The Four Elements of a Franchise

Here’s a question for you, “Are there basic elements necessary of all successful franchises?”

You know the answer must be yes, or else why would I title this blog post “The Four Elements of a Franchise.”  Those four elements are:

1)      Brand

Brand – the name and marketing approach associated with the services delivered.

       2) Operating System

Operating System – a repeatable system that can produce excellent results every time for (hopefully) every franchisee. 

3)      Support System

Support System – helps the franchisee get better and better at delivering the service in a memorable experience and helps a Franchisee improve their performance.  In my 26 years in franchising this is the area I’ve seen the most improvement.  Most of this improvement is because of advances in technology.

4)      Franchisee  

Franchisee – the talents and experience delivered to the franchise.

All four of these elements need to be strong for a franchise investment to successful.  I know it’s a worn out metaphor, but think of each of the four elements as the legs of a table, remove any one of the legs and the table tips over.  You might get it to stand, but you won’t be able to use the whole table without a lot of extra effort. 

It’s just as important that when you pick out your own franchise, you chose one that is a fit for you.  I often have people come into The Mart, who tell me “I don’t care what kind of franchise I get, I just want the one I can make the most money with.”  Element 4, the franchisee, makes such a difference in the ultimate success of a franchise that I say the most important first step is to insure you are considering a business that utilizes your strengths.  As a personal example, food franchises can be very successful, but for me one would be a disaster because, I fear I wouldn’t keep the restaurant up to appearance standards.  I know that’s too much information so I’ll end this post with a request for you to come in to The Mart and let me help you build the perfect business model. 

Brad