(In Part 1, I discussed issues revolving around safety. Did you read it?)
The 2nd thing that franchise buyer’s want, is a blueprint for their success. After all, a blueprint is what they’re buying, right?
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Hopefully, the franchise development team that helped you put your franchise package together knew the importance of having a first class franchise operations manual.
When franchise industry folks use the term “turn-key opportunity,” a superior franchise operations manual will go a long way towards helping new franchisees turn the key.
So, just how important is it for you to have an operations manual that rocks?
Franchisees need to know that the operations manual they’ll be getting will be the cornerstone to their individual operation’s success. That’s how important it is.
Here’s what Carrie Belt over at Bizcovering says;
“At a minimum, the manual sets quality standards and provides a cohesive framework to ensure uniformity across an entire franchise network. The importance of this document cannot be overstated. The franchise operations manual will list the agreed upon standards and procedures for the franchise. As a franchisee, you will be expected to carry out business according to these standards. If you fail to abide by these rules, you may be subject to serious consequences including loss of your right to operate the franchise or even litigation.” More
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The days of going to the library to find information about writing an operations manual are slowly fading into the sunset. The information is still there, but it’s becoming easier and much more efficient to gather information about franchise operations manuals online, via a search engine.
All sorts of information can be found. A recent search for “franchise operations manuals” in Google yielded 293,00 different results! (Going through all those results item by item may take a day or two.) Undoubtedly, you’ll stumble across some firms that are selling franchise operations manual “templates.” Supposedly, all you have to do is fill in the blanks, and it’s done. (If it was only that easy)
I have never seen one of these “operations manuals in a box” type of products. (I’m really trying not to prejudge them, folks!)
Here’s what I do know;
A lot of new franchise concepts fail. They sell 3-4 franchises, and then never sell one again. They fade into the sunset. But, why?
- The concept was weak to begin with
- The concept was not franchise material
- The entrepreneur who came up with the concept was cheap
- Several franchise development steps were missed
- The entrepreneur who came up with the concept was cheap
(Cheap meaning that he or she only used a lawyer. The focus at the beginning was on the legal part of the franchise development process. Money was spent on lawyers, and the entrepreneur did everything else in DIY mode.)
Fail.
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I just wrote a post over at Business.Gov about franchise operations manuals. In it I said that;
“Making the decision to franchise your business should not be taken lightly. Not only will you be investing a sizable amount of money, but you’ll have to provide a blueprint of how your business runs to your franchisees. That’s going to take a bit of time.“
I added that, “I’m sure that you’re excited to start, because you read somewhere that ‘great wealth’ has been created by a multitude of business owners who
have used franchising as their growth vehicle.”
Bottom line, if you’re thinking about turning your great business into a franchise, don’t do it on the cheap. Franchise buyer’s want the real deal.
Do you have any examples of how a great operations manual has helped you as a franchisee?
Have you subscribed yet?
Just in case you haven’t yet, here’s a link to Part 3
