POINTERS TO Franchisee Performance

Who wouldn’t want to pick up an opportunity to make more money through a franchised business rather than the risk of curating one’s own venture which can be both slow and tedious? However, any lack of understanding on those critical elements that enable success can actually push one quite in the opposite direction. To my mind, following are the absolute non-negotiable factors that potential franchisees must look for apart from decent returns on their investment:

For any entrepreneur to have continued success it is important to associate with products or services that consumers accept, like and purchase. Anything that is difficult to accept or is seen as niche is both risky and also likely to have a much smaller opportunity. In this context, a known brand as opposed to an unknown brand will always hold a long-term advantage.

Innovative Ways

The ability of a business to keep coming up with new products, propositions and ideas to engage with customers is something that franchisees must look out for.

Tips and Training

Wanting to be an entrepreneur and running a successful franchisee business are two Customers expect brands to different things. The only way to do this is to undergo training that equips you to face the dayto- day challenges of running a consumer-facing business.

Employee Quality

Several franchisees look at employees as mere hands and legs (or cost centres) to run the business. However, one needsto remember that employees who can help sell more by being trustworthy, dedicated and disciplined are worth their weight in gold. They must be encouraged and paid enough to not want to leave the business. The more one invests in them, the more one will be surprised by their ability to contribute to the business.

Essential Guidelines

Franchisees need to remember that their success and failure is linked not just with the success or failure of the brand but also with their own operations. Customers expect brands to behave uniformly across their outlets. And franchisees must remember that. Not only should they avoid setting new operational procedures nor should they dishonour programs and guidelines being followed by the brand.

Franchisees that do so routinely are over time disregarded by customers and eventually face closure either due to the penal action taken by the franchisor or due to customers’ lack of interest in their specific style of operation. A franchisee must endeavor to protect his or her investment and align not just with a potential franchisor but with an organisation that can improve chances of business success.

Comment