The Franchise Fix: 12 Keys to Make the Most of your Franchise
Jan 18, 2022
There is a big confusion in the franchise world: franchisees believe that when they acquire the rights to duplicate a brand, they will receive everything they need to be successful. The reality is they only get one part of the formula. This causes unfulfilled expectations, constant frustration, tremendous struggle, hard work, and sometimes sadly, even failure.
But there’s a way to fix that to make the most of these businesses. I have found that there are 12 keys to being a successful franchisee. And I have portrayed them in The Franchise Fix, a book that collects my 30 plus years of experience in this industry, working with franchisors and franchisees and running operations, units, and brands.
Do you want to discover those best practices and how applying them can help you obtain financial and time freedom?
How The Franchise Fix was born
After a 25-year career in the franchise world, I wanted to take a sabbatical and then go back into the corporate world to continue my career. But when the word got out that I was no longer affiliated with any particular brand, I started getting calls from franchisees that I worked with asking me for help and guidance to solve certain parts of their business they were struggling with.
One of those phone calls was from Phillip. As I created the processes and systems to guide him and compensate for what his franchise didn’t give him when he acquired the brand, he asked me if I ever thought of putting all of these learnings in writing. His request really inspired me and that’s how this book came to be.
My purpose is to protect the American dream of business ownership and franchising. That's what I love to do every day. And the goal of The Franchise Fix is to share the knowledge and experience that many of you need to achieve the business and financial objectives you set out when you invested in a franchise.
Having a franchise brand is only half of the answer. The other half is having the business management skills and the knowledge acumen to be able to make the most profit out of the brand that you invest in.
I know you're working hard every day, but sometimes you just don't know what to do. And I believe that this book gives you a lot of the answers, broken down into 12 chapters, or keys, to become a successful franchisee.
The 12 Keys to Have a Successful Franchise
- Understand the model
The first chapter of The Franchise Fix explains what is a franchise and what is not a franchise. It is critical to clear this out because when you buy a franchise the franchisor provides you with these resources to reproduce that brand:
- The product. It has to be a proven product that people want to give you money for.
- Service processes. Meaning how are you going to deliver this product to the customer.
- A proven image. So that people recognize your business. It includes all the brand’s sensory information, meaning everything clients can see, hear, smell or touch, whether it’s the logo, the colors, the scents of the food, or the visuals of a product.
- Training tools and resources. So you can duplicate the brand exactly as they have proven to be successful, and train your people so they can replicate it too.
- Marketing. Depending on the size of the brand, you obtain regional and national marketing initiatives and campaigns to promote your business and help you increase your sales.
This is what you should expect to obtain when you buy a franchise. What you don't get is a business degree in franchise management. That means that everything that has to do with maximizing the profits and the revenue you get from this brand is up to you.
All the knowledge, experience, and business acumen on how to manage your business so you can make the most of your investment won’t be given by the franchisor. They are only responsible to provide you with the elements previously listed. The management side is your responsibility. And that’s what needs to be fixed: everything else that comes after the brand.
Interested in more? Purchase an autographed copy of this book at TheFranchiseFix.com and get a discounted rate, or order it on Amazon if you live outside of US or Canada.
- Lead the way
If you are not the leader that people are looking for or the one they need, everything else about your business will be challenging. You have to develop not only the ability to duplicate the brand but also your leadership skills and actions so you can become the right leader for your crew members, especially now with the new generation of workers.
If by the end of this chapter you feel you have work to do, it is best to stop and develop your leadership skills before taking the next steps. If you master how to be a great leader, positive results will come.
- Have the right people
You must know how to hire the best people for your organization and have the appropriate systems, processes, and procedures to recruit talent.
This will help you minimize the turnover and optimize your resources because every time you hire people, you invest a lot of money in finding, interviewing, onboarding, and training them. If you don't do those things well, the likelihood of them staying is going to be very challenging.
- Take care of your people
As a business leader, you need to make sure that the people stay with you for a long time. And if you take care of them, they're most likely to stay with you. This is especially important considering the staffing crisis we are currently living in, where hiring has become extremely challenging.
That’s why you need to spend much more time focusing on keeping the team members that already know you and your operations.
Reduce your turnover to avoid a higher labor cost. This video shows you how to do it!
- Provide the right tools
Don’t take for granted all the equipment, small wares, and maintenance that people need to feel that they can do the job the right way. Fixing the broken equipment and giving the proper maintenance will have people want to work and stay with you because it’s a way of showing you care for them.
- Know your numbers
You need to be 100% clear on how the financials of your franchise works and how to read and understand financials like:
- Your profit and loss statement.
- The difference between variable and fixed costs.
- How to calculate the break-even of your business.
- How you make a profit and how to improve your profitability.
In this chapter of The Franchise Fix, I review examples on how to calculate the most important financials of your business so you can implement a culture of metrics. Once you get familiar with all of these concepts, you’ll feel confident enough to make the right decisions for your business.
- Master your sales
Although you get national and regional marketing support when you buy a franchise, as well as brand recognition, it’s your job to go out and attract customers so you get much more income.
That’s why I dedicate this seventh chapter to the tips and tricks to own your sales. I also describe the components of sales and the difference between them, as well as the channels where your revenue comes in, and what to do to increase it.
Do you want to boost your income? Review these 4 steps to increase your sales.
- Master your product cost
If you are a retail business, whether it’s food or any other kind of product, the product cost is going to be the biggest expense in your business, so keeping that cost under control is key.
In this chapter, I give you 10 product cost control points you need to address to make sure that there is minimum waste, minimum theft, and minimum cost of your product.
Discover these points by purchasing your copy at TheFranchiseFix.com or Amazon.
- Master your labor cost
This is usually the largest expense for service-based businesses and the second largest for retail ones. That’s why it is critical to know how to manage your labor so you can minimize the cost and make the most profit. Otherwise, you're leaving a lot of money on the table.
- Follow the money
If you handle cash, you must have processes and procedures to make sure that the money that comes into your business as sales actually make it to the bank. That’s why this chapter focuses on strategies to eliminate the possibility of theft and money getting lost anywhere in your business.
Do you know the 10-80-10 rule of employee theft? View this video to protect your business!
- Spread the word
You need to develop a local store marketing plan to truly grow your sales year over year. This is a very important chapter because I walk my readers step by step on how to create their annual marketing plan and I share ideas and tactics for different industries and models.
- Stay on course
It’s not easy to do all of these steps daily. But if you do, you'll be able to make the most money in your franchise. To make it easier for you, you need to have a process, commitment, and consistency in implementing the systems.
If you want to upgrade your knowledge on how to manage your franchise to make the most of it, I promise you that The Franchise Fix will help you. You’ll get eye-opening information that will guide you step by step on what you need to do to make your business more successful.
Go to TheFranchiseFix.com to purchase an autographed copy with a discounted rate, or order it on Amazon if you live outside of US or Canada.
Another tool that The American Franchise Academy offers is quarterly masterclasses, where we go through all of the elements you need to oversee to own your business and take control of your results. Visit MultiUnitMasterclass.com to review when our next session will be.
And don’t forget to follow us on our social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) and subscribe to our YouTube Channel where we share weekly tips to inspire you to become a better business owner and help you grow.
Reflections:
- How well developed are your leadership skills?
- Do you have a polished plan to attract the best employees to your business?
- How are you taking care of your people so that they want to stay with you?
- Have you mastered your product and your labor cost?
WATCH THIS VBLOG on YouTube HERE.
