To start and build a franchise, business owners must standardise their operations across the system for quality control, which involves optimising procedures, hiring a corporate support team and developing marketing assets.
Franchising is a tried-and-true technique for building a successful business. A franchise can be started by filing a Franchise Disclosure Document, which allows a business to sell its concept to qualified entrepreneurs who will replicate the established business model and follow the guidelines in exchange for fees and royalties paid to the franchisor. But the keyword there is “replicate” — franchisors need to create a replicable business model to maintain strong and consistent sales across their system and position franchise owners for success.
Our web experts lay out how franchise businesses can maintain consistency across locations.
How do you know if franchising is right for you?
Franchising is all about having a tried-and-true concept and knowing that your business is ready for development and expansion. It would be best if you had a great grip on the operations and how things should be carried out. You need to be ready to replicate it in multiple locations. That is when you know franchising is the right opportunity. But businesses also need to be sure they can franchise, which is a whole other question.
How will you manage to maintain consistency across all of your locations?
Everything should come down to the operations manual. Make sure every detail about how the process will function for franchisees is specified in the manual. This entails everything from an opening and closing checklist to instructions on managing bills throughout the day and many more. That manual is for the owner and operator but it also helps the entire system by ensuring consistency in products and services through ordering guides and more. Basically, you need to have everything spelled out for franchisees, leaving nothing to individual chance.
How do you provide support across multiple locations consistently?
One of the most important benefits of a franchisor to franchisees is ongoing support. Each franchisee relies on the franchisor and the field staff for help. You set the rules and those aren’t supposed to be broken. That is why a franchisor’s field team needs to be checking in on those franchisees, making sure that they are utilising the products and services specified in the manual and ensuring they are up to speed and adhering to the particulars of the business model.
What happens if a franchisee fails to uphold brand standards at their location?
If the franchisee is not obeying the guidelines and it is a first-time occurrence, new training or closer contact with the franchisees or the general manager may be required. The true owner-operators are frequently the ones who perform the best job. A franchisee who prefers to be hands-off may hire a manager who believes they have a better method of doing things. Let’s say there is a consistency of policy violations. The franchisor then has the legal authority to issue a letter of default or take legal action, although this should always be the last choice. That is why constantly checking in on each franchise owner is so important. You need to make sure you provide those reports and share the reports with franchisees to know what is expected across the system.
How can franchisors make their marketing activities more effective across locations?
It is better to produce as many marketing assets as possible for franchisees so they don’t have to create their own. Besides, encouraging franchisees to participate in local grassroots marketing can help them become more involved in their communities. For instance, they can participate in local clean-up activities, donate to food banks, team building, etc. It’s better if the individual franchisee links such efforts to national promotion. Either way, being able to provide franchisees with those materials is vital. Most importantly, it’s better to have marketing kits mailed out to individual locations, including all the materials they need to promote the business in their market consistently.
How can franchisors and franchisees make their multi-location consistent but still stand out?
Managing a multi-location business is already a handful of jobs, primarily because you need to manage the consistency in concept but stand out to reach more customers. To be able to stand out, you need to dominate the industry according to location-based marketing to dominate the franchise targeted area with the right local SEO. That way not only can you maintain consistency in concept and guidelines, but you can also stand out among competitors in your area.
Franchise SEO services are, in general, a long-term investment that can pay off handsomely. Top4 Marketing has a proven track record of supporting franchisees with website building and SEO methods that work. Our experience has proven to help multi-location businesses in developing and achieving a high ranking in the SERPs for the keywords that are most beneficial for them. Furthermore, our web experts have also helped new franchises acquiring new franchisees. Read more here to know how our franchise SEO service can grow your business.
Are you ready to improve your franchise’s search engine rankings? Speak to our web experts to discuss how we can help your multi-location business grow with our franchise marketing. Get in touch with us today!
To find out how we can help you with your Website + Marketing, using our unique location marketing platform called Top4, get in touch today at www.top4marketing.com
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