Franchising guru Nigel Toplis offers an eight-point plan to becoming a successful business owner.
Hard work, drive, energy, ambition and persistence are the foundation of all robust businesses – and franchised ones are no different. But to become consistently successful, and consistently at the top of your game, you need more. Working with the franchisor is a pre-requisite. And it’s not because the franchisor is ‘better’ but because the franchisor has skills, experience and knowledge which you don’t possess. So, my first tip is work with the franchisor.
I have always said that good franchising is a marriage, and successful franchising is about a strong and long-lasting marriage with a solid structure and proven processes. Working with the franchisor means following the system. It’s a business system that’s been created, developed, augmented, tested and proven to work. You would be insane not to follow it and simply mad not to embrace it. My second tip, therefore, is to follow the system.
But working with the franchisor is not about blind faith or blind loyalty. Part of the role of a franchisee is to challenge the franchisor, to ensure the system is constantly being developed and evolving, so that new tools are being created. The franchisee must keep the franchisor on their toes and alert to customer and market changes. The third tip is: Keep the franchisor ‘up to the mark’ by challenging their activity and motivation.
I run business to business franchises, and in B2B the most important activity is marketing. A clear top tip therefore is to constantly market your business, to be ever active and to regularly communicate with customers. To market effectively requires structure and the basis of good and effective B2B marketing is thinking A, B, C, and D.
Awareness:
Making and keeping people aware of your brand and your business. And it’s an on-going exercise from day one.
Business Prospecting:
You need to continually re-fill the ‘hopper’ with new prospects by implementing regular and proven ‘prospecting’ activity in order to get new contacts.
Create Brand Value:
Brand value identifies who you are and what you stand for. For franchisors and franchisees, brand value means being customer centric, providing value for money, exceeding expectations and earning trust.
Develop Key Accounts:
In B2B particularly this is critical. It is five or six times easier to keep a customer than to recruit a new one. But saying it and doing it is two completely different things. Creating and maintaining customer intimacy requires hard work and it is the key to building a successful company. My fourth tip is to market, market, market.
While regular marketing is critical to building a successful business, so is regular communication with customers. Rest assured, whatever you are doing today it is probably not enough. There are many ways to keep your name in front of customers and you should be open to using the entire range. These include an email letter/poster or perhaps an awareness postcard or maybe a leaflet. You may even consider a give-away catalogue.
What about a mug with personal details on one side (such as Sally Smith, coffee black, three sugars) and then your contact details on the other? Available from all good Recognition Express franchisees! See that. I’ve even managed to publicise one of my own franchises in this ‘top tips’ feature for Elite Franchise! Your fifth tip is to have regular communication with your customers.
More companies (even seemingly successful ones) fail not through lack of profit or the failure of a good idea, but by running out of cash. Managing your cash flow is a must. I would not let most accountants run a bath, let alone run a business, but I would pay good money for an experienced one to look after my money. Therefore, my sixth tip is to get a good accountant and to run a cash flow check every six months – at the very least.
Running your own small business can be lonely at times, so please attend all company meetings and take the opportunity to listen and learn. It’s important to mix with others in the same position as you. Don’t just share your views and experiences with the franchisor but, more importantly, with other franchisees. Networking is a key part of business these days and whether it is with peer groups, fellow franchisees or business clubs, it is definitely necessary. So this is my seventh tip – network as often as you can.
Finally, I am a big fan of using PR to enhance your message and to reach a wider audience. So, if you have a good story to tell, be it a big job, successful achievement, 1,000th customer, charity gig, or simply an anniversary, then get the message out there. This means my eighth and last tip is to shout about your successes, because nobody else will.
I’ll also throw in one more piece of advice too and it’s possibly the most important – have fun along the way.
