How to recruit a good Franchisee
Cathryn Hayes - HSBC Head of Franchising
Thanks to the British Franchise Association, banks, exhibitions, trade magazines and the internet, potential franchisees are better informed than ever before.
Growing your network quickly while only selecting new franchisees with the skills and qualities to suit your business is a difficult balance to strike.
The most successful franchisees will:
- demonstrate they fully understand that this is their business, which they are going to make successful
- have fully researched the franchise and know that it will suit their skills and lifestyle
- take ownership of their business plan
- above all, be passionate.
It’s said that you only get one chance to make a first impression, and that is certainly true in the franchisee recruitment market. Potential franchisees generally take about five seconds to decide if an advert interests them, so it’s critical that your adverts attract attention, promoting all your unique selling points clearly and simply.
A potential franchisee will want to know straight away what the business is, what it will cost, what they can expect to make from it and what support is available. You should also explain whether it is a new concept or a long-established business.
Each franchisee will be an ambassador for your business, and you are the best judge of whether they have the right qualities to be successful. Have a clear idea about the essential skills a franchisee needs and plan your interview and vetting process to test these thoroughly.
One of the common mistakes a new franchisor makes is to accept new franchisees that do not really have the skills required. Equally, be careful about letting a third party recruit franchisees on your behalf on a commission basis.
Before considering an application from a potential franchisee, the banks will also be looking for evidence that they have completed their “due diligence”.
Posting from the monthly HSBC Connections newsletter. For more information or to get on the mailing list for the newsletter please email franchiseunit@hsbc.com
The Franchise option for Self-Employment
Joel Caws - Technical Director, Select Your Franchise
Self-employment may be something you consider when wanting a change in your life direction. Maybe you are simply bored with you current employment or maybe a change in family or personal circumstances forces you to look for alternatives.
Self-employment can appear liberating on one hand:-
- No boss telling you what you have to do.
- The money you earn is yours to administer as you want.
- You can manage your own time as you wish.
- Depending on the type of business you might also be able to work from the comfort of your own home.
On the other hand there may be issues that might not become apparent until after you have started your self-employed venture:-
- Will your business idea work?
- Who will buy what you are offering? Do you know who they are and how to find them?
- Will you be be able to retain your motivation to work, especially if working from home?
These are just a few of the hurdles you will need to overcome if you want your self employed business to be a success.
On the other hand, you could choose to start a business with an already proven business system such as a franchise. A franchise can help address some of the points above such as:-
- The franchise business model has already been tried and tested so you know it can work.
- The franchisor has experience in the marketplace, can tell you who the target market is, and how to effectively market to them.
- A good franchisor would usually provide training and support as ultimately your success, is their success.
Ultimately, YOU will be the deciding factor when it comes down to business success. Even the best system in the world won’t work for you if you lack the determination to succeed. However, a good franchise system coupled with determination and commitment to succeed will give you a high probability of business success.
Social media for Franchise system growth
Nick Strong - Franchise Recruitment Advisor
The use of social media for franchise system growth is a hot topic in UK franchise circles at the beginning of 2011. For this reason the British Franchise Association (BFA) have set up a training and day called Social Media Uncovered. The event will be held on 24th February at the BFA offices just outside Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
The day is focused on how franchisors can develop their SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time specific) goals and objectives for the use of social media platforms that will help them and their franchisees achieve specific commercial objectives.
There will be six sessions during the day. Nick Strong will lead three of these sessions which are titled:-
- Why get involved with social media?
- Social media tools and ways you and your franchisees can use them?
- How to start a movement using social media
Dan Archer of Xpress Legal Services and Katie Moffit of Pyjama Drama will speak on the subject of How their franchise businesses have maximised their profile using social media and Andrew Hayward of Owen White Solicitors will outline the legal issues to consider.
During the day we will be investigating theoretical and tried and tested approaches to social media adoption. Within this context we will investigate specific mainstream platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Places and Twitter and consider how they can be put to good use for the purpose of franchise system growth.
It is vital to identify that all business building tools have to be the servant of any businesses key objectives. Social media adoption is no different.
The main challenge for most UK franchise brands is having to enter uncharteded waters in a key area of business development. Franchisees join a franchise system so they can replicate a proven system.
Most franchisors have not yet developed their proven model for social media adoption. This specialist seminar is to help all the franchise directors that attend to start the journey of discovery so they can start the planning needed to identify proven and replicable best practise for their system.
For a copy of Nick Strong’s the slides you can contact nick@franweb.co.uk
Tags: franchise growth, nick strong, social media
