Book Review: So You Want To Franchise Your Business
So You Want To Franchise Your Business by Harold Kestenbaum and Adina M Genn, 2008
This book is jam-packed with ideas, suggestions, reminders and information. It is invaluable for anyone who is thinking about franchising their business. As a sidenote, I have been interviewing a number of franchisors about their experiences recently, and the most common advice they have for someone thinking about franchising is ‘know what you’re getting in to’ or ‘do your homework about franchising’ or some variant thereon, so this book is a great resource to help you do just that.
So You Want to Franchise Your Business contains four main sections, a useful add-on; guidelines for an operations manual, and lots of good stories – both success stories from franchisors and also warnings from franchisors who got some thing wrong. The four sections are
- Why Franchise?
- Moving Forward (information about advisors, operations and so on)
- Rolling It Out
- Keeping it Going
I found Part 1 to be the most valuable. As I kept reading, I realized I was mentally accumulating a huge to-do list, and it started to feel a bit overwhelming. This is not a book to try and read in one sitting. But do read it.
This is clearly written by people who have been through the wars (or, if they haven’t, have spent a lot of time with people who’ve been there!). I was struck by the phrase ‘you get what you pay for’ – one franchisor I spoke with a couple of days ago was telling me what a disaster one particular attempt to do things with few resources had been for her in her early days. There is also a good exploration of what makes a succesful operations manual (including a sample table of contents) and a whole chapter on exit strategies. The exploration of what makes a suitable franchisee is also a nice combination of theory (fit, skills, attitude, funding) and practical (review committee, discovery day, earnings claims, etc).
Technology – Integrated Throughout
I have read a lot of books about franchising, and since I run a company that uses technology to help build businesses, I am always curious whether technology is even mentioned. Often not. With So You Want To Franchise Your Business, I was intrigued to find ways to benefit from technology running through the various sections:
- Chapter 6 talked about website and marketing tools, including how to provide branded sites to franchisees
- Chapter 8 talked about training tools and how beneficial automated or online training programs can be
- Chapter 9 was all about the website, including how it can support and strengthen branding, sales, quality assurance and lead generation
- Chapter 10 talked about advertising, building buzz online, internet marketing, public relations and electronic coupons
- Chapter 11 talked about online support; including internet training, the convenience of web access, the advantages of a strong audit trail, the benefits of communications tools and how to advance your branding.
This type of integration of technology into core business strategy can be a huge competitive advantage for franchises that see the value and implement it. One franchisor said to me that technology had been her source of greatest expense & irritation, but had also provided opportunities for revenue and company growth that she would never have had otherwise. So thank you to the two authors for including the technology thread in their exploration of how best to franchise your business. And guess what? You can find Adina Genn online via twitter at http://twitter.com/AdinaGenn (no real surprise there, right?).
Words of Wisdom/Quotes:
“For starters, not every business is franchisable.” (p. 10)
“Most franchisors agree that moving into the business of selling franchises is a tough transition…. So the more you know about the difficulties, the better equiped you may be at overcoming the challenges ahead.” (p. 21)
“If you have franchisees but do not have the appropriate infrastructure to handle them, it can lead to disaster.” (p. 34)
Past Book Reviews
The Franchise E-Factor by Greg Nathan
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