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Without strong or successful franchisees, the model doesn’t matter. You won’t be able to implement your strategies and sell new franchisees without them.

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By Peter Ross
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In a world where established franchised businesses are quickly expanding and newer franchise concepts are appearing in greater numbers, it becomes vital for a brand to focus on setting itself apart and adopting a “franchisee-centric” strategy. 
 
Upon starting my career in franchising, one of the first things I learned was that many franchisors had an almost “corporate versus staff” view of franchising. Since many franchisors, including myself, came out of the corporate culture, it’s easy to see how this could happen. This way of thinking created a “we versus them” mentality, which I learned early on was the wrong way to go about fostering a positive, enriching, and lucrative business.
 
At first, I fell into this trap as well, but very quickly learned that a franchisee-centric strategy is needed to be truly successful. The bottom line is that your franchisees need to be successful, and that equates to profitable. This impacts several areas but two most importantly. The first is that profitable franchisees are happy franchisees. Happy franchisees will work with the franchisor to implement programs, provide great feedback, and work toward the common goal to expand the brand. Secondly, franchise development doesn’t happen unless you have existing franchisees that tell your candidates that becoming your franchisee was the best business decision they ever made. 
Full Commitment Required
When I started franchising, many of the franchisors I met said that their top priorities when they created their brand were as follows: 
  1. The market/industry
  2. Their system or model
  3. Strong franchisees  
While the system or model is very important, I would reverse Nos. 2 and 3. Without strong or successful franchisees, the model doesn’t matter. You won’t be able to implement your strategies and sell new franchisees without them. 
In order to expand the unique elements of a brand, franchise owners must be fully committed to the program. This means that they need to adopt it within their operating and marketing teams, as well as facilitate specialized training for their staffs in order to implement these programs. This is so important in a booming franchise sector, as every competitive brand is looking for an edge. If you sit back and wait, you lose! Franchisors must adopt a strategy that creates these unique elements and mandate through system standards that all franchise owners must adopt without exception. You lose the luster and effect of these programs if you don’t have full adherence to
their implementation.

Happy Franchisees Essential to Brand Growth

As the CEO and co-founder of Senior Helpers, the nationwide provider of in-home senior care, I have experienced navigating through a booming franchising sector first hand. America is aging, and doing so quite quickly. Millions of seniors already need some form of assistance, and millions more will require care in the coming decades. 
 
According to a report published by the Home Care Association of America, there are already more people over the age of 60 than under the age of 15. By 2030, the 65 and over population will represent 20 percent of the total population, up from 13 percent in 2010. Traditional government health care programs and our current system of institutional care are not capable of meeting the needs of the growing number of elderly Americans who will require assistance, making home health care a vital component of the healthcare continuum. 
 
When we started to franchise Senior Helpers in 2005 there were only 14 franchisors in the senior care space. Today there are more than 60, and the number of home care agencies in the U.S. is almost 20,000. We started several years back trying to differentiate ourselves from what’s out there, and early on I latched on to the idea of disease management. We teamed up with Teepa Snow, Positive Approach, LLC to create our Senior Gems program, a specialized care program for seniors dealing with effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia — and we made that part of our Senior Helpers DNA.  
 
Franchise owners and at least one staff member needed to be certified in the program, in order to properly train our caregivers. We provided marketing collateral and support for each franchise owner, making it easier for them to adopt the program. Once we rolled out the program, we made sure that we “inspected what we expected” with each franchise owner. We also used our Owner’s Council (franchise advisory council) to help to reinforce the importance of implementing this exciting program that would differentiate them from their competitors. 
 
It is so important to focus not only on setting your brand apart, but also on ensuring your franchisees are happy, successful and committed to making this change. No matter the industry, size, or model of your company, without everyone on board, it is impossible to implement a program that will help your brand stand out amongst wits competitors.   
 
Peter Ross is CEO and Co-founder of Senior Helpers.
 

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