Franchising

Franchising thrives on a strong brand, which depends on creating a consistent customer experience. The success of the brand relies on delivering on it's promise to the customer every time. The customer expects the same products and the same service wherever and whenever they shop.

Franchisees buying the brand. They know its successful and they want to be too. Franchisees need to know that their investment is protected. As a franchisor you need to have a compliance program to ensure your brand keeps its value.

Your Brand as an Asset

Franchisees are buying a brand name and expect an appreciating asset. They need to know that the brand will still be valuable next year and into the future.

Its important for franchisees to know that their franchise insists on compliance, and they can be sure that standards are kept up ay all locations. They don't want the brand, and their investment, devalued by a few poor operators.

Growing the Business

Franchisees buy the systems, products and support of an already-successful business. They know that by duplicating the operations they will also be successful, and look forward to growing their business.

They expect the franchisor to protect them against the devaluation of their investment. A few 'free spirits' who do things their own way can give the brand a bad name. Franchisees need to know that the franchisor actively protects the brand and their investment with an effective compliance program.

Monitoring

Visits to a location by operations or area managers have a dual role: support and assistance for the franchisee but also ensuring that operations and standards are in line with the brand. The roles of mentor / business coach and inspector must be combined to maximise effectiveness. Objectifying the role of inspector makes the duality of the situation more confortable for the area manager and the franchisee. By having a formalised process to check compliance the audit can be a standardised, objective process, leaving the area manager free to mentor and coach on an individual basis.

Growth

Franchises start as successful businesses where a small team can know everything about the business. While the franchise is small they can keep an eye on individual franchisees, but as the franchise expands it becomes unmanageable.

The area manager is spread too thinly, spending lots of time on the road, seeing franchisees, solving problems, gathering lots of data. But what happens to that information? When is it used? When is it analysed to see what is happening and how to makes things better?

Spreadsheet and paper-based systems start to break down. There is a lot of data, and a lot of time and effort is spent collecting it, but its just not usable. Putting more managers on simply adds to the problem: more data but less information.

Shadow QC

Shadow QC can automate the collection and analysis of data. With Shadow QC you don't need to buy or install software. You simply need an Internet connection. Shadow QC runs on our servers, at a world class data centre, and we manage it for you. Your information is store securely and you have 24/7 access.

You don't need IT people, you don't need to set up an expensive and time consuming IT projects. Shadow QC is already there, and you can 'try before you buy'. There are no upfront costs, a low monthly payment covers everything - hosting, support, management. And you can be up and running in just a few weeks.

Adding Value

Shadow QC adds value to your brand. It is accessed through your own website or Intranet, and appears as part of that. Staff and franchisees can move seamlessly between your website and QC with everything branded in your franchise logos and colors. It increases the support services you can offer to franchisees, who can see how they are performing and what they have to do to improve.

The Compliance Challenge

Read the article from Franchising magazine discussing the problems franchisors face, and how to manage them. Find out how Shadow QC helps the rapidly-expanding Sumo Salad manage compliance with their standards. To read, click here.

Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It's what the customer gets out of it.
Peter Drucker

Quality means doing it right when no-one is looking.
Henry Ford

If you don't look after your customers someone else will.
Unknown

If you make customers unhappy in the real world they might each tell 6 friends. On the Internet they can each tell 6,000 friends.
Jeff Bezos

Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game.
Tony Allessandra

Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.
Walt Disney

Repeat business or behavior can be bribed. Loyalty has to be earned.
Jane Robinson

In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want.
Alice MacDougall

Although your customers won't love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.
Kate Zabriskie