Streamlining processes and improving productivity are key if franchisors want to elevate their brands
Maximising efficiencies in every area of your franchise can help you elevate your brand to the next level.
To keep moving forwards, you always need to be pushing for better. With costs continuing to rise year-on-year, streamlining processes and improving productivity are key, as is clever marketing to grow sales.
Training and motivation
Staff need to be trained correctly in order to maximise productivity. They need to know exactly what is required of them and have a defined process in place to complete every task, which should be detailed in a franchisor’s operations manual. Motivating staff to ensure they’re all pulling in the direction of clearly defined company goals is also important.
There are a number of other ways to improve overall efficiency too. If you improve by five per cent in every area of your business, consider the effect this will have overall and over time.
Territory mapping
Time spent on the road is a good example. Territory mapping is a great way of maximising the productivity of franchisees. The level of data that can be extrapolated from territory mapping software not only allows a franchisor to create even territories but can also heat map client demographics, reveal business-to-business opportunities and highlight competitors in the area. In addition, all this data can be used to build targeted marketing campaigns, maximising return on investment.
Keep it lean
Introducing lean processes can boost efficiency. These methods are all about coming up with creative, innovative ideas to streamline repetitive processes and eliminate wasted time. Staff can be encouraged to come up with cost-effective, simple ideas that can make a difference.
A good starting point is Paul Akers’ lean manufacturing videos on YouTube, which look at how to implement continuous improvement to change the way we live and work.
Growing beyond your means
However, growing your franchise needs to be done in a carefully considered manner.
One of the common pitfalls of trying to elevate your brand is growing beyond your means. For franchisors, this might happen if they recruit more franchisees than they’re able to support, which may lead to franchisee failures, mismanagement and not being able to uphold customer service levels. They can also get stung by not having appropriate supply lines in place.
On the other hand, it’s necessary to invest in people, systems and equipment before you need them. If you wait too long, it will already be too late, leading to falling service levels and your reputation suffering.
d&t can assist when it comes to affordable asset finance options, which may help you when you or your franchisees need to invest in new equipment, for example, not to mention growth business plans that mitigate the risk of taking on new members of the team.
The author
James Thomas is commercial manager at d&t, an award winning chartered accountancy and business advisory specialist
