are considering, you may think that the location is an ideal choice. But it may be wise to dig a little deeper. Are the crowds seasonal? Or are there a large number of students? A university or an educational institution in the vicinity may result in low footfalls for several months every year.

 

3. Seek advice from an expert

 

When selecting a franchisor, the range of options before you can be overwhelming. You could shortlist five or ten companies and then try to make a choice after studying their brochures or websites. But if you do this, you would be severely restricting your options. Additionally, it would be highly time-consuming to conduct a due diligence of even a handful of companies.

 

Remember that selecting the most appropriate franchisor is critical to your success. How can you make sense of the multitude of options before you?

 

Using the services of an expert can help you in making your decision. The Entrepreneur Authority, a franchise advisor, uses a structured process to guide you in selecting a franchisor that best meets your needs and your skill profile.

 

An added advantage is that the service is absolutely free. The Entrepreneur Authority is compensated by the franchisor if you decide to sign on.

 

4. Develop your people skills

 

The results that you achieve will depend to a large extent on your communication skills and your personal effectiveness.

 

You will need to develop leadership skills and learn how to motivate your employees. Carry out a frank self-assessment. Do you know how to build trust and inspire your team? Are you a good listener? Will you take out the time to train your employees?

 

Cheerful workers who are willing to put in their best can be your greatest assets. On the other, disgruntled and sullen staff will drive customers away.

 

Don’t neglect this vital requirement. If you are unsure about your ability to manage others, it may be worthwhile to spend some time in acquiring the skills that are needed to lead and inspire your team.

 

5.    Track your finances carefully

 

The cost structure in a franchise operation is higher than in an independent small business. You will have to make regular repayments towards the loans that you have taken to finance your franchise fee and to purchase fixed assets. Your employees will have to be paid and there will be a number of other administrative costs.

 

All these expenses will strain your finances, especially in the initial months when sales volumes are low. You will have to keep a close watch on your cash flow and ensure that you have the liquidity to meet all your commitments.

 

Even if you use the services of an accountant, it is essential that you remain completely involved in all financial matters. Monitoring your cash flow on a daily basis will provide you with the information that you need to cut costs and strengthen your financial position.

 

Follow the rules imposed by the franchisor

 

Finally, remember that you must follow the conditions laid down in the franchise agreement. Don’t try to save money by taking shortcuts or deviating from the franchisor’s stipulations.

 

It is your legal obligation to stay within the terms of the agreement. In extreme situations, breaking the rules could lead to your franchise getting terminated and result in large financial losses. 

The ages-old nature/nurture debate has gone on for decades. Is a person the product of their environment (nurture) or the genetic traits and qualities passed down to them from their parents (nature)? Applying this question specifically to entrepreneurship – are entrepreneurs made or born? In other words, what is more important to your entrepreneurial success – your genetic endowment or what you do and experience out in the world?

In one sense, the way I posed the question isn’t fair. I asked it in the form of an either/or question. The reality, not surprisingly, is more complicated because it’s really a both/and situation. Both matter, and knowing where you fall in the mix will help you be more successful in your entrepreneurial efforts. 

It’s surprising how many people still hold to the belief that entrepreneurs are born, meaning that you’ve simply got to have a certain set of personality traits and inner characteristics to be a successful entrepreneur. Many such lists of traits and qualities have been posed over the years. Perennial favorites that seem to appear on most lists include the following:

• Ability to spot opportunities.
• Willingness to take calculated risks.
• Tolerance for failure.
• Strong internal locus of control (belief that actions taken affect outcomes).
• High drive to succeed.
• Tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Willingness to question and go against the status quo. 

It’s completely fair and accurate to say that if you’re born with all of these qualities in spades, you’re going to naturally have a whole lot easier time becoming a successful entrepreneur than someone who’s got less of them.

But the plain fact of the matter is that many of these traits can also be thought of as skills, which means they can be improved through education and training. You can learn how to get better at spotting opportunities. You be trained in how to tolerate failure (and learn from it). You can be taught how to not let uncertainty and ambiguity cause so much discomfort. You can be schooled in how to question the status quo. 

