Franchise Q&A Jonathan Mills
Managing director, Personal Career Management
Q: What questions should you ask yourself and your potential franchisor to gauge whether you’ll make a good partnership?
A: Before having a conversation with a franchisor, think about what you are looking for from a franchise, what you hope to enjoy, and any concerns. You should build up your personal wishlist. This is likely to include things like: being your own boss, having fl exibility in your working hours and having the support of a franchisor. Try and defi ne these by asking yourself: what does being my own boss mean for me? What sort of fl exibility do I want? Once you have your list, prioritise it.
You can now ask a franchisor the right questions to ascertain how the franchise will satisfy your criteria. Remember also to ask about areas you feel you would need more support with to see if you feel their help would be suffi cient. You can then add on the technical questions: the fi nance, the operating model etc, but these are relatively straightforward in relation to the personal factors that will determine whether you will enjoy being one of their franchisees or not. More than
any other attribute, you need passion to succeed. Additional information to seek would be: what do they look for in a franchisee? What do they think the best franchisee in their network has, or does, that makes them particularly successful? Finally, at the end of the conversation you can ask them how they feel about your suitability and what they foresee as your challenges. Afterwards, take time to refl ect on the answers and try and score each franchise you’ve looked at against your wishlist to see how each rates overall.
Louise Bruce
Managing director, Big Red Box PR
Q: How do I fi nd the appropriate social media outlet for my franchise?
A: Most people know they need social media for their business but are often confused about why they need it and which channels they should be using. Social media is a powerful tool that allows your clients to read what other people think about you, to see how you communicate with your customers and to get a general feeling for your company. Before you start on your social media
journey, check if your franchisor will set up the social media accounts or if you can you do it yourself? Is there a social media policy? Are you familiar with laws about copyright and use of photos? Now defi ne your target audience; which social media channels do they use? In general, it’s Facebook for most businesses, LinkedIn for professional services, Twitter for everyone and Instagram for image-friendly products or services
with a very young demographic. Visit
socialmediatoday.com for the latest trends. People buy from businesses that are
recommended by their friends, so join local neighbourhood and business groups, answer questions, be polite, engage. Respond quickly to people who comment on your social media page, as these are your brand ambassadors. Google loves fresh content so post
frequently about your sector and associated subjects. Write a social media strategy to plan how many times a week you’re going to post, then use Hootsuite to achieve this across multiple platforms. Tagging is very important, for instance posting: ‘Hello there @bfamagazine, I just mentioned you in this post on “Must-Read Franchise Magazines’’ would be great if you retweeted it.’ Whatever the channel, keep it fresh, relevant and interesting.
April 2017 |
BusinessFranchise.com | 25
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