An organization whose mission is to nurture small businesses and entrepreneurs held an online seminar laying out the roadmap to franchising.
Jania Bailey, CEO of FranNet, led the session sponsored by SCORE. Bailey has more than 30 years of experience in the banking and franchising industries.
Bailey began with an explanation of franchising. Becoming a franchisee gives access to a blueprint for success based on the track record of the parent company. A franchisee has access to a proven system and procedures to help with rapid and consistent expansion with maximum efficiency while minimizing trial and error.
From there, she laid out five points she has identified as Smart Growth Strategies, beginning with the importance of systemizing everything.
“You want everything documented, no winging it, no figuring it out as we go,” she advised. “It’s got to be systemized and documented and repeatable. As you’re building your business, document all of your tasks. “We need to be sure that the activities we do are documented, so that someone could step in. It’s got to be documented. It’s got to be systemized.”
Closely behind that is the importance of hiring the right people and training them for consistency. Uniform training can provide employees with the same foundation; it leads to fewer mistakes and combines to give customers a positive experience, resulting in nurturing loyalty and trust.
“If we’re not training people, they’re figuring it out on their own. It’s not going to be consistent from one person to the next,” she explained. “Build a checklist for new hires, be sure you go through those things with them to make sure they’re on board and understand the expectations. Record videos that could help with key tasks. Have those things bundled into a couple of videos that they can watch themselves to define expectations and culture early.”
The next strategy is Know Your Numbers, which is to track data through monthly and quarterly trends. It will identify a warning system for developing problems and opportunities for growth. Strategy #4 is Brand with Intention. Franchises sell trust and familiarity through their relationship with well-known, nationally recognized businesses, but it must be more than just a familiar name and logo. It is also attention to customer needs and experiences to make them want to return.
Bailey said the final strategy may be the most difficult of all: Learn to Let Go.
“You’d start by offloading some not-so-critical tasks on a day-to-day basis. Then you start looking at what the roles that everyone is playing,” she said. “Don’t just assign job titles. Make sure people understand what goes with that title, what the expectations are. And then empower people by having clear systems. Be sure that you’ve put the framework together to be able to delegate and step back some and empower others to run that business.”
She cautioned that franchising is not a shortcut to success. It is a launchpad. But to be successful, the franchisee must be open to learning from systems developed by the parent company with a willingness to follow the established processes for success. A successful franchisee is also a team builder.
Learn more about how SCORE can help small businesses and entrepreneurs at https://www.score.org/greateraiken.