In a way, this both/and approach to entrepreneurship should come as no surprise. After all, most people know of a pair of siblings or friends where one was clearly smarter in terms of raw IQ but the other one always got the better grades because they worked harder at it. That’s why my answer to the nature/nurture debate when it comes to entrepreneurs is this: You’ve got to take what nature gave you and nurture along to reach your entrepreneurial goals.

There’s also an important implication here about self-knowledge. You need to know your natural baseline on the qualities listed above in order to come up with a nurturing game plan that will boost yourself in areas needing enhancement. Taking some time for honest self-assessment is one way to determine your baseline. Another way is to take any number of entrepreneurial self-assessment surveys. A great collection to choose from can be found in the article Entrepreneur Self Assessment: 9 Professional Tools and Tests. Armed with this kind of knowledge, you’ll be well on your way to entrepreneurial success no matter what your starting point. Good luck!

Striking the right balance between corporate and local marketing is tricky.

Franchise brands are most successful when they have a professional, consistent image portrayed to the public, but one which is also localized enough that smaller-scale communities feel in touch with it.

So, how can franchisees help drive business through marketing targeted to customers in their area?

Media attention is key – it crafts a story and helps reach as many people as possible, often without costing as much as other marketing campaigns.

Here are 4 Local PR Strategies to Boost Franchisee Business:

1. Have a creative, exciting franchise launch. When you’re preparing for the grand opening of your franchise, go a little outside the box to garner media attention. While a well-crafted press release will work to get some media to cover your story, the best may need more to get their attention. If you’re opening a golf franchise, for example, one idea would be to hold a mini-competition on the day of a launch with a local celebrity competing against the public.

2. Partner with a transitions employment program. Work with a local organization that helps people with disabilities transition to the workforce. Whether it’s veterans, young adults with autism, or underprivileged youth trying to secure employment, this is not only a great way to help those in your community – it’s also a great story the public would want to hear about.

3. Sponsor fundraisers, sports teams, and amazing individuals. Is there a major fundraiser happening in your area? Partner with it. Know of a sports team that doesn’t have money for jerseys? Sponsor them. By helping a needy cause in your community, you’re directly giving back to your customers. The media gravitates to goodwill stories like this, and will most often be happy to provide some coverage.

4. Get to know the media in your area. Seems simple enough, but sometimes it really is about who you know and not what you know. Even if you have a top-notch press release or a great story that needs coverage, knowing a reporter can make it that much easier to get a story covered when you need it. You can sometimes meet and interact with journalists on Twitter and Facebook, or can meet them at various fundraisers and community events.

To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path. The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

Why are military veterans so well-suited for the franchise industry?

It’s as if their core characteristics have been specifically tailored to becoming a successful franchisee.

In fact, that’s what the military has done. Through their military training, veterans have acquired the most important skills required to becoming a successful franchisee – helping them become successful leaders in the industry and superb entrepreneurs.

Here are the Top 4 Reasons Military Veterans Make Great Franchisees:

1. The Ability to Follow Systems and Structure. In the military, vets had to following systems and structure to succeed in their missions. Through this intense training and lifestyle, military veterans have this ability ingrained in them – and are able to seamlessly transfer it to the franchise industry, where they flourish in following tried-and-true processes.

2. An Almost Unparalleled Hard Work Ethic. Owning a business takes work, and franchising is no different. But hard work yields success – and military veterans know how to push through tough obstacles to get the job done. On top of this, they are also able to lead and inspire a strong work-ethic culture for their employees – leading to even greater success.

3. Ability to React and Adapt Under Pressure. As a new franchisee, things are bound to happen fast: from customer complaints to supplier issues, anything and everything will most likely occur at least once – sometimes at a moment’s notice. What military veterans do best, however, is react quickly under pressure and find efficient solutions to problems.

4. Veterans Stick to the Plan to Complete Missions. There is no place for rogue members in the military. Instead, military veterans were required to closely follow their missions in order to succeed together. In franchising, it’s no different: a franchisee follows the processes set out by the franchisor to succeed, because it’s been proven to work time and time again.

