Elizabeth D. Sigety was featured in the Smart CEO article, "Facing Your Franchising Fears: Is the Franchise Model a Good Fit for Your Business?" Full text can be found in the January 4, 2016, issue, but a synopsis is below.
Fox Rothschild's Elizabeth Sigety spoke with Smart CEO to discuss important factors that business owners should consider before diving into the world of franchising.
Who Shouldn't Franchise?
According to Sigety, don't take on franchising if you aren't ready for some hard work.
"People think you just have to put together a few contracts and then people are going to run your business and pay you royalties, and it's going to be simple. But franchising really is complex. It's something that has to be thought about." Sigety adds, "To really expand into a system takes a lot of work and planning."
Facing Your Fears
It is also important to consider the fact that every franchisee may not be a perfect addition to the brand.
"There's always going to be a couple of bad eggs out there. If you have hundreds or thousands of franchisees, somebody is not going to be good at running a business," Sigety says.
Smart CEO also included "the how-to of franchising," which discussed things that an individual may need to know in order to ensure that they are taking the appropriate measures to achieve success when the decision of franchising is made.
Make sure you can support new growth, and choose locations wisely.
Rapid expansion has the ability to lead franchise systems in a negative direction and can catch companies unprepared.
"When do you bring on new people to support the franchisees? Often, people are hesitant to hire new staff in the face of rapid expansion until it's desperately needed. And then mistakes can be made," says Sigety.
Build lasting partnerships with your franchisees based on communication.
"To keep the relationship on great terms, lines of communication need to remain open," says Sigety. "I think the most successful franchisors ... embrace the successful franchisees and communicate. The more secretive and defensive a franchisor gets, the more they end up having problems."
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