Before starting your franchise business, it’s likely that you have some type of goal in mind. Perhaps you want to work in your industry for 10 years before moving on. Maybe you want to stay for 20, or open multiple locations. Perhaps you’ll open the brand and flip it to a qualified buyer – there’s no right or wrong answer, just preferences and career goals that each franchise owner may have.
However, for those who do want to stick it out for the long haul, it’s important to choose the right franchise location going forward. The right relationship means you can work with a brand for years, if not decades, to come. Follow this important step, as well as other best practices, in order to stick it out with your franchising brand for the long haul.
Do Your Due Diligence Before you Sign On as a Franchisee
This one is obvious yet important. Do your research to ensure that you’re signing on with the right brand for you, both personally and professionally. What are the franchise company’s core values? What attributes do they personify? What guidelines do they follow as a brand? All of these can be found out by looking at them on paper. Review statements and more.
However, once you start talks in person, it’s good to reevaluate and see if the values line up through personalities. This is also your time to ask the difficult questions. Find out what you want to know. What are the company’s goals for years to come? How can you grow with them? What are your goals? And do the two align? By asking these questions and having deep discussions, you can determine if you’re on the same page with a franchising brand, and if you can stay that way in years to come.
These talks are tough, but better to have them up front than to avoid it and find out you are going down to very different roads.
Running Daily Operations as a Franchisee
Now it’s time to consider your personal franchise location. How will you run the brand in a way that keeps up with longevity? Starting out, you’ll have everything you need, this is a given. The franchising brand has done all of the hard work for you, and all you have to do is put it into action. But a few years in, and things are likely to start changing. The franchise company is paying attention to these changes, but are you?
Look at how your market is shifting. What do your customers want and how can you plan to better serve their needs? (And to grow your profits while doing so.) How is the industry moving as a whole? Are there new products or services? Are there more efficient ways to run your brand? You don’t have to make big changes at any given time, however, being afraid to change with the research that tells you you should can leave your franchise location outdated and crippled by living in the past.
In short, this means that, along the way, you need to pay attention to market trends. Don’t fear variables in your franchise location, but embrace them. The better you understand what’s taking place, the better you can tackle them head-on. And make your franchise better in the process.
Embracing Change for Franchise Longevity
Businesses that have been in business for decades are some of the best at adapting to change. They have established themselves as a mainstay in the community by offering a service or filling a need. Then, they adapted that need over time. Perhaps it’s offering the same great service that folks have always seen. But no franchise business stays in business for that long without at least considering what its market as grown into … and how to fill those new requirements over time.
Don’t get bogged down in franchise customer needs. But rather, be open to the idea that they exist. Once you find the right franchising brand, they’ll help you weather the storm if and when it should come. This is one of the best and proven ways to keep your franchise in business going forward.