The value of support

Every small business owner knows the feeling when you have to make a critical decision outside your everyday operational experience. Will adding an extra employee increase productivity or reduce profitability? How should you best meet the challenge of a new competitor? Why are sales increasing but profits reducing?

For some people, these decisions are what makes business an enjoyable challenge, but for many, the excitement is tempered by the knowledge that they have their house on the line if they get it wrong.

So how would it be if you could call on someone who had seen others face the same issues and knew the solutions that worked? I’m not talking about a business coach or mentor with experience of the issues all businesses face, but someone who knows your specific business inside out and can access specialist help and resources – at no added cost.

It might seem too good to be true, but it’s the premise behind franchising. One of the biggest benefits for franchisees should be that the ongoing fees they pay finance (among other things) on-site support on a regular basis from people who have seen it all before and know how to help them make the right decisions.

What do they do?

It starts with structured planning and goal setting, agreeing targets in all sorts of areas, setting budgets, and breaking everything down into manageable bite-size chunks. That’s a good discipline for any business, but it has more impact when the owner is dealing with someone who can say, ‘Look, this is achievable, so-and-so in another area has managed it in the past year and here’s how they did it.’

But it doesn’t stop at advice. Any good franchise will have the systems in place to measure Key Performance Indicators across a wide range of issues, and it’s the role of the field manager to monitor those KPIs and help the franchisee see how they can get better results for the effort they’re putting in.

And another advantage should come from the ability of the field manager to call in expertise from another part of the company. As one field manager put it, ‘My job is bridging the gap between the corporation, which has the resources, and the franchisees, who are the individuals with the skin in the game. If I think they need specific advice on, say, merchandising or store layout, then I can arrange for the specialists to help.’

Of course, field managers have another role that is crucial to the overall health of the franchise, too: ­ policing the system to make sure that standards are maintained, whether in product quality, customer service or brand image.

Having someone else with this level of involvement in your business might seem intrusive – even unwelcome, which is why people skills are a paramount requirement for good field managers. But franchisees who are willing to listen, prepared to take advice and able to make changes will find that their business prospers accordingly. As Ivy Joe, a multiple award-winning franchise once said, ‘Your support team are there to help you run your business better, so there’s no point in being offended – listen to them and try what they suggest.’

The need to invest

Of course, the examples given are of franchises which are doing it right. They have devoted the resources to recruiting, training and supporting field managers who have the skills and credibility to make a difference to the franchisees they serve. Sadly, that’s not always the case. In some franchises, the support function is under-funded and over-stretched. If field managers have too many franchisees to support, or the underlying systems aren’t there to provide them with the data they need to evaluate changes, or are based overseas with no real knowledge of the local market, then they won’t achieve the best results.

That’s why, if you’re investigating a franchise opportunity, it’s important to look at what level of support you will really receive once you get up and running. Here are some questions that will help:

• How often are visits and when do they occur?
• What is the typical duration of a field visit?
• Where do field visits take place?
• What are the key objectives of the field visit programme?
• What does a typical field visit cover and look like?
• Who will be conducting the field visits?
• What can be expected before, during and after the field visit?
• How valuable do existing franchisees find field visits?
• Do field visits focus on ways to build franchisee profit?

In addition to asking the franchisor these questions, talk to franchisees and find out how helpful the support really is. Generally, you will find that top-performing franchisees in good franchise systems value the advice they receive and act upon it. Do the same when you buy a franchise and you’ll grow faster and further than you ever could on your own.