Once you have a successful business, you may want to grow it even more by offering franchises. There are a lot of benefits to this and it’s more often nowadays as the perfect way to get more outlets without the massive outlay on infrastructure by the business owner.

Of course, franchising a business takes a lot of work. Putting the right building blocks in place is vital and there are some important steps that you need to follow before you even begin advertising your business to potential franchisees.

Here’s our quick guide on how to get started:

  1. Is Your Business Ready?

Just because your business is currently successful doesn’t mean that it’s suitable for franchising. Some models work better than others but the main defining attribute is that your business should be replicable and your processes and procedures should be easy to follow.

  1. Do Your Research

Franchising out your business is different from running it yourself and it’s important to learn what it’s all about before you commit. You can do this in a couple of ways, either reaching out to networks that offer support for franchisors or by employing the services of a franchise expert to guide you through the setup process.

  1. Document Your Processes

The key to a successful franchise operation is being able to repeat almost every aspect of the business at a new location irrespective of who is in charge. That means you have to put together all your processes – everything from the way that you lay out the business, it’s branding, the day to day functioning and all the minutiae that makeup how your company operates.

  1. Run a Pilot

Once you have the spine of your franchise, you need to run a pilot to see if everything works as expected. This not only highlights deficiencies in your processes, it can help you improve delivery for franchisees once they decide to associate themselves with your business. You’ll also need to hire a franchising solicitor who will be able to help you draw up the contracts and other legal documentation that are going to underpin your operation.

  1. Setting Up Your Franchise

There’s a lot of work that goes into the actual set up of a franchise and all these different pieces need to be in place before you start:

  • You need to produce a prospectus that lays out what your franchise is about and outlines what qualities or experience you are looking for.
  • You need to transform the documentation of your entire set of processes into an operations manual, including the training you are going to provide to successful candidates.
  • You’ll need a central management or support infrastructure in place to help run your franchise operation and ensure standards are met and kept.
  • You’ll also have to put together a comprehensive marketing and advertising strategy that is designed to attract the people you are looking for.

  1. Attracting Franchisees

While you may have all the boxes ticked when it comes to setting up your franchise, your efforts will come to nought if you don’t attract the right people. You might be looking for someone with enthusiasm more than some technical ability that you can deliver through extra training. A lot will depend on your business sector and what the requirements are.

Just because someone has the money to afford your franchise also doesn’t mean that you should take them on. They must be able to demonstrate an ability to deliver what you are looking for and have that connection with your business and it’s development plans which can make an immediate difference.