Imagine setting up your own business from scratch…working out how to organise the office, how to recruit staff, setting up operational systems, initiating a customer lead program, learning about your products…without anyone to give you pointers.

For a franchisee, the experience is very different. A good training program based on the experience of the franchise network will help set up a franchisee for success in business.

What will vary is the length of training, whether or not the cost is included in the initial investment, how hands-on the education is, whether there is ongoing learning available, and the opportunity for flexible online study.

So what do franchisees think of their training?

Lollypotz is a chocolate bouquet gift business that can be home-based or a retail store. For Auckland franchisee Marie Trigger the training proved spot on.

“We did one week of training which I found perfect. We did have a lot to learn so it enabled us to feel confident with what we were putting together – this was really important to me, particularly as I was the only person in the network based in New Zealand.

“The cost of the training was incorporated into the purchase price of the franchise, our training was based in Canberra and it included our accommodation and airfares.

“The most important part of the training was of course the assembly of the bouquets as they need to be professional and perfect. The training we received was very, very good; I arrived back from Australia and felt very comfortable training five staff before the Christmas rush.”

Working in the freight consultancy business Garry Fryer, at Inexpress North Lakes, was also more than happy with the information gleaned in his training program.

“The InXpress training (one week bootcamp) is included in the franchise fee, and includes lots of great information about the franchise and our carrier partners like DHL/TNT. We spend two days on the sales process, then finish up with a day of software training, territory planning/customer service/LAM and motivation.”

The length of the training was just right, he believes. “We could train for two weeks easy, but it would be overload.

Hands on support

“The week of classroom-bootcamp comes after franchisees have done a ‘fast start’ program, then we follow up after bootcamp with hands on support visit within the first two to four weeks.

“I found following a proven formula is the most important aspect of training. Too many people want to do things their way and not follow [the system] they have invested in.”

Looking back

Penrith based Greg McKay is a franchisee with Pack & Send, a retail based logistics business. He underwent his training quite a while ago: 1994 to be exact.

“We are one of the very first franchisees and still very much involved, my career prior to buying a franchise was middle management with other unrelated industries and the freight industry. In those early days the most useful training element was meeting with suppliers.”

So what advice did McKay find most helpful?

“The most useful piece of advice is to listen and take notes of what people say, this includes customers, suppliers and the franchisor and his/her team: you may need that information later.”

Another long-standing franchisee, Jock Dean of Outside Concepts, Eastern South Australia, also understands his training period better with the advantage of hindsight; he’s clocked up more than a decade in business.

“I undertook training over 12 years ago. The rules and regulations governing the building trade have changed a lot since then, but the outstanding element of the franchise was the ability to design a structure to specifications using a computer modelling system

Gaining insights

“The most useful information I learned, however, was insights into customer awareness – body language, posture, even a small course in Feng Shui. This gave me a huge advantage in predicting the questions, and pre-empting customers’ thoughts, having all the answers ready, and all the while talking about their needs and not coming across as a high-pressure salesman.

“Training took two weeks and I feel was too short. There is so much to learn about the building trade, the terminology, the different materials available, how to control and engage sub-contractors, pricing quotations to win contracts.

“It took another three months in the field to become partially proficient. Being a mathematician/engineer, salesman and people person is almost mandatory for this franchise.”

Outside Concepts director Brian Rohan says that training has moved with the times. Now after a week in head office franchisee training continues online for several months, he says. This means a new franchisee has the flexibility to train from their home or office in their own time.

Rohan believes the most useful part of training is probably product knowledge. “There are many exciting new products available in the home improvement industry giving far greater variety of designs for entertainment areas, carports, verandahs, pool enclosures, etc.

“The training is paid for by the selling franchisee or by head office if it is a new territory.”

Top image: melaniespath.blospot.com