When Franchisees "color outside the lines" - Your Brand will suffer!

..some franchisees may be tempted to operate outside of these boundaries.. Whe look at what can be done to mitigate this "creativity".        

When it comes to coloring outside the lines on a drawing, the concept is simple - stay within the boundaries to create a cohesive and polished final product. The same concept applies to operating a franchise - staying within the conceptual boundaries established by the franchisor helps to maintain consistency and quality across all units. This is what guests and customers are expecting.

A Franchisor establishes guidelines, procedures, and rules for their franchisees to follow, which are crucial for maintaining consistency and quality across all units. These guidelines and procedures are put in place to ensure that the Franchisees have a clear understanding of how to operate the business, and that they are following the same best practices that have been proven to work.

However, some Franchisees may be tempted to operate outside of these boundaries, in hopes of finding a “better” way of doing things. They may think that they know better than the franchisor, or that they, in their infinite wisdom can improve upon the established procedures.

Just like coloring outside the lines on a drawing can lead to a messy and uncoordinated final product, operating outside of the conceptual boundaries of a franchise can lead to inconsistencies and a lack of quality control. This, not only can, but will be detrimental to the franchise network as a whole. It will hit especially on those hard working Franchisees that are following the System, seeing their business being dragged along in the dirt.

In conclusion, it's important for Franchisees to understand that operating within the conceptual boundaries established by the franchisor is crucial for maintaining consistency and for their success as business owners. It's the Franchisor’s job to provide the guidelines, procedures, and rules, and it's the franchisee's job to follow them.

But what does "Provide the guidelines" look like? What can be done to ensure compliance to Brand Standards across the network, and how do we detect deviations in time to fix it?        

Enter Chainformation. A digital platform and a powerful tool that allows Franchisors to efficiently provide guidelines, procedures, and rules to all Franchisees. Here are a few ways that the platform can help:

1. Centralized Content: Chainformation allows franchisors to centralize all of their Operations Manuals and Digital checklists in one place, making it easy for franchisees and employees to find the information they need. This ensures that all franchisees have access to the same updated guidelines, procedures, and rules.
2. Role-based access: With Chainformation, franchisors can provide different levels of access to different users, such as Field Agents, Area Managers Franchisees and their employees, based on their role in the organization. This allows franchisors to control who has access to what information, ensuring that everyone is on the same, and correct page.
3. Easy updating: The platform makes it easy for franchisors to update and maintain their Operations Manuals and any other information needed in the network, ensuring that all franchisees have the latest information. Push notifications are automatically sent to those targeted to read.
4. Traceability: Chainformation provides the ability to track Mandatory Reading of important updates and see who read, or did not read them. This makes it easier to keep track of who is responsible for what and ensure that everyone is up to date. No more "I didn't get that email.."
5. Communication: Chainformation also includes powerful in-app communication features, allowing franchisors and support teams to keep in touch with franchisees and provide quick and topic focused interactions and discussions of issues related to Operations.

Overall, the Chainformation ( https://chainformation.com ) platform is a powerful tool for franchisors looking to efficiently provide guidelines, procedures, and rules to all franchisees. Combining Digital Checklists with the Operations Manual in a platform like Chainformation makes it easier and more efficient for franchisees and employees to follow procedures and ensure that everything is completed on time. It also provides traceability, reminders, customization and quality assurance, which helps to ensure that all units are working towards the same goal and maintaining the required level of operational quality.