Is Your Franchisor Holding You Back? 8 Top Tips for Franchise Owners

franchise owners

While most people think of fast-food restaurants when they hear the term "franchise," the truth is there are franchise owners in nearly every industry today.If you're among them but not happy with where you are, there are some things you can do to change that. We've come up with a list of eight tips for franchisees to follow for maximum success and happiness.Keep reading to learn more about what you can do today as a franchise owner to start building a better business and life for yourself.

1. Determine Your Priorities

Your personal life and business are closely tied together, especially as a business owner. The most important thing you can do for yourself is to figure out where your priorities lie.Many franchisors expect you to put every waking hour into building your business. However, for many people, this takes away too much from the time they want to spend with their families.Take some time to decide what you want to get out of owning a franchise. If it's more time spent with family, you'll need to make sure you're working with a franchisor that helps you reach that goal.

2. Have Goals

Speaking of goals, having them is a great way to keep yourself on track. Write out goals for your business and personal finances. Put them where you'll see them often to help you keep them in your mind.It's also important to create two types of goals. Big goals should take you at least a year to accomplish whereas smaller goals should take a month or week. Breaking your big goal down into smaller goals is what will help you accomplish them.

3. Know Your Options

If you've been with a franchisor for long enough that you know you don't want to work for them anymore, it can be difficult to get out of that relationship if you've signed a long-term contract.Find a business lawyer to help you understand what your options are to help you get out of the contract if you can. In some cases, it may be better for you to get out of contracts early but only an experienced law professional can help you determine that.

4. Ask for Help

Don't forget that your franchisor ultimately wants you to succeed. After all, it's best for their company as a whole if your business does well. That's why they have resources available for franchisees.If you're struggling with training employees or marketing, don't be afraid to reach out to your franchisor to see what resources they have for you. You may find they have exactly what you need to solve your problem.Speaking with other franchise owners within the same company can also help you improve things. Those in other regions are typically not competing with you for business and will be more than happy to offer you helpful tips.

5. Consider Competition

A common cause of business failure has to do with the location of your business. If you're setting up a new business in an area that already has several similar established ones, it can be hard to gain traction.Although this is something that should have been considered before opening the location, if you're not growing as much as you think you should, you may want to revisit this.You'll also want to consider competition with your franchisor itself. Before you start to look into opening another location, contact them about their plans for your region. The last thing you want is to compete with corporate.

6. Evaluate Everything

In addition to your location, you want to make sure you're evaluating every aspect of your business. This will help you identify problem areas and find ways to improve your business' growth.While your finances are one of the most important things to evaluate, there are a few things that can cause a business to fail. Looking at all of these will help you decide what to focus on.Here are a few ways businesses can fail so you can avoid falling into any of these problems:

  • Not understanding your target customers
  • Failure to properly market your product or service
  • Ignorance of upcoming changes in the market
  • Lack of qualified and helpful employees
  • Inadequate cash flow

Once you identify a problem, you can create goals and start taking steps to correct it before it causes your business to fail.

7. Get Feedback

One of the ways to evaluate your business is to get feedback from customers and employees.Ask your customers about their experiences to find out how they're enjoying your products or services. You can also learn a lot about your employees by talking with customers about the level of service they receive from your business.When contacting customers, you typically want to have all of their information on hand so you can reach out to them in the future if necessary. This could be for clarification or to apologize for a bad experience and to make things right.However, when getting feedback from employees, you may wish to allow them to anonymously evaluate your company and other employees. This gives them greater freedom to express themselves without fear of termination.Don't forget to act on the feedback you get so you can improve things for both your employees and your customers.

8. Focus on Customer Service

No matter what business you're in, people can most likely get the same product or service from someone else. That's why excellent customer service is one of the best ways you can set yourself apart from the competition.According to one poll, 92% of people would stop doing business with a company after three or fewer bad customer service experiences. That's why this aspect of your business is crucial to focus on no matter what else you're doing.It's also one of the first things you should look at when trying to figure out why your business isn't thriving.

Ready to Join the Ranks of Happy Franchise Owners?

Now you have eight tips to help you be successful in a franchise. Most happy franchise owners would likely agree that picking the right franchise is the first step to happiness in your business and life.If you're ready to join a franchise that already has hundreds of happy and successful owners, contact us today. We would love to tell you more about how our franchisees love working with OpenWorks.

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