4 Qualities You Need to Become a Top-Performing Franchisee

Every franchise brand has a list of its top-performing franchisees. Sadly, this elite group represents only 1% of their total units. That means that 99% of the franchisees don’t know how to make the best out of their franchises so that they too can be so successful that they even win awards and recognition at their brand’s annual conference.

What do those top-performing franchisees have in common? What are the mysterious things they do to be so successful? Throughout my +30 years of experience in the franchise sector, working with global SMB 500 brands, master franchisees around the world, and collaborating directly with CEOs, I have identified that this 1% of franchisees have four things in common. But don’t worry, you also can work on these qualities to become part of this group.

1. Be a multi-unit franchisee

The majority of the top-performing franchisees are multi-unit and they do the enterprise management the right way. Why is that? Because when you have a multi-unit organization you can delegate operations, leaving you more time to work on your business and not in your business. 

When you are a single-unit franchisee or you have two or three stores, you can be so busy working the day-to-day operations, or managing one of the units, that you can’t think of your business on a more strategic level. Once you can change your focus, you will be able to scale into five, six, 10, 20, or 100 units.

Learn here the advantages of becoming a multi-unit and multi-brand franchisee. 

2. Top-performing franchisees understand the value of people

Whether it is the frontline team of people that do the work every day, opening and closing the store, doing the operations, handling and taking care of the customers, the best franchisees recognize the value that each team member brings, whether they are unit managers or dishwashers in the back of the house.

They understand that the business is a machine and that without those people doing their part, that machine cannot work properly. They also comprehend that they can compensate for their weaknesses as leaders working alongside their team, whether it's management or higher levels. 

These top-performing franchisees are also able to bring amazing people to their team, and they take care of each of their employees, not only with words but with actions. By showing and demonstrating this understanding and caring, their personnel cares back, they give additional effort and loyalty, and in consequence, their company can be successful and grow.

Are your employees not doing a good job? Fix it by watching this video.

3. Understand the numbers

Top-performing franchisees know about the power of the 1%. This refers to the strategy of lowering the costs by 1% of sales to have a great financial impact on profit.

They can also calculate the break-even point of their business and each of their units, and how they can affect that number to their advantage. Also, they know how to use it to make financial and business decisions so that their franchise can be beneficial in the long run. 

They also monitor their metrics and keep close track of their reports to know where the business is and to make smarter and better decisions. Last but not least, they are relentless about their financials, to make the most out of their investment, and increase their sales year over year, which is what makes them the top-performing franchisees.

Do you know what are the three most important numbers of your business?

4. Implement systems to obtain consistent execution

Having systems is critical to becoming a top-performing franchisee. These systems are not only the ones given by the brand to duplicate the business with clear and defined standards and procedures.

They also include the business management systems, which help them manage the business, their service, their people, their numbers, their marketing, the cash controls, and everything that has to do with the consistency of execution. To have this consistency, all of these processes and procedures are documented and the employees are trained using these materials day in and day out.

That is how they can reproduce not only how a hamburger is done, how a car is washed, or how to give a massage; they can also have their managers and leaders replicate how they manage the people, the service, the marketing, and the financials in their business. And this is how they're able to delegate operations so that they can focus on the business strategy.

If you work on having these four key qualities, you’ll soon become a top-performing franchisee and you’ll get the admiration and recognition of the franchise network. I hope that you find this information of value. If you want to acquire more advice and tools to help you become a successful franchisee and business owner, follow us on our social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, where we share weekly tips to inspire you and help you grow.

Reflections:

• Are you able to delegate or the operations are consuming all of your time? 
• How do you demonstrate you care and value your team members?
• Do you keep track of the numbers of your business and each of your units?
• How clear and consistent are the processes and procedures of your business? 

WATCH THIS VBLOG on YouTube HERE.