What you Get and DON’T Get with a Franchise

There are a lot of things you obtain when you invest in a franchise, but there's also a lot you don’t get. 

If you are considering investing in a franchise, this blog post will give you key tools to decide. If you are already a franchisee and you are struggling with your business, this information will help you understand why this is happening and what you can do to change this.

• Either way, after reading this you’ll better comprehend what you are getting from a franchise and, most important, what you do not get from a franchise. 

This will open your eyes so you can make smart decisions for the present and future of your business!

4 things you get when you invest in a franchise

When you buy a franchise, the franchisor, which is the owner of the franchise brand, gives you in return a proven brand. That means you get:

1. A defined product or service that customers are willing to exchange money for. You also get all of the guidance and training you need to train your team members on reproducing that product or service.
2. A set of Service procedures, which are the processes that the franchisor has designed to give a positive customer experience. Along with that, you acquire the training materials so you can transmit that knowledge and your staff knows how to duplicate those service processes.
3. Something else you obtain is an image, that the franchise owner has spent time, money, and effort in creating so that it is appealing and attractive enough for customers.
   You also get the approved vendors and, once again, directions on how to reproduce that image.
4. Last but not least, when you invest in a franchise you gain marketing efforts. If you are paying marketing fees, the franchisor will spend that money on promoting the franchise brand, both nationally and regionally.

Franchise tip: These are the 3 levels of franchise marketing 

6 things you don’t get when you invest in a franchise

You really need to be aware of these six elements that franchisors don’t give you in return for your money so that you can make them up. 

Overall, what you don’t get is a franchise business management degree. That means that your contract does not include the development of the following skills, knowledge, and abilities you need to make a profit from the business you have. 

Must read: How much profit do franchises really make?

1. How to hire, retain, and inspire your team

This is the biggest challenge that franchisees are encountering, now more than ever, because of the staffing issues happening in the industry.

If you come from an executive background, this will be especially challenging because no matter how much you have led and managed a team, these leadership skills do not translate to the small business environment.

It is not the same to lead and inspire a team of white-collar office workers as a team of blue-collar workers that are on the front line, working on the units day to day, and facing customers. It is a completely different employee profile, and what inspires them is also very specific.

The franchisor is not going to teach you these because of employee liability. There's a legal issue that they could be liable if they were to teach anything that has to do with your team. That’s why you need to learn those skills by yourself.

2. How to control your cost and increase your profits

You need to have the financial acumen of a small business and know how to control the cost of every line item in your profit and loss statement so that you can maximize the profits. 

In a small franchise business, every penny counts. And if you don't know how to make the most of each one of them, you can lose everything that could have been a profit.

Yes, they may give you a business model that will produce profits if you are able to manage it properly. But you must notice that no franchisor will ever promise any profitability. They barely give you the average sales you should expect but they don't mention anything related to profitability because this depends on your business management skills.

That is something you need to educate yourself on because the franchise you invested in is not going to give you the knowledge to do that. 

This is the right franchise business investment

3. How to increase sales year over year

The third thing you do not get when you buy a franchise are the steps to boost your sales annually. 

Mind you, the more mature brands might give you tools and tactics to help you do that, but you have to implement them on your own. That means you need to find out how to conduct local store marketing strategies so your revenue goes up year over year. 

If you don't know where to start, how to make a plan to make that happen, or what will work in your franchise, your sales might suffer. And, as you know, sales are the oxygen of any business.

4. How to understand, interpret and use your financial statements to make smarter decisions

Your financial statements are the scorecard of your business. If you can understand them and interpret them the right way, they will tell you exactly what areas you need to focus on to improve your profitability. 

Again, that does not come with the franchise that you invested in because the franchise is all about the brand, the product, the service, and the image, not about the financials. 

Don’t miss: These are the 3 most important numbers in your business

5. How to go from managing one unit to leading multi-units

If you're only going to operate one unit, that one unit will be your job and you’ll make between $40,000 to $80,000 a year (in the US). If you’ll be directly managing the business, you might earn another $40,000. 

If you do it with a high level of excellence, then that one unit can make anywhere between $80,000 to $120,000, depending on the brand that you invested in and how good a job you do. 

That's great. But if you're looking for financial freedom and time freedom, then multi-unit is the way to go. Your franchisor is not going to teach you how to go from managing one unit to leading multiple units, which is what is going to help you achieve these goals. 

This is how you escape the hell of owing 2-4 franchise units

6. How to build your team and infrastructure to grow into multi-unit

Your franchisor is not going to teach you how and when to grow into a multi-unit organization. The challenging thing is that if you don't do it the right way or at the right time, you could end up spending all of your profits. And, at the end of the day, you're left with nothing.  You don't want to do that!

Hopefully, this opens your eyes to what you need to prepare yourself so you have the skills, the ability, and the knowledge to make the most money out of your franchise investment. 

And, if you would like to learn these six critical elements that the franchise doesn’t give you, reach out to us here at The American Franchise Academy! We help franchisees acquire all this information and understand what they need to do to be successful, grow, and achieve that time and financial freedom they so much want and deserve.

Explore how we can help you accomplish those things by joining us in our next quarterly meeting, where we share information about our programs so you can decide if this is the right thing for you.

• All you have to do is register for free at MultiUnitSuccess.com to learn what it takes to become a successful top-performing franchisee and how we can help you achieve that!

And don’t forget to follow us on our social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get information like this that hopefully will help you be more successful in your business.

Reflections:

• How are you compensating for the things that the franchise does not give you?
• Are you generating not only revenue but profit so you can fulfill your business goals and personal dreams?
• What can you do to have a higher level of execution in your business? 
• Do you want to grow into a multi-unit organization? Are you able to do that?

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