Having trouble with your American dream?
Now that you have invested your time, energy and money in purchasing a franchise, how do you work within the system? How do you take advantage of all what your franchisor has to offer? How do you deal with your counterparts, other franchisees?
You might want to consider the following tips from various sources to help you thrive and prosper in your new business.
A franchise is like a marriage where maintaining open communications lines is the key.
There are many ways to maintain healthy communications in a franchisee-franchisor relationship, but most of all, you should remember to keep them friendly, helpful, upbeat and honest. Too many times such as relationship becomes adversarial, hostile and aggressive.
If this happens, communications lines can break down and everyone suffers. You as the franchisee have the power to keep communications on a positive note. There are many things that can be done to help your franchisor communicate with you.
Try not to be a chronic complainer. If you have a legitimate complaint, perhaps you could offer some praise first. Then mention the problem you are facing.
If you think you may have a solution -- offer it or offer to sit down and brainstorm with a regional director or company representative.
Offer to meet them at your store -- your point of power -- so you can negotiate from a stronger position. Be friendly. Arrange to meet them during your peak hours. Show the franchisor or their representative how efficient you are, how clean your place is and how you are maintaining standards to a tee. Treat it like a military inspection. Then explain the problem.
Give them your suggestions and ask what should you do? Remember: The art of diplomacy is letting someone else get your way.
But regional directors, the personal arm of the franchisor, is not the only contact you will have with your franchisor. Your franchisor will have staff members, vendors and consultants, all of whom are there to assist you in your business. Each of these groups should be treated differently, but all should be treated with respect. Treat them like you want your customers to treat you, because essentially you are their customer and they work for you.
The office staff at the franchisor's headquarters are usually very efficient and sharp. They have to be to keep up with the busy schedule and fast moving pace of the franchisor.
As a matter of fact, a lazy or inefficient employee will never survive in the hectic day-to-day operations of a franchisor. Every one is in a hurry, calling, e-mailing or faxing to get things done. They realize you are equally busy in your outlet and don't have time to be left on hold. You need to run your business. However, don't take your frustrations out on the office staff. They are as busy as you.
Think about it this way: there might be fifteen other people like you who are very stressed and pressed for time on the phone. If you are sincere, polite, upbeat and thankful when you call, you may possibly be the only person who was nice that day. They will remember that.
If you are abrupt, rude, arrogant, etc, your request may be placed at the bottom of the pile, which at a franchisor's headquarters may be a long way down.
What if you need a new piece of equipment for your store and all you require from the headquarters is a letter faxed to your bank. If you're nice, the staffer may simply walk down the hall and pull out your file and fax the letter right then.
If you're rude, they might put your request in a basket of things to do and wait for required signatures, which might take a week.
Either way is within accordance of the franchise agreement. It's really up to you.
Remember, whatever they recommend to the franchisor might be implemented. So if you deny them reasonable access to your business or purposely hide things from them, you run up consulting costs and any recommendations may be worthless. Worse yet, whatever is implemented by the franchisor from the consultant's recommendations will affect your outlet.
All franchisors are not the same. Some have a very corporate attitude and some are very down to earth and almost folksy. No matter what type you belong to, communication is still the key.
With a small franchisor, you may be able to call the president or founder directly. A franchisor with fewer than 30 units needs your input at the top level. He or she will still be working out administrative and organizational bugs in the system.
Your success is a very serious issue with them. They can't afford very many franchisee failures this early in the game. Your problems and suggestions take precedence over all other aspects of their business.
If you fail, it will effect future sales. It is important for the founder to know how the franchised model performs in different locations, demographics and local economic environments. If they can solve these problems at a unit level now, it will ensure the success of the future units one hundred fold.
In medium-sized franchises, you may not have the opportunity to be on a first name basis with the founder or president.
However, you will certainly get the chance to meet them. You most likely will be dealing with a master franchise operator and a regional director who will most likely mirror the attitude of the numero uno. You should get to know your master franchise operator and regional director on a first name basis.
