Great franchisors understand how vital training and support functions are to the success of their brand. Proper investment in the right operational resources positively impacts the franchisor's ability to support a growing system and enhances the franchisor's ability to sell more units.
Here are some reasons why the creation of a strong, user-friendly operations manual is vital to the success of your franchise system:
1. Create a unified source for all of your training and support programs.
The operations manual is intended to document all the components that comprise your franchise's business concept. It must also be the most effective tool in promoting best practices. A well-organized, edited and formatted manual provides an extremely efficient platform from which the corporate office can support franchise owner efforts.
Operations manuals often grow into a Frankenstein's monster of add-ons, edits and disjointed sections with many voices and formats, especially when multiple departments contribute to the project. This mish-mash leads to a document of limited usefulness and little appeal to franchisees. Few franchisees use the book, and the effect is measured in decreased compliance or increased time spent in supporting franchisees with basic issues.
An operations manual needs to be written to high, professional standards. It takes time and skill to create an interesting, well organized book. A best selling book is not written by committee. Your manual should be the franchise system's "best seller," so that many areas of your business thrive.
2. Communicate your brand experience to franchisees and improve brand consistency.
The most powerful brands embody the brand they seek to build, creating a culture of uniformity, excellence and pride. They do not cut corners behind the scenes, but put just as much care into the preparation of items for their franchisees as they do in preparing stores and products for customers. While it is important to write a series of logo-use standards, customer service guidelines and dress codes in order to build your brand identity, it is equally important to demonstrate your brand by providing well-designed, professional and useful manuals and training materials to your franchisees.
3. Support your support team.
Once a system grows past a few dozen units, the burdens on the training and support team multiply. Their time is best spent in direct contact with new and existing franchisees, working on new and interesting issues, not just the basics. The members of your support team are the keepers of the vision, and are in the best position to know and communicate the system's best practices, but they should not try to function as walking, talking manuals. Such a wasteful use of your support team’s time can easily be avoided by providing a useable Operations Manual to each franchisee.
The support team should not be expected to spend days and weeks out of action, trying to work as technical writers and editors. There is a significant opportunity cost in trying to make trainers and support staff into writers and editors, when their real value is in their ability to interface directly with franchisees.
4. Give prospective franchisees immediate confidence in the business concept and their ability to deliver it.
Professional manuals can close the deal for prospects who are looking for evidence that you are as supportive and enabling a franchisor as you claim to be. A highly-organized and easy-to-read "business in a binder,” packaged with your colors and logos, demonstrates your effectiveness as a franchisor and allows prospects to more easily envision their own success. The manual is a tangible answer to their questions, and a prescription to allay their fears. A good manual can help you sell dozens of units for years, all for the cost of a couple broker's fees.
Ask your development team what collateral they prefer to share with franchisee candidates. If the manual is not listed as part of the preferred marketing package, ask, “why not?” Is it overwhelming, or underwhelming? Is it unattractive compared to other marketing pieces? If so, why doesn’t it represent the brand? Is it incomplete, disorganized and better hidden than seen? Smart prospects who do their due-diligence want to know that the systems are buttoned up and that they are buying into a systematic approach to profitability. A well-crafted operations manual impresses upon prospects the value you bring to them.
5. Good operations manuals can influence investor’s decisions more than good business plans.
Nothing says "safe bet" more clearly than a fully packaged manual detailing every aspect of the business. Your operations manual is the cornerstone of the franchise. Without it, your plans to dominate your market segment, grow by 100 units annually, or run a lean corporate operation are just dreams. Business only happens when customers spend money on real products and services. A detailed, attractive and professionally produced operations manual proves your proof of concept in ways that a spreadsheet cannot. What is that manual worth to you, if it can sway a banker to write that loan you need? Or better, what if it helps close the deal on a multi-million dollar venture or angel investment?
Many operational choices will either help or hurt your efforts to grow a successful franchise. Few single choices, however, impact so many areas of the business as your operations manual. The symptoms of an insufficient manual show up in many seemingly unrelated places. Making the strategic choice to develop a strong, useful operations manual becomes a catalyst for many other successes. Clearly, the manual is the cornerstone of your operations; the question left for you is, “is it as good as we need it to be?”
