Don’t Be Shocked By The Rigidity Of The Franchisors, It Is Necessary To Ensure The Smooth Running And Success Franchise Operation

When you initially step into the area of a Franchise Opportunity one of the first things to hit you will probably be the size of the “rule book”, or the document that sets out the foundation under which you may work within your contract. There will also be a considerable amount of detail around the penalty of not abiding by these rules, some of which will be severe.

It is also disconcerting for a new franchisee to realise that the good ideas that he puts forward on how to improve the running of the business are nine times out of ten not taken up the franchisor, and more than that are disallowed going forward. This is all very much part of the Low Cost Franchise tradition. A culture that causes a significant amount of stress and annoyance for individuals having just recently purchased a Franchise For Sale and less so for those who are experienced at the franchise model.

Those with more familiarity of the ways in which a franchise model works can appreciate the necessity for conformity across the whole organisation. This usually means that the same stipulations apply to all franchises across the country but equally it could apply overseas too.

The model must be easy to copy all over the territory in which it operates and therefore should be configured to allow regional differences in the process. The model must also take into account that the franchisees running each franchise will have different skills and so it must be clear and enlightening enough for all to cope with. This can sometimes mean that an individual with heightened skills in a particular field is restricted in his actions as the rest of the franchisees would simply not be able to operate at that level.

A lot of the conformity boils down to the ease in which the Franchise operator can monitor and control the full team. If every franchisee for example was submitting sales figures in a different format it would be very time consuming to appraise the overall picture and so all franchisees have to use the same reporting process. If one franchisee decided that he was going to put a deal together for a particular bundle of products in a particular month the sales of the franchisee in the adjacent patch may be affected. This could escalate to a complaint to the franchisor. A few of these sorts of situations needing attention and the franchisor is using all his time smoothing out disputes rather than continuing to grow his company.

So the rule book, although huge, is there for a very good reason, the continued expansion of the entire organisation. If you are considering a Franchise Opportunity do not necessarily be dissuaded by a large and detailed list of do’s and don’ts. Often it is a signal that the franchisor has great designs for the business and has the willpower and drive to get it there. This of course is precisely what a potential franchisee wants to hear as the brand and company growth will have a massive affect on the profits for each franchisee.