Would you believe that 80% of franchise companies do not hit their recruitment goals? Why is that?
How many studies, reports, and surveys must franchise executives read to realize there is a problem? Year after year we see similar outcomes from the data. Franchise companies need to know that for any real change you must identify, properly diagnose, and address the root cause.
So what are the issues that companies complain about?
- “We need more leads.”
- “We need a better CRM.”
- “Our franchisees aren’t validating.”
- “We need better marketing materials.”
- “We need a better team.”
- “We need a bigger budget.”
Take a look at what the successful companies are doing.
Consistency is key to establishing success in a retail franchise business structure, meaning your brand needs to be diligently aware of how each individual location is performing compared to organizational and industry benchmarks. Each franchisor brand relies on the individuals within each branch to perform up to expectations, but too often there is a disconnect between these two partners. While every individual location under your brand umbrella should have a degree of self-control, there also needs to be strict brand identity guidelines that are being adhered to. Localization in marketing and product sourcing is important for individual branches, but ultimately there needs to be an assessment program that ensures each brand is contributing to the franchisor’s overall brand identity.
Follow these tips for franchise success:
1) Know that the business model and franchisor training/support works. Best practices are crystal clear, documented, and validated. They can effectively demonstrate turnkey systems for HR, marketing, sales, operations, finance, and technology. And there is a well-documented and comprehensive onboarding and start-up program.
2) Designate a true leadership team. This means executives who are growth-oriented, transparent, and “unit economics” focused. Your company should have a single vision with target dates that the leadership group is aligned to win. Resources match the targets and initiatives.
3) Develop a defined and documented recruitment system. No jumping from one format, model, or recruitment program to the next. Year after year, recruitment delivers results. Utilize this system for lead generation, turning suspects into candidates, and winning the top candidates as new franchisees so successful new units are opened to make the future vision a reality.
By making programs like mystery shopping compulsory for all individual branches, franchisors will possess a consistent stream of data that can improve the performance of every employee in the over-arching brand and offer insights to improve the corporate brand’s growth potential.
