How to Evaluate a Franchisor Training Program
How to Evaluate a Franchisor Training Program
I’m always impressed when young people have the foresight to investigate franchising. I have seen, thousands of times, what a leg up a franchise can be for people – young or not so young – who want to be at the helm.
Why do I believe franchising is the best route to self-employment? Primarily because of the high success rate franchises have. And why are the success rates so high? Because in franchising you buy a proven business model – and you receive training in that business model – training that should set you up to be a successful franchisee.
Most franchisors build their training programs on the assumption that you – the new franchisee – have never worked in this business before. Franchisors also assume that you have never owned your own business before. Their intention is to design a thorough training program that positions the franchisee for success. Frankly, some franchisors are better at this than others.
The quality of the training is absolutely critical, so ignore intentions, and focus on facts. Here are 7 things to do when evaluating a franchise training program.
1. Talk to existing franchisees about how well they are doing. Read Chapter 11 of my franchise book, The Educated Franchisee, to learn how to approach franchisees. Ask franchisees if the initial training program positioned them for success.
2. Find out how long each franchisee you talk with has been in business, and ask what s/he thought about the training. If they’re new, your training experience will probably be most like theirs. If they’ve been in the franchise for a while, ask if they find the on-going support to be effective.
3. Find out what stood out in training, and what could have been covered more thoroughly. Ask how prepared they felt when they opened the business.
4. Ask about support materials and on-going programs. Is the operations manual updated regularly? How is the intranet used? Are there regular conference calls? Annual meetings? Are they effective?
5. Ask the franchisor and franchisee what is covered besides the product or service. A strong program should also cover business set-up (location, leases, permits, build-outs, equipment, software, etc.), business and accounting procedures, reporting requirements, employee management, marketing, and so on.
6. Is there a company store? While not necessary, this can be an excellent way to get some “hands on” training.
7. Read the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), provided by the franchisor. Training highlights should be outlined in Item 11.
Adequate training and on-going support will be critical to your success. If you do your homework and don’t hear good things about the franchise training program, walk away. Don’t assume you will be able to overcome poor training. Even if you could, others will not be so lucky, and you’ll find yourself in a failing system.
Do your homework, and ensure you’ll walk out of training ready and able to meet your goals and become a confident and successful franchise business owner!
How to Evaluate a Franchisor Training Program - To learn more about this author, visit Rick Bisio's Website.
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I have often thought that a small franchise could be the perfect one-size-fits-all college graduation present. Just imagine – if every business person owned, or had owned and sold his/her own franchise business, what a smart and effective work force we would have. Their franchise educations would make them incredible business people.
I’m always impressed when young people have the foresight to investigate franchising. I have seen, thousands of times, what a leg up a franchise can be for people – young or not so young – who want to be at the helm.
Why do I believe franchising is the best route to self-employment? Primarily because of the high success rate franchises have. And why are the success rates so high? Because in franchising you buy a proven business model – and you receive training in that business model – training that should set you up to be a successful franchisee.
Most franchisors build their training programs on the assumption that you – the new franchisee – have never worked in this business before. Franchisors also assume that you have never owned your own business before. Their intention is to design a thorough training program that positions the franchisee for success. Frankly, some franchisors are better at this than others.
The quality of the training is absolutely critical, so ignore intentions, and focus on facts. Here are 7 things to do when evaluating a franchise training program.
1. Talk to existing franchisees about how well they are doing. Read Chapter 11 of my franchise book, The Educated Franchisee, to learn how to approach franchisees. Ask franchisees if the initial training program positioned them for success.
2. Find out how long each franchisee you talk with has been in business, and ask what s/he thought about the training. If they’re new, your training experience will probably be most like theirs. If they’ve been in the franchise for a while, ask if they find the on-going support to be effective.
3. Find out what stood out in training, and what could have been covered more thoroughly. Ask how prepared they felt when they opened the business.
4. Ask about support materials and on-going programs. Is the operations manual updated regularly? How is the intranet used? Are there regular conference calls? Annual meetings? Are they effective?
5. Ask the franchisor and franchisee what is covered besides the product or service. A strong program should also cover business set-up (location, leases, permits, build-outs, equipment, software, etc.), business and accounting procedures, reporting requirements, employee management, marketing, and so on.
6. Is there a company store? While not necessary, this can be an excellent way to get some “hands on” training.
7. Read the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), provided by the franchisor. Training highlights should be outlined in Item 11.
Adequate training and on-going support will be critical to your success. If you do your homework and don’t hear good things about the franchise training program, walk away. Don’t assume you will be able to overcome poor training. Even if you could, others will not be so lucky, and you’ll find yourself in a failing system.
Do your homework, and ensure you’ll walk out of training ready and able to meet your goals and become a confident and successful franchise business owner!
How to Evaluate a Franchisor Training Program - To learn more about this author, visit Rick Bisio's Website.
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva'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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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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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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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson'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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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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