To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path. The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

Chances are on your way to or from your 9-5 grind you will pass a successful franchise and not even know it. Part of this is due to the fact that the term franchise has become somewhat synonymous with the fast food restaurant and any franchise outside of that niche is barely recognized as one. The other reason I am confident that you will pass by a successful franchise today is that they are nearly everywhere these days touching nearly every industry imaginable. Far beyond pizza and hamburgers, the franchise model has been used to grow various niches from fashion, tools, health care, education and beyond. If you can think of an industry I can likely think of a franchise that touches it in some manner or another. This is great news for the would be entrepreneur who has always longed to become the captain of one’s own financial destiny but never really saw themselves asking “would you like fries with that?” So let’s take a quick look at the breadth of the franchise industry and see if a life’s passion doesn’t just jump up and bite you.

The Benefits of Franchising

Before we take a look at the scope of the industry, let’s first cover very briefly exactly what makes the franchise model so successful. Franchising puts the owner in command of their own destiny without asking them to go it alone. Let’s face it, not everyone is going to become the next Jeff Bezos of Amazon who is going to come up with the next big new idea to make them the next billionaire. That being said, there is a great deal of entrepreneurial talent still trapped in the your standard 9-5 grind because they can’t envision the opportunity out.

Franchising gives the first time entrepreneur not only that opportunity, but a proven business model to follow. In fact, if a franchise doesn’t believe in the new franchisee or the market they are entering they often won’t even both to award a franchise. The franchise understands that their name, brand and reputation are on the line every time they open a new location. So should you find yourself the new recipient of a franchise you can feel pretty good that the experts think you’ve got a pretty good shot at success.

This is of course not guaranteed and those new to the world of franchising have an obligation to do their homework. Talk to other franchise owners and make sure the franchise gives you all the pertinent data. If you do that, then your first franchise can often be the first step in a path towards an empire of franchises that gives you a steady stream of income for the future. It is hard work and there are risks, but unless you’ve created the next billion dollar widget in your basement it is often the safest path to an entrepreneurial future. Enough about the numbers, let’s talk about the passion.

Find Your Passion and Find Your Profit

This is where the full spectrum of the franchise industry comes into play on behalf of the new franchisee. You don’t have to flip burgers my friend. Although, fast-food can offer some pretty reliable profits and you’ll never hear the owner of multiple McDonald’s franchises complaining about being poor. Yet, you can branch out and pick an industry more to your liking. If caring for others has always been your life’s passion you’d be please to know that the senior service industry is one of the hottest niches in franchising right now. From home care agencies that allow seniors to age with dignity and grace in their own homes to those who help seniors move and downsize there are opportunities for you.

What’s great about the senior services franchises is not only do the provide a pretty good return on investment, but the initial investment to get started is actually pretty low. No ovens, grills or major equipment of which to speak. Just a dedicated group of staff or caregivers and you are ready to go. Then again, perhaps educating children is your passion. There are a host of franchises involved with youth from daycare to STEM education and more. That’s right, you don’t have to flip burgers to franchise your way to success as you can educate children in science and math.

If you consider yourself the next Tim “the toolman” Taylor from Home Improvement we’ve got tool franchises for you. Like to help make people feel beautiful? There are countless hair salons you can open. Fancy yourself a fitness buff? Why not open one of the many successful fitness gyms so you can cash in on those new year’s resolutions to lose weight. Pet supplies, accounting services and yes good old fashioned pizza, I think you get the point by now. Find your passion and thanks to the franchise model with a little hard work and determination you will find your profit.

In Conclusion

I’ll confess that perhaps it was a stretch to say that every single industry has a franchise but it is so close to discernible truth that I’ll allow it. Franchising is more than burgers and fries my friends. Once you realize that, it is as if your wildest childhood dreams come true. Yes, there are comic book store franchises so that is not a stretch either. Running a franchise is work and you’ll not hear me be the one to tell you it is the path to easy money. Oh, but it is a path to harnessing your passion and making you captain of your own destiny. Name an industry and I’ll most likely show you a franchise is perhaps what I should have said. Then again, that’s not really as catchy a title is it? Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have more question about franchising and who knows, maybe a future without precedent is right around the corner for you.

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