7 Tips for Successfully Running a Franchise Business

Here are The Best Ways to Ensure Your New Franchise Business is Successful and Profitable

As a franchise owner, ensuring that your business is successful and profitable is the number one goal. It not only requires dedication and hard work but also takes incredibly strong leadership and management skills.

However, when you are a first-time franchisee, starting a franchise from the ground up, running it from day-to-day, and turning it into a successful business is no easy feat. From recruitment and marketing to managing the business day in and day out, there are so many moving parts involved in creating a successful franchise that you cannot overlook.

With that being said, here are some of our top tips for new franchisees that will help you increase your chances of running a successful franchise operation long-term.

1. Set Long and Short-Term Goals

When setting up your new franchise, it’s important to have big goals you can work towards that will help you to stay motivated even when you encounter obstacles. Here are some great examples of long-term goals for franchisees:

Expanding your staff
Set up new franchise locations
Reach a certain milestone
Increasing profits by a certain amount each year
Surpassing other local franchises in terms of customers and revenue

Along with your big, long-term goals, also consider setting smaller annual or quarterly goals you can realistically achieve.

2. Focus on Providing Amazing Customer Service

As with any business, your success as a franchisee is dependent on the happiness of your customers and their willingness to continue giving you their business. Therefore, providing a great customer experience is one of the best ways to build a successful franchise.

While franchisees must follow the rules and processes set out by the franchisor, there are some ways you can create a personalized customer experience. Here are a few suggestions:

Become the face of your franchise and interact with customers
Make a point to remember the names and preferences of repeat customers
Ask for feedback and implement customers’ suggestions
Ask for support from the franchisor

3. Network With Other Franchisees

Building a successful business takes a village, so take the time to surround yourself with other franchisees who can offer guidance and support. Whether it’s attending conferences or simply reaching out to other franchise owners that have invested in the same franchisor, having other franchise owners to turn to is completely invaluable and will give you amazing insight into the life of a successful franchisee.

4. Build a Talented, Hardworking Team You Can Trust

As a franchise owner, you can’t be everywhere at once. While your staff are taking care of everyday tasks like serving customers, you’ll be busy managing and overseeing all other aspects of the business. This is why you need a team of trusted employees to ensure things are running efficiently and perform tasks that you’re unable to.

You’ll need to put a lot of time and energy into your recruitment efforts and:

Do multiple in-depth interviews
Check references
Ask candidates to do a trial run to see if they’re a good fit.

Then, once your team is hired, ongoing training is essential to ensure they are properly equipped to provide customers with high-quality service. Training assistance is almost always offered by the franchisor, so take advantage of this support and utilize all resources that they are willing to provide.

Furthermore, showing kindness and respect to your team and taking the following steps to boost morale and performance will go a long way:

Host regular team meetings
Check-in with your team members one on one
Host team-building events and after work get-togethers

5. Stay Updated on Market Trends and Be Willing to Adapt

In any industry, things are constantly changing and evolving. In order to remain relevant and successful, business owners need to stay informed about industry trends, market changes, and new technologies that can impact their franchise by:

Attending industry conventions and seminars
Reading trade publications and franchise newsletters
Attending franchise events
Utilizing franchisor resources.

Franchisees must also be willing to adapt and embrace innovation to stay competitive and meet evolving customer demands.

6. Follow the Franchise System

When it comes to the franchise system, never make the mistake of thinking you know better than your franchisor. Remember that the franchise system was put in place by your franchisor for a reason. It was developed based on years of research and first-hand industry experience and is strategically designed to help franchisees build successful businesses.

Following the rules and procedures put in place by your franchisor is one of the best ways to guarantee your franchise is successful, so straying from the franchise system and making business decisions not approved by the franchisor is a big risk that can lead to negative consequences.

7. Choose the Right Franchise

Even if you follow all of the tips we’ve mentioned above, at the end of the day, the success of your business relies heavily on the franchisor that you choose to invest in. For this reason, always thoroughly vet any franchise you want to invest in and do extensive research to ensure that:

You can afford the franchise fees set by the franchisor
The franchisor offers extensive support and training
The franchise doesn’t have a long history of lawsuits
Many other franchisees have been successful with their franchises
The franchise has a long track record of being profitable
There is strong communication from the franchisor

If you are a new franchisee looking for a franchise that meets all of these criteria, consider investing with Gorilla Bins.

Gorilla Bins is Ontario’s leading waste management franchisor with several locations across the Greater Toronto Area.

Gorilla Bins offers its franchisees lots of training and support to help them be successful. We also have a track record of producing successful franchisees and have tripled our revenue over the past five years.

Contact our team today to learn more about the Gorilla Bins franchise and how we can help set your business up for success.