The Flywheel Group

Is creating an emotional bond or emotional engagement really what you’re after when working with prospective candidates who are interested in your franchise? If your job function is in franchise sales you’ll probably say “Yes”. If you’re a CEO you’re likely thinking “No?”. The nature of the franchisor-franchisee relationship is complex and must begin with a proper alignment of expectations if you want to achieve long-term viability.

Quite often we speak with franchising executives about the challenges they’re facing. During these conversations, one subject that is commonly broached is the challenge surrounding franchise sales/development. Many times what the organization’s leadership is explaining to us are symptoms of a problem, but they’re looking for a solution that only treats this symptom. The reality […]

When speaking with most franchise industry people, and there are some exceptions out there, most of their views represent the closed model. If it doesn’t fit their view of the world, mostly based on quarter century old paradigms, then it won’t fly.

Most, if not all, of the significant challenges facing organizations today result from the failing of leadership to convey the value of long term goals to stakeholders for fear of the near. The “Tyranny of the Urgent”, as Hummel wrote, get in the way. Nowhere is this more true than in the franchise business model, where the temptation of selling franchises that hold promise for easy riches in the near term undermines any hope for longevity and true value creation.

Do you think franchising generally has ignored the benefits that technology and systems offer? What can explain this type of thinking? We continue to mine for the insightful ZORS who can see the value in the franchise flywheel. Can you help us find some more evolved ZORS to speak with?

Having consulted with a variety of franchise executive, many whom have been touted in industry rags as being franchise gurus, I can say that few possess deep understanding of their own franchise system let alone the ability to ascertain the workings of another they are thinking of acquiring. Therefore, to the extent consolidations continue as a strategy reflective of a maturing franchise marketplace, folks should remain highly skeptical of mergers as a means to realize efficiencies that create value.

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” -Albert Einstein In my previous post, titled “Designing a Process for Awarding Franchises – Part 1: Leadership”, I looked at the notion of how designing a process of awarding franchises has to start with […]

Designing a process for effectively awarding franchises can be challenging.  There is both a management and a leadership component to doing it.  You may recall the image that Stephen Covey paints in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” whereby a group of Workers are fighting their way through the jungle, wielding machetes and cutting […]

Like most companies in most industries, franchisors have plenty of moving parts and pieces in their business. For instance, there are potential franchise candidates to evaluate, real estate to analyze, franchisees to train, and franchisees to support; not to mention all of the franchise contracts, leases, and disclosure requirements to keep tabs on. Many franchisors tout ” proven systems” as a main selling point or advantage to becoming a franchisee, however a quick look under the hood would reveal that many franchisors don’t have their own internal processes sorted out.

Most businesses seeking to franchise a concept do so with the belief that it is a proven way to expand their company successfully. However, its not nearly as easy as many statistics might lead you to believe. A handful of brands comprise the clear majority of successful franchises and thousands of smaller franchise systems experience […]