If you’ve given even a cursory glance at social media since lockdown, you’ll have seen a number of posts encouraging us to support local businesses rather than big-name operators because ‘they have deep pockets so will be fine!”.
I love my local businesses, and whenever possible I always buy from them instead of going online where price is king and location is almost irrelevant.
Anyway, along with everyone else in the industry my reaction to such posts was one of “but a lot of those big brands are franchised, so it’s highly likely to be owned by a local person who is both serving and employing local people!"
Whilst I obviously applaud the sentiment around buying and supporting local, what annoys me most about the message is that the majority of people still don’t seem to understand that franchising can be both global and local. The bfa recently ran a fantastic marketing campaign “Nationally known, locally owned” to help public awareness, which Platinum Wave absolutely support.
With all this in mind, it seems like a good time to remind people why franchising is such a great way to get into business for yourself, locally.
So, why is investing in a good franchise brand such a great alternative to starting your own business from scratch?
Many people dream of being their own Boss one day, but the generally accepted failure rates of new independent business start-ups (typically more than half fold in the first 5 years) reflects just how difficult that dream can be to fulfil. There are many reasons for these disheartening statistics: some people just aren’t suited to having their own business; perhaps their idea wasn’t good enough; maybe they got the branding wrong; perhaps there was never a market for the product or service in the first place?
However, franchising can offer a pretty fantastic solution to many of these issues.
Firstly, the business has already been proven as a success. A great business idea has been developed, a brand has been established and marketed, and the business model has been proven to be profitable.
Secondly, the franchisor with the great business idea and proven business model will be offering you training and support to ensure you have the greatest possible chance of making the business work. They profit when you profit, so you could say they are highly invested in your success. When the right franchisee finds the right franchisor, along with hard work and dedication, both parties can enjoy major success and develop a long and fruitful franchise relationship.
Securing finance for your new business can be made much easier with franchising – particularly right now with the economy facing a massive uphill struggle to recover from the impact of lockdown. Banks can see that you will be replicating a business that has already been successful and profitable, so they have much more reason to bet on you making it work than with something untested.
Starting a business of your own means building a successful brand from scratch, identifying the right channels and optimising your offering for your audience – easier said than done. When buying a franchise, this has already been done for you. The franchisor has gone through the learning process and knows what works and what doesn’t, meaning you hit the ground running with a clear route to market and an established brand that is potentially already known to your customers.
Joining a franchise network also means you have a strong support system in place from day one that is dedicated to your long-term success. Whether or not you already have expertise in the industry, when you buy a franchise you will be trained on every single aspect of running your business and handed a blueprint for success to follow – the system. Of course, success in business is never guaranteed and despite all the advantages that franchising offers, you still need to put in some serious hard work and FOLLOW THAT SYSTEM!
So next time you have a friend tell you not to buy your burger from ‘there’, or take your kids to ‘that’ class – you can tell them that even though the brand and system might be nationally known, the business is very much locally owned.
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