Franchise System Training Success Is A Moving Target

Writen by Lance Winslow

One of the most important aspects of franchise success is the training. Not just training to check off the boxes on a form. This is not the government and real success in the market place and new demographic battlespace; well, let's just say "it don't work that way!" In franchising it is all about winning markets and market share and standing tall on that brand you are building. In fact in a Franchise System the training success and evaluation criteria is a Moving Target.

Having built a franchising company from scratch, I can tell you that you must indeed carefully scrutinize your system to make it perfect. Additionally you must do exit polling of your franchisees to insure they felt confident of their training as this is a major part of the key to keeping up with that ever changing and moving target of true success. Here is an old comment from a franchisee of our company The Car Wash Guys; Carwashguy.com if you wish to look it up and these are some of his ideas on keeping up with said target as he states:

"Another way to implement training might be to continue it during the blitz marketing. I would suggest establishing a crack wash crew that is ready to get to work. The franchisee then would have this team for the first four weeks in business to jump start operations. They would come to town like the marines making a beachhead so that other forces can move in behind. Paying them would be built into the cost of the startup and their responsibilities would be different and separate from the marketing crew. They would be responsible to begin washing jobs immediately. Able to handle any job they could begin fleet contracts the day they arrived. They would provide the franchisee with a labor resource from day one.

As they began operations they would assist in hiring and training employees, helping the franchisee through any problems with logistics, equipment or operations, set up shop, mix and prepare products, install computer software and set up bookkeeping and more. After marketing was over they could help with follow-up and bidding, making sure the franchisee doesn't get taken for a ride by a customer. When they finally moved on to the next station, they would leave behind a newly hired and trained crew able to function on their own. There would be standing accounts that had already been serviced well and properly scheduled. After leaving they could continue to be a resource to the franchisee as he developed his business walking him through operations and procedures he may have forgotten or misunderstood or, God forbid, didn't pay enough attention."

In fact that is pretty much what we did to insure our training was a success in the future, because we know that there is no easy way to train winning teams unless you do what works. So think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow