To run a successful franchise business, you must have the right infrastructure in place and essentially, outstanding onboarding and training.
Receiving the correct training at the start rapidly reduces the time for a new franchisee to become established and enables them to quickly start to generate revenue (which of course is also of benefit to the franchisor). It also assists with minimising problems that can be experienced during the day to day running of the new business. Of course, training must be continued throughout the entire business journey.
Here are some of our top tips:
- Training and onboarding procedures – make sure you have the right procedures in place from the outset. Ensure they have been created by business professionals who specialise in this field, don’t just assume that as the boss this should be your responsibility. Of course, you need to be deeply involved but making sure it is right and applicable to all might require some external support. Give the new franchisee all the resources they need right from the start.
- Act immediately – as soon as the franchisee has signed the agreement your support, mentoring and training should begin. This should happen before they start trading, remember you will have been through this process already, so you know what works and what doesn’t. You might not always be on hand to offer support so assign a point of contact who is available whenever the new franchisee needs help or has a question.
- Adopt a training programme – support the new franchisee very closely for the first 60 days but don’t just stop after this period. Run regular mentoring and training sessions (ideally every 3 months). Make sure these sessions include franchisees that are at different stages in their business life cycle and allow them plenty of time to learn from one another.
- Ongoing specialist support – any business owner needs a good understanding of all aspects of the business. To be able to offer them specialist mentoring sessions by independent professionals on areas such as marketing, social media, bookkeeping, sales and accountancy will be vitally important to their ongoing success.
- Make use of good technology – A business is only as good as its systems and processes. Make sure new franchisees have access to technology that will become an asset and not a barrier. The more they can automate the more efficient they can become.
To conclude, a properly inducted franchisee that is given the right resources, infrastructure and technology will become a very valuable asset to your franchise brand.
If you have any questions in relation to franchising, please call us on 01993 706403 or e-mail hello@ngifranchisefunding.co.uk.