The primary goal of any franchise owner should be to replicate the success of the established idea which spawned the original business. Franchise owners are, of course, business owners and entrepreneurs first and foremost. But at the same time, a franchise is unlike many other fields, and sometimes the traits which would make one successful in running his own start-up business do not transfer well into the field of franchise ownership. A franchise is a unique combination of entrepreneurship with established business management. While you are running your own individual company, you are also a part of an overall team whose role is to become the local face of an already-established product. This specific business genre requires a certain type of management style in order to ensure both the owner’s happiness and the franchise’s overall success. Ensuring that you possess these traits and skills can help you determine whether you are well-suited to franchise ownership.
Here are five personality traits you will need to run a successful franchise:
- Patience.
With a franchise, success is not always immediate. A franchise owner needs to have the confidence of knowing that others have paved this road before her, and have done well enough that franchising is a viable option for others. But establishing a franchise brings with it a period of adjustment as new customers become exposed to a product and its local availability. The patient franchise owner is able to place her trust in the overall proven track record of the franchise and know that she has all of the building blocks of success available at her fingertips. But if you are someone who is not able to be patient and wait for the local market to accommodate the new addition, then franchise ownership may not be for you.
- Dedication.
This is one trait which applies to all successful business owners, both franchise- and non-franchise alike. Franchises, like all businesses, require attention to grow. If your style is to sit back and wait for success to happen to you, then you are unlikely to find that success while running a franchise. While the building blocks of the franchise are in place when you take over, the business will still require a significant investment of both your time and resources. But with dedicated management, franchises can be one of the most successful and productive business strategies on the market.
- A sense of caution.
This is one area in which franchise owners vary greatly from other business professionals. The trade-off for purchasing into a franchise is that while you benefit from an established product, you are not able to go off on your own tangent and start offering your own products using the franchise’s platform. If you prefer to blaze your own path in business, then you should start your own business as opposed to purchasing a franchise. The benefit, however, of not blazing your own path is the stability that comes with knowing that your product has already achieved measurable success. This is where the sense of caution comes in among franchise owners. While you want to own your own business, you also want the safety net of demonstrated success. A franchise fits this pattern beautifully.
- 4. Being a “people person.”
Being a “people person” is more than simply being friendly or compassionate. It means adjusting your behaviors and personality in order to suit the needs of the customer, with the goal of addressing problems thoroughly and efficiently. Franchise owners can never display a “take it or leave it” attitude when it comes to their customers. They are the local face of what is often a national organization. You must remember that while you may simply own one franchise location for that company, as far as the customer is concerned, you ARE that company. This can sometimes have its disadvantages, such as having to respond to criticism about products or practices that you had no hand in creating. A good franchise owner, however, remembers that this street goes both ways, and that with a franchise comes the benefits of successful products which were established and successfully marketed long before his involvement. The bottom line is that the customer, and his opinion of the product, is the lifeblood of any franchise. The ability to listen to your customers to do your best to meet their demands will serve you well as a franchise owner.
- 5. Goal-oriented.
A franchise is built on repetition and the replication of sound and well-proven business practices. For someone who looks to be more innovative, this business approach can arguably become monotonous. But for the right-minded person, executing the practices of an established franchise in the right way can be seen as a roadmap to success. On a practical level, this can mean day-to-day activities requiring the implementation of specific instructions to help you achieve the same accomplishments as those who have gone before you. For a goal-oriented person who is able to see, and work towards, the larger picture, this approach can be quite comforting. Keep your eyes on the long-term prize, and watch as your franchise purchase–and hard work–pays off.