A successful franchise network is dependent on the strengths of its franchises. Therefore, ensuring your franchisees are as well-equipped as possible requires excellent training and support. This article explores five key considerations for training new franchisees.
1. Evaluate Their Experience
Before training new franchisees, you must assess what skills they currently have. Knowing where a franchisee’s strengths and weaknesses lie will ensure they receive the most appropriate training and help them get up to scratch as soon as possible.
A franchisee with previous experience owning a business might know how to run a business efficiently. Accordingly, they may need to gain more knowledge of the day-to-day operations of your specific business.
Once you have evaluated a franchisee’s experience, you will be better positioned to design a suitable training model.
2. Provide Diverse Training
Diverse training is the key to ensuring your franchisees have a well-rounded knowledge of your franchise operations. This includes conducting both practical, onsite training and theoretical training at a head office. You can also engage a third-party provider for training sessions and workshops.
On-Site Training
Practical training is essential because franchisees need to experience how a franchise branch works in a real-life context. For example, spending a day with an experienced franchise will allow them to observe the daily operations and ask any questions they might have. Therefore, it is essential to provide thorough onsite training to your franchisees.
Failure to encourage onsite training can harm your franchise’s success. For instance, your franchisees might need early training to understand the daily operations of running a franchise. Having practical experience upfront will help avoid this issue.
Theoretical Training
On the other hand, theoretical training provides a chance for franchisees to learn about your:
- branding;
- company culture and values;
- processes and procedures;
- intellectual property; and
- software and other systems.
Training also serves as an excellent opportunity to emphasise the legal obligations your franchisees have, such as:
- their use of your branding
- their contracts; and
- any financial or tax obligations.
3. Have Experienced Trainers
When designing your training program, you must consider who will make a suitable trainer. For example, good operators do not necessarily make good trainers. Furthermore, different franchisees will be suited to different types of training, particularly if they have varying degrees of experience. This makes it essential to have diverse types of training and trainers.
For example, consider you own a cafe franchise. In that case, you might have a specific person who oversees business development training. This person will likely differ from the trainer responsible for teaching franchisees how to make food and drinks, given the required skills and expertise.
4. Have a Detailed Operations Manual
A detailed operations manual will make a significant difference when training new franchisees. An operations manual outlines everything a franchisee needs to know about your business. For example, this includes details relating to:
- business operations and policies;
- quality control;
- performance management;
- marketing information; and
- training materials.
Similar to a textbook, it ensures that all critical information is in writing and can be used as a training guide. Ensure this is readily available to all franchisees at all times.
5. Consider Future Growth
You must stay on top of changes in your business to ensure the long-term effectiveness of your franchisee training programs. Training is not an isolated event. Instead, it is an ongoing process that requires adjustment as the market changes.
Ongoing training may be either practical or theoretical. For example, if you own a cafe franchise and introduce a new beverage, you should have practical training that teaches the best ways to make and serve it. Alternatively, you could consider rolling out a new coffee machine, in which case training on how to use and maintain this coffee machine is required.
On the other hand, consider you make significant changes to your branding. In that case, you should have your franchisees attend your head office for more theoretical training.
This publication provides you with the fundamentals for franchising your New Zealand business, including set up, branding and management.
Key Takeaways
Providing your franchisees with ongoing support and training is critical for a successful franchise network. To train your new franchises, you should:
- evaluate their experience;
- provide diverse training;
- have experienced trainers;
- have a detailed operations manual; and
- consider future growth.
If you need assistance training your new franchisees, our experienced franchise lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0800 005 570 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Providing your franchisees with ongoing support and training is critical for a successful franchise network. To train your new franchises, you should first evaluate their experience. You should then provide diverse training with experienced trainers. Your franchisees should also have a detailed operations manual made available to them at all times. Finally, you should ensure that the training you provide your franchisees is ongoing.
Your operations manual is the very foundation of your franchise system, setting the guidelines and expectations that will allow your franchisees to succeed in line with your core values and beliefs. In addition, an operations manual serves as useful training material for your franchisees.
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