Franchising a business formula for wealth sharing

It is always said ‘a good leader creates more leaders’. A good businessman is no exception to this. Business is one mode of generating wealth. And you will also find that none of the top businessmen ever had an inclination to become wealthy when they start a business. It is their entrepreneur skill that drives them. Business man strives to offer a product/service to the market which has its own identity, uniqueness and value. Their passion and drive to make their product / service visible and has larger acceptance. For them, revenue is only a bi-product of their activity. They always strive for larger acceptance i.e. greater revenue. Thus the creation of wealth occurs. Not satisfied with their single outlet activity, they desire to reach others in a larger scale. Their products/service popularity combined with their promotion enable to reach outside their locality.

The popularity and dependability creates their brand. Their values build their brand equity. They choose the franchising route to reach the outside world faster. Thus the philosophy of wealth sharing in franchise business emerges.

In franchising the intellectual property rights of the product/service, technical /business know-how is held by the Franchisor and the operative custodian for a defined period is the franchisee.

The franchise success depends totally on the right selection of Franchisor/Franchisee. There is no proven formula for identifying a right franchisor/franchisee. However there are certain parameters for selection of the both.

As regards selection of Franchisor, I shall look into the following aspects

-         A track record

-         Financials

-         Profile of the promoters

-         Their vision and sincerity

-         Sustainability of the product/service

-         Mentoring

-         Do not offer false  promises

-         Partnership professionalism

But selection of the Franchisee is the toughest assignment as majority reacts emotionally, based on the brand value rather than on merit. An ideal franchisee should:

-         have implicit faith in the product/service

-         be people’s person

-         have local knowledge

-         aim for long term benefits

-         be manager business person

-         be willing to put extra hours

-         not be knit picking

In addition ,operational conduciveness, field support ,local promotional activities, technical support,  patience and perseverance for growth, the right logistics, timely business counselling ,transparency in all transactions, resoluteness to pursue  and physical presence are the deciding factors which create a win-win franchise ship.   Generally, no franchisee is happy even if they perform well, as they tend to feel the growth of the product/service is due to their own contribution. This is more a business attitude problem which occasionally surges spoiling the business.

Wealth generated is for wealth sharing, as Granth Sahib says “pand ke khao” (share and eat) and the franchising is the best route for the same.