Businesses should have franchising in mind from the beginning. However, this is said with some provisos. If you’re asking yourself, ‘should I franchise my business right now’, then read this first.
The thing about franchising a business is that a franchisor is responsible, not just for running their own business, but for making sure their franchisees can run their businesses profitably. This means a franchisor really needs to be experienced in business so they can offer the support franchisees need.
If you are new to business, the focus should be to get the right experience under your belt and not worry about the complexities of growth and franchising for the time being.
However, if you have been in I business for a while and you are looking to set up a new business or take your existing business to the next stage, structuring it like a franchise is absolutely the way to go.
Provided I am dealing with an experienced business owner, I know it is absolutely possible to establish a franchised business from concept. The myth saying you have to run a business for a number of years to prove profitability has been disproved on many occasions.
A great example of starting a franchise from a concept is a drone franchise I dealt with a while ago
I was approached at an Expo in August a few years ago by two experienced businessmen wanting to establish a franchise for a new concept around drones. I was immediately captivated by both their concept and the expertise shown by both partners and my first impression was not wrong. By the following March, the company was exhibiting at the next Expo, looking to recruit franchisees. The business has grown hand over fist and is now expanding into the US.
The thing about these guys is experience showed them they needed to be absolutely clear about what they were offering to their clients.
The benefits of franchising from the get-go are significant. You will get the brand right and clarify exactly what it is you are supplying your target market. Most business owners have a tendency to keep adding bits, complicating things and not appealing to a clear target market. You can’t do this in a franchise if you want to be successful, for myriad reasons.
By clarifying exactly what it is your franchisees’ or company stores will be doing, you will simplify your business, reducing inventory and services and making it easier to run.
And they knew franchises are systemised.
Systemisation underpinned by great operations manuals is the foundation of delegation. With systems, you can put on people to do pretty much everything. This leaves you to take that well-earned holiday you have been promising your family.
Systems are also the foundation for growth, whether you choose to establish corporate stores or franchise. Invariably, those who run their business in this way increase profitability and are able to move themselves out of the humdrum of working in the business rather than on it.
If you are thinking about franchising, I suggest you get a free copy of my book, How to Franchise My Business Simply from my website.