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top three solution to ease the franchise business from start

Challenges

Starting franchise business has a defined set of challenges in India, they are

1.  Finding the right partner

2. Finding the right location

3. Getting the right process in place

These are top three concerns while initiating the franchise business for your brand across industries. We will talk about the solution to get over the challenges for starting franchise business.

Top solution are

 

1. Getting the right partner for your business –  Often brands are lost in the initial process of getting the right buyer or the partner or franchisee owners for the franchise brand in different locations. The basic approach to deal with it is to make the right sound in the target market. Get the communication right in the market so as investors know exactly what the brand is looking for and offering. Communicate well on the franchise readiness. Build a solid communication pattern through different forms of contents such as blogs, emails, explainer videos, etc. to make investor know about your brand that it is ready and established as a franchise brand and you are for long run

2.  Select the right location – This is one major factor of success in the initial stages of getting into the market. Location fit strategy is the way to go. Solution – this could be achieved by two ways , either get the partner do the search for the location and then guide them in selection process or define ideal market policy so that the investors with similar market / location advantage can approach your brand to get the franchise license.

3.  Having the process in place – franchise owners should take this step very seriously and create all necessary support system in place. Once the process and operational support is in place it would be like plug and play for investors / franchisee owners to replicate the brand presence in any location/ market.

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Brand that is driven by extraordinary culture

Brand

Company to a brand

As per MCA, there were 11,89,826 active companies as on June 30, 2018.  Not all are brands that deliver experience along with product and services. Brand is a simplest form to identify a company and further it helps to differentiate from another company in same industry.  It is essential for companies or an organization to create a brand out of services and products they deliver. It is not simple as it sounds to be. And it is not impossible to become a brand and recognized by consumers in the market.  However, the stakeholders of the company need to walk the journey to become a brand.

The first step to the endless journey to stay as a brand

Recently I was asked in a client meeting, “what is the single factor that makes a company or brand successful ?  With no hesitation or thoughts, I pointed out “culture” as the single factor that could make a company successful and hence makes it a brand. Though culture is not a visible factor, but it is the only function that determines the growth curve. Culture forms the single platform where marketing, HR, operations, sales resides. Without the concrete culture a company is not a brand and not a company that could pull itself for long run in the market (we are not challenging the exceptions as we deal with best practices).  The good news is 70% of the company stakeholders / business leaders we surveyed know the importance of organizational culture, 90% of them struggle to use culture as a key driver of performance. Business stakeholders acknowledge that they should create culture enabled brand rather than a brand which only markets product and services.

expandnext.com research shows Customer Relationship, Innovation and Accountability are the top priorities among the other parameters that brands are looking to invest and are investing. Fortunately, these are also part of culture management system. Example – Innovation is a culture which can be put into a business process or say a company can implement Innovation Process as part of culture.

Thinking extraordinary – as a part of culture

Brands need to institutionalized culture which could inspire the next generation of managers and employee at all levels. Company should groom people from being ordinary to extra ordinary for growth and innovation.

Challenges

Yes, there are challenges, specially when brands are part of the long value chain. B2B functions challenges are comparatively less than brands dealing in B2C markets. Retail brands which take the franchise route should re-think and re imagine the process and should explore culture as a key parameter. As in culture of training and development (and not business development ), culture of constant auditing, culture auditing. Brands should stop thinking their partners in business as another distribution channel, and should align them more to the culture that the brand promise.

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