This is the #1 Key to Franchisee Success
Aug 02, 2022
Throughout my +30 years involved in the franchise industry, helping franchisees around the world, I’ve come to realize what is the #1 key to success for a franchisee.
Of all the things that you need to learn and do when you invest in a franchise, if you don't have this, you are going to struggle as a business owner. How can you avoid this conflict? What is the number one key?
The secret is that you care about your people and they know and feel you care for them. It might sound simple, but sadly, sometimes franchisees and business owners forget to demonstrate and communicate this.
Communicating this is crucial because even though we may do a lot of things for them every day, unless we share it and let them know why we're doing it, they won’t really know.
With this blog post, I’m inviting you to reflect on what caring for your people truly means and if you are indeed demonstrating it or not. And, of course, I’m giving you tips and information so you can achieve this #1 key to franchise success.
What does it mean to actually care about your people?
Caring for your people includes many actions, such as:
You take time to find out how’s their experience at work. What are they going through? Is it a positive experience or a negative one? What kind of things can you do to make that better? Note that if you improve this, they won’t leave and they'll believe that you care about them.
You're focused on your employees' success. You spend time thinking of strategies to help your staff be successful in your business. But you do it from their perspective, getting in their shoes to analyze how they can succeed in your organization.
You train and develop your staff. Not only to assure they are effective and efficient at the job. But also because you want to provide the tools, resources, and knowledge they require to feel confident at their work. This way, they can do a great job and be clear on what to do and how to do it.
You think of their future. You create a career path to progress and grow within your organization and let them know you're doing it for their success.
If you're acting like this, spending time and focusing on those needs, and you then communicate it to them, they’ll know and feel that you care about them.
Two major reasons why this matters
It is critical that your employees feel that you care about them for many reasons. To name a few:
- Less turnover, which is the biggest hidden expense you have in your business. Think about it! Every time an employee leaves, your profit and loss statement is affected, as well as your sales, costs, employee experience, customer experience, and even the equipment maintenance.
Everything in your business gets impacted by employee turnover. That is why it's important that you care about your people and that they know that you care.
- Increase their commitment to do the right thing and work towards the success and the accomplishment of your company goals. If you don't care, why should they? On the other hand, people care about whoever cares for them. And if they care, your business will thrive. Think about that.
Discover here how being grateful will help you attract success.
How can you demonstrate you care about your team?
There are many ways in which you can show your people that you care about them. Here are six actions that will help you achieve this #1 key to franchise success:
Action #1
Pay them fairly and then make salary adjustments even before they ask for a raise. That will let them know that you're constantly looking at the market, inflation (especially nowadays), and what other brands are paying, and making decisions from there. It’ll also tell them that you care about them.
When should you give a raise to your employees? These are 4 scenarios that you should consider.
Action #2
Have a clear and structured training plan, in which they know exactly what to do, what they need to learn and when, and who'll teach them. That is how they’ll get the knowledge, tools, and resources to have a high level of excellence at their job.
Action #3
Create an incentive and recognition program. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Employees just want to be told that they're doing a good job, and there are many things that you can do to communicate how grateful you are and to recognize them for what they do.
Action #4
Treating people how they deserve to be treated is a very powerful action toward this goal. In our Multi-Unit Leadership Certification Program, we teach district managers about situational leadership and how their style should depend on people’s momentum in the company.
That means that for new talent, the leader has to teach them what they need to do, little by little. But, for somebody that has been in the company for a long time and it's already an expert, the leader has to be the one that motivates them, recognizes their achievements, and acknowledges their opportunities to move up. And in between those, there are many different ways to lead people.
Action #5
Develop processes and procedures for their safety. That way, you’ll make sure that they are safe when they are in your business. And don’t forget to let them know that those policies exist to protect them.
Action #6
Improve and drive the company culture and let your leadership positions know your commitment to creating a culture in which people care about others and how you want the team members to know it and feel it every day. If you do that, I promise you that everything else you do in your organization will be easier.
As you can see, although accomplishing this #1 key to franchise success sounds simple, the reality is that truly caring about your people it's tough because we get too busy with other things.
It takes time and extra effort, but the reward is tremendous. I promise you that if you actually can have your workers know and feel this caring, your organization will transform itself for the better.
Hopefully, this was a value for you. If you like to learn more ways to demonstrate that you care about your people, and have them feel it and see it, join us in our next free masterclass.
During these two days, 90-minute sessions, we provide valuable knowledge you can implement in your business to retain people, increase your revenue, reduce your costs, improve your profitability, and grow with confidence and success.
Go to Multi-unit Franchisee Masterclass.com and register for our upcoming session.
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Reflections:
- How many of these strategies are you implementing in your company?
- What actions would motivate your employees and make them feel appreciated by you?
- Are you or your leaders applying situational leadership or a one-size-fits-all style?
- How well developed are your HR programs, such as the training and the recognition ones?
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