Finding Good Franchisees For Your Franchise Opportunities
a franchisee may not have understood what he or she has to do to drive their business to success. (Perhaps they think their franchisor should be doing the driving.) Or the franchisor may be ignorant of certain attributes that are going to ultimately undermine a franchisee’s success. (These can range from personality characteristics such as a low tolerance for frustration through to financial problems.)
There are two common pitfalls in the field of selecting people:
1. We fail to clearly define what we are talking about.
2. We tend to make decisions based on invalid information.
Let’s look at these more closely.
Defining what we mean
When discussing human behavior, we often use or hear statements such as “She is a team player,” “He is passionate about his work,” “She has no integrity,” “He has a bad attitude,” and so on. The assumption is that everyone shares the same meaning of what we are talking about. However this is seldom the case.
One often-quoted management principle says, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” True enough. However, before you can measure something, you have to first know what you are measuring. So, when we are talking about human behavior, we need to be a specific as possible and define what we mean.
What do we mean by success, for example? I define a successful franchisee as someone who:
1. Runs a profitable business; i.e., they know how to control their costs and maximize their sales.
2. Builds a base of satisfied customers; i.e., they understand that building a business is about people feeling good about dealing with you.
3. Supports the franchise’s systems and brand. (A franchisee who makes a lot of money but is continually bad-mouthing or undermining your franchise system is not what I call a successful franchisee because they are not going to last long.)
What makes a successful franchisee?
A question on the minds of many franchisors is “What makes a successful franchisee?” After researching this question, I have found that successful franchisees consistently do a number of things that can be grouped into four key areas.
Firstly, they keep track of information and trends that tell them how their business is performing. This of course means they can use a computer, read figures and they spend time each week tracking their performance against set criteria.
Secondly, they set achievable goals because they are outcome focused and slightly competitive by nature. It is said that luck is where preparation meets opportunity. A successful franchisee takes advantage of opportunities to promote and grow their business because they have a vision for the future of their business.
Thirdly, they understand that all the analysis and visioning in the world won’t get them anywhere unless they are prepared to work hard and maintain high standards of service delivery. This means they keep organized and plan their life so they can sustain the long hours and family sacrifices necessary to launch and sustain a successful small business.
Finally, they understand that business is ultimately about people and that unless they gain the support of the people on whom their business depends, they have nothing. I am not just referring to customers but also their staff, their family, their suppliers, their franchisee peers, and even their franchisor.
Matthew Anderson owns and runs the franchise shop website which is an online portal of franchise opportunities for sale.
