The 3 Roles of the Franchisee

Building a profitable and proven brand is hard! But franchising allows entrepreneurs to own their business and achieve the time and financial freedom they want and deserve. Without franchises, many people wouldn't have the opportunity to make the American dream of business ownership a reality. 

But there’s a catch. Many franchisees come from a corporate background or haven't had a job for a little or a long time. And when they finally invest in a franchise, they realize how different it is to be an employee vs. owning a business.

Why is this? When you work for a company, your role within the organization dictates what you focus on day in and day out. Someone defines your goals and monitors your impact on the overall results. And, most importantly, you're clear on what your job is and the activities you must execute every day to accomplish the business objectives.

When you are an entrepreneur, especially a franchisee, that's not the case. You don’t have that clearance on what to do, how to divide your time, and where to focus. To help you with this understanding, here at The Academy we have defined the three roles that you have to play as a franchisee to achieve your business and financial goals.

Role #1: Protect and grow the brand

This is the first rule that franchisees have. Think of it this way: you invested a significant amount of money to acquire a franchise, a proven brand where people will come and buy from you, and that will help you achieve revenue or sales that hopefully will turn into profit. Shouldn't you protect that? Absolutely! 

You should also help grow it because as the brand grows, it will be more recognized. This means that your business unit will also gain recognition, which will then bring you more revenue. So it should be in your best interest to protect and grow the brand so that your business also grows and gets protected.

Do you know what is the #1 to franchisee success? Read this to find out!

There are many ways in which you can do this:

1. Follow the standards defined by the brand with a high level of excellence. That will increase your chances to truly replicate success and achieve the predicted revenue.
2. Participate in your franchise associations, meet your neighboring franchisees, and collaborate with them to make sure that everybody is doing their best to be great leaders of that brand.
3. Inspire your fellow franchisees to make them follow the standards as well. If one unit within the region is not operated properly, the brand as a whole will get a bad reputation.
   That's one of the negative things about being in a franchise brand because your reputation is not only driven by how you operate, but also by how your other franchisees operate.

Role #2: Protect and grow the business

When you acquire a franchise, you're buying a brand. But that doesn’t mean that you're going to automatically have profits. If it is a proven brand, what you obtain is a vehicle to attract customers to buy a product or service and give you revenue. How much of that revenue becomes profit is completely up to you and your business systems.

Learn why having systems and processes is an urgent necessity to multiply your profits. 

To get the profits right you have to implement management systems that you control because the franchisor is not going to tell you how or who to hire, how much to pay them, how to motivate, inspire or recognize them, or when to give a raise or a bonus. That's part of your job as a protector of your business. 

The brand owner might give you a little bit of guidance on how to manage your business. But you have to be the one that analyzes your profit and loss statements and monitors your costs and expenses. Ultimately, the decisions and strategies you implement to protect and grow your business are up to you. 

Another thing the franchisor won’t do for you is how to do local store marketing. Many franchisors, especially mature brands, will probably give you access to a library of information, tools, graphics, and resources so that you can execute your local marketing actions. But ultimately, it is your decision how you apply the strategy.

Discover what’s your business trinity and why is it critical to make sure your business is going in the right direction.

The combination of the systems and processes you implement to manage costs, staff, and marketing, among other things, is what will bring you the profit and the organization that you'll ultimately have.

If the mix is well enough, it will also help you grow your business. Because the more units you have, the more exponential profits you’ll obtain.

Role #3: Protect and grow the people

Probably the most important role you have is to protect and grow your workers. If you truly want to achieve financial and time freedom, you must have a team of people to help you do that. Without them, you don't have a business but a “one-man show” that cannot grow.

To make sure you protect and grow your people, there are systems, processes, and procedures you need to put in place to manage the entire employee life cycle. Some of the things you need to define are:

• Why should people work for you?
• What benefits will you offer to stand out from the competition?
• What kind of culture will they come into once they join your organization? 
• How are you going to create a positive work environment?
• How will you improve retention and reduce turnover?
• How much will you pay?
• What incentives will you give to help them achieve financial success?
• What opportunities they’ll have to grow within your organization?

Apply these 10 actions to attract, retain and grow top talent for your organization.

Finding the right people to operate and lead your units isn’t easy. But if you offer great benefits, develop an amazing culture where people want and love to work. If you give them fair pay and ways for them to grow and elevate themselves, talent will come to your business. 

If this was of value to you, subscribe to our YouTube channel and give us a thumbs up on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to get more resources like these to help you thrive with your franchise business.

Reflections:

• Are you truly following and implementing the brand systems with a high level of excellence?
• How familiar are you with the most important numbers of your business?
• How involved are you in the hiring process and the retention of employees? 
• Can you do more to help your people grow and be more successful?

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