What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Franchising
What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Franchising
By Ed Teixeira
As a small business owner how often have you felt like your business would implode if you weren’t there to watch over it? How many times have you taken a day off or gone on vacation only to be constantly interrupted with telephone calls and questions? Have you considered selling your businesses but were wary to precede because you weren’t sure if your business was in the right condition to appeal to buyers? Chances are you’ve had to face these issues at some point in time.
The answer to these problems may lie with the concept of franchising.
Franchising the most dynamic business model in the world, generates over 1.5 trillion dollars in revenue and millions of jobs in the U.S. alone. On a worldwide basis franchising continues to grow in popularity. From China to Kuwait franchising is expanding and in many cases importing U.S. brands.
Wherever a person travels there are franchise businesses. Consider the services and products that we purchase from franchisees. From tutoring services for our children to food for our family there is virtually no business that hasn’t been franchised.
Every day countless small business owners consider franchising as a way to grow their business and achieve their financial dreams.
There is a certain allure to franchising yet most small and medium size businesses continue to operate independently.
If franchising has become such a successful business model can we learn from this success and apply the results to other businesses? The answer to this question is a resounding yes!
There are certain fundamental principles of franchising that make it rather unique. By applying some of these principles to your business it will operate more efficiently and you’ll become a more effective and resourceful business owner.
These franchise principles include:
1. An attractive service or product with a common brand with trademark protection
2. The processes for running the business can be systematized
3. When guidelines and procedures are followed success typically follows
4. There is a strong emphasis on marketing and brand promotion
5. Standards of quality are established for the franchisees and they are enforced
6. Franchisee performance is evaluated on a regular basis
7. Franchisees are recognized for outstanding performance
These same principles can be applied to an independent business. The approach I recommend is to organize and construct your business to operate as if it were a franchise. Establishing a franchise operation is a complex project however; I’ve simplified the process.
Here are the steps to follow:
1. If your business has a unique name with potential future value you should trademark it. This will protect you from competitors or copycat operations.
2. Set up a simple operations manual which details each component of your business
This doesn’t have to be complex. You want to document the important components of your business. You’ll have your business operations in one manual for training and employee reference. You can do this yourself or engage a qualified professional. The objective is to write your manual as if it were going to be used by a franchisee.
The manual table of contents would look like this:
a. Description of your business
b. Location set-up
c. Products and supplies
d. Recommended inventories
e. Quality and customer standards
f. Customer service
g. Personnel and human resources
h. Marketing and Sales
i. Bookkeeping
j. Public Relations
3. Follow consistent policies for recruiting, screening, interviewing and hiring employees. Have job descriptions. In addition establish specific policies for employee evaluations and salary reviews. Adhere to work schedules, which are equitable for all employees.
4. Have a mission statement for your business based upon your market. Establish a marketing program for developing and growing your business. Organize your marketing and sales activities so that all of your employees perform these tasks the same way. Don’t leave anything to chance.
5. Have a simple disaster recovery plan for bad weather or other events, which would make it difficult for your employees to get to work or prevent your business from operating.
6. Establish sales goals for the business and have incentives for your employees. These could be inexpensive prizes. Have meetings on a regular basis to maintain communications with your employees.
The benefits of franchising can be applied to independent businesses. When properly applied this exercise will result in a business that can be operated by employees who know their job and understand how each employee contributes to the successful operation of the business.
Another option is to operate your business as a true franchise. Bridge can determine if your business qualifies and what it takes to be a franchise.
Copyright 2006, FranchiseKnowHow, LLC
What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Franchising - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Teixeira's Website.
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WHAT SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS CAN LEARN FROM FRANCHISING
By Ed Teixeira
As a small business owner how often have you felt like your business would implode if you weren’t there to watch over it? How many times have you taken a day off or gone on vacation only to be constantly interrupted with telephone calls and questions? Have you considered selling your businesses but were wary to precede because you weren’t sure if your business was in the right condition to appeal to buyers? Chances are you’ve had to face these issues at some point in time.
The answer to these problems may lie with the concept of franchising.
Franchising the most dynamic business model in the world, generates over 1.5 trillion dollars in revenue and millions of jobs in the U.S. alone. On a worldwide basis franchising continues to grow in popularity. From China to Kuwait franchising is expanding and in many cases importing U.S. brands.
Wherever a person travels there are franchise businesses. Consider the services and products that we purchase from franchisees. From tutoring services for our children to food for our family there is virtually no business that hasn’t been franchised.
Every day countless small business owners consider franchising as a way to grow their business and achieve their financial dreams.
There is a certain allure to franchising yet most small and medium size businesses continue to operate independently.
If franchising has become such a successful business model can we learn from this success and apply the results to other businesses? The answer to this question is a resounding yes!
There are certain fundamental principles of franchising that make it rather unique. By applying some of these principles to your business it will operate more efficiently and you’ll become a more effective and resourceful business owner.
These franchise principles include:
1. An attractive service or product with a common brand with trademark protection
2. The processes for running the business can be systematized
3. When guidelines and procedures are followed success typically follows
4. There is a strong emphasis on marketing and brand promotion
5. Standards of quality are established for the franchisees and they are enforced
6. Franchisee performance is evaluated on a regular basis
7. Franchisees are recognized for outstanding performance
These same principles can be applied to an independent business. The approach I recommend is to organize and construct your business to operate as if it were a franchise. Establishing a franchise operation is a complex project however; I’ve simplified the process.
Here are the steps to follow:
1. If your business has a unique name with potential future value you should trademark it. This will protect you from competitors or copycat operations.
2. Set up a simple operations manual which details each component of your business
This doesn’t have to be complex. You want to document the important components of your business. You’ll have your business operations in one manual for training and employee reference. You can do this yourself or engage a qualified professional. The objective is to write your manual as if it were going to be used by a franchisee.
The manual table of contents would look like this:
a. Description of your business
b. Location set-up
c. Products and supplies
d. Recommended inventories
e. Quality and customer standards
f. Customer service
g. Personnel and human resources
h. Marketing and Sales
i. Bookkeeping
j. Public Relations
3. Follow consistent policies for recruiting, screening, interviewing and hiring employees. Have job descriptions. In addition establish specific policies for employee evaluations and salary reviews. Adhere to work schedules, which are equitable for all employees.
4. Have a mission statement for your business based upon your market. Establish a marketing program for developing and growing your business. Organize your marketing and sales activities so that all of your employees perform these tasks the same way. Don’t leave anything to chance.
5. Have a simple disaster recovery plan for bad weather or other events, which would make it difficult for your employees to get to work or prevent your business from operating.
6. Establish sales goals for the business and have incentives for your employees. These could be inexpensive prizes. Have meetings on a regular basis to maintain communications with your employees.
The benefits of franchising can be applied to independent businesses. When properly applied this exercise will result in a business that can be operated by employees who know their job and understand how each employee contributes to the successful operation of the business.
Another option is to operate your business as a true franchise. Bridge can determine if your business qualifies and what it takes to be a franchise.
Copyright 2006, FranchiseKnowHow, LLC
What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Franchising - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Teixeira's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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