To Control or Not to Control, that is the question
Dan Archer - Franchise Development Director, X-Press Legal Services - Director, BFA
One of the myths about franchising is that it gives less control than a corporate business as the expansion is achieved through a network of franchisees. Let me start by getting my cards on the table and saying I think this is absolute hogwash and over the next few paragraphs I hope to explain why.
The first thing to explore is the control which is afforded by other forms of business. When you are a standalone small business person you are able to exercise your most passionately held beliefs in the area of ball juggling control freakery. You and only you are involved in the business. I am prepared to concede that this gives a level of control matched only by the level of limitation resulting from only having one person’s time and contribution.
If then in order to achieve more we expand by either a wholly owned route or a franchise route, we have to take the step of trusting other people to do elements of our business.
So does a company structure and employees, branch managers, regional managers provide greater control than a franchise system? How motivated is a member of staff at whatever level of the business they operate, are they more or less motivated than someone who has invested an average of £45k in starting their own business? Does even the most motivated member of staff have the incentive of doing things the way that they ought to because if they do, the business that they own will prosper?
If we put the motivation to do things “the right way” to one side, how much control is afforded by the employment contract that an employer has with their employee? Is it more or less than the 40-60 page franchise agreement that a franchisor has in place with a franchisee?
We should also consider how “control” is exercised. Is it through manuals, training or procedures? Do we think that the training, support and operational manuals produced by franchisors to document the best way of running their systems are more or less comprehensive than a corporate structure? For the record McDonald’s are 40 volumes and stand about waist high off the ground!
What the myth of a lack of control boils down to is that you can tell an employee what to do but a franchisee will question why they should. I would argue that when you have reached the point of saying to a member of staff “because I say so”, you have already lost.
The fact that franchisees do question, push the boundaries and expect a justified explanation, rather than an ivory tower edict, is why franchising has all other forms of business beaten hands down. The argument over control depends on where you place yourself on the control spectrum, CONTROL / MANAGE / LEAD / INSPIRE take your pick.
The real answer here is that franchising gives more control, because if control is necessary it is so to protect not only the franchisor’s investment but also that of the other franchisees. The good franchisor will however engage with their franchisees, listen to ideas and develop the system accordingly. The best form of control comes from people passionately following a system that they understand and have bought into.
The final point on “control” is that occasionally doing things differently is needed. McDonalds biggest selling product is the Big Mac, which was born when a franchisee tried something different. It benefited everyone because 2 heads are better than 1 and 1200 heads are better than 2.
Dan Archer is Franchise Development Director for X-Press Legal Services and is a Board Member of the British Franchise Association. You can follow Dan on twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/therealdarcher
This is a team question so you can confer!
Dan Archer - Franchise Development Director, X-Press Legal Services - Director, BFA
RSPB and BirdWatch Ireland’s All Ireland Conference – 25th – 27th March
West Sussex Beekeepers’ Association Conference – 26th February 2011
National Flea Market Association Annual Conference – 1st – 3rd March 2011
So Annual Conferences come in all shapes and sizes and as the list above proves, birds do it, bees do it and even educated fleas do it! In the franchise industry a franchisor’s annual conference is just one of the tools used to knit the network together into a team.
One of the major advantages of franchised self employment is the support structure which comes from being part of a team as opposed to the often lonely alternative of stand alone self employment. Teams don’t just happen though; in order for the franchisee to really benefit from the support provided by the franchisor and fellow franchisees the franchisor has to work at bringing their group together.
An experienced franchisor will recognise that events such as regional meetings and an annual conference are vital tools in encouraging networking between franchisees and in allowing franchisors to launch new initiatives and review training. At X-Press Legal Services we have just had our annual conference / gala dinner & awards evening (photos www.xpresslegal.co.uk) and the event was a fantastic success. New products, specialist workshops, training updates and a healthy dose of networking time meant that the busy day and drunken evening went with a bang.
Franchising is more than just the repetition of a good idea and franchisors have a role to play in not only keeping the operational business at the forefront of its industry but also in devoting the necessary resource to ensuring that the franchise functions with the correct support. Without effort to build a coherent group the franchise will be a disparate group of individuals with little in the way of shared purpose or experience, a historic symptom of more relaxed structured business formats such as licensing arrangements.
So when contacting franchisors as part of the due diligence process, a prospective franchisee would be well advised to ask the franchisor “what events to you organise for your franchisees?” and to ask the franchisees of the system “does the franchisor organise effective events?”
Now given that the National Flea Market Association was only shoehorned into this piece to do the educated flea gag I am going to give them the respect that they deserve and do a little more research on their event. The location? – Las Vegas baby!
Bye for now.
Dan Archer is Franchise Development Director for X-Press Legal Services and is a Board Member of the British Franchise Association. You can follow Dan on twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/therealdarcher
New Year New You?
Dan Archer - Franchise Development Director, X-Press Legal Services - Director, BFA
Whether you believe that the secular tradition of New Year’s resolutions has its birth with the Babylonians over four thousand years ago or with the ancient roman king Janus, they have become a seasonal focus for the year ahead. The Babylonians used New Year as a time to return borrowed farm equipment which I am guessing is not one of many people’s resolutions and Janus is believed to have kept one watchful eye on the recent past and the other on the future. So apart from lending his name to January he was thought to be the guy to please with your good intentions for the coming months.
For most people New Year Resolutions will be to quit something such as smoking or to lose weight, exercise more, give more to charity or save more. What sits behind all of these sentiments is taking control of the year ahead and improving yourself or having a positive effect on others.
For some 2011 will be their chance to gain the independence and fulfilment that comes from running their own business and for many of those franchising will be their preferred mechanism for entering self-employment. Based on the replication of proven business systems franchising is statistically proven to provide a far better chance of success than stand alone small business. It does however give the “control over your own destiny” that most looking at self-employment seek.
Now this talk of Self-Actualisation is on the one hand all a bit Maslow but in truth the decision to run their own business is usually for the franchisee about not having to bow to a manager’s will, about being in control and about being responsible for their own success. For me it is less about Abraham Maslow and more about the late nineteenth century poet William Ernest Henley who wrote;
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
For the unconquerable souls who enter the franchise sector in 2011 welcome to the family and for anybody caught in the employed clutches of circumstance it is not too late to become the master of your fate.
Right, time to return the plough that I borrowed last year from my Italian neighbour before Janus sees that I still have it, which should clean up my slate!
Dan Archer is Franchise Development Director for X-Press Legal Services and is a Board Member of the British Franchise Association. You can follow Dan on twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/therealdarcher
Tags: dan archer, franchisee, franchising, Self employment, small business, sme, starting a business