They will be concerned about your outlet because a regional director may receive incentives for your performance and a master franchise operator actually receives part of your royalty payments.
Therefore, the more money you generate, the more money they make.
A large franchisor will have layers of corporate management and possibly a combination of master franchises, international franchises and lots of regional directors assigned to different areas.
Some large franchisors may not have a founder any more. The original founder may have sold most of his stake in the company and no longer oversees any part of the actual franchisor's operation.
Since this may happen at any time, it's even more important to know your master franchise operator or regional director and be on good terms with them. They will still be there tomorrow no matter who buys, sells or trades stock ownership or rights at the corporate headquarters.
Solutions
Chances are the regional director has encountered your same problem in other franchised outlets. The regional director could tell you what other franchisees did to solve that problem and which solutions worked best and which ones didn't work at all. Also, which solutions were approved by the company and which ones were not and why.
Staying on good terms with your regional director can be very valuable.
Let's say your franchisor wants to test a new product in a certain region and they ask the regional director in that region which outlet will be the easiest to use for the test market.
If you are on good terms with corporate office staff and your local regional director, you may be picked.
This will help you attract new business to your store and pay for new signage. Even if the test market fails and the new product or service is never implemented system wide, you still win because you now have a larger customer base and more local awareness of your business. By the way, over 50 percent of new products fail and it's certainly nice to have someone else pay for it.
Assisting
Due to the expansion rates of franchisors, sometimes they will have to call on franchisees for help. To move fast in the marketplace, you need a strong team. Franchisors know this and no one is more dedicated than individual small business owners. That's exactly what franchisees are. Sometimes there is not enough time to gear up to meet the demand of a growing system. Franchisors must call on franchisees to help in, among other things: * Training * Product development * Sales of new units * Streamlining systems and * Marketing of services
Usually the franchisors are willing to pay for this help.
Of course, if you are a chronic complainer and a problematic franchisee, none of these extra perks of belonging to a system will be available to you.
The following are some few examples of things that franchisees can do to boost sales:
* Promotion
Let's say you sponsor a little league team that wins the county championship, tell your franchisor. They'll want to put it in their newsletter and send it to all the other franchisees. They will show it as an example of good local public relations.
* Efficiency
In your day-to-day operations, you may design a form on your computer to help you increase efficiency at your store. Fax it to the franchisor.
* Expansion
If you want to expand by adding another store, do some preliminary demographic work and a financing study, and ask your franchisor to review it. You'll definitely improve your chances of having your plans approved. Also include a schedule of estimated increased income from royalties and purchases in your package to the franchisor.
* Clubs
It is important for you to join at least one service club. It helps your business become part of the town. If your neighboring franchisees belong to certain groups, you should belong to a group which they are not.
For instance, if one belongs to the Rotary, you should join the Lions or be on the board of directors for the Red Cross or city-run committees. Most service clubs work on big projects with their local affiliated committees, and if you and your neighboring franchisee are in the same club, you'll be duplicating services.
* Relationship
It is important to call up and just say hello to your fellow franchisees. It will remind them that you are always near by. You will get something positive out of the phone call such as: - A good lead - A streamlining technique - A way to handle a new employee - Someone who will listen to your problems - A time efficient way to attract new customers - A mistake that was made
You can also talk about the worst customer of the week or the most ridiculous complaint of the year. You can tell them a story about "the customer from hell" and they will surely have a story to match.
* Meetings
Round up the nearest four to five franchisees and have a monthly meeting. Invite your regional director to join in and take notes. Make the meeting low-key, a brainstorming session perhaps. Talk shop. The company representative will take your concerns to the top. Make it a happy atmosphere over a meal. Perhaps pizza. Keep it light, with few complaints and lots of solutions and ideas.
* Referrals
If a customer wants service outside your exclusive territory or is too far away to shop in your store, try to refer them to another franchisee in your system. This will strengthen your company's goodwill and name.
Remember when owning a franchise, you are in business for yourself, but not by yourself. Use this fact to your advantage.
Enjoy your American Dream. And no matter what you do, don't ever give up.
It's all about communication, team work and attitude.