Business is uncertain, in any economic climate. There is never a guarantee that your business will succeed. Businesses fail daily, once giants in the market are now ghost buildings of brick and mortar. But franchises are different. Why? Because within your franchise- before you even open your doors, you have a recognizable brand, a system that is proven to work, and the support of the franchisor behind your back. That's a lot of firepower.
The difficult part of launching a franchise is deciding which one is right for you. How do you do your due diligence in finding the right franchisor to work with to ensure that you'll be successful?
First, you choose a product or service that you are passionate about. Passion exhumes value, and value is indispensable in the market. Next, you do research for the right branding and most profit in your selected field, and finally, you meet with the franchisors to see if your value systems are aligned so that you have the confidence that the people backing you are within your standards of ethics and morals and will have your back to make you profitable.
Franchisees typically have several restrictions laid out in the franchise agreement, i.e. hours of operation, goods and services allowed to be sold, product prices, supplier relationships, signage, and more. Franchisors maintain firm control over things franchisees can and can’t do because they want all their franchise locations to have the same look and feel so their customers know what to expect no matter where they visit.
But being a franchisee doesn’t mean there’s a complete lack of autonomy or room for innovation. Most franchisees are given the freedom to choose who they hire and fire, what values are set within their location, and how they handle some of their marketing.
Numerous franchisees have thought of new ideas that proved beneficial and successful for their specific location or ones that were even picked up by corporate headquarters and subsequently rolled out to franchises everywhere. Some of McDonald’s most famous sandwiches, one in particular being the Big Mac, were invented by franchisees. This is just one example of franchisee autonomy while still executing the franchisor’s business model and adhering to the restrictions.
So how exactly can you, as a franchisee, be successful as well as innovative with your franchise location while still staying within the franchise’s restrictions?
1. Take Advantage of Social Media Marketing
This is possibly the area where you can have the biggest impact. Social media is a way to connect with customers, but it’s also free advertising for your franchise. Customers can like your franchise page on Facebook, tweet about how much they love all the cool deals your franchise offers, pin a pin of one of your products to their “Things I Need” Pinterest board, and so on and so forth. Through various social media platforms, people help build your brand at a greater level than was ever possible before social media.
Honest Abe Roofing helps you with your social media if you'd like and also helps with your SEO and google ranking. Whenever you need any help with marketing or just a question, they are en email and a phone call away waiting to help you succeed.
2. Implement Community-Based Marketing Initiatives
This strategy works no matter where you’re located, but it’s a really smart move for those in a smaller city where community involvement is imperative to a business’s success. All businesses know you must be involved with the local community in order to get the resident’s full support, but not every business executes well when implementing their community-based marketing tactics. Don’t be one who fails to carry out the plans to get involved locally.
Being innovative with this type of marketing helps ensure your franchise’s success because it brings customers in the door and results in positive word-of-mouth marketing within the community.
Another Example of Honest Abe Roofing involvement in the community is its initiative to help their community. When COVID hit, The CEO called up the mayor and volunteered their trucks to assist in carrying meals to people or any way that they could be of value. This increases the value of the backing within your community and also helps improve the community in which you are doing business, which is a win-win!
These local tactics are extremely important as perhaps one of the most common restrictions for franchisees is geographical-based. In cities that have more than one franchise location, it is critical to maximize your local area because it is all you have! For ones that don’t restrict franchisees to geographical areas developing relationships can be a great way to generate business from all over the city. Just make sure your efforts aren’t producing revenue for competitors that are closer to home for potential customers!
3. Study Your Competitors In The Area
This isn’t cheating. It’s just a smart business tactic. Knowing what your competitors are doing helps you counter their strategy with a better one of your own. Don’t do anything illegal of course, but it’s not a crime to check out their location or social media pages to see what kind of marketing they’re doing.
Often many franchisees will assume that competitors are likewise restricted in what they can do and won’t do any competitive research incorrectly thinking that they aren’t doing anything innovative. Likewise, they’ll assume that corporate research and advice is sufficient for their location and area. But often, despite the restrictions, each geographical area will have a unique recipe for success.
Thus, study your competitors and see what they are doing well and areas that they can improve on. Take their innovative ideas and weak areas and develop strategies to beat them. In this way, you are leveraging corporate knowledge with your own experience of your area to better market your franchise to those within your area.
While these tips in this article are in no particular order this should be one of the first things franchisees do when opening a location. Likewise, it should be something done regularly to ensure success.
4. Win The Human Capital Game
Who you hire and whom you let go is completely up to you. You have total autonomy in this area. The decision lying solely with you can be a little overwhelming at first, particularly for new franchisees who are in unfamiliar territory, because you don’t want to make a wrong decision either way.
When going through the process of hiring new employees, keep the 7 C's in mind: competent, capable, compatible, committed, character, culture, and compensation. These “c’s” will be an excellent guide in finding a good employee.
Perhaps no other element of a business big or small makes a greater impact than human capital. A perfect example of this is Google which attracts some of the brightest minds the world has to offer because of all the amazing perks and benefits that come with working there. It could be argued in a franchise setting that this has even more importance as there is only so much one can differentiate.
Having undoubtedly the best customer service in the market can make a tremendous impact on the profitability and success of any franchise. We all know mistakes happen and sometimes you hire an employee who turns into a lazy or poor performing one and you just have to deal with it. Firing is one way to handle this type of employee, but it’s not always the best route to take.
Firing is hard on you who’s doing the firing, it’s hard on the person being fired and normally it’s bad for the morale of your other employees. If this employee didn’t do something illegal or hasn’t repeatedly broken company policies, spend some time talking to and coaching them to be the kind of employee you expect them to be.
Nonetheless, hard decisions must be made when it comes to human capital if you want to be successful in the long run. Lastly, remember to be the kind of boss you’d want to work for. If you treat your employees well, then they treat your customers well. Everybody wins when that happens.
5. Maintain a Good Working Relationship With The Franchisor
Getting along with the franchisor is extremely important. You spend a lot of time talking and working with them about details big and small. Plus your wagon is hitched to theirs once you sign that franchise agreement so you better make sure it’s a working relationship you want to be in. Your working environment — and your life in general — will be happier and easier if you and the franchisor get along.
This doesn’t mean you’ll agree on everything, but you must be willing to listen to what they have to say, do what they ask you to do, and not be afraid to share your thoughts and ideas with them. A nice thing about maintaining a good working relationship with them is when you do have an innovative idea you can run it past them. Your franchisor may have already thought of, tried, and failed with the idea, which isn’t what you want to hear but will save you the time and money you would’ve wasted on it.
Developing a strong relationship and two-way communication with the franchisor will foster the trust that is inherently needed for franchisees to ask and subsequently execute innovative ideas that can result in big wins for the franchise. Thus, make a conscious effort to build this relationship over time so that your ideas can become reality
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Innovation comes out of necessity and sometimes what might even seem like an unrealistic or strange idea. But without innovation from franchisees, many franchises wouldn’t have the awesome products or services they do today, like the Big Mac. Innovation is possible and needed so don’t be afraid of trying something outside the norm, as long as you don’t break any part of your agreement, to help ensure long-term success for your franchise.
Franchise Opportunity
If you're looking for a profitable and fulfilling venture in the roofing industry, becoming an Honest Abe Roofing franchise owner could be the perfect fit for you. With their proven record of success and commitment to excellence, Honest Abe Roofing offers a unique opportunity to scale roofs and make profits.