Focused Team | The Five F's of Franchising

Do you often feel that you that there aren’t enough hours in the day to finish all your work tasks? Do you put in long hours and a 60-70-hour working week is not unusual? Are you swamped with emails and tasks that have been waiting for days to be picked up? It is not uncommon for franchisors to feel this way and to be buried in tasks, emails and meeting requests.

I was listening to a business podcast the other day and there was a quote that came up. That quote really resonated with me.

‘Lack of time is lack of priorities’ Tim Ferris

It makes so much sense, doesn't it? Running a business is already a very responsible and time-consuming task. Running a franchise, focusing on new business development, recruitment finance, marketing, franchise communications and so forth is all too much for one person, no matter how good they are, to handle on their own. Lacking priorities and trying to do it all by yourself will not lead to a desired effect.

Over the years working with a number of different franchisors I've seen a lot to learn from. In one case a CEO of a global franchise brand did not want to spend too much on hiring a team for the head office of the franchise and used interns. Don't get me wrong, interns are great for certain tasks, but they lack the skillset and experience to navigate a franchise in the right direction. Another franchisor was egocentric enough to think that he was the only one that can do a good job, therefore he did not need any marketing or operations managers, or any other staff, for the head office and wanted to do it all by himself. His failure to prioritise and delegate tasks was his nemesis. As you can figure yourselves, he did not make it very far. In both of the examples the franchisors ended up felt trapped by mundane tasks, they were putting in the extra hours without necessarily seeing the right output because they were not focusing on the right aspects of their business. That naturally led to frustration, feeling unsuccessful, worried and even lonely. Does this resonate?

Surrounding yourself with A-players is critical for the success of your franchise brand. You will need your attention and time to focus on high value tasks that are important for the business and, at the same time, there will be other low value tasks that would still need to be taken care of so that the franchise operations run smoothly. You will need the best help that you can get to achieve the best results you are aiming for. Not hiring a focused ambitious and experienced team to have your back will cost you dearly in the long run. In most of the cases this results in the business staying in the same spot rather than growing and expanding.

This reminds me of the days when I was in charge of the marketing and branding divisions of a major franchisor. The company was growing exponentially and new teams and projects were created almost with the speed of light. Naturally everyone was overworked and stretched to their maximum. I was still young and inexperienced and had just for promoted. Apart from being accountable for all marketing and branding activities, I was transitioning from another role where I still had a sales team under my direct supervision. I worked long hours and for a while tried to do it all by myself, which resulted in extra hours, work over the weekend and unnecessary stress. I was on the verge of exhaustion and burnout and constantly felt stuck and inaccomplished. One day when I least expected, I got called at the CEO’s office. ‘Now what?’ I remember thinking, ’another project? Another task I have to take on?’ Thankfully it was not that, but rather him asking to see me as he had noticed my struggle. He thoughtfully suggested hiring my very own PA to help me with my low value tasks and to delegate the functional activities to. Furthermore, he coached me into setting up better structure internally through appointing the right people as leaders of each team I was in charge of, something that changed the way we worked entirely. My efficiency and productivity hit the charts. The changes had such a positive effect that in a couple of months one of the teams and I received a prestigious internal award for breaking the company’s all-time records.

There really is no excuse for not having the best people by your side today. In the old days things used to happen in a very different way. There were limited resources and a very narrow talent pool that one could choose from, all based around a geographical area. Talent was scarce, specialists incredibly hard to find and at a very high cost. With the power of technology today we are able to choose and recruit the best talent from all over the world. At very competitive rates too. Working with distant teams is a reality now more than ever, especially in a post pandemic world.

Another way of looking at it is from the perspective of the valued ladder. Imagine all the tasks and projects your franchise has got pending at the moment. Each task or project has to be allocated a step on the ladder. On the very top of the ladder are the high value tasks and at the bottom of the ladder- the low value ones. The idea behind visualising prioritisation in this way is so that you can only focus your attention and time, which by the way is your most valuable resource, on high value tasks for the business. In other words, what would have the highest impact and value or return on investment for the business, anything else you can delegate to your team.

A different model that covers delegating work is looking at it as vital tasks versus functional activities. Vital tasks are the one that make your franchise profitable. Perhaps this can be finding a new franchisee for a specific location or making sure your franchisees have a marketing action plan in place or perhaps a financial task you need to finalize? The functional activities are there to keep the business running but are not essential for its existence and profitability. They are also known as operational and can be done with a second priority or delegated to a team member.

Since we have now looked at ways of prioritising and delegating tasks to your focused and driven team members, there are really no excuses but to sit down and scribble on a piece of paper what tasks and activities to retain and what to delegate. If you find that challenging, use one of the two models in this article.

One of the obvious objections to doing this is cost, but speaking from experience, not growing your franchise and missing opportunities will cost you a lot more long-term rather than hiring a focused team. As a franchisor you should acknowledge that there are specialists out there that are much better in certain fields of work than you. A specialist will do something that takes you half a day in a couple of hours, in other words in a much more efficient and effective manner. Seek for and hire talent like that and try to ignite in them the same passion you have for your business.

An alternative method is to turn to an agency for help, rather than look to recruit one person that knows-it-all. Most starting up franchises look for horizontally integrated staff, people who understand a bit of all- marketing, operations, franchising, accounting and all that. Agencies like Local Fame that specialise in franchise marketing and support can serve as your extended team and take off some of the burden you are carrying. For the cost of a single person on a payroll in your franchise you can now hire a team of a few very knowledgeable specialists who specialize in their own vertical, rather than search for a unicorn to hire. As the old saying goes, ‘Two heads think better than one’. How about 5 or 10 then?

Not sure where to start from? Contact Local Fame today for a no-obligation chat. We will be more than happy to evaluate your current reviews score and draw up a custom plan on how to improve it. You could also take advantage of our dedicated online reputation management service.