B y Ron Hutton, Sales and Marketing Director with Chemex International.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing franchisees from achieving their potential is the fear of employing people.
Without staff a franchise simply cannot grow and if the business doesn’t grow it has little future value to prospective buyers when the time comes for the franchisee to retire or move on to their next venture.
Good personnel are essential to success but it is understandable that franchisees should approach employing staff with caution.
After all while personnel are the lifeblood of any company, taking on employees can be the most challenging part of running a business.
All too often I have spoken to franchisees who fear that once they have made a commitment to employ someone, their overheads will increase and work will dry up putting the whole business in jeopardy.
But the reality should be that by taking on people to carry out time consuming admin or technical work the franchisee can be freed to concentrate on the parts of the business where their skills can be the most effective such as building excellent customer relationships and winning new business.
The secret in successfully introducing staff into the business is to recruit slowly – take your time and make sure you have a structured recruitment process in place.
Candidates should be interviewed on two separate occasions answering questions from a pre determined questionnaire. For management appointments a psychometric test should also be considered – this will give a guide to the candidates’ attitude and mentality in relation to carrying out their duties.
It is also important while carrying out reference checks to include a check with the Criminal Records Bureau especially if employees are to have contact with the public.
Before you start the process ensure that the business fundamentals are in order. I like to think of this as an eternal triangle where the spearhead is marketing followed by products and services and then staff.
If the business is being well marketed and products and services are of the correct standard then taking on staff becomes less of a concern.
Once staff are in place it is vital that they have a comprehensive and clear knowledge of what their duties are and what is expected of them. A well constructed job description is crucial.
It is important that targets are set and that employees know what they have to do to achieve the required performance levels.
At the same time staff must be made to feel part of the franchise and have a clear understanding that their performance is key to the success of the business.
Franchisees should also take advantage of employee training schemes that their franchisor provides. This will build competencies and help employees to gain greater job satisfaction.
Franchisees are also in a privileged position when it comes to employee relations as all the major franchisors should provide an employment support package providing among other things assistance with employment law issues.
Yes, employing people can be daunting but the rewards that come with building a larger more profitable business that is a real saleab le asset can be substantial.
Ron Hutton is Sales and Marketing Director at Chemex International. He has 40 years experience in sales and has been involved in sales and recruitment in the franchise sector for more than 13 years. |
