Why topping up your knowledge bank will boost franchising

Sarah Stowe

Boosting franchise knowledge among the sector’s professionals is beneficial for everyone.

It can be hard for a busy franchisor to devote space to boosting their professional skills. In between the hours spent problem solving, strategic planning, research and development, and managing a business, there’s not much time for self-development. But it’s a crucial step that can benefit not just the individual but the franchise network too because even highly experienced operators can see results from ongoing learning.

Jason Gerhke heads up the Franchise Advisory Centre which provides education, seminars and workshops. He points out for instance that sector expertise doesn’t equate to franchising smarts.

“Franchisors often make the mistake of believing that their expertise in their particular industry (eg. food, coffee, etc) translates to expertise in franchising. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Unfortunately, franchisors don’t know what they don’t know, and often find out the hard way when their franchisees become angry and upset, or financially distressed (or worse still, go broke),” he suggests.

Learning about best practise in franchising will deliver better outcomes for franchisees, and in turn, deliver better outcomes for franchisors, Gerhke says.

“Every franchisor should require their management personnel to undertake ongoing professional development in franchising, and be prepared to allocate up to 2% of their payroll costs on investing in their workforce’s capacity to support and improve their franchisees’ businesses.”

As the spotlight continues to shine on the franchise sector’s performance – the results of the parliamentary inquiry will not be revealed for another month – franchisors can take the first step of ensuring they and their teams are highly educated in franchising.

A number of consultancy and research firms offer learning opportunities including role-specific courses.

For instance, the Franchise Advisory Centre offers an Introduction to Franchising, as well as management and marketing forums; Franchise Relationships Institute delivers field manager bootcamps, multi-unit franchisee workshops, franchisor excellence courses and a new topic, culture in franchising.

FranchiseEd, which provides the ACCC-funded Pre-Entry Franchise Education program, also offers franchise professionals forums and online courses on topics such as business management.

The Franchise Council of Australia launched the Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) program in 2012. This is a globally recognised continual franchise education qualification.