Reasons to be Skillful 

'Fail to prepare, prepare to fail' is one of the most common business mantras. Responsible, well managed franchise operations are aware of the role training plays in preparing their franchisees for what lies ahead. Paul Golden reports.

All franchisees undergo training as part of the system they are buying into and it is accepted that a franchisor would be foolish in the extreme not to have a comprehensive training programme in place. The training can take anything from two weeks upwards depending on the complexity of the business. Apart from teaching the daily functions needed to operate the particular franchise, this training will also cover subjects such as financial management, human resources and customer service.

Tony Fitzpatrick, managing partner Emerson French Consulting, which provides consultancy services to both start up and established franchisors, described sales and marketing as the most important issues for any franchisee, whatever the industry. "This subject will be covered during training but refresher courses are always helpful. I always tell franchisors, ‘You are not making money unless the franchisee is making money - it is your job to keep them firing on all cylinders'. The franchisor needs to keep his franchisees up to speed on the latest marketing techniques and to check regularly to ensure they are using them." Some franchisors will hire a sales and marketing expert to deliver additional coaching, aimed at increasing sales. "It is very much in the interests of the franchisor to have new franchisees trained to do things properly," says French. "Remember, in taking a franchise the franchisee is building a business for themselves. He may never have been self employed before, so he needs to know what to do." Franchisors will want to ensure that new franchisees get off to a good start, which means spending time with them through the launch process, helping them recruit staff, being at the end of a telephone to answer minor queries and meeting on a regular basis to monitor progress. "Many franchisors will hold quarterly meetings with their franchisees to develop camaraderie and talk through common issues," said Fitzpatrick. "They can use such gatherings to introduce new products or services. Of course, franchisees who are not performing to expectations will need extra attention."

Howarth Franchising director Paul Monaghan says that in his experience, the quality of franchise training varies widely both in terms of content and delivery. "This is an area where no franchisor should look for shortcuts. Good, comprehensive training will hugely increase the franchisee's (and therefore the franchisor's) chance of success." Franchisees need to be trained in how to find customers for their product or service, which makes marketing and sales activities particularly important. "Until they can make a sale they will be unable to make a profit," he continued. "Many franchisors just train their franchisees in their own sales methods without giving them any background understanding of the theory of the sales process. This can mean that their franchisees are illequipped to respond to a situation outside their normal experience." However, the area where there is perhaps less training available than there should be, in the opinion of Monaghan, is in how to run a business. "It is wrong to assume that just because someone knows how to deliver a particular service they also know how to run a business that delivers that service," he suggested.

Inevitably, one of the key considerations is that during their training franchisees are learning not earning. "However, in the long term, time spent on good training will increase earnings disproportionately," he added. "An extra week's ‘lost earnings' will be more than compensated for over the lifetime of the franchise and probably even within the first year." In many industries, companies are well aware of the benefits of external training courses and good franchisors are no exception, said Tony Fitzpatrick. "They will always encourage franchisees to take external courses if they are relevant and if the subject matter will help them to improve their business. Training can benefit experienced franchisees as well as those who are new to the industry. None of us are too old to learn and it is important to keep up with new techniques and the latest developments in the industry."

In some cases external training courses are obligatory, explained Paul Monaghan. "For example, there may be legislation that requires a food handler to pass a basic food hygiene course that is provided by an external body. However, in our experience, few franchisors use outside bodies to provide training for their franchisees. Through the Franchise Training Centre we have recently increased the amount of training we do for franchisees on behalf of their franchisor. Typically this covers not 'system training' but more general management skills such, although it is still only a very small proportion of our total training activity."

Home Instead's Michael Kearney says there are many areas in which franchisees could benefit from training. "The typical entrepreneur may have had some training in the past but there are likely to be several areas where he needs to refresh his skills. Since many franchisees are first time entrepreneurs, they are inexperienced in the main functions of running a business such as human resources, marketing, business planning and particularly sales management." Home Instead runs courses on financial planning where the company's accountant explains issues relating to budgeting and it also recommends franchisees take a Small Firms Association course in financial management. "This is an area they often need help on," he continued. "It is the job of the franchisor to offer support in all areas of the business. Franchisees need to fine tune their skills and we have used external sales consultants for sessions as well as marketing and PR consultants to educate them on getting the best return on their promotional activity. Sometimes a different voice can help to get the message across."

In Kearney's experience, franchisees are more likely to come from a sales and marketing background than from the financial sector, but this need not be an obstacle to success. "A good sales person will be successful with the right franchise," he said, adding that established franchisees can also benefit from new ideas. "In Snap Printing we run several courses throughout the year and encourage participation in external courses. Trends change and business changes and it is important that all our franchisees are up to speed on new developments." As a franchisee's business grows and matures so the issues that confront them change, concluded Paul Monaghan. "Employing staff to work alongside a previous owner-operator raises a variety of new skill requirements - how to recruit staff, how to train them, how to conform with employment legislation, how to manage and motivate them. The list is endless.

"Equally, we all know that we sometimes forget just how much we know or why we should do things in a particular way. Ongoing training, even an odd day here and there, will refocus attention on the really important issues and re-energise the franchisee." According to Monaghan, most franchisees expect that their franchisor will provide them with all the training required but in fact this is rarely the case. "Besides the lack of business training, few franchisors will provide any form of management or leadership skills training and unless the franchisee has been fortunate to receive this during previous periods of employment they will often have to pick it up as they go along."

Management qualifications can be an asset for franchisees with limited experience in this area. For example, a BA will inter-link academic management material and more practitioner-based learning while enabling the candidate to interact and network with other individuals on the course. Management education programme participants come from a variety of backgrounds and age groups. Some have years of industry experience and are looking to re-engage with academic learning, while other are just embarking on their managerial careers and wish to develop their skills and knowledge. There are equally obvious benefits to the franchisor, primarily that they will end up with more richly skilled, better informed and potentially more motivated franchisees. The needs of the organisation and the individual candidate are the obvious criteria for choosing the most appropriate course. Generally this means beginning with a general management course and after completion looking to specialising in a particular area of practical interest to the organisation.

First published in Franchise Options Magazine© to order back issues please call 01 6611660