Small business owners looking to jump to the
next level may be looking into franchising as a means of expansion and
growth. Before you start looking for potential partners, you need to
fully understand what you are getting into. Franchising isn’t just about
running your small business on a broader scale; it is actually an
entirely new business in itself.
1. Own And Operate A Successful Business
Even if you have this amazing idea that you think will be a smashing
hit across the country, no one will buy into your franchise unless you
have proven that it can make money. Once you’ve created something that
the people want, you start selling the product. And once you can
demonstrate your success at selling the product, you start selling the
business. A strong business model that can work for the right people in
the right locations is one of the keys to success for small business
franchising.
2. Creating Your Brand
Once you’ve established that your product, business model and
operating systems can lead to profit, it’s time to establish your brand.
Start by coming up with a franchise disclosure document and your
official operations manual for potential franchisees. This will
establish your company’s standards, practices, specifications and
guidelines. You should also document just about anything that has led to
the success of your small business. With these tools, new franchisees
should be able to take your brand and sell it within their own markets,
finding the same amount of success you had when you started your small
business.
3. Franchising Is A Business In Itself
You may have been selling the best cookies in your hometown for the
past decade, but once you decide on franchising, you’re taking your
business to a whole other level. For one thing, you may have to change
the way you do things once you decide you want your company to grow and
expand. There will be laws and regulations that you will need to become
familiar with. If you feel you are not capable of running your small
business and your franchise company at the same time, you’ll need to
hire someone to do one or the other.
4. Get Some Help
Just drafting your first franchise disclosure agreement can be a
daunting task for the small business operator turned franchisor. You may
understand the business you’re in, but like tip #3 says, you may not
understand the business of franchising. Start looking for a franchise
attorney and consultant that can assist you with your franchising plans.
5. Get The Right People
Once you’re ready to start screening potential franchisees, you need
to know what you’re looking for. It’s not quite the same as hiring staff
for your small business. You need to look for people who are motivated
and share the same core values. You obviously can’t create multiple
clones of yourself to run each individual franchise, but you can create a
model criteria for selecting the kind of people who you believe will
make your business model successful, no matter where they set up shop.
6. Leave Room For Creativity
One of the benefits of having franchisees who are not exact replicas
of yourself is that they can bring in fresh, innovative ideas that can
make your business more successful. Of course, you want to establish
what parts of your business model and operating procedures are set in
stone, but you also want to encourage creativity and flexibility for
your franchisees to be able to adapt to their specific markets and
locations.
7. Protect Your Brand
Now that you’re taking your small business out from the neighborhood
corner and into a regional, national or even international scale, you’ll
want to make sure your brand is protected. If you haven’t already,
obtain registered trademark rights to your brand and look into a
trademark monitoring service for your company.
8. Don’t Forget About The Customers
The more you responsibilities you take as the head of a franchise,
the greater the distance becomes between you and the customer. When
setting up your small business franchise, don’t forget to include the
customer somewhere in all that planning and documentation. You should be
able to take that neighborhood-feel of your first small business and
bring it into every one of your franchise establishments.
9. Value Your Employees
Employees are crucial to the success of any business. While you may
not be able to provide the same support you did to your original staff
at the franchise level, make sure your franchisees value their employees
just the same. You should be able to provide direction and guidance to
your franchisees, which they should be able to relay to the people
working for them. Take the attitude you had in your small business
towards your employees, and create a network of support within your own
franchise.
10. Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Vision
For many successful small business owners, it may have not been about
the numbers, initially. In the beginning, it may have been about
bringing a great product that the public wanted and simply making the
customer happy. When a small business turns into a franchise, it is
important not to relinquish the vision and core values that lead to the
company’s success in the first place. This is especially important in
franchising, where business partners are left with the responsibility of
upholding your brand’s name and reputation.
